Saturday, February 02, 2008

Maruchan Ramen - Chicken Flavor

Maruchan is not afraid of saturating their soups with Monosodium Glutamate, better known as MSG. This chemical has been subject to much controversy which I won't get into now. All Maruchan noodles do have the unmistakable taste of Umami, which I like to call the 5th taste.

It's extremely difficult to describe what umami tastes like. I guess it's sort of like the difficulty in explaining the taste of sweet or salty. This broth tastes strongly of umami, although there is a bit of chicken flavor that tastes like it came from a bouillon cube. I won't complain about the Maruchan noodles here because I have done plenty of that already in previous posts.

The flavor of this broth is quite pleasant from the MSG, but I still felt that it lacked interestingness. So, I added a big dose of Sriracha sauce to liven up the flavor. Sriracha sauce goes very well with umami flavored broths; that's why you often see it at Vietnamese restaurants where the broth is naturally laden with MSG. I wouldn't particularly recommend this pack of ramen, but it is cheap and inoffensive if that is what you are looking for.

Maruchan Ramen - Chicken Flavor - 3.5/10

5 comments:

Matt C said...

One time I had a chunk of glass in my Maruchan Ramen soup. I did not realize it was in there and bit into it and cracked my tooth! Now my whole mouth stings everytime I eat something hot or cold. I had an insurance agent come and take a picture of the glass and package. Still no answer from them. What should I do!? I do not have dental insurance and I am petrified of the dentist =X

Anonymous said...

i'd encourage everyone to go to Top http://www.nissinfoods.com/company/contactus.php and encourage them to start producing Shiratki Noodles ... (The Miracle, or 0 calorie noodles) ... regular ramen is just helping our country get fatter

Anonymous said...

I LOVE CHICKEN FLAVORED RAMEN NOODLES IF I COULD I WOULD MARRY THEM. AND IM ONLY ELEVEN.

Anonymous said...

id give the old basturd who made this shit a Blow Job

kathy said...

I love this Mac and cheese. I mix the cheese powder with one cup of warm water to dissolve it, pour it over the noodles, microwave for 2 minutes, let it set for 1 minute, stir and enjoy. The actual flavor and texture of the noodles is AWESOME!