Cold Noodles--Cook-Off 33

[blue_dolphin]

Recent comments on a recipe for Cold Noodles in Sesame Sauce got me craving cold noodles so I replenished my noodle supply and fixed up a bowl. 

Since the recipe that prompted that discussion was entered in Recipe Gullet ~15 yrs ago and my noodles are based on a recipe shared with me by a Chinese graduate student ~ 30 years ago, I figured I'd resurrect this 10-year old cook-off to post my noodles . 

Sauce ingredients & noodles:

That's my last jar of Yank Sing Chili Pepper Sauce that I've been hoarding since it became unavailable.  

 

Other ingredients - thinly slivered carrots, scallions and cucumber plus thinly slices of cooked egg:

 

Finished dish:

Perfect - cool, slippery noodles and crispy vegetable shreds that leave my lips and tongue tingling!  

Now I need to tweak my recipe to use the universally available Laoganma Spicy Chili Crisp in place of the dearly departed Yank Sing Chili Pepper Sauce. 

 

 

[Anna N]

@blue_dolphin

  May I ask you, politely, to step out of my mind.

 

I am deep into my second or third reading of Takashi’s Noodles and craving a bowl of icy cold noodles. 

 

I was never able to accept cold soups  until I had my first bowl of gazpacho and the first time I heard of cold noodles my reaction was almost the same until I tasted them.  

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

@blue_dolphin

  May I ask you, politely, to step out of my mind.

 

Sorry for the trespass !  When I first got the recipe,  remember being quite enamored of these cold noodles and preparing them when my parents came to visit.  My dad literally spit them out, sputtering, "This is COLD!!!" 

I have since brought them to many pot-lucks and received much more favorable feedback.  I do take the precaution of labeling the bowl, "Cold Peanut-Sesame Noodles," to avoid any unpleasant surprises!

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by blue_dolphin
left out a peanut (log)

[Anna N]

 

Hiyashi-chuka.  Cold noodles with a soy lemon sauce. Kinshi tamago (shredded egg crepe), tomatoes, cucumber, ham (well prosciutto, a close cousin) and shrimp. 

[Anna N]

Now I have a few moments to pay attention I want to thank @blue_dolphin for reviving this topic.

 

I had no idea that cold noodles were also present in Korean cuisine and I definitely think they will have to show up on my table fairly soon. 

 

 I think I am about to disappear down the rabbit hole of cold noodles. 

[kayb]

Oh, don't disapppear! Keep us posted from the rabbit hole!

 

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, kayb said:

Oh, don't disapppear! Keep us posted from the rabbit hole!

 

 No worries! I will come up for air or perhaps scotch once in a while.

[Beebs]

Had everything planned for cold sesame noodles last night. Except got home and had only buckwheat noodles. So, zaru soba for dinner instead! So delicious....

[Anna N]

 

Cold kimchi noodles. Hotter than Hades. 

[MetsFan5]

@blue_dolphin would you mind sharing your recipe? 

[blue_dolphin]

3 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

@blue_dolphin would you mind sharing your recipe? 

 

I wish I could find the my original copy but I couldn't so I was trying to reconstruct it from memory.  It is quite similar to that NYT version that was recommended over in the other thread except I'm just using peanut butter instead of sesame butter. 

 

3  tablespoons smooth peanut butter

4  tablespoons water

2  tablespoons dark soy sauce

1  tablespoon light soy sauce

2  tablespoons sesame oil
2  tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
2  teaspoons sugar
2  teaspoons Yank Sing chili sauce (no longer available unless you come and sneak it out of my fridge  I'd recommend the Laoganma brand (with the picture of a stern looking Chinese lady on the label) Spicy Chili Crisp as a substitute, but I think Sambal Oelek or any Asian chili sauce you like will work.

 

I just throw put everything together in the blender.  If mixing by hand, the 4 T of water should be hot and add it gradually to the peanut butter to loosen it before stirring in the other ingredients. 

Taste and adjust to your taste, adding more soy sauce, vinegar, sugar or chili sauce until you are happy with it.

 

Toss with cooked, chilled noodles (loosen them with a little water if they are sticky) and whatever additions you like:  julienne-cut cucumber, carrot, scallion, red bell pepper, thinly sliced celery, bean sprouts, shredded chicken and/or shredded egg (cooked like a thin crepe and sliced thinly)

 

[MetsFan5]

@blue_dolphin thank you so much!! I made this tonight and since I don’t have chili sauce and am sensitive to spicy foods I just cut back in the sugar a bit and added a few squirts of Siracha.  It was the exact taste profile I’ve been looking for! I keep sneaking more out of the fridge. 

[blue_dolphin]

14 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

@blue_dolphin thank you so much!! I made this tonight and since I don’t have chili sauce and am sensitive to spicy foods I just cut back in the sugar a bit and added a few squirts of Siracha.  It was the exact taste profile I’ve been looking for! I keep sneaking more out of the fridge. 

Thanks for reporting back!  I'm so glad it worked out for you!

[heidih]

It is still unpleasantly hot here. I got some kitchen time while the evil one was away so I boiled some linguine, rinsed well, bagged and into fridge. Lightly cooked Argentinian wild shrimp with butter, crushed peanuts, rough crushed peppercorns, hot mustard paste, Aidell's Cajun style andouille, garlic powder - finished with some whole fat yogurt to loosen. Into fridge. Tossed together later for an early dinner with a bagged "Thai style" green salad kit alongside and marinated cukes.  Very satisfying. The links at opening post are great - need to explore more. 

[heidih]

oops- forgot big handful of basil tossed into shrimp as took off heat.

[Katie Meadow]

Sometimes I wonder if the NYT actually tests their recipes with wide awake experienced humans in a kitchen. This was a recent recipe of theirs that I made, and it was pretty good. However my adjustments almost read like a joke, since I made so many of them. A couple of days later I looked at the recipe again and noticed that a couple of savvy critics were also mystified by some of the steps.

 

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1022543-cold-noodles-with-tomatoes

 

I made this because we are having a very nasty heat wave here in the Bay Area and I really do like cold Asian style noodles. Changes I made, some also made by others, included cutting the amount of water added to the sauce by at least half, so the sauce still had some flavor. The other really weird instruction has to do with cooling down the cooked noodles: they specify adding a ridiculous amount of crushed ice to the sauced noodles. First of all that dilutes the sauce, and second of all why not just allow time for your noodles to get cold? After all it isn't supposed to a cold soup, which would happen if one used the  amount of total water they suggest. 

 

I didn't have any nice fresh Chinese wheat noodles, so I used thin spaghetti, which was fine. I cut back the volume of cherry tomatoes, didn't use any sugar in the sauce because I just didn't see the need. I added cooked, cooled shelled edamame, and upped the sliced radishes and scallions. In the end it turned out to be quite good. I like the technique of mixing up all the sauce and vegetables and then spooning it over individual portions. That avoids the annoyance of trying to serve well balanced portions of slippery noodles and sauce.

 

 

 

 

[pastrygirl]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

After all it isn't supposed to a cold soup

 

But the intro references three different cold soups and the recipe refers to the liquid as 'broth' rather than 'sauce', so maybe it is?

[blue_dolphin]

14 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

But the intro references three different cold soups and the recipe refers to the liquid as 'broth' rather than 'sauce', so maybe it is?

I agree. When I read the recipe, I assumed it was a soup. 

[Anna N]

Thanks.

17 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I agree. When I read the recipe, I assumed it was a soup. 

I cannot access the linked recipe because it is behind a paywall but this looks remarkably similar and is by Eric Kim of the New York Times. Here .  It is definitely a cold noodle soup. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Anna N
Typo (log)

[blue_dolphin]

5 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Thanks.

I cannot access the linked recipe because it is behind a paywall but this looks remarkably similar and is by Eric Kim of the New York Times. Here .  It is definitely a cold noodle soup. 

Yep, same recipe. 

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, blue_dolphin said:

Yep, same recipe. 

I must say that although I am quite familiar with cold noodle dishes I’ve never heard of cold noodle soup dishes until now. I might well have made the same assumptions as @Katie Meadow

[Katie Meadow]

Well, okay, I didn't read the intro, and I'm a teeny bit embarrassed. I may be a dope, but my critique of the Times food editors still stands: why not call it Cold Noodle Soup with Tomatoes? As a cold soup, constructed by dumping in a lot of water and ice, it doesn't sound very appealing and I most likely would not have made it. Lesson learned! But as a cold sauced noodle dish (not soup) it wasn't bad! My takeaway from this is twofold: 1) Read a recipe carefully before making it. 2) Trust your instincts.  And many thanks to all of you for being better readers. 

[Katie Meadow]

More icky September heat in the bay area, so cold noodles are my favorite no-fuss dinners these days. After my fiasco with the cold noodle soup above, I'm now doing the simplest possible thing: cold Szechuan noodles. Fresh Chinese noodles are the bees knees. I make a sauce using smoked soy sauce, black vinegar, rice vinegar, garlic, hot chili oil or chili garlic sauce, a little sesame oil and a little peanut oil or rice bran oil plus a small pinch of sugar. Then I just spoon it over room temp lo mein and top with scallion. Edamame in some form or other on the side, or pickled cabbage.

 

I have noticed that many recipes on line are for a Szechuan peanut sauce noodles. Almost all of those call for American style peanut butter, which strikes me as unappealing. Try using Jade Sichuan peanut sauce instead. It seems to be readily available in stores and on line. If you sub it for peanut butter adjust the other ingredients a bit. The Jade sauce has some heat to it.