Cooking
That’s what you get when you add an egg, a pat of butter and a slice or two of American cheese to a bowl of steaming noodles.
In 2021, I asked a bunch of chefs and food personalities about their favorite instant ramen for New York Magazine’s The Strategist. Lucas Kwan Peterson, the former food columnist for The Los Angeles Times, astutely pointed out that “there’s usually (but not always) a direct correlation between the number of sachets of different things — oils, sauces, powders, dried veggies — included in a package and how good it is. The more, the better!”
But what if the instant ramen you have is basic — just noodles and a powdered seasoning packet? You can still have perfect instant ramen, thanks to this recipe of the same name by Roy Choi, adapted by Jeff Gordinier. “Slide an egg into the hot broth, then some butter,” Jeff writes. “Crown the steaming noodles with slices of American cheese. Scatter a bunch of toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions across the top, if you want to.” The butter, egg and cheese, he explains, coat the curly noodles and boost the umami levels of the dish. (The “slide an egg in” move was mentioned several times in my article as a favorite way to doctor up a bowl of instant noodles. Leave your go-to tricks in the comments!)
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Perfect Instant Ramen
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Playing with your food is fun, right? I have Yasmin Fahr’s skillet ginger chicken with apricots on my to-cook list, and while the recipe as written sounds pretty perfect, I’m intrigued by her suggestion to try dried figs or prunes in place of the dried apricots. I would also add even more baby spinach, because it always reduces down to practically nothing and I could use a little extra greenage.
Maybe it’s a reaction to the Main Dish Moment thrust upon us by Thanksgiving, but I find myself gravitating toward fun, star-billing vegetable dishes to serve with simple proteins. Yotam Ottolenghi’s new salad takes full advantage of the in-season (and inexpensive) cabbage and mandarin oranges that are crowding my corner grocer. Or maybe I’ll go the sticky-savory route with Ashley Lonsdale’s spicy molasses-stewed winter squash, which simmers kabocha squash slices in a gravy that’s salty with soy sauce and sour with tamarind. Either recipe would be really nice with a pan of seared salmon.
Lastly, one thing that always invites cheffy tinkering is a bunch of overripe bananas. Will they become banana bread? Banana pancakes? Or maybe Samantha Seneviratne’s chocolate banana muffins are in order, seeing as they can pull double duty for breakfast and dessert. “For an extra special treat, warm halved muffins in a skillet with a pat of butter and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt,” Sam suggests. “A swipe of cream cheese wouldn’t hurt either.”