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[StrikerObi]

I’m home from college for the summer. I love the summer. I can relax all I want and hang out with friends. One of the real perks is access to my parents’ kitchen and all the ingredients contained within.

I don’t get the Food Network at school, which is a pain because I love that channel. When I’m home I watch it almost all day long, though half the time it’s on mute while I listen to music, write, or do something else. My favorite of the cooking shows has got to be Good Eats with Alton Brown. I know a lot of goons agree with me. The man is the Bill Nye of cuisine. So, after watching his episode on pouch cooking, I decided that I was going to make his Ramen Shrimp Pouch. Here’s the vitals:

Ingredients (for four servings)
[ul]
[li]2 packages Ramen noodles
[li] Special equipment: 4 (18-inch) squares aluminum foil
[li] 1/2 cup dried mushrooms, chopped
[li] 20 large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
[li] 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
[li] 1/2 cup sliced scallions
[li] 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
[li] 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
[li] 1/4 cup vegetable broth
[li] 1/4 cup mirin (rice wine)
[li] 2 tablespoons soy sauce
[li] 4 teaspoons sesame oil (dark)
[/ul]

First you’ll need to do some chopping. You’ll need a half a cup each of onion, scallions (aka green onions), and dried mushrooms. I used shitake, to match the dish’s asian influence. Normally you’d soak dried mushrooms to re-hydrate them, but in this case we’ll be using them dry. Once you put them in the pouch the liquids and steam will do the re-hydration part. Also, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Time for foil!

Remember, shiny side out!

Take your ramen out of it’s package. You won’t need the flavor pouch, so ditch it.

Snap the ramen in half the long way. It’s easiest to do if you cook the ramen for about 30 seconds before working with it. Otherwise everything will stick together like it did for me and the ramen will fall apart. Place the half-block of ramen on the foil in the center. Put the dried mushrooms on top.

Follow up with the shrimp, onions, scallions, red chili flakes, and kosher salt (in that order). You're not using a lot of chili fakes, but the magic of the pouch will distribute their heat to everything.

At this point you need to mix your liquids. Get a small bowl and pour in the vegetable broth, mirin, soy sauce, and sesame oil together. The recipe calls for a quarter of a cup vegetable broth, but you might want to jump that up to a half of three quarters of a cup. With such little liquid, there really isn’t enough to soak the ramen and mushrooms to fully re-hydrate them both. If you want to really kick up the heat, I'd suggest adding some hot chili oil to the liquid mixture.

Fold the foil up and make a basket around the pile of goodies. Then pour the liquid mixture over all of it.

Crimp up the tops and seal them almost all the way. Leave a small hole in the top. If you don’t, there is a chance the steam will build up inside and burst the foil pack.

Stick ‘em on a cookie sheet and throw them in the oven for 15 minutes.

While they cook, prepare a plate for them.

When they’re done, take the pouches out and carefully pull back the foil being careful not to burn yourself!

You can see that my ramen didn’t cook quite all the way through. The underside turned out perfectly and tasted amazing. Next time I make this I will remedy the situation with more liquid.

Chow down and enjoy. This makes for a great lunch, though might be a little small for dinner. I know I will probably be eating more later tonight.

Thanks to Alton Brown for the recipe. Watch Good Eats on the Food Network, Wednesday nights from 10:00 to 11:00pm eastern time.

 

[Boogie9IGN]

More Ramen recipes, STAT!

 

[Ryck]

So let me get this straight...you came home from college and ate RAMEN>??

 

[mCACGj]

I love Good Eats, and Alton Brown rules. I just don't like the fact he decided to ruin his reputation by doing the new American Iron Chef thing.

I saw this recipe and it looked pretty good, I'm glad to see that someone tried it out for me, hah. I'll have to try it, but wasn't there more liquid in the pouch? Perhaps thats why it didn't cook all the way through.

 

[Spiritreaver]

I love Good Eats, and Alton Brown rules. I just don't like the fact he decided to ruin his reputation by doing the new American Iron Chef thing.

Eh, this is Food Network, not the Screen Actors Guild. He still acts like quite the know it all on Iron Chef as well anywho. I don't feel the show 's terrible, but not good either. But this is the best we're going to get over here. I mean, I can actually stand watching it as opposed to that shitastic attempt Shatner hosted.

Anyways, this looked rather neat when I saw it yesterday, but I thought the muffin episode was much more mouth watering.

 

[teepo]

goon?

 

[Rorschach]

Alton Brown fucking owns.

 

[Deleted member 4784]

Guys watch food network too?

<3

Here's how to make bukkake-covered strawberries:

First, you go to the farmer's market and buy the best strawberries available. Then, you wash and dry them and set as so. =D

Next, you place premium white chocolate (only the best!) into a double boiler; the chocolate goes into a bowl where the water can't get to it while the metal holds up the bowl. Leave it in for 15 minutes and the chocolate should melt. I'm lazy though, so I take it out and put it in the microwave for three minutes...

...only to see something black, and come out with this. D=

So, here you have it, bukkake covered strawberries!... After purchasing Baker's Instant Chocolate at the grocery store. D=

Geez, I think I'd burn down the kitchen if I tried to make Kool-Aid. =<

 

[StrikerObi]

goon?

Do you have chairs in your blouse?

 

[Diablos]

So let me get this straight...you came home from college and ate RAMEN>??

Haha seriously... you'd think that leaving college would imply no more cheap ass meals. :lol

 

[aoi tsuki]

Good job, but if you're gonna use ramen, at least use something decent like Sapporo Ichiban.

Last memorable meal i cooked a week ago was sesame seed tuna with a wasabi miso dipping sauce.

Mix an egg, and a teaspoon of both freshly ground pepper and garlic powder in a bowl. Cover tuna steaks in this mixture, drain excess egg and flour the steaks lightly. i used unbleached whole wheat flour, which was all i had, and sifted it to aerate it a bit and sift out the wheat germ. Press on sesame seeds and drop in a hot, oiled pan kept on medium high to high. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Insides will be rare as shown. For more well done steaks, cook 4-5 minutes on medium heat. If you plan to reheat the steaks (as i was), i'd recommend leaving them rare so that they don't overcook when reheated.

The wasabi miso dipping sauce was really simple. i didn't have wasabi powder, so i picked up a tube of ultra-salty wasabi paste, and mixed half the tube with a teaspoon of dark barley miso and a tablespoon of water. Much saltier than i would've liked, but since the tuna wasn't salted, it worked out pretty well.

i got the idea when i went to the supermarket and saw these "sashimi grade" tuna steaks. i really wanted some sashimi, but i knew it would've cost me three times as much to get the same amount i could prepare myself. i had watched a cook prepare something similar on one of the cooking shows, but they used steak, which i don't eat. The wasabi miso dipping sauce was courtesy of allrecipes.com, which coincidentally paired the dish with tuna cooked similar to the way i prepared it. This was supposed to be lunch for work, but i had two days off and could resist slicing off a piece of the tuna throughout the day.

i got four heads of bok choy and two heads of romaine lettuce from a customer who grows them. i'm thinking a couple of heads of bok choy will make a nice bok choy salad, something that can be eaten cold, which is essential given the already impossible (for me) daytime NC heat and humidity. At least one of the heads of romaine will be used for a simple caesar salad, maybe the other half for a Moroccan salad.

 

[Pochacco]

>

(by far)

PS: ^that looks great. Seared tuna is delicious!

 

[Agent Dormer]

Guys watch food network too?

Yes, we do.

 

[ManaByte]

Too much work for ramen. Personally Ramen + Veggies is fine for me, although sometimes I'll add a little rice or left over chicken to the mix.

 

[Deleted member 4784]

Geez, you know you have a problem when guys on the Internet know more about cooking than you do... maybe I should watch the stuff on Food Network more often; the only thing I ever watch on there is Iron Chef. D=

 

[aoi tsuki]

Too much work for ramen. Personally Ramen + Veggies is fine for me, although sometimes I'll add a little rice or left over chicken to the mix.

Take one bag of ramen, crush it up, and sprinkle in one-third to one-half of the flavoring packet, a dash of ginger powder, and shake again. Add a half teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and shake again. Makes a nice, crunchy snack. Ginger powder and sesame oil optional, although some imported brands come with an oil pack.

 

[StrikerObi]

Geez, you know you have a problem when guys on the Internet know more about cooking than you do... maybe I should watch the stuff on Food Network more often; the only thing I ever watch on there is Iron Chef. D=

If you are not watching Good Eats you are totally missing out. Bill Nye the Science Guy + Cooking = Good Eats. Best cooking show ever.

 

[MetatronM]

Goods Eats is awesome.

I should really start taking notes.

 

[levious]

I love Good Eats mostly, but I've been slowly losing respect for Brown as he continually shows a willingness to use pre-packaged dough. Especially pastry. I got nothing against people using it, but for a trained professional like him, he's trying to be too down to earth.

 

[FortNinety]

So let me get this straight...you came home from college and ate RAMEN>??

Exactly what I was thinking.

But the recipie looks good. Too bad I'm allergic to shellfish...

On a semi-related note, when in college, my Korean friends and I used to make Spam curry. That's right, curry with Spam chunks.

Comence laughing, but it was GOOD.