Tag Archives: vinegar

Meet The Manufacturer: #3079: Fu Chung Village Dry Noodles With Sauce – Spicy Sichuan Pepper With Vinegar – Taiwan

Here’s the first of a trio from Fu Chung – a spicy Sichuan variety with vinegar. No doubt this includes Sichuan pepper. Now, it’s not like a fleshy chili pepper – it’s a peppercorn. Here’s a little about Sichuan pepper flavor from Wikipedia –

Sichuan pepper’s unique aroma and flavour is not hot or pungent like black, white, or chili peppers. Instead, it has slight lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth (caused by its 3% of hydroxy alpha sanshool) that sets the stage for hot spices. According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking, they are not simply pungent; “they produce a strange, tingling, buzzing, numbing sensation that is something like the effect of carbonated drinks or of a mild electric current (touching the terminals of a nine-volt battery to the tongue). Sanshools appear to act on several different kinds of nerve endings at once, induce sensitivity to touch and cold in nerves that are ordinarily nonsensitive, and so perhaps cause a kind of general neurological confusion.”

I think this is a very apt description of what Sichuan pepper is like. Let’s give this a try!

Fu Chung Village Dry Noodles With Sauce – Spicy Sichuan Pepper With Vinegar – Taiwan

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add noodle block to a large pot of boiling water. After one minute, separate noodles gently. Continue cooking 5~6 minutes. Drain. Add wet sachet contents. Finally, stir and enjoy!

One of the four included packages.

The noodle block.

The first of two wet sachets.

A dark liquid.

The second of two wet sachets.

A seasoned oil with a Sichuan peppery scent.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added Fu Chung Minced Pork & Scallion Sauce, scallions, Salad Cosmo mung bean sprouts, and soft egg. The noodles are just great – flat, broad, just right. An apt balance in the flavor as well – not overuse of anything – works very well. 4.5 out of 5.0 stars. As for the sauce, I’m really happy with that – meaty and savory – if I were to score it I’d give it a 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 6710887929894.

Home Comforts Peel-n-Stick Poster Taiwan Tainan Children Strawberry Ice Summer Poster 24X16

Watch me make this on Instant Noodle Recipe Time!

#2963: Kiki Noodles Mixed With Young Vinegar

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Recently, I had the chance to try Kiki’s aged variety and liked it quite a bit. I really don’t know much about vinegar to be honest. Here’s a little about it from Wikipedia –

Vinegar is a liquid consisting of about 5–20% acetic acid (CH₃COOH), water (H₂O), and trace chemicals that may include flavorings. Acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria.^[1] It is now mainly used as a cooking ingredient, or in pickling.

As the most easily manufactured mild acid, it has historically had a wide variety of industrial, medical, and domestic uses. Some of these are still commonly practiced, such as its use as a household cleaner.

Chinese black vinegar is an aged product made from rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, or a combination thereof. It has an inky black color and a complex, malty flavor. There is no fixed recipe, so some Chinese black vinegars may contain added sugar, spices, or caramel color. The most popular variety, Zhenjiang vinegar, originates in the city of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province, eastern China.^[17] Shanxi mature vinegar is another popular type that is made exclusively from sorghum and other grains. Nowadays in Shanxi province, there are still some traditional workshops producing handmade varieties which are aged for at least five years with a high acidity. Only the varieties made in Taiyuan and some counties in Jinzhong and aged for at least three years is considered authentic Shanxi mature vinegar according to the latest national standard. A somewhat lighter form of black vinegar, made from rice, is produced in Japan, where it is called kurozu.

Okay, so that’s a lot of info about vinegar. When I was in Taiwan in November 2017, I saw a booth at a food expo with different vinegars and people sipping on it. As it turns out, there’s such a thing as drinking vinegar too – one just made to drink! Fascinating. Well, let’s check out this unique variety from Taiwan!

Kiki Noodles Mixed With Young Vinegar – Taiwan

A distributor’s/import label (click to enlarge). This one is for Hong Kong.

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, add noodles to a pot of boiling water and cook for 3~5 minutes. Drain. Add in sachet contents. Finally, stir and enjoy!

One of the five packs inside.

Here’s the back of the package (click to enlarge).

The noodle block.

The first of two liquid sachets.

Oil and soy I’m guessing.

The second sachet.

The young stuff.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added scallions, sliced chashu pork and nanami togarashi. The noodle is just great – love this style of noodle. Great chew and mouthfeel. Gauge is on point too. They work well with the flavoring – young vinegar definitely isn’t as pungent or strong – and it works well here. A nice flavor all around with a touch of heat and a little ginger back. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 4713302680035.

Rilakkuma Pottery Ramen Noodles Bowl W/ Spoon

Okay so what you’re seeing here is noodles that have just come off a conveyor belt being folded and set on a tray that will go either into a big facility with fans that dry them or out into a sunny day that dries them. I went to a factory two years ago that did the latter and I tried to fold these noodles and I’ll tell you one thing – it’s not as easy as it looks. This shot is very slow – people who do this for a living literally fold these at a million miles an hour – super fast motion that they could probably do with their eyes closed.

A New Thai Chili Sauce From Apinya Thai Food Co.!

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I saw something about a Thai chili sauce mentioned on my favorite hot sauce group on facebook recently. It got me wondering if it would be something that could be an alternative to the standard big bottle of Sriracha that I usually go for. I tracked down the company and asked if they could possibly send a sample – a few days later, it arrived!

First off, the bottle is interesting – it has a little flip up spout like you would find on a shampoo bottle – but its similarieties to shampoo immediately halt on a dime right there. This stuff is excellent! First off, the second ingredient after peppers is ginger, which I’m sure those who have followed this blog for a while will know by now that I’m a big fan of ginger.

This tastes like nothing I’ve had before and I think it’s a real winner! It has a flavor that I wouldn’t expect to be coming out of Virginia, USA either! Wow! I’ll be trying it on a bowl of noodles very soon – possibly one of the ones from Australia (one of the packs is made in Thailand for the Australian company, so it would definitely be fitting)! Thank you to the kind people at Apinya for sending along a bottle! Check out their website at www.apinya.co!

#580 Baijia Original Hot & Sour Flavor Casserole Stewed Rice Noodle

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Baijia with rice noodles eh? Sounds different – hope it’s better than all the others I’ve tried!

Four packets – going clockwise from top left: veggie-thingies, very dark liquid, powder seasoning, slightly less dark liquid.

Here’s the back of the package (click image to enlarge).

Here’s everything atop the rice thread. When I initially opened the package, I got a whiff – a horrible smelling whiff. A kind of vinegar scent.

Click image to enlarge. Okay, let’s try this. Oh wow – alright so the noodles are better than the noodles I’ve had in all of the other Baijia products. But then there’s the taste. Hot and sour doesn’t even begin to describe. The broth is greasier than can be tolerated and the flavor is like a chemically-induced spicy with vinegar and I don’t know what. This is wretched and I couldn’t eat more than one bite. Easily one of the worst instant noodles I’ve had in my life. 0 out of 5 stars. That a big round one.

#195: Myojo Chukazanmai Noodles Sesame Flavor

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Okay here’s some that I’ve been sitting on for a while. So these are to be served cool – so we’ll see if they’re any good.

A big packet of liquid and a smaller packet of liquid…

So the bulk here is the big packet – a sweet sesame dressing. The little one? Hot mustard!

Click image to enlarge. It said on the back to serve with sliced cucumber, tomato and ham. Well, I had some ham so I tossed some in. So this stuff is pretty good! Kind of sweet and vinegary and with a touch of mustard taste. The noodles are cool and wet (drained and rinsed with cold water) and a little slimy but not gross. I think this is good stuff but not something I’d have again. Maybe but probably not. I’m giving this one a 3.0 out of 5.0 stars – it is unique and interesting and enjoyable, but not my kind of ‘regular’ noodle choice. Get it here.

The Ramen Rater

Reviewing ramen noodles and instant noodles since 2002