Yesterday, I followed this recipe for Chicken Yakisoba noodles.

I cooked my noodles on a medium high heat for 6 minutes as the packet said. I put them in the pan with the chicken and veg, then adding the sauce and thoroughly tossing it to cover with sauce.

The resulting meal was... Bland as fuck. It felt like the noodles didnt hang on to the sauce at all somehow?

I have a yakisoba pot noodle, and that comes out with such a strong a punchy flavor! I'm using fine egg noodles.

This is why I rarely try noodle recipes, I seem to fuck them all up! I sometimes pull it off, which gives me hope, but I can never figure out where I go right!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 16 points 7 hours ago (1 child)

How closely did you follow that recipe?

I only ask because that recipe won’t work exactly as written and neither will most recipes you find online. The only websites I follow closely are Americas’s Test Kitchen and Serious Eats, even then, some tweaking might be involved.

This recipe lacks salt (outside of the soy sauce) and aromatics like garlic, ginger, and peanut oil.

I used to make bland stir fry until I finally figured out some things rules and they translate across cooking:

  • Salt is important! Making noodles, rice, potatoes, beans, lentils, etc? Heavily salt the water. Salt meat before you cook it. Taste your dish while cooking it and add more salt if it needs it. Taste it before you serve it and add more if it needs it. Obviously, too much salt can be a problem but it’s still better than heavily processed foods.
  • Sear all meat until it forms a browned layer. Look up the Malliard Reaction. It’s goes for veg too when roasting or frying.
  • Fry aromatics like onions, garlic, ginger, and dried spices before adding anything else to the pot/pan.
  • Taste the sauce before you use it. That sauce is okay but doesn’t seem like enough for that amount of food. Also, you’d be surprised how much sugar is in store bought and restaurant sauces. I don’t think the amount in this recipe is enough.
  • Speaking of sauce, a very small amount of sesame or peanut oil can go a long way to enhancing a stir fry sauce. Worcestershire sauce also seems like a weird addition.
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 4 points 38 minutes ago

    Generally speaking, if cooking with water and any is expected to remain (including absorbed by noodles or whatever) water isn't really what you want, stock is probably what you want. Obviously I'm not boiling my noodles in stock, I heavily salt the water, but my potatoes definitely get boiled in stock and they're always amazing.

  • source
  • parent