Definitive Guide Series – Samyang Buldak * Nongshim Shin Ramyun * Indomie Mi Goreng

     

The Definitive Guide To Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun 2.0

• UPDATE – 6/12/2024 – Opinion by The Ramen Rater about the Danish spicy story

A big update to this guide happened on 5/23/2022 and 5/25/2022, so with this big change, I happily announce the new version which includes a great deal more varieties. I’d also like to add that in many reports including personal experience, the tolerance to the heat of Buldak rises significantly; so you eat it today and it’s almost too hard to finish? Try it again tomorrow – you will be surprised most likely that it is easier to handle.

One variety that has captivated the world is Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun. The ‘Fire Noodle Challenge’ is something of legend; people will try to eat a bowl of the spicy noodles as fast as they can and then (usually in a YouTube video), the reaction to the heat is seen, ranging from silence to screaming, calmness to dripping sweat. 

The viral mania of this challenge has finally prompted me to release a special series on the varieties and some info on them you might not know. I have included a boatload of information in this post – check out the video as well as all the information below it!

 

• UPDATE – 8/26/2022 – Added Buldak Habanero Lime & Buldak Quattro – see below. Also made pizza with them
• UPDATE: 5/23/2022 – A big update including 3x, Challenge Buldak and many more – with full reviews and mukbang below.
• UPDATE: 12/21/2018 – Added new 10,000SHU Hek Buldak Bokkeummyun & Buldak Bokkeummyun Gyoza Dumplings
• UPDATE: 4/1/2018 – Added Jjang Buldak Bokkeummyun and Squid Snack
• UPDATE: 1/8/2018 – Added Carbo Buldak Bokkeummyun
• UPDATE – 12.18.2017 – Mala is NOT 4x Spicy  !!
• UPDATE – 09.07.2017 – Added Buldak Bokkeummyun Mala variety

Video Presentation

This is a presentation I’ve made including lots of informational as well as me taking down a bowl of the 2x Spicy noodles.

Varieties

HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen / 불닭볶음면 / Buldak Bokkueummyun / Launch 2012.4.16 / SHU 4,404

The original ‘Fire Noodle.’ This comes in packs, bowls and cups. The bowls are commonly used in the popular YouTube ‘Fire Noodle Challenge’ videos. Full review

HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Cheese / 치즈불닭볶음면 / Cheese Buldak Bokkueummyun Launch 2016.3 / SHU 2,323

Significantly less fiery than the original Buldak Bokkeummyun, the cheese version includes a sachet of cheese powder. Available in pack, cup and bowl. Originally was sold in packs with a black background, however people mistook it for the original version. A more ‘cheese colored’ background was then chosen. Full review

HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Stew Type / 불닭볶음탕면 / Buldak Bokkueumtangmyun Launch 2016.8 / SHU 4,705

The ‘Stew Type’ has (you guessed it) broth. These are available in packs and bowls. I have seen many people make the original variety incorrectly and enjoy it as a soup, but this one is meant to have a broth. Full review

HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Cool/Ice Type / 쿨불닭볶음면 / Cool/Ice Buldak Bokkueummyun Launch 2016.8 / SHU 4,404

I believe this is only available in packs. Originally called ‘Cool,’ the folks at Samyang decided it might be a good idea to market it as ‘Ice’ outside of South Korea so nobody got confused. Full review

2X Spicy HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen / 핵불닭볶음면 / Hack Buldak Bokkueummyun / Launch 2016.1 / SHU 8,808

A double-spicy version of original Buldak Bokkeummyun. These are available in packs and bowls. They mention that they are a ‘limited edition,’ but I couldn’t find out when they would be discontinued. Full review

HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Curry / 커리불닭볶음면 / Curry Buldak Bokkueummyun   Launch 2016.12 / SHU 3,810

The most recent (as of this guide’s release) is Curry. It is available in packs and bowls. Less spicy than the original Buldak Bokkeummyun, it has a nice curry flavor to it. Full review

Mala Buldak Bokkeummyun is NOT 4x Spicy !!

 

Carbo HOT Chicken Flavor / Carbo Buldak Bokkeummyun ‘ SHU 2,600 * Launched December 2017

Carbo is a variety celebrating the billionth serving of Buldak Bokkeummyun sold. At first, the thought crossed my mind that Carbo was referring to lower carbs; a health conscious version perhaps. This is actually short for carbonara. I asked the company about whether is contained pork or was HALAL. As of January 8th, 2018, it is not HALAL certified but will be soon. Also, neither this nor any of the Buldak Bokkeummyun range contains pork or pork products as mentioned by the company. Full review here

Jjajang HOT Chicken Flavor / Jjajang Buldak Bokkeummyun – SHU 1,920 * Launched March 2018

Jjajang debuted March of 2018. It is on the lower end of the spectrum as far as spiciness goes in the Buldak Bokkeummyun series, however it has a very good flavor. Jjajang is a spicy black bean sauce and this one also includes vegetables such as peas. Here’s the full review and a mukbang video.

Korean Updated 2X Spicy HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen / 핵불닭볶음면 / Hack Buldak Bokkueummyun / Launch 2018.12 / SHU 10,000

Recently I saw something about a new Buldak Bokkeummyun in the Korean Samyang Foods instagram. I asked about it and was told it was just coming back. What? Well, the 2x was advertised as for a ‘limited time’ and apparently, it was in South Korea. They brough it back December 3rd, 2018 – however this time it’s 10,000 SHU. This link will take you to the review which contains unboxing, cooking, mukbang, and a special holiday recipe.

Samyang Foods Hek Buldak Bokkeummyun Mini

A transitional variety between the 2x and 3x. This one clocks in at 12,000 SHU, however it is smaller than other varieties. Full review here.

Samyang Foods Buldak Topokki Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen

Topokki is a tube like rice cake which is often accompanied by a spicy and sweet sauce in South Korea. This one takes that sauce and pairs with the noodle – commonly known as rabokki or ‘ramen bokki’, Full review here.

Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun Light

A non fried noodle and lighter on the spice. This being said, it is quite tasty. Full review here.

Samyang Buldak Corn HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen

Like corn? Sweet corn? This has an extremely strong corn flavor – a lot of mixed reviews. Full review here

Samyang Foods Buldak Meat Spaghetti

I reviewed the bowl version of this after Samyang sent me some. Another lesser spicy version with nice flavor. Full review here.

Samyang Foods Buldak 3x Spicy HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen

The initial Buldak is currently 4,400 SHU, so this should be about 13,200 SHU logically (4400*3). A very spicy one. Review and mukbang here.

Samyang Foods Buldak HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Tomato Pasta

The second tomato variety of the range. A tasty one — not exceedingly spicy. Review here.

Samyang Foods Challenge Buldak Bibimmyun / SHU 12,000

This one (unsure if it still is produced) was an extra spicy variety with a high SHU. This is a cold noodle as well, which is more geared towards summer months. Review and mukbang here.

 

Samyang Foods Buldak Kimchi HOT Chicken Flavored Ramen

A newer variety with a sweet and spicy kimchi flavor. Kimchi is intrinsic to Korean food culture. Check out the pack review here.

Samyang Foods Buldak Habanero Lime Artificial Chicken Flavor Spicy Ramen

A recently released variety – unsure if it’s just for the US market or not.

Samyang Foods Buldak Quattro (Four Cheese) Artificial Spicy Chicken Flavor Ramen

A much less spicy centered variety however has excellent cheese flavor – very savory.

Hot Chicken Ramen Snack / 부셔먹는 라면스낵불닭 / Busyeomeongneun Ramyeonseunaek
Buldak / Launch 2016.6

Snack noodles in South Korea are very popular. These are crushed while still in the bag and then the sachet is taken out and sprinkled into the bag. The bag is closed and then you shake it to disperse the flavor. Alternately, there is a cooking instruction on the package as well. Full review

ZZALDDUCK SNACK / 짤떡 / Zzaldduck / Launch 2014.12

These are short tubes with a crunchy texture. They have a sweet and spicy character to them much like a very light Buldak Bokkeummyun seasoning. They resemble macaroni or penne pasta. Full review

Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun Hot Chicken Flavor Squid

Dried squid is a popular Asian snack and this variety packs the heat of original Buldak Bokkeummyun. Here’s the full review.

Samyang Buldak Topokki

Topokki (tteokbokki) is a tube of rice flour which is chewy and wonderful. These bowls are these tubes along with Buldak sauce, as seen here.

Samyang Foods Buldak Rabokki

Three varieties were released for a while – Original, Jjajang, and Carbo. They featured tteokbokki as well as noodle. Here is the Carbo, which was on my global top ten.

Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun Hot Chicken Flavor Gyoza Dumpling

I heard about this one and was very interested. I found out it was available north of the border in Canada. We go there pretty often, but it took searching on four trips to find it. These are frozen section spicy little dumplings full of Buldak Bokkeummyun spiciness and flavor. They pretty good and I did this review where I paired them with the Stew Type – check it out!

Samyang Foods Buldak HOT Chicken Flavor Bong

Bong are wrapped sausages that often are fish, chicken, or in this case spicy chicken. From what I’ve seen, they look to be a common inclusion with lunches on the go. Here’s a post and video about this one.

Samyang Foods Buldak Sauces

These come in three varieties – original, 2x, and Carbo. They’re great – especially for doing up wings. I remember getting samples of these from Samyang and trying them with pizza – works very well! I don’t think it was nearly as spicy as their noodle counterparts, but quite good.

Correct Preparation Of Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun

1) Put the noodles and flakes into 600ml boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
2) Please remove the water from noodles (reserve 8 spoons of water (120ml = 15ml * 8 or 1/2 cup)) and put liquid soup Into noodles, stir-fry 30 seconds.
3) Add flakes, stir well, and serve.

Interview

I was fortunate to be able to interview Amelia Kwak / Overseas sales support team / Brand manager on the subject of Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun line of products.

THE RAMEN RATER> How did you originally come to decide to produce a super spicy instant noodle?

SAMYANG FOODS> Kim Jung-Su, the president of our company, noticed people crowded in a restaurant which served spicy chickens and had an idea to develop a new stir-type of instant noodle. Our marketing and R&D team tried more than 1,200 spicy chicken dishes and 2 tons of spicy sauce to find deliciously spicy tastes. We finally discovered the best portion of spicy sauce and launched ‘Buldak Bokkeummyun’.

TRR> What about the risks in producing a product that many will not be able to handle due to spicy level?

SAMYANG FOODS> Actually, Koreans like spicy tastes so we thought there’s customer needs of spicy ramen so we thought many people like it. However, overseas consumers can’t eat spicy food well, thus we were a little worried about it. Despite of that problem, overseas people also like Buldak. In my opinion, they seem to enjoy the challenge and relieve their stress when they try it.

TRR> What does Buldak Bokkeummyun mean; what is Korean spicy chicken like?

SAMYANG FOODS> It means a Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen. ‘Bulkdak’ means spicy chicken and ‘Bokkeummyun’ means stirred type of noodles. Korean spicy chicken is literally spicy chicken. In Korea, many restaurants usually cook it with very hot flavor adding red pepper, which is more spicy than general Korean food. So, it is hard to eat even for Korean. We added noodle on hot chicken flavor, so we could make characteristic noodle.

TRR> How did the Fire Noodle Challenge originate?

SAMYANG FOODS> Due to extremely spicy taste, Buldak Bokkeummyun mania were formed at first. Then, diverse recipe has been introduced by them, and spread through some Social Network Service channel especially on YOUTUBE. Also, extremely spicy taste has been issued by the public. Based on this issue, people are still challenging to eat it worldwide.

TRR> Did you expect the level of popularity of this super spicy product?

SAMYANG FOODS> We strongly believed the success of “Buldak Bokkuemmyun” because there had been no this kind of stirred type of instant noodles until 2012. We thought many people who like spicy tastes would be addicted to that tastes as our product is characterized in deliciously spicy.

TRR> How do you measure the SHU – is there a special test and how is the number calculated?

SAMYANG FOODS> SHU is a measurement of the spicy heat of chili peppers. Our R&D center analyzes the component of capsaicin and dehydrocapsaicin which cause spicy tastes in liquid soup. Then, we calculate SHU by standard equation.

TRR> Can you detail exactly how you figure out the SHU a little more? Is spectrometry used? What is the standard formula you mentioned?

SAMYANG FOODS> As I told you, SHU (Scoville Heat Unit) is a measurement of the spicy heat of chili peppers. First, we measure the concentration of capsaicin and dehydrocapsacin by using the HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography). Then, we measure scoville heat units by using the equation below. (Although there is no official rule of calculating SHU, we have used the equation which is generally used.)

SHU = ( Dehydrocapsacin conc. X 0.82 + Capsacin conc. ) X 16
※ Concentration unit = μg/g

TRR> The chicken character has changed from it’s original look. Does the chicken have a name and can you tell a little more about the mascot?
SAMYANG FOODS> Name: HOCHI
Birthday : April 13
Character

• Addicted to spicy taste.
• Full of confidence and motivation, but whimsical
  Features:
• Having the worst fashion sense and dreaming of being a food stylist.
• A poorly proportioned body
• Poor at housekeeping
• Can eat five packs of HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen at a time.

TRR> There have been a lot of people cooking the original Buldak Bokkeummyun with soup instead of as a dry stir noodle. What are the official cooking instructions for cooking the original Buldak Bokkeummyun on the package (for those who can’t read Korea)?

SAMYANG FOODS> Dry stir noodle type is our official cooking instruction
Below is our instruction appeared in our packing material.

1) Put the noodles and flakes into 600ml boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
2) Please remove the water from noodles(remain 8 spoon of water) and put liquid soup Into noodles, stir-fry 30 seconds.
3) Add flakes, stir well, and serve.

TRR> Exactly how many mL 8 spoons of water are?

SAMYANG FOODS> 8 table spoon of water would be approximately 120ml. (15ml per spoon)

TRR> Other than the container, is there a difference between the pack version and the bowl versions?

SAMYANG FOODS> There is little differences in ingredients because we tried best to minimize those differences. However, you can notice small differences because of cooking method. In a case of bowl type, Stir time is skipped so it’s more spicy than pack version. Actually, noodles release starch during stir time so, spicy taste is relatively relived

TRR> Are there new Buldak Bokkeummyun varieties coming soon? Can you share what they might be?

SAMYANG FOODS> We have launched new Buldak Bokkeummyun series. One is Curry Buldak Bokkeummyun (HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Curry) and other is Hack Buldak Bokkeummyun (2X spicy Hot Chicken flavor Ramen).

Curry Buldak : In curry Bulkdak, taste of curry and original Buldak have been well balanced. However, it is only for foreign consumers, not be sold in Korea yet.

Hack Buldak : Hack Buldak’s SHU is twice as spicy in comparison to buldak. It is a limited edition so we recommend you to try it. I guess it is the most spicy instant noodle in the world.

THE RAMEN RATER> Thank you for giving my readers the opportunity to find out more about the Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun range!

Nomenclature/Translation/Timeline

This list (click to enlarge) was supplied by Samyang Foods. Hoping to update with a more up-to-date sheet soon.

Mascot

Name: HOCHI (click image to enlarge)
Birthday : April 13
Character

• Addicted to spicy taste.
• Full of confidence and motivation, but whimsical
  Features:
• Having the worst fashion sense and dreaming of being a food stylist.
• A poorly proportioned body
• Poor at housekeeping
• Can eat five packs of HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen at a time.

I want to thank all the great people at Samyang Foods to make this special feature possible, especially Amelia, Taehoon and Joey who helped with making this special series possible. They sent samples and answered so many questions I’ve posed to them kindly.

I also want to thank Colin, a reader from Massachusetts who originally sent me the Ice Type for review, 1theKorea, an eBay seller who was very helpful in sourcing varieties and helping greatly. Moreover, you can find many South Korean instant varieties in his store. Anders and Ji-Min, readers from South Korea for sending some great varieties. Finally, I would like to thank my son Andreas for being so adventurous at the age of 11 to try the 2x spicy. Indeed, spicy food has never been his thing and he ate a big bite and survived! You can see part of the video with us trying the Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun 2x Spicy in the end credits of the above video and our full video in the Samyang Foods Buldak Bokkeummyun 2x Spicy review.