Ramenbox: Unspoiled Return

[xyzzysqrl]

Guess what.

I ordered my TWELVE POUNDS of ramen back in January, and today I am down to seven packets of the noodly goodness remaining. That was a pretty good length of time for ramen, guys! There were high points, there were low points, but a friend recently reminded me to check the expiration dates on these lest -I- expire. Turns out they go officially "bad" sometime in July or August, all of them. That's ALSO a pretty good length of time for ramen! When this box is done and eatened, I'm gonna order more!

Still, you know what I'm gonna do RIGHT NOW? I'm gonna EAT SOME. Because I'm HUNGRY.

What I'm eating is Indomie Onion Chicken flavor. Curiously, the Indomie noodles which are supposed to be the best of the box are actually the ones I'm most intimidated by, they're the ones I have the most left of. Why? Number of packets, somewhat complex directions... I chose the simplest of them for this meal. Noodles went in to boil, then got drained. To this, I added the mix of satchets I'd blended together: Chili powder, which I was using because there was no broth, a strange gritty oil, which had the strong oniony smell I assumed was bringing "Onion" to the party, and a powder packet labeled "Bumbu Sauce", which I have never heard of but which had a lovely coconutty smell. Mix, wait, eat.

And eat. And eat. This bowl lasted about fifteen seconds. The first mouthful was a confused rush of flavors. Strong salt, some onion, something just a little bitter, and a little heat. After a moment, the salt resolved itself to chicken broth, and that's where the delicious started. Very slightly deeper and richer than Maruchan, the chicken flavor was really -nice- in this bowl. If I have one complaint, and I always seem to, it's that I -didn't- find some way to make this in broth. I was left wanting more. Not so much because I was hungry, but because I wanted to taste more.

Indomie Onion Chicken is strongly approved by big fat sqrlian things who don't really like onion that much. I have got to get past the intimidation stage and try more of these. For once it's a good thing I have a deadline.

Comments

[relee.livejournal.com]

Ramen goes bad? o.o

[mocha-mephooki.livejournal.com]

The seasoning packets would if they're oil based instead of just powdered... but eventually the noodles would go bad as well. The sealed packages were not sealed in an air-tight environment, so there is a very slight amount of humidity in them.

[relee.livejournal.com]

I didn't know noodles went bad in general. ^.^;;

I hope it takes a long time; I've got dozens of Kraft Dinner boxes that are over a year old, and some pretty old ramen and pasta noodles besides.

[mocha-mephooki.livejournal.com]

Box noodles will go bad for an entirely different reason: grain beetles.

There are several varieties of beetles that lay their eggs in flour grains, and no matter how fine the filters are that the flour gets sifted through going from the supply trucks to the container silos... some get through, and even fewer survive through the food production.

They can't survive the boiling of any noodles in water, of course, but its still rather disgusting to open up an old box and pour out the noodles only to find several little black beetles crawling through the dry husks.

The same kinds of beetles thrive in rice and other grains as well, which is one of the larger reasons dry foodstuffs like that have expiration dates.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Oh? I've never seen anything like that. I'll keep my eyes peeled though.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I used to buy Indomie noodles a lot from the local Asian grocery and I like them plenty.