Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Okay, I (Chris) am an idiot - dried spaghetti does not use egg. I'm personally only familiar with the process of making fresh pasta (and only a small subset, at that). Steph always fact-checks the VOs, but generally trusts that I know what I'm talking about re western food. I should've thought to double check but I didn't. Apologies. 2. Note that this technique is only a 'fix' for noodle soups that follow the 'assembly' method, as you don't want those soup to get starchy. If you're using the 'direct cooking' method (ala Huimian, Qiangguomian), there's not really too much of a spaghetti problem at all - just boil the sucker for longer (after all, Minestrone seems to handle itself just fine). For more information about the different styles of noodle souping, check out our post over on Substack (free, as always): chinesecookingdemystified.substack.com/p/noodle-soup-101 3. For this dish then? When it comes noodle choices, of course you can use whatever you want. Dry, fresh, frozen, they would all work. Just follow the same precook - rinse - and braise process, and adjust the braising time accordingly. Traditionally, people usually like to braise it on the longer side for maximum absorbtiveness, with a softer and puffier noodle texture. 4. There’re also a lot of variations for soup bases. The one we showed in the video is a classic home style base that’s quick to whip up. The “small yellow croaker with snow vegetable” is THE classic braised noodle soup base around Shanghai, while in Yangzhou you’d often see a mix of wood ear, puffed pork skin, quail eggs, vegetable, sometimes sausage, and stock. So in this sense, feel free to whip up your own base. The other day we made a spicy red braised beef base (showed at the beginning of the video), and one day for lunch I made a quick baitang (white soup) base with napa cabbage, fish balls, tofu, and stock, also great. So if you want to make a kimchi base? Go for it. Miso? Why not? Thai green curry, of course it’ll be tasty. In a word, this is a technique that can help you noodle-soupify and “enter flavor” any soup base you like. 5. Oh! As promised, recipe for said 'small yellow croaker with snow vegetable' is here. Legit, with English subs: kzitem.info/news/bejne/za2qxY6Vg4Z3no4 6. An interesting titbit about how (some) Chinese people view spaghetti (and pasta by extention). Pasta is very available at the imported food section at supermarkets in China. It’s something that people would buy, but it’s also something that most people - especially the older generation - don’t really know how to handle. I’ve heard some older people complained about spaghetti being really hard and they need to presoak it in cool water for a couple hours before cooking it (I was also shocked when hearing that treatment). I think this does show the inherent “hardness” of spaghetti in the context of an Asian soup. And I wish I know about this technique back then and I can tell them how to fix the “hardness”. 7. Then why not just stick with Chinese or Asian noodles you may ask. Well? Because... spaghetti and pasta are tasty, got a great texture, a relatively low GI for the workout crowd, and abroad at least might just be the only noodle you have. That's all for now :)
@andersonomo597
22 күн бұрын
7. You forgot CHEAP and shelf stable! Great video BTW!! THANKS!
@santojorge
22 күн бұрын
some italian longer pasta shapes like spaghetti are made with eggs though, and they might just be better subs for asian noodles than spaghetti, and just as easy to come across in the west. tagliatelle/linguine, spaghettoni alla chitarra and capelli d'angelo are all less dense and more permissive in absorbing flavours than spaghetti, and when fresh do not need to be boiled for nearly as long. you can absolutely assemble a noodle soup by throwing in fresh tagliatelle after 2 or 3 minutes of cooking, and capelli d'angelo are probably one of the very few long pasta shapes you will find naturally used in soup dishes in italy already (them and su filindeo both, but proper su filindeu is so hard to come across you'd be better off resourcing the proper noodles your dish requires for, and making it from scratch is absolutely out of the question)
@santojorge
22 күн бұрын
also, i am putting myself in danger by saying this, but i have a feeling for lasagna sheets being a surprisingly okay cheat code for pretend-biangbiang noodles. if anyone reading attempts this, you did not hear this from me.
@tktyga77
22 күн бұрын
So those could make for nice biang biang mian in a pinch? I did happen to come across Chinese inspired lasagna using the latter mianshi kind just now among other dishes
@olivier2553
22 күн бұрын
In France, it was common that all the brands of dried pasta advertised they were made with so much fresh eggs. I don't know if the rules about false advertising has changed that. So if you were submitted to that same brainwashing as a kid, the error is understandable. I only learned about the so called eggs in my 60's.
@ThePieMaster219
22 күн бұрын
So this is a trick from a Korean youtuber that, me living in Italy and not having access to Asian noodles like I used to back in North America or South Korea, I decided to just give a go. Basically soaking spaghetti in a water solution with cooked baking soda/sodium carbonate to a 1L to 4-5 grams of the stuff for about 4~ hours, then emptying the solution into the pot with more water and boiling the pasta for around 3-4 minutes. I tried this method on dishes like Taiwanese beef noodles, ramen, chow mein/yakisoba, to jajangmyeon. I sometimes switched noodles from spaghetti to other types of noodles (would not suggest using the egg noodles tbh but up to people's tastes) like linguine. It actually worked quite well enough that it's my go-to method for anything Asian-noodles related. Of course it isn't perfect but believe me when I say it's a jack of all trades for when one can't find Asian noodles around.
@aeolia80
21 күн бұрын
I was looking for a comment like this! Because I lived in Korea too, and I was told to just use baking soda in the cooking water to make spaghetti more like "Asian" noodles
@Xzhh_
21 күн бұрын
This trick afaik, helps with making the texture of spaghetti springy, which is not necessarily what the video is about. Still a good thing to know though.
@caseygreyson4178
21 күн бұрын
@@Xzhh_yes, this video is about helping spaghetti absorb flavor of soups rather than sauces. The baking soda hack is used for texture.
@lHenry97
21 күн бұрын
In my experience just throwing the soda in the cooking water already does a lot! I lived in Norway for a Year and, since any noodle but pasta was hard to come by there, this was basically the way I got a noodle texture that was more appropriate for soups and stir fries.
@deetlebee
20 күн бұрын
I've even just added baking soda to my water as it boils to get it closer to ramen-like. 10/10
@13Luk6iul
22 күн бұрын
I once had a roommate from szechuan in Germany. He was a big proponent of cooking with what‘s easily availiable. He made delicious chinese food with spaghetti and olive oil :)
@wnose
21 күн бұрын
@@13Luk6iul that's how chop suey in America and chifa in Peru got started
@XxZarionxX
21 күн бұрын
Trying to cook "what you know from home" while "working with what you got" is probably the origin of a very significant portion of established dishes all over the world and also frequently a topic on this channel. Once you "improvise" often enough, it just becomes its own dish I guess. I love to try and recreate "authentic" cooking, but if everyone was doing that all the time, we would have missed out on a ton of delicious stuff.
@KhanhTheLearner
21 күн бұрын
I am also a proponent of clearing my kitchen often before restocking it with new grocery. When I was in Japan, one time I was left with only a packet of udon and a packet of carbonara sauce and I was like why not. I tried it and never went back. Udon fit with pasta sauces so well. But I always felt like the Italians were gonna murder me any second. I felt so validated when I later heard a chef vouching for udon as a viable pasta substitute.
@SolWake
20 күн бұрын
@@XxZarionxX Exactly. One of the most beloved tacos, Al Pastor, was created from Lebanese immigrants wanting to make shawarma with what they had around. I used to be very "authentic" driven as a reaction to all the bastardized/bland western adaptations of eastern food. But now I understand those foods less as "unauthentic" and more as just bad food/poorly thought out recipes. There is lots of "unauthentic" food now that's absolutely delicious because people understand more diverse ingredients better now and know how to use them together.
@mollymillions6586
20 күн бұрын
I find olive oil is a lot more versatile than cooking shows tell you, even extra virgin. Sure it's not ideal and you need to respect the smoke point, but in a pinch it'll replace butter or neutral oil and nobody will notice. It even adds a pleasant undertone to some cakes.
@caryeverett8914
21 күн бұрын
The closest translation for Ruwei is probably Infusion. In western cooking we will talking about infusing flavors into different ingredients. Not a perfect match but probably the closest match.
@moist_onions
8 күн бұрын
Saturation is what id translate it to, it’s the ability to soak into food based on time and the chemical composition of food
@daryabeygi
Күн бұрын
No, we talk about flavors melding and marrying.
@redflags6583
22 күн бұрын
Ruwei has a similar concept in Filipino cooking - nuot. Slow cooking, braising, marinating, etc. serves to make the flavors seep in - nanunuot. And yeah, there's no direct translation in English but it's generally a cooking concept people are familiar with.
@arlynnecumberbatch1056
21 күн бұрын
im filipino and i barely even hear that word anywhere-
@harrypimentel2247
21 күн бұрын
My mother is Filipino and she used this technique. Back in the 60s- early 70s , to make “ Misua” she would adapt spaghetti noodles with the technique that Chris described in the video. She would make pancit using spaghetti noodles.
@asinglefrenchfry2983
21 күн бұрын
@@arlynnecumberbatch1056Wdym? We hear it all the time in advertisements, “nanunuot ang sarap” roughly translates to “the deliciousness is seeping in”.
My observation of spaghetti noodles is that they're only suitable for hearty, hefty sauces, which isn't really a thing Chinese food does. That goes even for Western food too - there's just something wrong about chicken noodle soup made with spaghetti.
@heshuimu
22 күн бұрын
This does give me an idea that Tomato & Egg or Beijing-style Zhajiang (Fried Sauce) would just be a Chinese Marinara or a Bolognese. Haven't tried this out yet, but in theory this could work!
@TheButterMinecart1
22 күн бұрын
Nah Chinese food definitely has hearty sauces. They're usually paired with much thicker noodles though.
@ampersand64
22 күн бұрын
spaghetti might not go well with thin soups, but other pasta shapes can! Orzo, shells, and macaroni are perfect for soups, and classic in american cooking.
@GerryIsNear
22 күн бұрын
@@ampersand64 yeah, there's definitely hong kong style macaroni noodle soup. (which i sometimes make with shell, or even rice macaroni or rice ovalettes)
@bloodangel13
22 күн бұрын
My mom used to make chicken noodle soup with spaghetti and I think what she does is break the noodles as small as humanly possible and she would let it soak in the broth after cooking and it turned out fine.
@Anonymous-cv8gy
22 күн бұрын
I'm just in awe of how in the thumbnail, the spaghetti lines up perfectly and neatly around the chopstick
@Zarai_Numbers
7 күн бұрын
That's the only reason why I clicked on it
@Nuno1137
21 күн бұрын
1) yes there are dried spaghetti that use egg, we still call "fresh pasta" in Italy, but it can be dried and stored in packages; 2) We use that technique a lot in Italy, it is called "mantecatura" and it is usually used to finish a pasta dish. It is sometimes called "risottatura" referring to risotto, because the finishing is similar to a risotto, but without the need of butter and parmiggiano cheese.
@NateyC214
21 күн бұрын
As a Canadian, we use it all the time too we just call it blanching. For sure the best way to soak that sauce into the pasta.
@antoniaweber8074
14 күн бұрын
me I just thougt that is the normal way to do it.
@redjoker365
11 күн бұрын
@@NateyC214 Wild because in the US, blanching is boiling an item for a brief amount of time and then shocking it in cold water, like when you want to skin a tomato
@Beliserius1
10 күн бұрын
@@redjoker365 I have never heard of the term Blanching used in the way described here either, and I'm Canadian and having worked as a cook.
@hehe-mq2bk
9 күн бұрын
@@Beliserius1 same. Blanching is as redjoker365 described it
@supercyc10
22 күн бұрын
Uhhhmmm, actually there IS a word for ruwei in english It's called "flavor town" XD joking aside, this is looks fun to make
@sdqsdq6274
21 күн бұрын
huh ? haha , favour infused is more like it
@miaa7968
17 күн бұрын
@@sdqsdq6274 You didn't get the reference
@redjoker365
11 күн бұрын
@@sdqsdq6274 Guy Fieri didn't die on the cross for our sins to be disrespected like this
@winstonlim8
21 күн бұрын
When I was in Italy, I used angellini and spaghetti to cook noodle dishes for my friends. Basically I told them that Chinese noodles are not eaten all dente but slightly morbido, so I basically cooked the spaghetti and angellini in the soup base until they were the same hardness or softness as Chinese lar mian. That allowed the dried spaghetti to absorb the soup flavours.
@RovingPunster
22 күн бұрын
So basically you cook dried commercial semolina pasta the same as homemade alkalai noodles ... precook at least halfway in a separate pot of water, then drain, rinse, and cook the rest of the way in your soup broth to keep the flavors discrete instead of murky and also improve flavor penetration. Makes sense.
@KikoKay-Kay
22 күн бұрын
Ive been doing that for more than a year on every pasta because of Babish. He is always finishing any pasta in the sauce in his recipes. My "asian spagetti" was always decent. So i guess was aciddently doing this right 😂
@bubonic285
21 күн бұрын
that's how you're supposed to cook pasta anyway
@RovingPunster
21 күн бұрын
@@bubonic285 That's a sweeping generalization thats not completely true. Remember, we're talking about use in ASIAN SOUPS here (which almost NEVER call for western style commercial die-extruded dried pasta made from durum wheat semolina instead of the regular white flour flours used in most asian style wheat noodles (usually some high extraction bolted blend of hard white and soft white wheat). Normally, the only time precooking in a separate pot of water (before draining & finishing it in your broth) is mandatory is when you make your own fresh alkalai type noodles (if you dont the alkalai will impart a murky soapy dish water taint to your broth). For non-alkalai fresh homemade noodles, it is merely considered good technique (so that your carefully made broth doesnt turn murky), but not really mandatory. Seriously, who precooks stuff like orzo or pastini in separate water before adding to a soup, regardless of whether its western or asian ? ANSWER: ALMOST NOBODY.
@giangh1010
22 күн бұрын
I appreciate this insight! This feels like a crazy coincidence, I’m Vietnamese and me and my Italian boyfriend were just talking about this very topic last night since there are very few traditional Italian soup recipes that include pasta (pretty much only pastina and minestrone) but noodle soups are more common in East/Southeast Asian recipes. I like the explanation of rù wèi, and it’s trippy to watch a video about it right after we were discussing it lolol.
@marihagemeyer8166
21 күн бұрын
Honestly I think utensils are a huge part of this. Whereas chopsticks have been used throughout East Asia for a really long time, forks are relatively new on the scene for European food culture, so European soups are meant for spoon-only eating. Even something like a knoedel can be broken apart with a spoon. Noodle soups NEED to be eaten with chopsticks or a fork.
@ChineseCookingDemystified
20 күн бұрын
@@marihagemeyer8166 Me and Steph were talking about this too - the form factor of the noodle *really* lends itself to chopsticks well. If I'm making a spaghetti dish at home, I usually eat it with chopsticks. Just easier to eat than fork-twirling, in my opinion. I do think though that with the explosion of Sushi, Chinese food, etc in the west... because (most?) people can use chopsticks now, it can potentially give some room to get creative - wholly within western cuisines too. 'Chopstickifying' traditional western food is a really fun avenue of experimentation, imo
@dressmaking
18 күн бұрын
but Ravioli in brodo... yum!
@hehe-mq2bk
9 күн бұрын
@@marihagemeyer8166 wait true. I never realized that maybe pasta isn't used a lot in soupy dishes is because soup in Europe is usually consumed by spoon instead of fork but in Asia we can essentially eat noodles in soupy bases bc we have chopsticks !!!
@EvanEdwards
20 күн бұрын
Ruwei in English is "married" -- as in "the flavors are married well," or "leftovers will marry flavors in the fridge overnight."
@erinhowett3630
21 күн бұрын
Hey Chris- look up Yakamein. It’s also called Old Sober. It’s a staple down here in New Orleans. It’s a noodle soup that always has 4 very key ingredients: Spaghetti noodles Lots of Worcestershire in the beef broth Hard boiled eggs Lots of green onion on top Sort of like pho, sort of like beef soup, not really like anything else that exists. Excellent drinking food and excellent hangover food.
@BenjiSun
22 күн бұрын
Just a quick note: weimian is still quite commonplace throughout Jiangnan, especially it's most common variety, 菜煨麵(青菜煨面). it's always cloudy/milky and typically made with chicken stock(and chicken breast meat 嫩鸡煨面), but the fully vegetarian version is quite common among Buddhist monks along with 菜飯. It's also a common "chicken nooodle soup" for nursing people down with a bad cold/flu, or babies transitioning to solid foods/older people who don't have full use of their teeth. Baby bokchoy is our star leafy green as much as water spinach is in SE Asia. Yes, it's supposed to be mushy so a lot of people who aren't used to it might not enjoy it.
@ChineseCookingDemystified
22 күн бұрын
Yeah originally the angle here was "it's okay to have softer noodles" with a discussion on 入味, until we were like "wait... actually this general approach could solve some people's spaghetti issues". The 8-10 minutes was for the proper cooking time, 4-5 minutes was for the 'you might not like it mushy' one :)
@BenjiSun
22 күн бұрын
@@ChineseCookingDemystified i used to have an aversion to it as it was the burning heat of the noodles that doesn’t know how to cool down. it burned my mouth so many times as a child. as an adult i’ve grown to love its simplicity.
@brokenglassshimmerlikestar3407
21 күн бұрын
@@BenjiSun I'm having onion soup noodles with eggs and I just burned my mouth on it, ouch 🤣
@felixdjie5336
22 күн бұрын
My mother used to make Asian inspired spaghetti noodles soup growing up. I don't remember the exact ingredients, but she would use basic chicken stock base soup mixed in with soy sauce and corn starch. The soup , or rather the sauce would have a thicker consistency that clings to the noodles and it help carry on the flavor without waiting for the noodles to absorb the flavor of the soup. Your video brought back memories, thanks!
@kylehazachode
10 күн бұрын
Made this a few times since the video's upload date. The prep time for the broth is perfect for "no boil" spaghetti. Instead of parboiling the spaghetti, you just let it soak in room temp salted water for 1 to 1.5 hours. This gives me enough time to prep the veggies and broth. I'm gonna try this method with bucatini pasta later (hollow spaghetti). My coworker suggested soaking the pasta in dashi broth, I'll try that later in the week. The fish version you mentioned of this dish is my favorite. Perfect bachelor dish.
@mollymillions6586
20 күн бұрын
This twice boiled method is how naporitan is prepared in a lot of Japanese restaurants. They will cook the spaghetti in the morning, and then refrigerate it, and toss it into the pan with the sauce to soften further and take up the flavor.
@belac48621
22 күн бұрын
Seeing Steph try and get a bit of that monster of a Chicken Parm was perfect. Also, this is a perfect recipe break down and I'm definitely gonna try it out once I get into my new apartment.
@NexuJin
22 күн бұрын
I have done this so many times during my youth when I was living on my own and trying to save money by cooking some spaghetti al dente, washing them off, then cooking them again in a soup made from mix of leftover instant noodles flavor packages and add some baked egg and sausages on top. But the highlight in those days was to make soup base from left over Indian curry the day before.
@UraniumFire
22 күн бұрын
I like the simplicity of this dish. I have often made spaghetti soup with a tomato sauce base. I like this parboiling technique, which should leave me with more broth to noodle ratio.
@hakageryu-hz7jz
21 күн бұрын
I literally have done this for years when adding pasta to soup. Even better for storing and serving later by keeping your noodles seperate.
@justaguy6216
19 күн бұрын
*Me who always overcooks my spaghetti* "Nah nah bro I was maximising ruwei trust"
@valkyrus9740
21 күн бұрын
Talking about ways to make pasta absorb flavor, I think you should check out "Pasta all'assassina". Spaghetti are first lightly fried and then cooked inside a thick tomato broth/sauce.
@rakiyeaah
22 күн бұрын
Great video!!! In Italy we also have another type of spaghetti called "spaghettini" (-ini meaning smaller) they are thinner than regular, and personally that's why I dislike them, us Italians really love the consistency of thick pasta cooked al dente (I found it really interesting that in China this characteristic was the main problem with spaghetti😂). I don't know if they could be better for asian soups (also because I think they aren't so common outside Italy), but if you can get them I think it would be interesting to give them a try!
@dressmaking
18 күн бұрын
"Angel hair" is widely available in the US
@zblazin1
21 күн бұрын
Really wanted to thank you for this video. I don't like keeping specialty noodles in my house and so I kept trying to make broth soups and ramen with spaghetti and found the flavor too overwhelmingly starchy. Just whipped up some mayo noodles with this braising technique and it really works. You've really improved my kitchen game, thanks!
@ES1976-3
21 күн бұрын
3:50 was tooo funny but most western people aren’t gonna understand the levels of funny that was. Great editing!!! 😂😂
@sydneyfong
20 күн бұрын
TOO SIMPLE, SOMETIMES NAIVE (One of our proud Hong Kong moments....)
@EzekielDBarrett
19 күн бұрын
@@sydneyfong TOO YOUNG
@gibberishname
22 күн бұрын
1:36 DID THE DOG GET SOME NOODLE, OR MAYBE EVEN SOME MEATBALL (or whatever that was on the far side of the bowl)? I NEED HIM TO GET A TREAT LOOK AT HOW NICE HE IS ASKING
@davidray6962
21 күн бұрын
Have you ever looked at New Orleans style Yaka Mein? One of the oldest Chinese-American recipes (though it never really spread much beyond New Orleans), and it uses spaghetti as well.
@cbleslie
22 күн бұрын
"and with that, your KZitem thumbnail is done!" Looks so good 👍
@zalibecquerel3463
22 күн бұрын
I'm guessing a lot of people reading this are familiar with the technique of boiling spaghetti in an alkalised solution (maybe a teaspoon of baking soda in the cooking water), to achieve a result similar to e.g. ramen, when none is available. Although I believe that's more to do with texture, rather than "sauce absorption". Any thoughts?
@ChineseCookingDemystified
22 күн бұрын
So I tried this trick with Kan Sui once. It's... interesting. The noodles *really* swell up - to me, the final texture was a dead ringer for those packaged 车仔面 that you get at 7/11, e.g. ma.gfsuper.com/cdn/shop/files/180g_40266eff-f806-4c62-8ec4-ce22d4e2c857_1024x.png?v=1685288357 albeit a bit thicker even. I think that it would be a very good trick to get to that specific noodle texture using spaghetti (so definitely do it for your cart noodles) but I probably wouldn't want it as a universal approach? It's possible that baking soda might have a less dramatic effect.
@theanonymousmrgrape5911
12 күн бұрын
We do have a dedicated word for flavor or sauce absorption. That word is sop. As in, the breading sops up tomato sauce on a chicken parm sandwich.
@CaptainKzer
19 күн бұрын
This is an excellent tip - best I've seen from a cooking channel all week!
@justinjakeashton
22 күн бұрын
1:38 Never seen Steph with hair hair down. Wowie.
@suranumitu7734
22 күн бұрын
she looks ethereal!
@brawlstarsforlife1170
22 күн бұрын
I find it absolutely crazy that u have to do all that to get the flavour absorbed. In my own experiment, especially with the thinker spaghetti noodles, just put them directly into the soup or stock, boil the pasta with the soup, and it’s filled with all that flavour!
@varsitydanni
21 күн бұрын
OK, I know it has NOTHING to do with the content of the video (which is great and informative, as always), but STEPH'S HAIR LOOKS SO GOOD IN THIS??? I need to know her haircare routine.
@redcedarsky
22 күн бұрын
I wonder if the final result would change much using bronze cut spaghetti instead.
@DMTHOTH
21 күн бұрын
or if you cook spathetti with alkaline water(ie water with baking soda), you can make it almost like chinese egg noodle.
@volpedo2000
22 күн бұрын
Another possible contributing factor for the of Ru Wei is using pasta made with Teflon dies which gives a very smooth finish. Not sure though how easy it is to find artisan pasta made with bronze dies in South East Asia.
@matildebruneel7867
Күн бұрын
For noodle soup I always boil spaghetti in water with a 3/4 tsp baking soda (the way you would add salt) to al dente and then add it, works like a charm. I think it's a trick Alex French Guy Cooking shows in his ramen series.
@Homer-OJ-Simpson
8 күн бұрын
Oh man, that opening another spaghetti not mixing with the soup and feeling like two different things is spot on. I still use spaghetti often but only out of convenience but clearly spaghetti doesn’t mesh with soup- it meshes with sauces.
@igiveupfine
22 күн бұрын
salt difference between the soup base, and whats in the pasta noodle. osmotic reaction. a few weekends ago, i made a great pasta sauce, and after cooking the noodles MASSIVELY soaked up all of the sauce. even though it seemed too watery at 1st. i made the same recipe this past wednesday, and the noodles didn't absorb the watery sauce for crap........i had to think what i did wrong......i forgot to salt the noodles in this 2nd batch. thats what it was. in the 1st batch, i did salt the noodles, and not the sauce. so when the noodles were set in the sauce, they pulled in extra water from the sauce via osmosis, diluting the salt in the noodles. AND, were able to bring in a ton of flavor, even while off heat. so while a helpful video, i think osmosis is a bigger help here than anything, for getting more flavor into the "mostly done cooking noodles".
@robinstacpoole2667
20 күн бұрын
I have just seen yuor playlists - Huzzzah! Absolutely wonderful. Very well done indeed. I think you could bulk out your start Chinese cooking playlist into a book, but I'm past that point and really appreciate these accessible collections. Thank you CCD
@Dragonriderperson
21 күн бұрын
This is a fascinating dish, and it looks delicious. Thanks for sharing it, looking forward to trying it once the weather gets colder
@Wanriky
21 күн бұрын
Have you tried different spaghetti thicknesses? Despite the online foodies condemning angel hair pasta as the worst pasta, I usually have some on hand because it's not half bad as an asian noodle substitute. Their thinness means that they cook quicker/become a similar texture in the same amount of time and the noodles themselves "pull up" more of the sauce/broth just due to the fact that there are more strands of noodles per gram, thus more surface area/surface tension. So the flavor may still not technically be "entering", but it pretends to be because it is clinging to the surface of the noodle
@LokiScarletWasHere
18 күн бұрын
Who tf is shitting on angel hair? Hold my garlic, I'll throw hands.
@ivanxyz1
21 күн бұрын
This video answered the question I had always had in the back of my mind. Great content!
@ultimatejager4058
2 күн бұрын
It's not so distant from "risottatura", an italian cooking technique where you boil the pasta until it's aldente and then finish cooking it in a pan with the sauce and some pasta water, to let the starch make it all bind together
@markschiller5596
22 күн бұрын
I love your videos, and I was actually just wondering about how to make soup noodles with spaghetti! Just one question, should you salt the pasta cooking water as seen in the traditional western method? Why or why not? Also, I saw a technique on a different KZitem channel that called for boiling spaghetti with baking soda to emulate a Chinese or Japanese style alkaline noodle. Maybe in a future video you guys can test this and discuss the results? Thanks!
@ChineseCookingDemystified
22 күн бұрын
Not usually. The dough itself will have salt, and hopefully there'll be some flavor absorption from the dish :)
@StraylightWintermute
15 күн бұрын
I make both Italian pasta and Asian noodles from scratch and the big difference is that fresh pasta never contains salt. That's why you cook it in salted water. In the US, northern Italian cuisine is more respected because most Italian immigrants came from the south, so we get a lot of fresh egg pastas here, but pasta that is literally just flour and water is pretty common in southern Italy. Using eggs was a luxury that not everyone had, plus before factory farming, you wouldn't get many if any eggs in the winter. If I'm making linguine vs. udon, the only two things I change are whether I add salt and how thinly I roll it out.
@upside_down_01
21 күн бұрын
The trick I've been using is to just boil the spaghetti in the soup/stock from the beginning. The soup's flavor absorb into the spaghetti pretty well by doing this. If you cook it for a long enough, most of the water would be evaporated and/or absorbed by the noodle and whatever is left would be a starchy sauce that clings onto the noodle.
@mysterycharm03
10 күн бұрын
The starch is like a sponge on a pasta, makes it ideal on stews. It can absorb the entire broth.
@coffeeandshots
21 күн бұрын
Interesting concept. Two things though. I think that for those of us living in a Western country with no easy access to Asian noodles, capellini or angel hair pasta is an easier solution for soups that can handle some slight amount of clouding. Your shocking pasta under cold water also made me think of something I did to make dried pasta suitable for stir-fried noodle dishes. See, they never taste right, the bite is either too soft, or too al dente. In retrospect the solution is sort of obvious, you have to let the starch undergo retrogradation, and the bonus is that humidity still redistributes inside the pasta during the process, so that al dente core disappears without you having to boil the pasta longer and let it absorb more moisture. So, if someone ever needs to make stir-fried noodles with dried pasta instead of egg noodles, boil pasta until al dente, drain it in a colander and let the steam escape, wait for an 30 minutes until it's room temperature and all the steam as escaped, and place it in a fridge overnight. Use like yesterday's rice. In a pinch, an hour at room temperature will do. It still won't have the same texture as say, cantonese egg noodles, but it's an interesting texture that doesn't taste wrong.
@daiyadoggo
6 күн бұрын
I think this concept is applied to Italian pasta dishes. You don't exactly want sauce just on top of pasta. In some cases, it's best when slightly undercooked, then finished by putting the hot pasta straight into the sauce on another pan.
@csilkenat
13 күн бұрын
My go to option for doing spaghetti in asian soups is to cook the spaghetti the whole way in the soup. you are already going to be cooking it for a minimum of 12-15 minutes anyway, so just let it do its thing in the soup, overcook it a bit, and you get a taste, and texture, that generally gets reasonably close to a proper alkali noodle.
@caseygreyson4178
21 күн бұрын
In Japan/Brazil, we have a technique where we use baking soda to make spaghetti more alkaline. It can be used as a lazy substitute for ramen/soba!
@mtv565
20 күн бұрын
"Ru wei" can be translated as "imbued with the flavour"
@samhu5878
10 күн бұрын
Maybe choosing spaghetti was the problem. I personally prefer angel hair for any Asian soup dish, and also because it cooks in on time. I actually prefer angel hair over some of the Asian noodles as it cooks easier and don’t get sticky as easily. This is especially so because at home we don’t usually have the big pots with really hot water that can boil noodles really quickly and with a lot of space. Spaghetti is perfect for any stir fried noodle dishes as. It is dry, but texture wise, fettuccine seems to be better for some reason.
@samhu5878
10 күн бұрын
Now the flavor profile of pasta and common Chinese noodles can differ quite a bit. Most Chinese noodles is only wheat and you can taste a very clean sweet wheat flavor. Pastas often time have semolina which make the flavor different, and some Chinese noodles have a basic dough and you won’t get that with any pasta.
@petouser
19 күн бұрын
There is also a technique to make alkaline noodles from pasta by adding baking soda to the cooking water. And indeed, it gives it a chewier bite. Another technique is it to slowly rehydrate pasta in room temp water so its bite gets even more similar to fresh noodles, so it is more evenly hydrated. Also I recommend thin spaghetti called spaghettini, vermicelli or capellini (such as Barilla no 1 or 3), that due to their smaller diameter can soak the soup much better and thus are more suitable for noodle soups. For instance, I use Barilla no 3 (or other spaghettini like De Cecco no. 11) and use both techniques to make ramen for cheap. I always wondered why Asian wheat noodles and Italian pasta feel so different yet being made from the same material.
@2454605
19 күн бұрын
Love all your content especially these obscure ones! Thanks guys!
@pwnwin
17 күн бұрын
my first thought went to the way spaghetti is boiled. Thanks for the useful method.
@xakuphon3511
21 күн бұрын
You can also use baking soda in the water you cook the noodles in before rinsing to give it a more "Asian Noodle" flavor
@cefcephatus
14 күн бұрын
I never thought I could cook spaghetti in a soup with andante. Thanks.
@scottchiang7616
12 күн бұрын
Oh the old recipe book brings back memories from the 80's
@knownothing5518
18 күн бұрын
The same happens with Italian dry pasta (e.g. Spaghetti) and sauce too, which is why per Italian tradition you remove them from the water slightly before they reach the desired consistency to then finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. In contrast to this video however, an Italian pasta sauce can benefit from the starchy water by adding a little of it to the sauce. Mantecatura. For this to work however, the pasta needs to be of good quality (just semolina and water, slowly dried at a low temperature) to carry the needed amount of starch.
@Eldagusto
14 күн бұрын
Ahh I noticed this problem and i would just stir fry with spaghetti but braising them is a brilliant idea!
@gogogaga7441
17 күн бұрын
"Unlike pasta?" Having worked in a kitchen, I can say that we always rinsed our pasta in cool water to stop the cooking and rinse off the starch. And then cooking a second time, if making a sauce-heavy dish, was normal as well.
@fortreimratada
21 күн бұрын
her hair is looking so good!!!! vietnam is lookin good on yall
@hubertporowski8967
22 күн бұрын
So cool, I always wondered why it does not come together. Thanks for the fix!
@ninharry5710
20 күн бұрын
This is awesome, I was trying to figure out how to finish up the spaghetti i bought but i dont wanna to cook it the western way. This video helps a lot!
@andrewgundlach4300
21 күн бұрын
My favorite Thai place in my hometown did Pad Kee Mao with Spaghetti. I always loved it a lot for that dish
@dimasakbar7668
21 күн бұрын
boiling pasta w/ the broth is basically why "pasta e fagioli" taste so good. I guess making it with half done pasta is similar, without the broth thickening effect
@premierfong
8 күн бұрын
we eat those for 7th day of CNY. Sweet soup plus spaghetti.
@Potato-pn8sg
13 күн бұрын
Haha, I really wish we had a good word for 'ru wei', I've known that finishing pasta with the sauce made it better, but I don't think I ever thought about why until you brought it up!
@jaqssmith1666
2 сағат бұрын
infuse.
@jammy008
11 күн бұрын
Another method for somebody to try. What about pan frying the spaghetti with a small amount of water? a bit like the italian dish spaghetti all'assassina. The searing can create bubbles & pockets on the surface of the spaghetti. Which, I assume, could help to improve the spaghettis ability to wick up the soup.
@aoeuable
13 күн бұрын
Two notes: The usual spaghetti you get at a supermarket are pressed through teflon dies and thus extraordinarily smooth -- that's not a sign of quality, but of cheap production methods. Bronze-cut pasta will have not necessarily better overall absorption (still nothing but durum wheat), but much much improved sticktoitness. Then, have a look at spaghetti all'assassina, which throws away the usual Italian technique, you're cooking the noodles in the sauce, from brittle to smooth. Forget al dente when going that route, but flavour absorption is 100% and as (with all'assassina) you're constantly letting the sauce run dry before adding some more you get roast aromas and some crispiness on the outside. Don't try in an iron pan though it's a prolonged tomato situation which will completely strip the patina. Not entirely dissimilar, if you look into the direction of Germany (not sure about the Italians), noodles in soup aren't exactly uncommon -- they're usually quite small, intended to be spooned, and get also fully cooked in the soup. Basically the modern equivalent of mix up some semolina and egg and drizzle it into the soup to form small pearls. Oh, third note: Egg in pasta is absolutely not unheard of. Even in dry pasta. Dried pasta is traditionally a southern Italian thing, they have the climate to dry pasta outside, while the north is fresh noodle territory, usually made with egg. Nowadays, fewer people are making pasta from scratch (even Italians) and the northerners very much appreciate some egg in their pasta. I mean cutting some tagliatelle is no biggie even without a pasta machine but the more complex shapes are just lots and lots of work.
@solath
21 күн бұрын
An old mid-western college dish - par-boil spaghetti, drain, add jarred spaghetti sauce and simmer until nearly all the sauce had been absorbed by the noodles.
@TheHabadababa
21 күн бұрын
There are amazing pasta options for soup, broken spaghetti work in a pinch. Generally for soup style pasta the shape should be spoonable. I really like Conchiglie since their shape allows them to hold a bean and some small vegetable pieces inside making for a fantastic vegetable soup even in a very light broth. The only problem I have with finishing the pasta in the soup is that it gets really soggy if you don't finish it that day so I tend to save some soup first before finishing the pasta.
@firenter
22 күн бұрын
Hah, I instantly guessed what you were up to! Great recipe for a quick and simple soup too!
@huathebard
22 күн бұрын
There’s a technique of boiling spaghetti in alkaline water, usually from adding a bit of baking soda. It results in much bouncier noodles, somewhat like the texture of ramen, but thicker. I wonder if combining the two techniques might yield something good.
@tommiewan8206
21 күн бұрын
Sichuanese liangmian cold noodles with spaghetti is actually pretty good. You want a firmer type of noodle that doesn't stick when cooked and not too ruwei since the seasonings are super strong
@franie1210
22 күн бұрын
never seems to amaze me how diverse chinese cooking is
@1moon-q4y
22 күн бұрын
its an amalgamation of 1 billion people,ofc
@mattymattffs
21 күн бұрын
It's many different cultures that likely should really be separate countries
@aminboumerdassi2334
21 күн бұрын
*ceases
@HecklersOhlin
21 күн бұрын
I saw a hack on WayofRamen's channel where you add baking soda to the cook water of the pasta, it increases the PH of the water helping the pasta get that springy texture you'd get in Chinese aklini style noodle, also I use capellini/angel hair as a perfect substitute for wonton noodles cooked using the same method.
@buglepong
22 күн бұрын
well its the same idea you mentioned about finishing pasta with the sauce. ideally pasta is somewhat undercooked in the salted water before combining with the sauce and some of the water until the pasta is al dente.
@pencilicefire
21 күн бұрын
During the pandemic my family couldn’t get any of the Chinese dried noodles so we opted for the angel hair pasta as substitute. This be interesting try to partially cook the pasta and finish it in the broth
@chrisdays5479
10 күн бұрын
In philippines, the visayan dialect for "ru wei" is "tuhop" meaning deeply infused flavour.
@pm6828
21 күн бұрын
Everyone talking about spaghetti being mid and I'm over here using the classic Mexican technique of adding chicken bullion powder to make everything better. Just add it to your pasta water before boiling and your noodles will taste much better. It may not be a perfect match depending on your flavor profile, but it's the laziest way to get really tasty spaghetti.
@VladSuperKat
20 күн бұрын
You just put the water add the carrots in big rondels, basil or tomatoes from the start with the water and add the pasta when it boils. It stops the pasta from overcooking. Also use minimum pasta with minimum 13 grams of protein. Italians say 14 but that is overkill and very expensive. You can also use less water and add the tomatoe sauce when you want to slow the cooking process of the pasta. If the tomato sauce has lots of pesky tomato skins than add it from the start with the carrots and add chilli flakes, curry with turmeric 50-50 with 7-10 beads of allspice to break them faster this also works with meat in stews so you can make it tender in half the time.
@Omnis2
22 күн бұрын
The word you're looking for in English for Ru Wei would be "permeated." Spaghetti doesn't go in soups or stews. You would use small shapes that have a lot of surface area exposed to the broth-- ditalini, pastina, acini pepe, orzo, etc.
@ProfX501
22 күн бұрын
“Permeated” is tooootally a word people commonly use to describe food 🙄 Yeah no shit spaghetti doesn’t usually go in soups or stews. That’s literally the premise of the video.
@asynchronicity
21 күн бұрын
@@ProfX501Rude
@snowparody
19 күн бұрын
@@ProfX501 rude
@桜場娃夜
22 күн бұрын
入味 is an amazing concept, it explains so many things about the coherence of a meal. Thanks for teaching that! Also, couldn't you cook the spaghetti from the start in the soup? It would cloud it and the starch would thicken it for sure. But it would also help the noodles to 入the 味 of the soup.
@SuLokify
15 күн бұрын
You can get some similar mileage from spaghetti cold soaking it in ash water (or baking soda) until it's half soft then finishing it in the soup itself
@SuLokify
15 күн бұрын
Or I mean, lye and a damn good rinse
@Carloshache
20 күн бұрын
Lol, it's cute that Asians struggle with spaghetti in soup, while most Italians practially never use this shape of pasta in soups. In modern Italian cuisine, mostly very small pasta shapes are used for all soups (such as pasta in brodo, minestra, pasta e fagioli and more). If you use a noodle type of pasta they are smaller and lighter type such as "tagiolini", actually more similar to softer Chinese noodles. Ravioli or tortellini is traditionally used for pasta served in broth.
@zZ38PYB50guA9PUuDhAI
18 күн бұрын
Now I can add Pasta into my favorite Asian soups. Thanks
@OguraToasty
4 күн бұрын
A way I've seen a korean guy do it is he soaks the spaghetti until it is soft, then quickly blanches it and then into ice water
@edatthegovernance
22 күн бұрын
Hmm. Reminds me of stewed udon in Japan. My friend made that once, in a claypot with a red miso braise and offal (he was teaching me about the hormon cooking tradition). Delicious.
@reploid123
20 күн бұрын
Finishing the pasta in the sauce. very revolutionary 🙄
@garyheisepainting5426
21 күн бұрын
Isn’t this basically the way the Italians eat spaghetti anyway? My Italian friends insist on cooking spaghetti until barely al dente, then adding it to the sauce without rinsing, so that the spaghetti then absorbs more of the sauce flavor.
@andrewkrahn2629
21 күн бұрын
It could also make a difference how the spaghetti is extruded. From Italian cooking, the cheaper noodles made using teflon dies are very smoothe and don't grab the sauce much. The ones made using older brass dies have a bit more tooth to their surface, and absorb/hold the sauce better. I could see that affecting how they are in soup too?
@tokiliam6015
21 күн бұрын
This might be a bit of a stretch, but the comparison to bread in the beginning made me question if the existence of bread is basically what made spaghetti become a firmer, less absorbing type of noodles. There is no need for pasta to absorb soup flavour if soups are commonly eaten with bread. Also, tomato based sauces are usually thicker and might stick better to pasta, whereas other types of sauces are emulsified using cheese or egg and therefore cling to the noodles well enough.
@wideeyedraven15
22 күн бұрын
I am just curious: do people who have shellfish allergies find it acceptable to ask for food without it? Like do chinese vendors just laugh and say, bro, I am not dealing with your allergies cause the best stuff in here is dried shrimp and scallops, find a Buddhist shop…? I have just had these allergies creep up on me and it’s so terrible
@sharpphilip
22 күн бұрын
There’s an odd series of restaurants called “Hash House A Go Go.” I first encountered them in San Diego. There was a location in the Plaza Hotel of "old Vegas" fame (they've since moved to LINQ in Vegas, I think). Anyway, some ten years ago, I had a dish I'd swear was called "farmer's pasta" at that old Plaza Hotel location. It was one of the best things I'd ever eaten-but I never managed to find the dish again. I'd swear it was basically al dente spaghetti island in a shallow pond of vaguely American-style chicken broth, served with some other tasty accoutrement, like a salty/garlicky lattice-shaped wafer-thin cracker that looked like it’d been made on a waffle iron, as I recall. But, I've never found a recipe for "farmer's pasta" described even remotely that way. Looking for “spaghetti on broth” has been hopeless, too. I suppose I could be misremembering either the dish or its name-but it left a strong impression, and I'm really bummed to have never found anything close. Anyway, when I saw the thumbnail and title for this video, it took me straight back to that dish. I wonder whether I can use these techniques to reverse-engineer this elusive dish based on a decade-old memory.
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