Ramen!
This time on the Taste Off, Brian and I are doing your favorite college food: Ramen Noodles!
As you know, I’ve recently moved and the finances are in a bit of a crunch until the first paycheck comes in next month. So this seemed like the perfect star for a “poor person’s taste off”, no?
After much discussion and grocery store searching, we settled on comparing/contrasting Maruchan Oriental and Nong Shim Shin Ramyun.
Maruchan
I have never tried Nong Shim before, so I decided to start with the familiar. I grew up alternating between Top Ramen and Maruchan depending on what was cheaper at the commissary that week. Or, when I was in college, what could be picked up in the greatest quantities.
The cost of my Maruchan Oriental Ramen Noodles today? 15cents.
The last time I ate ramen noodles I was in grad school. So it’s been well over three years.
Now, normally I like to add stuff to my ramen. Usually a sliced hard boiled egg and some sliced green onions. But for the interest of keeping all things fair, I ate it plain.
Appearance:
Pre-cooking it looked dry and crumbly. The shiney seasoning packet was quite alluring with its tear tab. Once cooked up, it was a great deal more appetizing–as most things are. The noodles had gone from crumbly to plump. The seasoning packet made the broth a nice medium brown. Not quite beefy looking, but nice.
Aroma:
Mushrooms! It smelled like mushrooms. I hate mushrooms for their texture, but the taste and flavor are quite fine by me. This was actually quite nice, and very familiar.
Texture:
Surprising good! The noodles were a bit al dente. I normally like them cooked closer to 4 minutes than the dictated 3, but I wanted to do it by the rules. It was good, though. And since I didn’t have any additional ingredients I was good with the firmer texture. It made it more interesting.
Flavor:
Pretty darn good for 15cents. If my memory serves me right, I usually always got the chicken ramen. This is better, I think. The flavor is more complex and less “chicken noodle soup” like. Next time I make it, I want to try it with a bit of chili sauce.
Overall:
I liked it. Definitely not something I’d enjoy eating every day, but this was way better than I thought it’d be, and better than I remembered. Still, it would be better with some garnishing.
Nong Shim
A couple of weeks later now, and I have tried the Nong Shim Shin Ramyun, which I am going to call Nong Shim from here out for simplicity. The flavor of this ramen is “Gourmet Spicy.” There was also a shrimp and a kimchi variety, but thought this would be most compatible to the Maruchan Oriental.
It cost a lot more at a whole 95cents.
Appearance:
The dry noodles were much prettier. Curlier and a more realistic color. Once made, the broth was a reddish brown as opposed to the clear brown of the Maruchan broth. And the noodles were very lovely. What I know about what ramen should look like could fill one side of a chopstick, but somehow this looked more authentic. In addition to the spice pack there is a little dehydrated vegetables pack. I think that helped the appearance a great deal.
Aroma:
Mmmmmmm. Smells chili spicy.
Texture:
Wonderful! The Nong Shim wants to be cooked four to five minutes. I did five and it was perfect for me. Not at all too firm and definitely not mushy. The vegetables plump a bit in the broth and the little bit of variety they add to the texture is quite nice.
Flavor:
Like the aroma, it is spicy! My lips were burning within moments. I’m not used to this level of spicy from something I got in a plastic wrapper at the grocery store. I hate to admit it, but the level of spicy kept me from tasting much else. But what I could distinguish was quite good. Past the spicy the flavor seems to be more about the noodles, and I like them a great, great deal. I think I am likely to buy this again just for the noodles. They are delicious.
Overall:
This is a very different spin on ramen for me. The flavors, like the appearance, seem more authentic to the food’s international heritage. Though certainly Maruchan (and Top) are most likely geared toward us tender mouthed Americans. If I could cut back the spicy I might buy cases of this. Or? Maybe I’ll just have to get used to it and toughen up a bit.
For me? The winner is definitely the Nong Shim Shin Ramyun. Maruchan good in a “I grew up on it” way. The Nong Shim is just plain good.
Versus
And now for Brian’s take:
I still recall grcoery runs to Kash n Karry during my days at the
University of Florida. Though frozen pizza comprised a large part of
our food budget, a couple friends of mine were enthralled with the 10
for a dollar packets of ramen.
About 7 years later I found myself at dinner at Katana-Ya Ramen in El
Cerrito, CA, a little town just across the Bay from San Francisco. I
ordered a spicy beef ramen that came with plenty of veggies and meat
bathing in an deliciously spicy broth. It was an epiphany. Until that
meal, I’d always thought of ramen as penny-pinching college kid’s
kitchen staple.
So when it was proposed that we taste-off a couple varieties of
off-the-shelf ramen, I was happy to lend my palette.
The first ramen I tasted was a favorite of a former girlfriend of mine
whose mom would by it by the case. Although it costs anywhere from 2 -
5 times what your cheaper options do, we both found it worth it.
Shin
Appearance:
Opening the package, I’m greeted with a light yellow
over-sized hockey puck of ramen noodles. There are also two small
packets - one with soup base, the other containing a sliver of
vegetables.
After cooking, the noodles swell 2-3 times in thickness. Broth is a
reddish-orange dotted with flecks of mushroom, green onion, carrot,
and red pepper.
Aroma:
Spicy aroma includes whiffs of potato, onion, pepper, and beef.
Texture:
I’ll keep my comments on the noodles as the soup itself quite
simply has the texture of soup, though just a little oily. The ramen
is very starchy/gummy with a pleasant thickness that leaves the
chewing experience to be satisfying.
Flavor:
Broth is extraordinarily spicy. Watch yourself here if you’re
not used to spicy foods. If you can get past the spice, you might pick
up on some beefy broth taste mingled with onions. Noodles are starchy
with a potato-like taste.
Overall:
This one leaves your lips tingling. The spicy broth is
wonderful but takes some getting used to. I found the potato-derived
noodles to be hearty and flavorful. As the fog rolls in here in San
Francisco and the temperatures dip, this is a perfect meal.
Surprisingly filling.
Maruchan
Appearance:
Pale yellow square brick of wavy noodles. Soup base packet inside.
The noodles swelled a little after cooking but not much. A murky
gold/brown broth.
Aroma:
Mainly I picked up on onions and chives. Some hints of soy sauce.
Flavor:
This broth takes out the dominating, spicy heat and replaces
it with a salty/soy sauce character. Also noted garlic and chives.
Noodles have a flavor that I’d say reminded me of a pasta.
Texture:
Ramen is slightly starchy.
Overall:
A quick and easy meal. Somewhat lackluster broth that relied
on a lot of salt/soy sauce flavor but lacked in other complexities.
Noodles not quite as filling as I’d like.
You get what you pay for. Apparently, that translates to ramen as
well. Pay a little bit more and you can still have a great meal for
less than a buck. The potato-based noodles and spicy soup base gave
the Shin Ramyun a huge advantage over it’s more pedestrian challenger.
Frances and I used to call this “Korean Mom’s Favorite” and it’s still
my favorite, too.
—
It looks like next time Brian and I will be taking another turn at cheese!
As soon as I get rid of this head cold I’m suffering, I’ll be back with some Kool-aid pickles. Just you wait.
