Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Textured Tuesday ... Not


Okay, I promised I'd try dried ramen noodles. I did. 
I've now  been there, returned, and do not plan to go back.
First off, I bought this package at Walmart
for the grand sum of 28 cents. People always say
they shop at that place because they save 
so much money. I can buy a similar product at my
neighborhood Kroger for 25 cents, or 5 packages for $1.

This package was, as you can see "shrimp flavor."
I followed the instructions which said to bring 2 cups of 
water to the boil then drop in noodles and cook,
stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat,
stir in contents of the flavoring packet, AKA
"shrimp flavor," and allow to set for 1 minute.

The dried noodles before cooking resembled a section 
of badly knit Shetland sweater, afterwards they looked like 
sections of unwoven chain link fencing (I forgot to take 
their "after" picture) in chicken broth. They tasted 
like chicken noodle soup, too, albeit the dried Lipton Soups 
version of chicken noodle soup I knew from childhood.

The contents of the package was intended to produce 
2 one-cup servings. I measured out 1 cup then put 
the remainder into the garbage. The taste 
was inoffensive and tasted nothing at all like shrimp. 
It was very filling, so I can completely understand 
why so many people on limited incomes eat the 
ramen noodles; they are cheap and filling, but not 
very nutritional. The noodles are made from 
"enriched wheat flour" with not a trace of rice. 
Of the soup base ingredients, the first 
one listed was salt, then 16 ingredients later 
there appeared "lobster and shrimp flavors."


One cup of noodles and broth have 190 calories,
less than 1 gram of fiber, and 790 mg of salt 
(approximately 1/3 of one's daily allotment.)

5 comments:

dive said...

Good God, that's a horror story, Speedway. I'm glad I'd finished my breakfast before I read it.
Their price reminds me of the line in Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters":
'Like a Sunday in TJ,
It's cheap but it's not free …"
I doubt you can pick up the same things you might pick up in Tijuana from these noodles but I'm pretty certain I wouldn't want to put them in my mouth. I wonder what "lobster and shrimp flavors" are made from. On this side of the pond manufacturers are not allowed to say things like that; they have to list the full chemical soup, which is most off-putting.
Many thanks for your educational post. I shall be queasy all day thinking of it. Hee hee.
Oh, and maruchan means "circle-friend" though it can also mean "full-friend" whic might reflect the bloated feeling from all that powdered weirdness in your tummy.

Speedway said...

All of the ingredients were listed on the label - all chemical-ly sounding and horrific. The "seasoning packet" for the flavor/soup had a list about 16 items long w/salt listed first and "lobster and shrimp flavors" 16th. The little pkt amounted to, at best, about a tsp. At least the chicken soup mix of my childhood had little bits of parsley flakes to add color, if not flavor.

"Full-friend," huh? Well given the quality of the product I'd say a coarser interpretation of "circle friend" might br appropriate.

dive said...

Whenever I see a list of ingredients on processed food I try to visualise them as little teaspoon-sized heaps all in a line on the table in front of me and then ask myself "Do I really want to put these in my mouth?"

lin said...

Why would you want to try these things? Your have gourmet taste-- what on earth possessed you?

Speedway said...

Hahaha, Lin! Thank you for the compliment, but I also have a ramen noodle budget. Besides, it all started a few posts back, when I mentioned something about ramen noodles w/crickets for a teen-ager bird being weaned by his mother.

Damn things were just nothing but tummy-filler, no real food value.