Mm, gods bless the carbohydrate, the staple energy source for most human meals and a highly adaptable, multi-purpose foodstuff. Grains have come a long way since the dawn of the agricultural age, and what better exemplar of this than noodles. Not only does wheat flour allow us to make pancakes, cakes, and bread (both leavened and flat), it can be rolled out and sliced into noodles of any variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes you want the super-thin and slippery angel hair or somen type of noodles, and some days you want the big, fat, slurpable succulence of udon. Don't worry, love, if noodles are your jam, you'll have more than a reasonable amount of options available to get your fix. Korea is a heaven for noodles and carbohydrates, from the tender yet addictively sweet and spicy tteok-bokki (떡볶이 ), to the endless walls and shelves of ramyun (라면) in all it's assorted spices and seasonings, to this: udonbulbokki- or fire udon noodles in the style of tteok-bokki or ramyun-bokki. This is another of those super simple, super affordable meals that came prepackaged from the supermarket.
I opted to gussy it up with some cheese, as suggested by the package. You don't have to, in the name of keeping it simple, but the noodles have fire (불 "bul") in the name for a reason: they are HOT! And I'm not just talking about spicy noodle bae on the package here, these noodles were definitely on the fiery end of the flavor spectrum. Did you know that the fats in lactose-heavy foods can actually help cool and soothe the burn? That's why you'll so frequently see people with a bowl of ice cream or big glass of milk nearby when doing spicy food challenges! Hence, throwing a slice of melty processed cheese on top of your spicy a$$ noodles helps calm the burn a bit,which makes it a popular seasoning choice for the nearly incomprehensible selection of noodles ready to bring the fire in Korea. The udon was pretty good, though I think it would have been better as part of an overall meal and not as the singular main course. I'd eat it again if I ran into it, but it's not my favorite thing I ate in Seoul...
Keep chasing the fire!
🔥
XOXO,
NAU
