Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:30 — 20.1MB)
Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Android | RSS | More
In 2014, food historian and professor Ken Albala found himself stuck in a kitchen with no utensils. He headed for an Asian grocery store and bought a little saucepan and some noodles, to make something for breakfast. Thus started almost three years of home-made noodle soup for breakfast, practically every day. Out of that came some spectacular successes, some abysmal failures and a book.
Of course, I had to put pulled noodles to the test. Ken says to use a high-gluten flour. I checked scads of sources online, and many of them say the exact opposite. Some insist that in your kneading you have to go beyond building up a strong gluten net and actually break that network down. But none of them suggest allowing the dough six hours of rest and relaxation, as Ken does. Ken’s method, at least in his video, is a little too vague to follow exactly, as he insisted I must. When to start kneading? How often to dip your hands in water while kneading? Nevertheless, I did the best I could and was somewhat amazed that it worked. It really did. And the noodles were delicious.
Being the kind of person I am, I made some measurements too: 275 gm of flour weighed 395 gm when I started to knead, for a hydration of 44%. That’s stiff. And it weighed more or less the same after kneading, but maybe the water added equalled the starch removed. I do wonder whether you would reach the same end point by adding the water all in one go at the outset.
Notes
- The book – Noodle Soup: Recipes, Techniques, Obsession – is available for pre-order from Amazon.
- In the meantime, you can always search Ken’s website for “noodles”.
- Pocket soup, which Wikipedia calls Portable soup, was an early convenience food. I was surprised to find a recipe for a modern version. I haven’t tried it, but I do like instant miso soup.
- Cover picture is of Ken’s Hand Made Hybrid Noodles for Newbies.
- Banner picture is a video grab of me, amazed that I pulled a noodle.
- And those Lucky Peach links? Here you go.
- Homemade Ramen Noodles, but beware: as I discovered while hunting, there’s an error: “Apologies to Harold McGee and to all of you who tried to make alkaline noodles with 4 tablespoons of baked soda. Please only use 4 teaspoons. Damnit.” SI units FTW, dahling.
- Momofuku Ando and the Invention of Instant Ramen
- A Timeline of Ramen Development
- On Alkalinity
- The State of Ramen: Peter Meehan
- A Guide to the Regional Ramen of Japan
The Internet Archive is a truly valuable and important resource. I donate to it. If ever you find yourself in need of a copy of something online that has vanished, that’s where to start looking.
https://media.blubrry.com/eatthispodcast/p/mange-tout.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/pasta-grannies.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:50 — 20.0MB)Subscribe: Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More
Vicky Bennison
It’s a kind of family fantasy. Each week, a kindly, twinkling grannie creates pasta by hand, making it look as easy as falling off a log. Her hands work unsupervised; kneading, stretching, pinching, rolling, the myriad shapes emerging, perfect. There’s cheesy music, and just enough information to give the impression that you too could do it. Welcome to the world of Pasta Grannies, a YouTube Channel that provides almost half a million subscribers with a regular dose of nostalgia and good eating.
Pasta Grannies is the brainchild of Vicky Bennison, although she would be the first to admit that it is the grannies that make it the success it has become. And now there’s a book, with proper recipes and instructions for those of us without a handy grannie. Vicky was kind enough to find a slot in her busy schedule to chat about pasta and grannies.
Notes
Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks is the book of the channel.
There’s nothing better than having someone show you how to shape the pasta, but you can also start by watching a video. Three that don’t need rolling out: cavatelli, orecchiete and trofie.
Photos of the grannies from Vicky Bennison; thanks.
And, in case you missed it, Ken Albala’s 1000 days of noodle soup.
Huffduff it