Ryuji Compares a Challenger's Chilled Carbonara Somen, from Someone Who Said "Just Use Kewpie," Against Ryuji's Own Recipe

The original recipe mixes mayonnaise and egg yolk to make a cold, carbonara-style sauce. To avoid copyright issues, Ryuji did not show the critical post on screen and instead described its content verbally. The gist of the criticism was: "Specifically calling for Ajinomoto's Pure Select mayonnaise and then adding egg on top is absurd. Just use Kewpie mayonnaise and egg from the start." According to Ryuji's explanation, Pure Select mayonnaise uses whole eggs, while Kewpie uses egg yolks. In other words, the critic was arguing that if you want to add an egg element, you should use a yolk-based mayonnaise from the start.

Ryuji thought the argument missed the point to begin with and raised two issues. The first was the problem with using whole eggs. Egg whites don't set unless cooked, so using whole eggs makes the sauce runny. Whatever mayonnaise you use, you'd end up eating somen with raw egg white.

The second was the amount of egg in mayonnaise. This recipe uses 15g of mayonnaise per serving, and Ryuji explained that even switching to Kewpie would amount to only 0.1 of an egg. Since mayonnaise contains very little egg, changing brands makes almost no difference. To get the equivalent of one egg yolk from mayonnaise, you'd need about 150g, and Ryuji countered that pairing 150g of mayonnaise with 100g of noodles would mean you were essentially eating mayonnaise rather than somen. Part of the rebuttal was also that if you make it with only store-bought mayonnaise and no egg, it becomes "mayonnaise somen," not carbonara.

In response, the other person replied that if you want egg in it, you should skip the mayonnaise and make a regular carbonara base. After more back-and-forth, Ryuji said, "If you're going to go that far, please share your recipe," and the person actually posted a recipe with photos of what they'd made. It was a first for Ryuji, who said, "I really like this person." Because the posts included some harsh language, Ryuji initially called the person an "anti" (a hater), but partway through switched to calling them "Mr./Ms. Challenger."

In their original recipe, the challenger used freshly grated Parmigiano and pancetta. However, the challenger themselves acknowledged that using expensive ingredients would obviously make it taste good and would break the rules. So this time, both versions use the same grated cheese and the same bacon as Ryuji's recipe.

The differences in ingredients are as follows. Ryuji uses one egg yolk; the challenger uses two. The challenger uses far more grated cheese. The challenger's recipe uses no umami seasoning. Because it uses two eggs, Ryuji figures the challenger's recipe costs more to make. The judging was left to the companion. When the companion mentioned the weight of that responsibility, Ryuji laughed and replied, "I'm the only cooking researcher who's allowed to lose, so it's fine if I lose."

Ryuji says that people who routinely use pancetta, guanciale, or Parmigiano-Reggiano probably dislike Ryuji as a rule, since Ryuji never uses any of those. Even so, Ryuji says they like pushback on their cooking. Most critics are all talk and never put anything forward, but this person actually made something. From the fact that the challenger chose pancetta, Ryuji guessed they're someone who cooks regularly.

The challenger had cooked their bacon in advance, so Ryuji cooks theirs first as well. No oil is added. The bacon was weighed out at 40g each, but Ryuji estimated it would come down to about 30–35g as the fat renders out. Ryuji's view was that a small difference wouldn't matter, since both were being cooked under the same conditions.

Ryuji's sauce is simply one egg yolk with 15g of Pure Select mayonnaise, salt, six shakes of Ajinomoto, and 1 tablespoon of grated cheese, mixed with chopsticks. The leftover egg whites were collected in a separate container. According to Ryuji, the challenger's recipe didn't say what to do with the egg whites.

As for why Ryuji doesn't like using two egg yolks, Ryuji says, "Because of course it's going to taste good." On top of that, having two egg whites left over leaves you wondering what to do with them.

Regarding the many comments saying the mayonnaise's acidity bothered them, Ryuji answered that it doesn't bother Ryuji. The explanation is that the high proportion of yolk keeps it from tasting sour, and Pure Select isn't sour to begin with. Ryuji explained the thinking behind the recipe: use less cheese and make up the umami with umami seasoning instead. When Ryuji actually measured out 1 tablespoon of grated cheese, it came to 8g. For everyday cooking, this version is cheaper, Ryuji says. Ryuji considers this sauce to have the best balance of cost-effectiveness and flavor, in Ryuji's view. Ryuji said a cost comparison would be shown later in an on-screen caption.

The challenger's sauce combines two egg yolks with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, a pinch of salt, and 30g of grated cheese. The challenger's reasoning is that since mixing oil and egg makes mayonnaise, if you want to avoid the sourness of vinegar, you should just make it with egg yolk and vegetable oil and leave out the vinegar from the start. Ryuji described this as "mayonnaise without vinegar."

What worried Ryuji was the amount of cheese. The whole container of grated cheese holds 80g, and this uses 30g of it—more than a third of the container. Since 1g spilled out first during measuring, Ryuji evened it out to 29g. Ryuji was taken aback by the "frightening amount" but also said, "This might really be good."

Once mixed, the sauce turned quite stiff. According to Ryuji, mixing oil and egg produces something like a stiff mayonnaise, and adding 30g of grated cheese to that makes it closer to a lump than a sauce. The recipe only says "add water to your preferred consistency" and doesn't specify an amount. While concerned that thinning it with water might also dilute the umami, Ryuji decided to match the looseness of Ryuji's own sauce. Adding 1 tablespoon of water loosened it properly, and Ryuji decided to adjust the rest based on how it coated the noodles. Ryuji calls this the "luxury version."

Both use 100g (one bundle) of somen. Since the noodles lose their appeal once they go soft, each serving is boiled one at a time. The challenger hadn't objected to how the somen was cooked, so the conditions here were kept the same.

The boiling time is 45 seconds. The package says 2 minutes, but Ryuji's reason is a preference for the firmer bite the noodles get at 45 seconds. They're hard right after being rinsed under running water, but soaking them in ice water for one minute gives them a crunchy-firm texture, Ryuji says. Saying, "I have to be strict about this part or everyone will lose it," Ryuji prepared similar plates so no one could point to differences in presentation.

While the noodles boiled, Ryuji talked about people who dislike Ryuji. Ryuji figures people who dislike Ryuji will watch this video too, but among those people are some who love cooking, and Ryuji says they actually quite like those people. Ryuji speculates that for people who have properly studied Italian cooking, seeing Ryuji's loose, cheap-ingredient cooking praised as delicious probably feels like it devalues what they've studied, and they don't like that. With that in mind, Ryuji asked the companion to say so if the challenger's version tasted better.

Ryuji lightly drained the noodles after lifting them out of the ice water, tossed them with the egg-mayonnaise sauce, and plated them like pasta. Topped with bacon and a finishing sprinkle of grated cheese, it was done.

Both tasters said it was "really good" and agreed the acidity didn't bother them at all. Ryuji says they're someone who doesn't care much for sourness, too.

The companion said the somen felt lighter than during a previous shoot. According to Ryuji, this time they made a point of not squeezing out too much water. Comments on the previous video had suggested "Isn't it dry?", and Ryuji also felt it had gotten a bit dry toward the end last time, so this time Ryuji deliberately drained the noodles more lightly. Since somen's texture changes depending on how much you squeeze it, maybe it's better to leave a little water in—Ryuji cited this as a discovery from this session. The advice to viewers: if you don't like it clumping together too much, drain the water more loosely.

The challenger's somen was also boiled for 45 seconds and chilled using the same steps. To make it even colder, a bit more ice was added. While saying, "Still, I think my sauce is a masterpiece," Ryuji figured the larger amount of grated cheese should make up for the umami.

When tossed with the noodles, the sauce was still stiff due to the amount of cheese. Adding about half a tablespoon of water turned it into a silky sauce. The finished color was quite yellow. It was completed with bacon, black pepper, and a finishing sprinkle of grated cheese in roughly the same amounts as Ryuji's.

During the tasting, the companion stopped Ryuji when Ryuji was about to react first, so as not to be swayed by Ryuji's impressions. Both said, "The flavor is completely different," with the companion describing it as "like cheese pasta" and Ryuji calling it "Italian-style." In terms of richness, this one won by a landslide, they said. There were also comments that the flavor came together when eaten with the bacon and that it was well made, with no dryness.

The challenger had noted in their recipe that "it's better with shiro dashi poured over it." So they tried adding a little shiro dashi. Ryuji interpreted this as adding the concept of dashi, since Ryuji's recipe has umami seasoning but the challenger's recipe has no dashi element. On the other hand, Ryuji also pointed out that adding shiro dashi ultimately amounts to the same thing as adding umami seasoning.

After tasting it, Ryuji said, "In that case, maybe it'd be better to cut back on the cheese." The companion felt the shiro dashi clashed a bit with the richness of the cheese. However, Ryuji added the caveat that the challenger hadn't specified a shiro dashi brand, so a different one might have produced different results. In the end, Ryuji said, "I might like it."

The companion said they preferred Ryuji's recipe. They don't really like overly rich dishes to begin with and get tired of them partway through, they explained, adding that the challenger's version was also delicious up to a point. Ryuji also said, "As a single meal, mine tastes better." If someone served you "somen" for lunch, Ryuji's recipe would be the better one to eat, was the assessment.

On the other hand, Ryuji continued that this is where cooking gets tricky. The challenger's recipe ends up with relatively little umami. So if, for example, it were served in a small portion as an Italian side dish, it might taste better. Eaten alongside a variety of other dishes, combined with other sources of umami, it should make for a really delicious plate, Ryuji said. Ryuji described the recipe as having "a very strongly Italian composition" and said, "I really like this dish." Ryuji also noted that the challenger's version makes you want to pair it with a crisp white wine, whereas Ryuji's own somen has such strong umami that it doesn't really feel like something to pair with wine.

In conclusion, Ryuji summed up, "Which one tastes better depends on the situation." Saying that Ryuji can't lie to their own palate, Ryuji also acknowledged that the challenger's recipe would probably suit people who just love cheese.

Ryuji thinks it would taste even better made with the Parmigiano-Reggiano the challenger originally used. In that case, however, the cost would likely differ by about three times, and even this time, made with grated cheese, there's probably already a two- to three-fold difference, by Ryuji's estimate. Ryuji said the exact figures would be worked out later and shown in an on-screen caption.

Ryuji then said this recipe "isn't suited to being a buzz recipe." Rather than a dish for making a cheap meal, it's a recipe that shows what happens when an Italian chef uses somen—that's how Ryuji positions it. Even so, Ryuji repeated, "I think it's wonderful" and "I don't want to dismiss this recipe," saying it's a construction most people wouldn't come up with, the way it's matched to somen is well put together, and it was a learning experience.

Finally, Ryuji apologized for calling the challenger an "anti" at the beginning. They're not a hater, Ryuji said, but probably someone who really loves cooking. Ryuji also reflected that before tasting it, they'd been thinking of firing something back, but there was nothing to say. The companion also said that, honestly, they'd had a bit of a bias that it wouldn't taste very good, but were surprised by how much better it was than expected.

Ryuji said that being called out by someone who understands cooking is something Ryuji can accept to some extent, while also saying they'd like the challenger to try Ryuji's recipe. Ryuji said doing that kind of project wouldn't be a bad idea, that they'd like to keep pushing each other to improve, and invited the challenger to share any recommended ways of eating it. The project of having the challenger taste it in person hasn't happened yet, and the video closed with thanks for providing the recipe.