Saturday, March 22, 2008
Bachelor's Special #1: Instant Noodles Review
The bachelor's kitchen can be a lonely lonely place. Recently, this predicament came up in conversations with some of my fellow bachelor friends, and I hit upon the idea of trying to solve it. Labels: Food
The goal, of course, would be to produce a good quality meal in 30 minutes or less, with little mess and few ingredients. This is a challenge I'm still working to solve.
In the meanwhile, how about something simpler to tide you by? A long time staple of the college student is the good old Nissen Cup [of] Noodles. Just add boiling water to these foam cups, and three minutes later, you have an Asian-styled take on the TV dinner.
One of my favorite places to shop is Uwajimaya, the Asian grocery supermarket with locations in the Portland and Seattle metro areas. Normally I shop there for some of the best produce anywhere, as well as exotic seasonings and a wide variety of noodles. One aisle, though -- one entire aisle -- is lined with instant noodle selections. Lined with them! Might there be something more exciting lurking behind the cryptic labels?
This is no Michael Pollan whole foods meal we'll be experiencing here. But it's okay to be bad now and then, and everything here is probably a heck of a lot better for you than the average McBurger.
Let the tests begin!
Nissen Cup [of] Noodles
We can't really undertake this sort of comparison without a base to start from. What to choose? This was the easiest decision: the iconic Nissen Cup [of] Noodles. These little foam cups are the the most popular and most commonly known of the instant noodle world. They're cheap, too: my chicken-flavored cup cost me a whopping 49 cents.
Pluses: The price of the Cup [of] Noodles would lead one to believe that the quality would be low as well, yet the resulting product isn't really all that bad. The noodles have a curling tendency that makes them easy to eat with either fork or chopsticks. The tall, narrow cup shape helps to hold in heat for the product for a long time.
Minuses: If there is any major fault with this old staple, it's that it's forgettable. The flavor is bland, and the ingredients can hardly be called authentic for a ramen soup; corn, peas and carrots seems to speak to sourcing common American agricultural products if anything.
Bottom line: For 49 cents, it's hard to beat the value, but surely noodles can be better than this.
"Kung Fu" Szechuan Pork Bowl
Next up: an entry made in Taiwan, the rather comically named "Kung Fu" Szechuan Pork Bowl. This is a typical offering from the instant noodles aisle at Uwajimaya, coming in a foam container shaped like a bowl. Flavor choices tend to be based on form of meat used; I chose the Szechuan pork flavor for its apparent position middle-of-the-pack. Unlike the Cup [of] Noodles, this noodle bowl comes with two packets inside that much be opened and added to the noodles, one containing dried vegetables and seasonings, the other containing a dried soup base that looks a bit like dried caulking. $0.79 of yummy goodness.
Pluses: The foam bowl on the Kung Fu offering is particularly thick, making it easy to hold. Although the flavor is not stellar, it is more pronounced than the standard old Nissen offering.
Minuses: The dried vegetables and other ingredients tend to stay rather firm, and the noodles, being round, tend to be harder to grasp with chopsticks than the good-old 49 cent standard.
Bottom line: While marginally better than the standard in flavor, with hard, difficult to identify vegetables this is a forgettable bowl of noodles.
Nong Shim Bowl Noodle Soup Spicy Chicken Flavor
Our next challenger is from Nong Shim, and is made in the exotic far-eastern locale of Rancho Cucamonga, California. Again we have a bowl-style package. Nong Shim only has one packet inside -- an envelope of seasonings -- rather than two. The resulting product is a Ramen style soup. It's pretty boring looking when made, nothing like the pretty picture on the label. $1.09 at Uwajimaya.
Pluses: The Nong Shim has a nice spicy kick that is quite appetizing. The noodles are no larger than the others, yet it seems a more substantial meal.
Minuses: The broth seems a bit cheesy at first; the vegetables are almost nonexistent.
Bottom line: Twice the price of the standard, the Nong Shim offering is also more the twice the flavor. Cheesy, but a good buy.
Thai Kitchen Noodle Cart Pad Thai
The Thai Kitchen line of products is fairly easy to find these days, being in most major supermarkets; I grabbed one anyway just to round out the test. The product comes in a different format, this time in a square plastic box similar to a Rubbermaid sandwich container. Inside is a packet of noodles, a packet of oil, a packet of seasonings, and a plastic fork. To prepare, you empty the noodle packet in the container and pour in boiling water, then lid it. When done, the water gets poured out of handy slits in the lid, the lid is removed, and then the oil and seasoning are tossed with the noodles. The price is $1.99, a full four times the Nissen standard. 
Pluses: The final product is tasty and decent. While, as usual, it's not as nice as the package photo, this did at least produce something that would look good on a plate. The inclusion of a plastic fork makes this ideal for an on the go meal.
Minuses: The container can get quite hot while cooking, making it harder to remove the water. Similarly, be careful not to overfill it; the lid doesn't feel the most secure at times.
Bottom line: This feels more like a real meal than the other options, and the tacky factor is restricted to the plastic container and utensil.
Nissen Donbei Tempura Soba
Like the standard, this -- our most expensive option at $2.69 -- is made by Nissen. Preparation is similar to the other bowl-shaped entries, with a seasoning packet that is poured onto the dried noodles before boiling water is added. Unlike the others, this one comes with what looks like a giant coin shaped cookie -- a cake of tempura batter which gets unwrapped and added like a floating crouton on top of the soup.
Unlike the standard, this product is attempting to simulate an authentic Japanese dish -- it is, after all, made in and primarily marketed to Japan. The noodles are square cut buckweat soba noodles with a decent texture and more flavor than any of the others. Upon opening, the strong yet appetizing seafood aroma emanates from the noodles. 
Pluses: Toothsome and tasty noodles, good flavor, exotic without being overpowering.
Minuses: Tempura cake seems odd -- what actually has been fried in it? It appears to be no more than a hunk of batter with no filling, and soon gets soggy in the soup.
Bottom line: A nice treat and a welcome break from monotony, but not worth it if you have a real kitchen and a far cheaper package of noodles.
The winner is a hard call. This is, after all, a "bachelor's special", designed as a quick and cheap meal on a night when you just don't feel like cooking. It's not a gourmet meal, so authenticity -- however nice -- isn't all that important. Fill and taste, however, are.
So, the winner?
The nod goes to Nong Shim. Although not the most authentic of the choices, their noodle bowls are by far the strongest flavored and most stomach-satisfying. They're also one of the simpler preparations, with a single packet to open and dump in.
Both the Thai Kitchen and Nissen Donbei offerings were worthy attempts at something better than a throw-away Cup [of] Noodles, and might make a good once-in-a-while addition to the cupboard, but it would be just as easy to stock some dried soba noodles and some bonito, or some rice noodles and peanut sauce if you felt like that sort of thing.
And of course, don't forget the humble Cup [of] Noodles standard; at $0.49, it remains the bargain basement champ.
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Hi. If you are interested in learning to cook Thai food try
www.thaifoodtonight.com
It's got about 30 recipes each one with a cooking video to go along
Good if you like to try cooking Thai food at home
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