noodception

Tomorrow or Friday, I'll be trying to make something that I've been wanting to try for a long, long time: keto noodles. Not just any keto noodles—because God knows I've tried and failed with them before (go laugh at some failures here)—but the Keto Asian Flavours noods that went viral a couple years ago. This will involve dipping a toe into the wacky world of molecular gastronomy, but it won't be as difficult as all that: it's mainly a matter of having all the right ingredients and putting them together carefully. There's a runny noodle solution instead of regular pasta dough, and as is typical with molecular gastronomy, there'll be a chemical bath into which you squirt the solution, which instantly solidifies into noodles. Here's the viral video that started it all for a ton of keto-heads:

This is the weird, dark, chemical-y side of keto, very different from the naturalistic, almost paleo side that preaches eating your ingredients in their most unprocessed state.

If these noodles work out, I will then move on to sheets for keto lasagna. Meanwhile, I can use my successful noods to make different types of spaghetti (ragù, alle vongole, carbonara, etc.), and maybe even learn how to make proper ramen. As far as I know, Korean ramyeon involves little more than a flavor packet, but my astute readers can correct me on that if there really is a Korean tradition of "old-school" ramyeon, whatever that might mean. I suspect that ramyeon is imported from Japan and bastardized (ah—Wikipedia says it's originally Chinese or Chinese-inspired). Korea now arguably corners the market when it comes to packaged instant noodles while Japan represents the classic, handmade dish, with its long-boiled and well-strained broth, its tare, and its assorted meats, veggies, and jewels of fat. If Koreans make classic, handmade ramyeon, will someone please let me know?