Making Bagged "Nissin Yakisoba" Better with One Extra Step: Ryuji's Boil-Then-Fry Twist

The advantage of the bagged noodles, according to Ryuji, is that because they are dried, they have a long shelf life and keep well. Ryuji says the noodles themselves are very tasty, but it seems most people have never eaten them. One person present answered that they had never tried them, and another couldn't clearly remember whether bagged yakisoba even existed. Ryuji figures Nissin Yakisoba must be a popular product since it is sold at every supermarket. But they also said that people who never have occasion to eat it will probably just keep not eating it.

Ryuji made a point of saying that this video is not an advertisement. They often feature Nissin products, but they have never once received work from Nissin.

The first attempt followed the standard method. The ingredients were cabbage and pork. When someone asked, "Aren't you putting in bean sprouts?", Ryuji replied, "You don't put bean sprouts in yakisoba." The reason, they said, is that bean sprouts make it watery. This statement gets overturned later on.

The ingredients are seasoned with seasoned salt and pepper and stir-fried. The package says it "can be made in one pan," but apparently it also says to stir-fry the ingredients separately, and Ryuji calls this the biggest hassle. In the step where you add water and stir-fry the noodles while they soften, if you soften the vegetables and meat along with them, everything turns to mush. That is why the ingredients have to be taken out of the pan first.

The usual procedure goes like this. Bring 220 cc of water to a boil in a frying pan, add the noodles, and stir-fry over high heat while they absorb the water. As a guide for the heat level, Ryuji said "about 4." The noodles are ordinary fried noodles, and Ryuji explained that they look like Sapporo Ichiban noodles. Once the liquid is gone, return the ingredients to the pan, toss with the powdered sauce, and sprinkle with the included aonori to finish.

The person trying it for the first time said it was "delicious" and that it would be just right for lunch. Another person present felt the noodles resembled those in U.F.O. Ryuji responded, "Well, it's Nissin." There was a comment that the texture was chewy and the noodles were surprisingly good. As for the sauce, there was a remark to the effect that, being a powder, personal opinions on it might be divided, but overall the conclusion was that "dried-noodle yakisoba is good too."

According to Ryuji, dried-noodle yakisoba has a devoted "community" of fans, and some people even stockpile it. They also mentioned that one bag contains five servings.

Ryuji prefaced things by saying that it is plenty good as is, so an arrangement isn't really necessary. Even so, having eaten many servings of it, they thought about what they would do if they were to arrange these bagged noodles. Ryuji likes cooking for themselves and eating it themselves, but they believe cooking really shows its power when you make it for other people. The starting point for this arrangement was the thought of making exceptionally tasty yakisoba from cheap dried noodles.

The only ingredients used are sesame oil, pork belly, bean sprouts, and egg. Bonito flakes are also used if you have them. Remarking on their own about "bringing out bean sprouts after saying earlier I wouldn't use them," Ryuji explained that here the bean sprouts play an important role.

Ryuji declared that they would "ignore the package directions." The reasoning is that if you are going to stir-fry the ingredients separately anyway, boiling the noodles in a separate pot doesn't add any more work. Ryuji points out that the package method leaves the noodles sticky and doesn't give them a crisp feel.

First, put about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a frying pan, then cut the pork belly and cook it. To render out the pork fat, Ryuji likes to fry it thoroughly until it gets crispy. Pushing it to the edge of the pan helps the fat come out, they say. Once the color changes and it's crispy, take the meat out. Pork fat and browned bits are left in the pan, and these become flavor.

Put the noodles into water boiled in a separate pot and boil them for just 1 minute 30 seconds. When someone asked what difference boiling in a generous amount of water makes, Ryuji explained it this way: when you simmer fried noodles, oil comes out, but boiling them in plenty of water removes both the starch and the frying oil from the noodles. After that, the noodles are coated with the meat fat and the aroma of sesame oil, so the quality of the oil improves, they said.

Of course, the included sauce is used. Ryuji also said that if you weren't going to use the included sauce, you could just do this with Sapporo Ichiban noodles.

Spread the boiled noodles in the frying pan with the leftover pork fat and browned bits, and fry them. Ryuji's view is that it's yakisoba—literally "fried noodles"—so the noodles have to be fried. Start over a fairly strong medium heat and let them sear undisturbed. Ryuji says this gives the noodles firmness—or rather, a crisp texture. It's only a little extra effort, but anyone who just ate the by-the-package yakisoba would be surprised, they added.

Once the noodles have seared, return the meat and put half a bag (about 100 g) of bean sprouts on top. The seasoning is as follows.

• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• About 6 shakes of garlic powder
• Pepper

Ryuji explains that the oyster sauce makes up for the umami this yakisoba lacks.

When asked why bean sprouts instead of cabbage, Ryuji answered that it's because they add texture. The bean sprouts only need a quick stir-fry. Even if they release water, it's still delicious, they said. The powdered sauce is easier to work with if you add it at almost the same time as the bean sprouts, and since it's a powder, it coats everything well.

The arrangement isn't finished yet. Crack a raw egg into the center of the yakisoba, then sprinkle with the included aonori and, if you have them, bonito flakes. Ryuji called the raw egg "an absolute must" and praised the included aonori for doing a good job. Someone present commented that it looked like something served at an okonomiyaki restaurant.

Ryuji is particular about how it's eaten, too, and asked everyone to eat it that way. These noodles are harder than ordinary yakisoba. So the procedure is to break the egg, mix everything together, and let the egg soften the noodles before eating.

Those present all agreed that "the noodles are completely different." Comments included "the noodles are really good" and "I like the flavor of this one better, too." The noodles are slightly firm with a crisp texture, and the bean sprouts add a texture of their own on top of that.

The reason for using a raw egg instead of a fried egg also came up. According to Ryuji, a fried egg isn't bad, but combined with the crispy noodles it's "way too crunchy." There's also no need to go to the trouble of frying an egg. Ryuji marveled that people in the past came up with the idea of adding an egg to yakisoba at all.

The economics were touched on as well. Bean sprouts are cheaper than cabbage. Any leftover ingredients can simply be stir-fried in together, so you can add cabbage too—it's versatile, Ryuji said. One person present said, "With this, I could eat two servings at once," and added that they'd want to put mayonnaise on the second one. Ryuji agreed that adding mayonnaise makes it quite rich. For Ryuji, this arrangement is the one that tastes best while staying right at the limit of how much effort they're willing to put in.

Finally, Ryuji laid out the reasons for recommending dried noodles by comparing them with chilled noodles. The chilled three-serving packs are very good, but they spoil relatively quickly. Also, because chilled noodles contain a lot of moisture, trying to make them crisp doesn't always work. Dried noodles are originally fried in oil, so their surface crisps up easily when you fry them, they said.

Ryuji recalled that when they made Shanghai-style yakisoba with Yama-P in another video, they also used dried noodles, and that time the noodles came out "insanely crunchy." Ryuji's view is that using dried noodles lets you get a hard texture, and they explained that this whole cooking method is entirely for the sake of that crisp texture. They're just dried noodles in the end, but with some ingenuity they can surpass fresh chilled noodles—Ryuji closed by saying they want people to experience that for themselves.

This method reportedly works not only with Nissin but with other bagged dried-noodle yakisoba as well. As an example, Ryuji named "Arabiyan Yakisoba," which, according to Ryuji, is sold almost exclusively in Chiba. The video ends with the message that this technique works with any bagged dried-noodle yakisoba, so give it a try.