This is my first time having cold noodle soup. I bought the soup broth and buckwheat noodles separately vs. buying a complete soup kit.
Overall, I enjoyed it except I found the soup to be too sweet for my taste. The sweetness was pronounced and almost overpowered the other flavors (beef, cucumber, mushrooms, scallions).
I know sweetness is relative but just how sweet is this supposed to be? I looked at the ingredients after the fact and noticed 4 different kinds of sweetener added. I am going to throw the other broth pouches out unless I can figure out how to cancel out some of the sugar. Would some soy sauce do it? Rice vinegar? Both?
Any recommendations for another brand would be appreciated.
by ThePietje
4 Comments
Rice vinegar is ok to add into naengmyeon, or apple cider vinegar. You can also add in mustard (not yellow mustard, Korean mustard oil) – but if you do, don’t add too much because it’ll make your nose burn like wasabi.
Both or either of these should help with the sweetness. Start small and add more in so it doesn’t overwhelm the broth.
Korean or Chinese hot mustard powder fermented (mix with water to a paste and keep warm for an hour) white vinegar is fine because most restaurants served white in and around Seoul. They always gave you the mustard and white vinegar in squirt bottles. I tried the vinegar alone and most places it was just white. Slice some apple pear and toss it in or as a side. I usually ate bimbim naengmeun. And if you look in the freezer sections you can usually find higher quality frozen noodles stacked together in a bag.
It looks like you got one with a radish broth, which tends to get on the sweeter side. Next time, you can look for a “Pyongyang” style broth, which should use more beef flavor and less sweet.
Oooo congratulations on discovering the best dish ever. My mom used to just mix pure beef broth and those frozen broth, man it’s the perfect combo. Next time try adding apples, it gives the perfect crunch.