Tag: pork

Washoku Explorer Kit: #2066: Marutai Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen

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Okay so a few weeks ago I got a neat box in the mail. It contained the Washoku Explorer Tonkotsu Ramen kit. The idea is that you can get a nice kit with all the things you need to experience a great bowl of Japanese ramen at home – even the bowl! You can visit Washoku Explorer here. They have all sorts of other Japanese kits – really fascinating and a neat idea! The Tonkotsu Ramen kit includes this Marutai Hakata Tonkotsu ramen (2 packs with 2 servings each) and well as some special garnishes/add-ons I’ll show you below. Let’s check it out and give it a try! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1997: Nissin Cup Noodle Vegeta Buta-kyabetsu Tonkotsu

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This is a very yellow Cup Noodle! It’s a pork and cabbage tonkotsu andc I noticed that it mentions ‘1/3’ in a few spots. I believe this is denoting that this contains 1/3 of the daily intake of vegetables one should get. That’s great – I really like it when lots of vegetables are included in a variety! As for tonkotsy, tonkotsu is a pork bone milky broth ramen – one of my favorites. Let’s take a look! ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1993: Nissin Raoh Tonkotsu

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Usually when I make tonkotsu, I add on some barbecue pork. This is what you’d usually find as an appetizer at a Chinese-American restaurant – the bright red edged tasty sliced pieces. Well, I was fortunate and on my birthday, my wife and two sons accompanied me to Uwajimaya, a Japanese supermarket in downtown Seattle. I wanted to find the real stuff – the chashu pork. After a lot of going from one end of the deli to the other, confusion with what I was looking for and finally almost giving up, a man brought me a nice package of freshly sliced chashu pork. I had him slice even more and now I have a nice stash of it in my freezer. This will be the first one I’ll be using this with – pretty excited! Now the bowl version of this product no doubt comes with a dehydrated slice of chashu pork which is very nice too! Let’s have a look at this one! ...see full post

#1867: Yum Yum Premier Bowl Instant Noodles Stewed Pork Flavour

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The next to last variety I found while in Thailand – there was a Seven-Eleven next to our hotel which we visited countless times; so different from the ones we have here! Slurpee machines in the back as always, but you make a 180 degree turn and boom – a huge assortment of instant noodles. It was amazing and burned into my mind! Some companies do special partnerships with Seven-Eleven all over Southeast Asia and have special varieties only available there – this is one of them. Let’s check it out! ...see full post

The Ramen Rater’s Top Ten Instant Noodle Add-Ons Of All Time 2015 Edition

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In the last few years, I’ve seen a large amount of articles with titles like ‘Best Ramen Hacks,’ ‘Pimp Your Ramen’ and so on. These titles fall under the category of clickbait – using hipster terminology and such to entice one to click on them. Usually, they’re all things people know about already; vegetables, oils and such. This is a list of my favorite add-ons and garnishes. While some may be familiar to you, others may not be. It’s also geared to help you navigate the Asian Grocery, a place many find to be alien to them but I have found to be one of the most vibrant and wonderful places I visit very regularly. Finally, I also included some tips of storage and how long these products last for those on a tight budget. In no particular order, here’s this new list! ...see full post

1801: Sichuan Baijia Spicy Artificial Fei-Chang Flavor Instant Vermicelli (New Version)

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To those of you have followed my blogs and my Bottom Ten lists for a while, you know what this is. To those who haven’t, let me introduce you to this one. In my original review, I was really put off by this one. I thought it had some kind of ‘dirt and urine’ odor to it. But this is a new version. First, what’s fei chang? Here’s something I found on a blog called Food And Drink Chengdu: ...see full post

#1760: New Touch Homestyle Tonjiru

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Here’s one I got in the package sent by Javier over at Box From Japan – thanks! Box From Japan is a monthly subscription service that delivers different varieties of instant noodles to your door each month – fancy stuff like this one! Definitely worth checking out. Also, thanks go to Shinichi S. for help in translation! So let’s ask Wikipedia about Tonjiru: ...see full post

Meet The Manufacturer: #1681: Wugudaochang Sea Tangle & Spareribs Flavor Noodles

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If you’re unsure of what sea tangle is, maybe you’ve heard of kelp. It’s like thick seaweed. When I was a kid, I’d go down to the shoreline and when the tide was out, you’d see these long whip like greenish things every once in a while – big bulbs on the end and long flat leafy looking things. We used to step on the bulbs at the end which were hollow and they’d pop! It was good fun – never thought part of these things would be something I’d look forward to in a noodle dish! Let’s check out this one from Wugudaochang to start off their Meet The Manufacturer! ...see full post

#1621: Myojo Men White Creamy Tonkotsu

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A while back I reviewed the Myojo Men Black Seafood Tonkotsu. Well, this is the white creamy variety. Tonkotsu is usually made from pork bone broth – pork bones and boiled for quite a while to pull out the flavor, and it gets a milky color. This one’s manufactured in the United States by Myojo, and so pork products are present. Let’s see how this creamy tonkotsu variety stacks up/. ...see full post

#1601: Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja (New)

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A big thank you to reader Anders E. of South Korea for sending this along!For a long time, Nongshim Jinjja Jinjja was my absolute favorite ramyun from South Korea. They even made it here in Rancho Cucamonga, California for a while with the subheading of ‘flamin’ hot and nutty.’ Jinjja Jinjja means ‘really really.’ Well, they stopped making them. I’m not exactly sure why; some people said that South Koreans aren’t big fans of pork broth. Nevertheless, Nongshim has brought Jinjja Jinjja back – here’s a little something I found on Nongshim’s South Korean website: ...see full post

#1600: Chering Chang Instant Non-Fried Noodles Shallot Pork Flavour

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Today my wife asked me if I had any non-spicy noodles without much broth. It’s pretty rare for her to ask me to make her some noodles; she’s not the biggest fan of them, and really doesn’t like broth – she’s usually game for yakisoba or mi goreng as long as it isn’t spicy. I looked around through my stores of noodles – the ones in my son’s room, the ones under my desk, the ones that arrived the other day that are sitting in boxes in front of the fireplace. So this is the one I thought she might like. These are by a company that ranked high on my top ten Taiwanese instant noodles list that I contacted, asking if they could possibly send some varieties I couldn’t get here – and they did. Let’s see how we like them. ...see full post

#1577: MAMA Pork Flavour Whole Wheat Noodle

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Here’s an interesting one made in Thailand by Thai President Foods. Why’s it interesting? Well, aside from being a whole wheat noodle, it’s definitely for the Scandinavian market. I think it’s interesting how many companies have popular products both in their home countries and abroad, but especially in Scandinavia. Let’s have a look at this product from MAMA! ...see full post

#1564: A-One Mì Ly Instant Noodles Mì Thịt Xào Pork Flavor

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Last spring, I remember my son and I took a walk to the local Asian grocery when we were living in Edmonds, WA. We were getting something for my wife for Mother’s Day I believe! Anyways, as always I like to take a stroll down the instant noodle aisle (no big shock, right?). I found a few different varieties of these A-One cups and got them. This is a pork flavored one – from Vietnam. Let’s check out what’s inside! ...see full post

#1547: Vedan Volcano Spicy Pork Noodle

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Here’s an interesting one which I got some great help in translating from Bobby Y. – thank you as always! I kind of ran into a hitch when I was trying to translate this: 台湾泡面 味丹双响炮 碗装方便面 火山岩烧豚骨汤面110G 6个包邮 and then got this from Google: Taiwan Vedan Pom instant noodles bowl of instant noodles volcanic burning dolphin soup surface 110G 6 个 shipping. Volcanic burning dolphin soup does sound interesting though! Another thing he was able to verify was that there’s a little sachet that is to be enjoyed as a snack while you wait for the noodles to steep and aren’t actually an ingredient – we’ll go more into that in the directions. Anyways, let’s check this one from Taiwan out! ...see full post

#1535: Sau Tao Oat Noodle Pork Rib Flavored

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I used to a lot of barbecuing a few years back and one thing I always liked to grill up were pork ribs. I would often have a couple of friends over and we would drink a few beers and exclaim ‘spicy pork ribs’ in a strange overdone Southern accent which would end up sounding more like Boss Hogg from Dukes Of Hazzard screaming ‘spassy poke relbs.’ I always liked to get the boneless ‘country style’ ribs in bulk and then do a nice dry rub. Nowadays, I don’t barbecue as much (mainly because I don’t have a barbecue) and my wife’s Uncle Joe has a really snazzy barbecue rig that you can control wirelessly and slow cook/smoke meats for hours effortlessly. His stuff comes out just amazingly – so now I leave it the pros. American barbecue ribs are generally a lot different than what you’ll find in Asia. Sau Tao is a company out of Hong Kong which makes a lot of different varieties of noodles. Today it’s oat noodles. They’re non-fried and have a nice texture to them (at least the ones I’ve had in the past did). Let’s check out Sau Tao’s Oat Noodles with Pork Ribs flavor! ...see full post

Friday Video: How to Cook Cebu Lechon

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So when I post my reviews on instagram, I use hashtags. I usually try to find ones that are decent, relevant and get the most eyes on the reviews of course, and I then look at the pics others post and like them, in hopes that hey will look and like the ones I have posted or even follow. Pretty basic method of growing a viewer base. Well, I also look at the hashtags that those people use, and I saw an interesting one – #lechon. Wasn’t sure what Lechon was, so I looked at a bunch of people’s pictures and found that it was roast whole pig. I decided to take this to YouTube and have a look. After perusing quite a few, I found this video about how Cebu Lechon is made. I’ve never tried this, but I think I would love to give it a taste someday. Anyways, enjoy and Happy Black Friday! ...see full post

#1513: MAMA Instant Noodles Tom Yum Pork Flavour

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Last night was my son’s teacher conference. I remember when I was a kid – I always dreaded these, knowing I’d probably get a lecture or something. Well, I am proud to say my son is doing absolutely wonderful in school this year. He’s had some problems in the past, but they look to have really gone by the wayside and I couldn’t be prouder of him. We love you, Andy – keep up the good work! You rock! ...see full post

#1502: JinMaiLang Artificial Pork Flavor Noodles

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JinMaiLang is an interesting brand. I’ve found their logo on a lot of seasoning sachets that are in different branded packaging – Golden Wheat comes to mind first. This is known as ‘private labeling’.’ Basically, say I wanted to have a The Ramen Rater brand instant noodles, but I didn’t want to have a factory. I could call on a company and say ‘hey – I like this variety you make – can you make it but use these graphics for the outer packaging?’ Boom – private labeling. Usually if you see something like ‘made for [company] by [company]’ that’s a clear indicator. Anyways, these look interesting. There are certain colors that seem to be designated for different flavors where Chinese noodles are concerned. Chicken is yellow, beef is red, seafood is blue and pork is green. Also, purple seems to be the color of sauerkraut! Anyways – let’s check this one by JinMaiLang out! ...see full post

#1496: Master Kong Mianba Pork Ribs Flavor Instant Noodles

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Here’s another one sent by a kind reader in Sweden! Thank you! Master Kong is really popular in China and what surprises me is that there are no places that I’ve seen that you can get their products here in the United States. Luckily, people send them to me from time to time, but it seems to me that I really need to figure out a way to contact them and do a Meet The Manufacturer with them. The Chinese consume billions of packages of instant noodles a year and I’ve never done a Chinese Meet The Manufacturer yet! It’s about time. Well, let’s check out these pork ribs Master Kong instant noodles! ...see full post

#1485: Nongshim Spicy Tonkotsu Noodle Soup

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Here’s a new one and it’s made here in the United States. Yep – there’s a Nongshim plant here in the US! I was able to visit them a couple years ago and it’s really neat – if you get a chance, you should check out their plant tours! Tonkotsu is a very standard variety of Japanese ramen, however this one’s got a spicy twist to it. Usually tonkotsu broth is made with pork bones that are boiled for a long time and this one does in fact contain pork. Let’s have a look! ...see full post

#1364: Golden Wheat Korean Style Stew Pork Flavour Noodle Soup

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Today we have a big bowl of noodles! These were found up in Canada for my birthday trip – last year. I must say that the shelf life of instant noodles is really quite amazing and helpful – especially when I review one every day. I’ve got quite a lot of instant noodles here, which should be no surprise! I remember in November of 2012 – I was in a bit of a panic. I did a bunch of re-reviews and had a real problem finding new varieties. Then boom – found tons and got a bunch sent to me. Anyways, let’s have a look at this big pork bowl! ...see full post