If you want to get to know people, ask them about their favorite instant ramen noodles. Not just the brand, but also how they make them. I asked my colleagues just that, and to bring their best to the Tribune test kitchen. Forget about personality tests, just boil some water.
Once upon a time I had a childhood fantasy of exploring every instant ramen in the noodle-verse. Add hot water, and the flavors of faraway lands materialized magically within a bowl. But as the noodle world expanded exponentially, from the one and only Nissin brand "Chikin" ramen invented by the late, legendary Momofuku Ando in 1958, to now, thousands, the dream became daunting.
Besides, as any hungry college kid can tell you, one noodle packet contains infinite permutations. Add a squeeze of lemon or crack in an egg, and suddenly you've transformed famishment to your own personal feast.
What I discovered when my co-workers cooked for me, something we rarely get to do, was that somehow our disparate moments of desperate hunger, for the most part, found strikingly similar saucy, not soupy, final forms. I'm not sure yet what that means. Like tea leaf or coffee grounds, I wonder if noodle bowl readers exist.
Maybe you can tell me. You'll find here all of our instant ramen noodle cooks telling us about their dish, in their own words. First they share their noodle love story, then how they make it.
