Mmm, noodles
October 5, 2020 11:15 AM   Subscribe

Buttery pasta, peppery vermicelli, masala sevai—noodles come in many shapes and sizes. They can provide comfort, nostalgia and a sense of belonging. This collection of personal essays, guides, recipes and deep dives serves as a little bit of a ‘food hug’ with everything that has gone on in 2020.
KQED explores noodles. posted by Lexica (30 comments total) 38 users marked this as a favorite
 
if you haven't had jjajangmyeon, stop what you're doing and go find some. instant, homemade, ordered. it's soooo good. this was the first meal i made my partner (which in retrospect was probably a horrible first date move because i'm sure we ended up with bean paste all over our faces), but its cheap, easy, and oh so satisfying.
posted by zsh2v1 at 11:31 AM on October 5, 2020 [6 favorites]


I was really surprised to see Sevai mentioned here!!! I have not seen recipes for those even in good South Indian Cookbooks?!?

Even in my family growing up; it was the MIL of one of my uncles who made it regularly; and no one else. My personal favorite was adding the thinned puliyogare paste to the sevai as a South Indian version of pasta sauce!

ETA: I bought some Italian pasta yesterday that made a big deal about making it in a Bronze die. Is that really a marker for good pasta?
posted by indianbadger1 at 11:32 AM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


This was a good episode of the podcast for kids, But Why?: How Are Noodles Made?
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 11:34 AM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


I bought some Italian pasta yesterday that made a big deal about making it in a Bronze die. Is that really a marker for good pasta?

My understanding[1] is that pasta made in a bronze die is more textured, allowing more of any sauce to cling to the surface.

[1] My understanding completely comes from this segment of the Buttered Noodles episode of Binging with Babish.
posted by hanov3r at 11:45 AM on October 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


This is a fun feature!
posted by latkes at 11:46 AM on October 5, 2020


Yeah, bronze dies leave the surface of the pasta rougher and more able to pick up the sauce. They have fallen out of favor for plastic or teflon dies which do not clog as readily and therefore allow for more reliable production.

(At least, this is what we were taught 16 years ago at the specialty food shop where I worked.)

There's a Korean place like a mile from my house that has a dish it calls ja jang myun on the menu and I am going to try some the next time I go. Thanks for this post.
posted by gauche at 11:56 AM on October 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Indianbadger1, I'll vouch for bronze die pasta (well, this one particular brand) being noticeably very good. I use their bronze die spaghetti alla chitarra for sambal noodles, noodle bowls, baked pasta, any and all sauced spaghetti. So good, lovely bite.
This is a fun article from a midwest italian grocery chain on all things pasta, including bronze die and cooking tips.
posted by winesong at 12:02 PM on October 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


Never met a noodle I didn't like.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:32 PM on October 5, 2020 [5 favorites]


Plain Plate of Noodles
posted by chococat at 12:46 PM on October 5, 2020 [2 favorites]


🍜🍝🥢🍴❤️
posted by lalochezia at 1:11 PM on October 5, 2020


Pasta isn't noodles. What a ridiculous idea.
posted by pipeski at 1:29 PM on October 5, 2020


All squares are rectangles; not all rectangles are squares.

All noodles are pasta; not all pasta is noodles. However, pasta CAN BE noodles.
posted by hanov3r at 1:34 PM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


I want buckwheat ramen so badly right now I could cry.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 1:49 PM on October 5, 2020


We had pasta with homemade pesto for dinner, and I am not hungry, but I want more noodles!!!
posted by mumimor at 2:12 PM on October 5, 2020


All noodles are pasta; not all pasta is noodles.

Except in the UK, where if you use the terms interchangeably, people will look at you very strangely. I think the key difference is that in British English, the terms are used according to geography (pasta = Italy, noodles = East Asia), whereas American English goes on shape and ingredients.
posted by pipeski at 2:33 PM on October 5, 2020 [4 favorites]


American English goes on shape

Explain how that justifies the phrase “lasagne noodles”, then?
posted by ambrosen at 3:44 PM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


People say 'lasagne noodles'? Clearly reality is broken in some fundamental way.
posted by pipeski at 4:14 PM on October 5, 2020 [3 favorites]


@winesong

That was the brand I got!!!!

Thanks for enlightening me, everyone. I shall look for this from now on.
posted by indianbadger1 at 5:20 PM on October 5, 2020


Re: “lasagne noodles”: US English uses “lasagna noodles” to refer to the pasta component separately from the complete dish. In US English, “lasagna” refers to the whole dish of pasta layered with tomato-meat sauce and ricotta cheese and baked. If I asked someone to pick up some lasagna at the supermarket, they’d bring back frozen prepared lasagna; if I wanted a box of dry pasta to prepare lasagna at home, I’d ask for “lasagna noodles.” If you want to refer to just the pasta, what do you call it in British English?

(The “lasagne” vs “lasagna” thing is a whole separate issue — and I hear you all put bechamel sauce in yours?)
posted by snowmentality at 5:56 PM on October 5, 2020 [1 favorite]


The video of the Somali pasta sauce is making me hungry.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:12 PM on October 5, 2020


A frozen lasagne would be "a lasagne" or, if you need more than one, " some lasagnes". Lasagne sheets would be "some lasagne". A subtle but fundamental shopping distinction! But for clarification, yes, lasagne sheets.

(You don't put bechamel in your lasagne??? What a loss)
posted by stillnocturnal at 2:35 AM on October 6, 2020 [2 favorites]


My 2 year old has some strong thoughts on what is pasta vs. what is noodles. Yesterday she rejected spaghetti because she wanted pasta (which apparently meant Velveeta mac and cheese)
posted by brilliantine at 6:16 AM on October 6, 2020


I've tried lasagne without bechamel. It's not for me.
posted by mumimor at 7:43 AM on October 6, 2020


So for some people it's bechamel, and for others, blechamel.

Now, on to the other important question: do people in the US say 'zucchoodles' where people elsewhere say 'courgetti'?
posted by pipeski at 9:14 AM on October 6, 2020


We say zoodles, because of course we do.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:17 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]


Oh god that made me viscerally homesick for the bay area, I could utterly weep from longing.

Thank you?
posted by Space Kitty at 10:29 AM on October 6, 2020 [1 favorite]


Chinese Cooking Demystified has a take on the Chinese version of Jajangmyeon. They have a bunch of traditional hand-pulled noodle recipes as well, worth reviewing.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 10:54 AM on October 6, 2020


(The “lasagne” vs “lasagna” thing is a whole separate issue — and I hear you all put bechamel sauce in yours?)

Lasagne is plural. Lasagna is singular. Lasagne al forno is a traditional Italian lasagne dish with bechamel, and the one most common in the rest of Europe. I think the common US version is lasagne al carvnevale, with ricotta. Both are perfectly valid Italian lasagne dishes from different regions of Italy (though I imagine both the US and UK variants would horrify many Italians in some of their details).
posted by Dysk at 1:38 PM on October 6, 2020 [3 favorites]


I know people who put corn in their lasagna. It is horrifying.
posted by mumimor at 1:00 PM on October 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I have not seen recipes for those even in good South Indian Cookbooks?!?

Because, I hear from my mom, it is a pain in the ass to make the dough from which sevai is made. My mom has made sevai from scratch maybe twice in the last 50 years. It is so much more convenient to use store-bought, dried sevai that you cook and spice up at home.
posted by thaths at 3:15 PM on October 8, 2020


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