Good storebought ramen?

[Don Flamenco]

I'm sitting here eating Maruchan Picante Chicken flavored ramen and its pretty damn bad.  What does "picante" have to do with asian cuisine anyway? Just call that shit "almost kinda spicy" cause that's what it is.

But I digress....I've gone to asian grocers before and picked out random ramen packs to see if any are good (have to experiment since the pack in japanese or korean.)  Some of them came with packets of mayonnaise   Others were so-so.  Anyone know of some good quality asian ramen/noodles?   I like anything but fish/seafood flavors (and mayo.)

[GilloD]

"Chow Mein" brand in teh flat, long package is awesome. "Taste of Thai" is $$$ but delish

[Brehvolution]

I LOVE spicy chicken ramen soup. It's like 16 cents a package at wally world.

[Don Flamenco]

honestly, now that I've finished it, it wasn't that bad. 

okay, did some googling. apparently this stuff is god tier packaged ramen:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LQLV7E

[Akala]

I like Sapporo Ichiban original flavor, and a few variations (Sapporo/Maruchan) Yakisoba.

[Joe Molotov]

I eat this kind all the time, it's pretty good. A little spicy.


http://ramenreview.wordpress.com/2007/10/24/nong-shim-korea-kimchi-flavour-bowl-noodle-soup/

[Brehvolution]

A chinese guy at work knows I love ramen. I guess he ordered a case of this stuff off Amazon and gave me some. Anyone ever tried this kind?

[Robo]

It's been a long time since I've had packet ramen, but I used to eat mostly Maruchan, Oriental or Chicken flavor, and never had anything I thought was significantly better.  I'd generally only use a small portion of the packet (because the high sodium content makes my hypochondriacal ass paranoid as hell) and I'd crack an egg into it, which makes for a more filling "meal", if you can call it that.

[Smooth Groove]

Nong Shim is good.  I like this flavor: It's quite spicy though.



Nissin is my favorite Japanese ramen.  Make sure the stuff you get is made in Japan.  I've only seen those in Japanese supermarkets.  Don't get the cup/bowl noodles though.  They generally suck.  

There are also some refrigerated ramen that tastes even better and healthier too because they haven't been deep fried for preservation.   They tend to be more expensive, like $4 for two packs.  

[Eel O'Brian]

i usually look at the fat/sodium contents on the packets and decide that i might as well eat a bacon cheeseburger instead

[Smooth Groove]

Ramen is not really that high in fat though and you can control the sodium by not using the whole packet like RoboJ. 

One tip a college friend gave me is really handy in making Ramen healthier.  After cooking the noodles, he would drain all the water and then wash the noodles real quick with water.  Doing so removes much of the oil and other nasty preservatives.  I find that the taste is not much altered by doing this and the noodles even feel springier. 

[Yeti]

People buy ramen for the taste? I always bought it because it is quick to prepare and cheaper than dirt.

[Flannel Boy]

I think you guys should cut out the middle man: Just mix a couple of table spoons of salt and sugar into a glass of water and stir.

[Robo]

You mean, tablespoons of OLD BAY. 

[Mr. Gundam]

People buy ramen for the taste? I always bought it because it is quick to prepare and cheaper than dirt.

College kids buy the ramen packets cause it's cheap, but you can get really good ramen if you go to a place that specializes in it.

Komen
Nakamoto

[TakingBackSunday]

Any of the brands Trader Joe's carry.  I've tried about four or five different ones from them and they all rock.

Hipster groceries 

[Mr. Gundam]

Costco carries Sapporo Ichiban, it's good stuff.

I've got a Trader Joe's a couple blocks from the house and shop there frequently, but I've never had their ramen.

[Himu]

how does one crack an egg into ramen? Do you do you when it's cooking or what?

[Mupepe]

how does one crack an egg into ramen? Do you do you when it's cooking or what?

yes

[Robo]

It's basically egg drop soup with ramen noodles.  Just crack it in there after the noodles start to get soft and beat it until it mixes thoroughly.

[TakingBackSunday]

I've never tried that before.

[The Fake Shemp]

I've never tried that before.

It is kind of a broke twenty-something staple.

[Mupepe]

it's alright.  it's better with spam.

[Robo]

Yeah, and boogers too!

[The Fake Shemp]

I used to get packets of frozen shrimp the dollar store and clearance rack sausage, and toss it in the ramen with some hot sauce, onion powder, lime juice and pepper.

[Mupepe]

Yeah, and boogers too!

EW YOU'RE FUCKING SICK THAT'S TOO MUCH SODIUM YUCK EW EW

[Phoenix Dark]

I've never tried that before.

It is kind of a broke twenty-something staple.

He must have dinner at Cheebs' house mansion

[brawndolicious]

I like these.  You can get them in bulk at Costco and they taste pretty good imo but I my only real other experience with instant ramen is top ramen so I have no idea how good that makes these.  I don't know if they have other flavors but the one I always get is pretty spicy.

[Ichirou]

If the ramen came with packets of mayonnaise, it probably wasn't ramen.  It was probably yakisoba.

[CrystalGemini]

Indomie, fuckers.  About $.40/bag.  Fried egg and spam on top.  Done.



Also, poached egg with broth ramen is kickass.  The runny yoke covers the noodles as you bite into it. :9

[brawndolicious]

wtf did you find halal noodles? 

[CrystalGemini]

You can find them at just about any Asian grocery store.  Indomie's a pretty common staple Indonesian ramen.  Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims so it's really not that surprising... 

[brawndolicious]

oh I see.

[Joe Molotov]

This thread is making me hungry. I need to go get some ramen noodles tomorrow, a bag of shrimp, and some eggs.

[chronovore]

Just about any refrigerated ramen noodle will be halfway decent. You can get them at Japanese supermarkets like Yaohan or Marukai, and I'd be stunned if Chinese or "generic Asian" supermarkets like Ranch 99 didn't have them.

Most of the Top Ramen/Nissin stuff is fried and dried, and reconstituted in 3 minutes of hot water, and soggy and dead in 7~8 minutes. It's pretty unhealthy crap; I suspect it's about one rung up the food ladder from potato chips.

[bork]

Do you guys have Super H-Mart stores in your areas?  Was wondering if they are a national chain.  They're these HUGE Korean-owned supermarkets that have started popping up...plenty of Asian food available.

Also found out recently that there's a ramen restaurant about 35 minutes away.  We went there and while the selection was sparse, it was pretty good...

...and of course conveniently located right next to ANOTHER Super H-Mart that had just sprang up.     Atlanta seems to have a humongous Korean population.  There are certain areas you can go with nothing but Korean stores; not even the signs are written in English. 

[Moran]

You can find them at just about any Asian grocery store.  Indomie's a pretty common staple Indonesian ramen.  Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims so it's really not that surprising... 

Ah I used to live off those, been eating since I was 8! Can't go back after eating that msg soaked goodness, adding egg or even a little peanut butter is wonderful. Although people should never buy the satay ones

[CrystalGemini]

Do you guys have Super H-Mart stores in your areas?  Was wondering if they are a national chain.  They're these HUGE Korean-owned supermarkets that have started popping up...plenty of Asian food available.

We have Ranch 99s and Chinatowns, Japantowns, New Saigon...etc etc yadda yadda in the SF Bay Area.  Not to mention the whole Milpitas/Cupertino area.

Or like some other posters said, a lot of Costcos even carry a lot of Asian food now.  There are a couple around here that even carry Chinese sausages.

[bagofeyes]

hiyashi chuka > instant ramen

[chronovore]

Actually, you can do hiyashi chuuka with instant noodles, and it's about the one time the things don't get bloated and soggy before you're done eating. But even hiyashi chuuka from a convenience store is better than that, so... yeah. I've forgotten what my point was going to be. 

[Mr. Gundam]

Do you guys have Super H-Mart stores in your areas?  Was wondering if they are a national chain.  They're these HUGE Korean-owned supermarkets that have started popping up...plenty of Asian food available.

Also found out recently that there's a ramen restaurant about 35 minutes away.  We went there and while the selection was sparse, it was pretty good...

...and of course conveniently located right next to ANOTHER Super H-Mart that had just sprang up.     Atlanta seems to have a humongous Korean population.  There are certain areas you can go with nothing but Korean stores; not even the signs are written in English. 

We've got a couple H-Marts in the area, out in the suburbs. The farther you get outside Seattle, the more Korean signage you start seeing. In Seattle, we have Uwajimaya, a gigantic Japanese grocery store that has a Bead Papa and Kinokuniya bookstore inside of it. The rest of the stores in the International District are Chinese and Vietnamese.

We've got a couple ramen places here in Seattle, Samurai Noodle has two locations, one of them is really close to my house. We've also got Aloha Ramen which does a pretty good tantanmen.

[Don Flamenco]

holy necro bump. 

I've been eating Shin Ramyun for the 2 years since I started this thread.    Cracking an egg in it and throwing in some chicken makes it damn awesome.  I need a new brand though...those HooRoo noodles look good.

Going out for some real ramen with friends tomorrow.  When it's fresh, it's like my favorite food.

I've never tried that before.

It is kind of a broke twenty-something staple.

They never reviewed it on pitchfork, so internet hipsters don't know about this yet