Another chemist here: Don't make sodium carbonate in an aluminum pan. It reacts with aluminum. I prefer glass as it tends to be inert towards everything.
@@arghyadeepjana and concentrated hydroxides are another common chemical that reacts with glass, not a big deal, still usable, but make sure not to leave it in the glass too long and wash very well afterwards.
As soon as you justified the reason for baking the baking soda with the chemical reaction formula, I subscribed. SO HAPPY to find a cooking channel on youtube that just doesn't say stuff without proving it or backing it up.
You must measure the pH in the dough not in the water because the protein of the dough buffers the pH far down. Put more water and a little bit oil in the dough for the right texture. For this noodles Lye water is used. Its a K2CO3 solution. Original there was a lake in China which has naturally this basic water. All the noodle pulling started from this place.
So i can use lye for my noodles? I just bought some and I think my baked soda was not hot enough. If you took this recipe, what amount of lye would you use?
I've just eaten my lye noodles with chili oil and they were very chewy because I used a lot of lye water. Try the ratio of 120g flower (half cup) 10g oil 30ml lye water (2 big spoons even 1 spoon is enough) 40g water 2g salt at 30°C. Its important that the dough is in the end like a warm chewing gum otherwise something is missing. I cut thin stripes and stretch it long before cooking about 3 minutes in salt water. Rinse the cooked noodles in warm water and all alkaline stuff is gone.
you, sir, are an inspiration and very entertaining to watch. i love that you are doing this series as I too have a love for ramen. this video alone has sold me on making my own. thanks for the inspiration and for the great videos. till next time.
@@saracherouk4988 Less than. It depends on how much you use, but it is definitely quicker. It shouldn't burn nor melt (if it turns black or something, it might have had impurities). Don't put too much as it releases water and CO2, and the steam creates bubbles (it looks like mini geisers). Keep stirring until it stops. When it stop releasing gas, you are done. NileRed made a video showing the process. Search on youtube for "Nile Red How to make Sodium Carbonate (from Sodium Bicarbonate)'' to check it out!
I made this today finally!!! I love instant ramen, and have been eating it for years. Always felt guilty for eating too much instant ramen, and wanted to try it by myself. *I prepared sodium carbonate on stove, as a chemist told on comments. I think it worked just fine. *I dont have pasta machine so I had to knead and cut them with my hands :'( it's difficult but worth it. *and also I got tired at the end, and instead of cooking noodles separately, I just put them into the broth I was cooking (as I always did with the instant ramens.) But dont do the same mistake as I did. The broth got blurred/ muddy a little, since the noodles were fresh and coated with starch/flour. Be patient! at the end whole family enjoyed the ramen.
Bake baking soda @150°C for 1 hour 250g all purpose flour 100ml warm water 3g salt 2g sodium carbonate Mix and knead until you get a shaggy dough that holds together. Roll through pasta machine until a nice smooth soft dough forms. Thin out to about 2mm, pass through slicer and coat with rice flour.
Karen Shillinglaw i was just about to say the same! i've been trying to figure out a good veggie ramen broth for months now and none of them taste the way they do in the restaurants.. it would be a life-saver!!
felixthemaster1 thanks - i dont eat fish, so the bonito flakes are out, but i did try recently to make a miso ramen base using kombu and dried shiitake dashi as my stock - it's relatively closer to what i wanted compared to my other attempts, but something's still off. :/
Tes vidéos sont le mélange parfait entre gourmandise et science avec ce « je ne sais quoi » qui les rend totalement addictives. Tellement hâte de voir comment tu vas faire pour faire des nouilles qui se conservent au sec !!
H+ (protons) normally keep the proteins apart. Basic pH means a lack of protons. Under this condition carboxilic and amino groups of the proteins complex themselves to an endless string. This makes the dough chewy and stretchable like a warm chewing gum. You need to pull the dough to noodles. Try to develop this structure.
In the US we use pickling lime [calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, ~12.4ph in water solution] as a strong base (caustic) in the kitchen for making crispy gherkins, nixtamalizing corn, preserving eggs in lime water, etc. It is readily available in food grade and saves the step of baking off sodium bicarbonate to sodium hydroxide.
I wouldn't use calcium hydroxide because it could react with the co2 in the air to form lime and also I want to mention that the pH level just shows the concentration of oxonium ions. So there's no fixed pH level for any chemical.
Suggestion for a future project! Make *hand-pulled noodles!* Good hand-pulled noodles are next level! And to be pedantic, "ramen" comes from the Chinese word "La Mien", which means pulled noodles, so "real" ramen should also be hand-pulled ;) EDIT: Seems like ramen actually is cut, although the word comes from Chinese. The more you know ;)
Wanna get pedantic... No... Real Lamian should be hand pulled, but that's not what the word Ramen means so your point is completely pointless. Just because a word came from another word doesn't mean they have the same meaning anymore.
Tensen01 Actually you're right. I looked it up and it is as you said. It was historically hand pulled but has since modern times really been cut noodles. +1 for you sir ;)
After my wife saw me making sodium carbonate, googles mask gloves etc Next day she went out and bought me a bottle of kansui “this was only $2” lol fml
In my area (radius of 50km) are 25 shops that offer baked baking soda and no single one Asia market because of baked baking soda is often used for baking here in Bavaria
Really looking forward to the next video. Have been wondering how to make this tasty meal at home for a long time now. Your video is the best tutorial out there by far.
I really enjoyed your Ramon series! Very different! I make many different types of pasta’s. I’m Sicilian, love the great difference in home made pastas, but, I too love Ramon, thrilled to see your work! Thank you!
Alex ... I really love you for you videos and your channel! The very moment you threw your sticks away I though »This doesn't taste. He made something wrong!« But then ... oh MAN! I need to see the next video! Thank you so much for this! :-)
A suggestion: maybe u can make ramen first completely from scratch, then maybe replacing some things for convenience, then replacing even more things for it to be more convenient. Sort of a gradient on how much effort u want to put into ur bowl of ramen.
You are actually so amazing, you're hilarious and I love your unique personality and presenting style with your insane dedication. Keep up the great work!!
I'm a vegetarian now, but I went through a phase where I lived off of ramen and hot dogs. I lost 80 lbs in the process. It was a weird year. Anyway, I was curious if you could release a series of vegetarian ramen-based dishes? I have a few of the bricks in my cupboard but I just cook them for guests at the moment. In closing, this was the first video I've seen of yours off of an impulse Google search, and I learned a lot. Your editing is superb. I am proud of your work as well, and your baking soda hack is something I never expected, but will remember. Subscribed and looking forward to future episodes. Now excuse me while I look through what else you've uploaded! Cheers~
I really love that series and basically all of your videos. Usually, I don't watch many videos about cooking (Even when I have a cooking channel by myself). But you combine cooking with information and tips and so many other cool stuff (Sorry my English is not the best and I have no idea how to describe what I wanna say :'D) Simple said, your videos are amazing, so please continue with that good work :)
Hey man, I'm jumping over from Alec's channel after your colab. I fucking love this. Lots of how to cook bits out there. but not any that i've seen add the science in it. Kudos
I've seen recipes for DIY washing soda where you bake baking soda. Clean freaks swear there is a difference. Fun to see there actually is a difference.
The flour has it's own level of acid! It just reacts naturally whith the sodium cabonate. And that's why we must use it in a very little portion! Cooking is also chemisty in everything we do!
Salute, Alex. The wife and I love watching your channel. We have purchased your book, and it has just arrived. We love the content in your videos and in your book. Though we are disappointed in that we cannot find any Ramen recipes in your book. Though we do know that you have the recipes on your videos. We were hoping that your cookbook would contain the recipes. Keep up the great work. We love what you’re doing.
I'm looking forward to a couple soup powders and flavored oils. Having something that can be made to eat as fast as instant ramen definitely has appeal. For the base, maybe some bone broth and soy powder, but I think the oils would be a little trickier. I don't eat ramen a lot, so I'd want something that could last a while. The only thing I can think to do would be to freeze the oils in an ice cube tray for individual servings.
Brilliant video. Just finished the fresh ramen my wife brought back from Japan and desperate for more. Love the almost obsessive, scientific approach, so will definitely be giving this a try!
It would be great if your future ramen video could also include a vegetarian version. I've been experimenting on my own on how to make good veggie ramen, but I'm interested to hear your take.
Siddharth Desai Not to come across as rude but everything he did there was vegetarian. The eggs are optional and don't really contribute flavor or structure to the dish. Most recipes for ramen are vegetarian in nature. It's meant to be a quick cheap and filling dish. So meat is usually optional Or added for more variety. Really you have to play around with favors veggies spices herbs ect with the broth.
It was a suggestion for future videos in the series. He asked at the end of the video for suggestions on what people wanted to see. I edited the original comment to make that more clear.
Most ramen recipes use animal stock. That said, you can just substitute it for a vegetable stock. The taste is different, but then what isn't when you choose to avoid some foods? Ramen is a quick, simple dish. There's no need for arguments over what ingredients to use.
TLDR: All-purpose flour is acceptable, but the actual flour should be 50/50 mixture of what we call bread flour and cake flour. The traditional flour mix used in making ramen is a 50/50 blend of high gluten (what is called bread flour in much of the western world) and low gluten flour (Cake flour and pastry flour in the western world). The all-purpose flour makes ramen that taste more like ramen because it is around the % of protein you would get if you mixed high and low gluten flours. However all-purpose flour will not be exactly the same thing as mixing the two since it is a homogeneous mixture. With the blend you will get parts of the noodles that are higher or lower in their gluten levels.
I am gluten intolerant so I will give those a try with gluten free flour lol. Wish me luck TwT EDIT: this actually worked quite well! Added one egg and a bit more water cuz gluten free flour soaks moisture like heck. My nain problem was the pasta maker because its biggest thickness is already like 1.5mm and the noodles often broke off since the dough dried out quickly. Since there is egg in it I boiled them for 3 minutes to store until the next day! They do taste good, might need a bit more sodium carbonate tho for the tang. Hope this helps someone!
"We're going to bake the baking soda!" Me: nooooo that's super caustic, you have to be really careful "Remember to use eye protection and gloves!" *is wearing neither (glasses don't count)* Me: aaaaaaaa *uses wax paper to weigh and dump loose sodium carbonate powder* Me: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Kids, don't be like this man. When you practice mad food science, observe proper safety procedures.
apparently sodium carbonate can irritate the skin if handled improperly. ive been wondering if its safe to use in food, but people have been doing so im not sure.
Ok Alex, you've nailed it with these series. I love ramen too and made the experiment a few years ago, but I lacked your scientific facts. Great job duuude xD
For a second there when you tried your finished result, and threw those chopsticks; I though they turned out like crap and you were pissed. XD Nice video! I learned something.
I'm usually not serious on youtube, and in fact lean more towards trolling/not being very nice... But I love you. This comment is already too much about me-- it should be about you. You're super great, your skills make me jealous, your taste draws me in, your positivity makes me smile. I hope you have a nice day, for all days. You're super, super great.
