are "ramen noodles" the same thing as "pot noodle"?

then what's the difference? the noodles themselves?

It does sound suspiciously as if Ronan's "pot noodle" is basically "cup noodle" in a pot instead of a cup.

http://www.nissinfoods.com/images/top_cajun-chicken.jpg

And since "cup noodle" is just "top ramen" in a cup...

http://www.hrextranet.co.uk/HRPWebs/Campbells/Images/Super-noodles.jpg

Eureka! my new nom d'ILXOR!! (don't tell Donut Bitch, he'll get jealous!!!)

Top Ramen comes with one sachet of stuff to mix in, either to make soup or 'side dish'. You can get more 'native' ramen variants, which often come with two or three separate sachets to mix with your noodles.

I don't touch Super Noodles because a) they are awful compared to similar consumer choices and b) they are more expensive than most 'native' ramen I pick up for 20p a packet in Chinatown.

anyway, when i was a poor undergrad and living off-campus we used to go to Best Buys and get pallets full of ramen noodles.

Pot noodles are blergh. Those little dried peas and corn never seem to un-dry themselves when soaked.

nabisco, where was this valuable catchphrase when we were having such difficulty ordering your birthday dinner at the drive-thru KFC?

Top Ramen and Maruchan Ramen are basically on par with one another, along with the wonderfully named Smack Ramen. Frankly I can barely tell a difference between all the flavors. Salt, salt, salt, salt and chili powder. Ugh.

My personal fave has to be Shin Ramyun, a Korean brand that will kill your mouth if you are not prepared. Shin Ramyun and Coors OG sustained me for a long period of time when I first moved here to MD. I'm not ashamed.

I also like Udon a great deal, even the grocery-store prepackaged varieties. I ate Udon daily for lunch during the summer of my first year in college. I was probably the only 19 yr old page layout guy in TN eating his lunch with chopsticks out of a thermos that summer. Now I bet they're all doing it.

There is an equiv to Pot Noodle in the States, but I forget what its' called. Cup A Soup not really comparable, due to its not having unidentifiable soy protein bits floating in it, but there is an Asian variety that I used to eat all the time.

My favourite brand was always the wonderfully misspelled SMACK Ramen that we used to get at C-Town, 8 for a dollar or something. Yum!

Tad, pot noodle products are vile (and expensive, compared to Chinese supermarket noodles and udon) and starving journalists in London go to FILM PREVIEWS for the finger food, sandwiches and wine/beer. We also get jobs at market research focus group centres because there is often catering-for-groups leftovers eg. large untouched hunks of cheese. This was my 1992!

Now I just use 3-minute noodles as part of elaborate soups and other dishes; they are good for pho and things.

ECWM had some POSH NOODLES the other day. He said they were nice and didn't make his gut curl up into a ball of salt (ok thats my phrasing not his) so there you go.

Aren't we ILXors swank?

Whenever I get sinus problems I stock up on ramen noodles...nothing like steam, salt and garlic to clear your head. And I wouldn't waste meat by adding it to ramen, but I usually add some frozen broccoli, and pretend that I'm eating something healthy.

I swear by this stuff. Also, a noteworthy ramen chajangmyun (noodles in black bean sauce) substitute is Cha Cha Roni, which comes with like three packets of stuff. Opening all the little packets makes it feel like it's your birthday - a miniature, powdery birthday.

If you are Asian, it is obligatory to add some leftover rice, which is undoubtedly sitting in your enormous rice cooker, to the unconsumed ramen soup, to finish it off.

And oh yes, my former flatmate Carlos DID enjoy the kidney stones he got from a final term diet of ramen, bagels, cappuccino and the occasional orange.

Like this?

I like ramen noodles. More so than udon noodles. But I like buckwheat noodles the best.

http://www26.brinkster.com/dogjuice/ramen/322indomiefriednoodles.jpg

the chinese supermarket in brixton occasionally does some that are *nearly* as good and come in a red packet but in a side-by-side taste test the thai ones win hands down.

And if I had a fresh bottle of sesame oil sitting around the kitch, it would be a sign that I wasn't NEARLY hard up enough to be eating ramen, so please don't anyone suggest that I just go out and buy some.

-- Trayce (spamspanke...), December 3rd, 2005 11:49 AM. (later)

Yeah, for packet noodles they shit all over 2 minute varieties etc., and they're very cheap. However, they are also loaded with additives, and made my friend go crazy for a while. Mind, he was eating them basically for every meal, so... Moderation.

go out and buy some. a small bottle is only a couple of bucks and it'll last forever.

aha, now i see top ramen in US = demae ramen.

http://color.pepper.jp/philly/12/image/ramen_demae_origi.jpg

the semame oil favour is the classic and best.

cup noodles are superior to pot noodles.

i sometimes eat two packets in one go, use one pack of sesame oil and keep the other.

;__;

I realized today that I actually love ramen, and that eating it does not depress me.

A fine realization!

I am going to cook a second pack, to celebrate.

the following nabisco post deserves to be repeated:

One of the greatest random phrases I've ever overheard in conversation -- from two kids looking at the ramen in the grocery store where I worked -- "Spicy chicken, bitch!" He was really animated about this, and I spent something like the next four years of my life saying "Spicy chicken, bitch" basically as an equivalent of "no shit."

-- nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:11 (4 years ago) Link

LOL

It occurs to me that a better name for so-called 'Generation X' might have been the 'Ramen Generation'. They both mean nothing, but at least ramen is cheap and tasty.

And X isn't?

X? Maybe you are thinking of this?

http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/SUE/SUE104/BWBW1525.jpg

I always am! :D

You drunk!

Me drunk, too!

why choose b/w alcohol and ramen when you can have 'em both?

Who says a choice should be involved at all?

I made horseradish ramen from a recipe, ftw.

https://www.salon.com/1999/06/02/color_sensitivity/

In Britain in 1993, three viewers experienced seizures while watching a cartoon called “Pot Noodles.”

I recently bought some old school Top Ramen... they've dropped the 'oriental' flavor name so now the ostensibly veggie flavor is called 'soy sauce'

I know they really are empty calories and not very good for you at all but sometimes I get home late and just want to cook something that takes four minutes. It's also a very nostalgic/high school flavor. I also bring them camping/backpacking because they weigh nothing and cook quickly, thus saving fuel

dry ramen without the spice pack makes a good crunchy topping on salad

Amazing thread title.

I have started cooking Chinese food, especially Sichuan, and I'm starting to get the hand of it. I had Dan Dan noodles three times in the ten days I've learnt to do that dish, it's super delicious and versatile, and it does not take much more than four minutes to make. Sauce is just assembling, meat is cooked five mins in a pan/pot, noodles take less than that, leafy vegs need a minute in water or pan. Boom, you have a bowl that works great in winter as a hearty dish, thanks to the sesame paste, chili oil, Sichuan peppers.

But noodle dishes are an all-rounder, you can eat them semi-warm or cold in summer. It's impossible to miss. Worth every minute of additional preparation compared to instant ramen.

in conclusion, cooking is better than instant ramen, ty.

Well, the point was you don't need to oppose the two, at least in terms of time. You can have the minimalist instant ramen half the time, and the full-fledged self-made pots the other half. Once you have the ingredients and grow to understand the typical flavor combinations, the rest is done on high heat in a few minutes, and it's a cuisine where you can invent and personalize.

I'm not sure it's really the same, firstly Dan Dan noodles do not really taste like instant ramen, being from a different country/different spices. The only comparison is they feature noodles, but they are not similar shape or texture.

Ramen noodles generally are a four-minute version of... ramen. This would take 24 hours or going to a restaurant to make. While obviously 99% of people eating them aren't going to boil bones for a day, and there are loads of different flavours, I still think their basic purpose is to imitate a long cooked broth.

But in any case it's like idk, when I eat instant noodles I don't think about real food, I don't know if that's true for all but is for me.

Also I would wager at least twenty minutes to cook Dan Dan noodles, and you need all the ingredients, chopping veg, plus probably a couple of pots to wash.

Instant noodles are a boiled kettle and one pot. This doesn't mean they're better, just I can't think of anything that represents convenience food more purely.

There will often be a night or a busy day when you are glad you have instant noodles in your home, ime.

i will often split the difference and add fried fridge leftovers to a bowl of instant noodles but i don't think it's controversial to say a) good instant noodles are good and b) noodle dishes - in particular ramen - prepared from scratch taste better but you're trading off time, skill, energy etc

Woks of Life's Dan Dan Noodles recipe allows for 90 minutes prep for example

https://thewoksoflife.com/dan-dan-noodles/

Dan Dan noodles was just an example, but they're actually known in Japan as Tantanmen and considered a ramen dish. I have encountered other dishes where there are Chinese, Taiwanese, Singaporian variations. Anyway, to your point, I have never tried to replicate the taste of instant ramen specifically, but I imagine that if you have any leftover broth (and no, I'm not cooking 36-hour Tonkotsu, I like food prepared in a decent time), or some kind of miso paste, and a few basic ingredients like ginger, soy sauce, and mirin, your ramen will taste good.

Dan dan is really fast. Sauce is sesame paste, chili oil, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, just combine and leave aside. Meat is minced pork or beef on high heat with ginger / garlic and a dash of bean sauce, shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, 5 mins max. Noodles are three minutes. You add the leafy vegs (pack choi, Chinese cabbage, other) last minute, either with the noodles or the meat. You toss the noodles in the bowl, then the meat, the sauce, the vegs, adding more or less noodle cooking water depending if you like it soupy. Add peanuts and chive to taste. I do this without the sui mi ya cai because that shit is too salty - maybe kimchi would work. It does not require special skills and it's yummy.

And yes I learnt it with the Woks of Life recipe, checking also Red House Spice. The only thing that takes time is the chili oil: heat the oil and infuse it with a bunch of spice, then pour everything on a ton of chili flakes. But you do that once and you have chili oil for a month.

Think we are going round in circles here.

I was just going to add that my personal experience of depression means that sometimes even making a sandwich feels like a monumental task, and I'm sure there's millions of people who have similar issues for all sorts of reasons, so I just don't think there's a comparison to be made
between the convenience of instant noodles and cooking a meal, no matter how quick and straightforward the cooking might feel in different circumstances

You also have to remember to have the ingredients at home, while instant noodles give you everything (tho of course always a fun move to throw an egg or some cheese in there).

I genuinely love cooking, I have made tonkotsu from scratch fwiw, but I still eat tonkotsu flavoured instant noodles sometimes.

Working at home, sometimes I find something overruns or there's a panic about a thing and I have ten mins to make lunch and nothing in the house, instant noodles are great for this. Also getting in late or after a night out, cheaper and less bad than whatever else I might eat at that time.

And also as is said above sometimes you just can't face cooking.

I just don't think of the food I cook the same way. Similarly I use Woks Of Life loads and I can make a lot of my favourite dishes but it doesn't mean I don't sometimes order them as takeaway.

Cooking and prepping and cleaning and having the ingredients to cook all require effort and organisation, peppered over longish periods of time.

Feeling like eating something is different to feeling like cooking something I guess is the briefest way to say it.

Also getting in late or after a night out, cheaper and less bad than whatever else I might eat at that time.

Most of the kebab places in my area close around 22:00 these days anyway, society is in the gutter.

Yeah the only one open near me is really bad.

Are people really out here just making instant noodle packets without adding anything? At home we're doing a quick broth with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, togarashi etc (as if that tiny spice packet would be sufficient), add noodles, add whatever vegetables are around (carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc), and an egg or tofu/fake meat. Sesame oil, salt, more togi. It still takes under 10 min.

not if you factor in the shopping tbf

I often add an egg or stuff from the fridge but not necessarily. Mainly because I am not eating them for a main meal.

I agree with LocalGarda we're going in circles or talking past each other. I still feel it's a bit silly to oppose convenience against tradition, or people who can versus people who can't. Sure, you may not have time for shopping and you need readymade meals when you have no mental energy beyond putting the kettle on, no judgment there. The flipside is that you save on budget, time, energy, but your diet could also be sending you to the gutter together with depression. There's some middle ground to be found, either by alternating, or like Jordan said, by enriching. Ramen does not have to be associated with defeat, bad health, and doom.

Are people really out here just making instant noodle packets without adding anything? At home we're doing a quick broth with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, togarashi etc (as if that tiny spice packet would be sufficient), add noodles, add whatever vegetables are around (carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc), and an egg or tofu/fake meat. Sesame oil, salt, more togi. It still takes under 10 min.

Yep but I’m not having them as like a meal. It’s more like…a bowl of hot cereal. Also I eat noodles like twice a month and they are the nuclear-hot Koka masala noodles from Singapore.

https://kokanoodles.com/product/koka-original-masala-noodles/

Also I grew up eating noodles just like this because my parents didn’t know any better and there’s something comfortable about that too. It helps that Koka noodles bang. Don’t eat the beef ones though, they taste like penis (pejorative).

Haven't had those, but Shin Ramyun >>>>>>>>

My better half is a big fan of those but I’ve always been too intimidated by them tbh. I like my Koka slop.

I keep noodle bowls and cans of Arizona tea in my truck for cheap lunches at work.

Why intimidated?

It is insane how spicy Shin Ramyun can get with even just a few drops of the red sauce. Couldn't imagine dropping the entire packet in there, I'm a lightweight.

There's such a range of instant noodles, like generally I have the Nissin ones a lot but the Prima Taste laksa ones are very fancy, albeit a little pricier. They really suit adding a lot of ingredients in.

Oh man, I guess my spice tolerance is higher than I thought. I don't find Shin crazy spicy (like I said we're usually adding extra togarashi too).

Was it the shin ones that got banned in Denmark? I think it was Denmark. It made the news around Europe.

This is why I'll never be an ex-pat, even if it were an option

Buldak are the crazy dangerous ones. Tried once, never again.

I've elevated my ramen buying with Shin, IndoMie, etc, but still keep some cheap Maruchan ones around when I need some quick noodles to go in a homemade soup, salt packet discarded.

I also end up adding a lot of salt. :/

(had Buldak at home a couple times and they were fine, but maybe not the spiciest variety?)

IndoMie is amazing, also good in a sandwich.

I eat instant ramen for lunch usually twice a week. I don't bother putting anything else in it because I like it as it is tbh. I occasionally have it for dinner but that's usually only if I'm either depressed or hungover (or both).

I've had the regular Buldak and they are hot as fuck but I can eat them. I can't imagine what the 2x and 3x ones are like and probably won't be finding out

Why intimidated?

Cos I’ll get the shits

Lol ok. Seems more like a problem Colonel Poo would have.

Used to eat instant Ramen once a week. Good if you are out late and want something quick and light when you get home

I was being served up an advertisement for some company whose entire value proposition was these little packets of additional dried vegetables, etc. to add to your instant ramen for a while. I think they're on to something.

My enterprising coworker has been making soy sauce eggs. Might have to look into that.

I made a homemade vegan version of the famous birria ramen once. It was all right but not amazing.

I'm not sure what the inflection point was for restaurants doing birria ramen was, but I feel like I can't throw a rock without hitting one that has it either on the menu or as a regular special

Only the 3x buldaks are insanely hot imo, 2x is a little too spicy to enjoy but the rest are fine, maybe the habanero lime is the hottest 1x flavour? The jajangmyeon ones are really good.

The buldak frozen DUMPLINGS! are great too btw, love the carbonara ones.

Funny reading me upthread talking about Maggi and Indomie, which I never eat anymore because now it's just as easy to get much nicer stuff like Japanese Nissin varieties like tonkotsu or black garlic sesame or shoyu, all of which I'll zuzzh up with boiled egg, spinach/seaweed, togorashi, corn kernels etc.

I'm prob spoiled for choice having a million Korea-marts and Tokyo Hometowns and whatnot within 20 mins of me.

I love those Nissin ones. The tonkotsu is surprisingly good. There are good shops near me but I found a Chinese shop online that's in Scunthorpe and has an amazing selection at low prices so I use them for noodles and all my ingredients. Kewpie is like two or three quid more expensive in the London shops.

Maggi !

When we lived in Germany, back when I was pre-school, Maggi was always around.

I used to get told off if I referred to things by their brand name rather than what it was - "Pass the Heinz" "no, call it Ketchup".

"Pass the Maggi!" "now what did I tell you just now?" "Well... What is it then?" ".... um ... OK you can call that one Maggi."

(It had "wurst" in smaller lettering on the label)

Maggi sauce a big ingredient in francophone Africa!

…packets of 2-minute noodles had “sausage” in smaller lettering on the label?

It's Würze (seasoning), not Wurst :)

or did you read a woman’s post about the thread topic, that takes into consideration other ppls contributions to the discussion, and follows the specific current drift of the conversation, two days into the current thread and twenty-two years later than her citation, and just think “I’m going to deliberately say something irrelevant about my childhood, everyone wants to hear that instead”

I'm just recalling what it looked like in Germany, approx 1966 or so.

Doing a googlesrch for the bottle, and now I find I made pretty much the same post as above, 12 years ago.

Anyway, delete my posts if that's offended...

the bottle of two-minute noodles

Maggi noodles not Maggi soysauce

lol

My Polish in-laws keep the Maggi on the table next to the salt and pepper.

til what maggi sauce is

Yeah when I grew up, Maggi meant this:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYnkg93Uqe9AxlX12uepRzIhPKIRnOKbEOGg&s

They came in 2 flavours: chicken, or beef. No fancy packets of soup or oils. The real ramens and noodles like Mi Goreng, tonkotsu and so on only really came into my purview once I moved to a big city and Australia started getting more into proper SE Asian food imports. I think at this point Shin Ramyun's probably more popular than anything else.

I did not learn about the Maggi seasoning sauce til honestly about 15 years ago. I mean I'dve seen it, but I think I just assumed it was a brand of soy sauce til I gave it a try once.

Oh and I also discovered recently that India has a parallel love of Maggi noodles, but theirs are very different (and kind of awful, truth be told)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/611ppUyng-L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

Tried them once as I was curious if they'd be nice and spicy, but the actual noodle cake was so weird - it cooked into an utter gluey mush. Really diff texture than I was expecting.