I’ll admit when I first saw the packaging, I thought this stuff was called Spaz! I kind of wish it was as that would be exceedingly humorous, but I digress… This is Tarako Spaghetti; so what is tarako? Wikipedia tells us:
Tarako (鱈子?), in Japanese cuisine, is a salted roe food, usually made from Alaska pollock,[1] although tara (鱈?) actually means cod in Japanese.
Tarako is served in a number of ways:
- Plain (usually for breakfast)[2]
As a filling for onigiri
As a pasta sauce (usually with nori)
So I’m guessing we’re talking the last on that list. My son Andy picked this one to try today – a very adventurous choice considering he tends to gravitate towards chicken flavor almost exclusively; tarako sounds interesting. Let’s have a look under the hood of this big bowl of noodles!
Detail of the side panels (click image to enlarge). As far as containing meat, I’m guessing there’s fish involved but I’m not sure. To prepare, take everything out and then put the noodles in. Add boiling water for 1 minute then drain. Add liquid and powder sachets and stir. Garnish with seaweed. Enjoy!
Here’s detail of the lid (click image to enlarge).
A fresh noodle pouch.
Powder base sachet.
Has a seafood taste kind of like kamaboko. Since Andy really likes kamaboko, I think I might throw some in there as a garnish for him.
The liquid ingredient sachet.
Guessing this is oil and the tarako.
A garnish sachet perhaps?
Little strips of seaweed.
Finished (click image to enlarge). Added some kamaboko. The noodles cooked really quick – only a minute, basically just heating them up. They had a nice texture as one would expect from spaghetti. The flavor was pretty good – had a strong seafood kind of flavor and a slight greasiness from the liquid sachet content. The seaweed strips were much better than I expected here; they complimented and were enjoyable. Andy liked it – not as much as his chicken noodles, but still he liked them. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 4902105216163.
This is a pretty weird TV commercial for Nissin Spa王.
