Best to Focus on the Sauce, Then the Noodles
When cooked just right, glass noodles are irresistible for its chewiness. However, because they soak up liquid, ensuring that the sauce is tasty is equally as important. Otherwise, it can ruin the noodles!
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Recently, I tried a recipe for Korean braised mackerel and fell in love with the flavors in the dish. As a result, I searched for another protein to braise.
Inspiring Recipe
The recipe that I found was Andong Jjimdak Recipe (Korean braised chicken) from the food blog, Odehlicious.
First Try
Although I already had many of the ingredients listed on the recipe at home, I still had to purchase half a dozen of them to make this dish. The most difficult part was deciding which brand of noodles to buy since there were so many different ones in the store.
Ingredients to Use
Using 4.13 pounds of chicken drumsticks* as the baseline along with assumptions based on several websites**, I decided to double the default recipe and planned on using the following for each ingredient:
Main
- 8 cups of water
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 2 pounds of onion
- 20.25 ounces of potato
- 6.72 ounces of carrot
- 2 small pieces of ginger
- 6 green chilies
- 4 green onions
- 500 grams of Korean glass noodle
- 2 tablespoons of oil
Sauce
- 8 cloves of grated garlic
- 1 cup of soy sauce
- 8 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 4 tablespoons of sesame oil
- 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons of vinegar
*I substituted drumsticks for thighs based on what I had at home.
**My calculations were based on the following information from five websites:
- What Size are Small, Medium and Large Onions and How Much Does Each Yield Chopped? from CulinaryLore’s website: 1 large onion = 1 pound
- How much does a large potato weigh? from GrowerExperts.com: 1 large potato = 8 to 12 ounces
- Carrot Weight and Amount in Cups Diced or Sliced from CulinaryLore’s website: Approximately 2 to 3 large carrots = 1/2 pound
- Chicken Drumstick Weights, Calories & Servings (In Charts) from the site, Weigh School
- 1 raw skin-on chicken drumstick can range from 3.17 ounces to 5.29 ounces
- Recommended portion size is typically two drumsticks per person
- Chicken Thigh Weights, Calories & Servings (In Charts) from the site, Weigh School: 1 skin-on, bone-in chicken thigh = 4.4 ounces on average
Steps to Prepare
When it came to the process, I made some adjustments as follows:
- Before Step 1 – I ended up soaking the noodles in water for an additional 3 minutes, for a total of 33 minutes, because I was finishing up another task.
- Step 1 – First, I used the pot that I was going to cook the rest of the ingredients in to sauté the chicken as well, so I wouldn’t have to clean another item. In addition, I assumed that oil needed to be added before the chicken, instead of vegetables. Lastly, since the chicken was smoking, I added some extra oil to the pot.
- Step 2 – Because I wasn’t using a gas stove, I just turned the electric stove to high. In addition, since I didn’t see where to put the garlic cloves, it made most sense to me to add them in with the onions.
Time to Eat
After cooking so many ingredients in the pot, I couldn’t wait to taste the finished product.
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1️⃣6️⃣* | 🤏🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
The chicken came out moist and noodles mildly spicy. Since the sauce was delicious, I scooped it over everything in the bowl.
Second Try
For the second round, my goal was to keep the chicken drumsticks from smoking while I sautéed them. In addition, I planned to cook less than before since we had too much the first time.
Ingredients to Use
Starting with 2.46 pounds of drumsticks, I tried to use as close to the amount listed on the default recipe as possible for the rest of the ingredients, as shown below, except for the oil, which I doubled:
Main
- 4 cups of water
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 16.01 ounces of onion
- 8.32 ounces of potato
- 4.48 ounces of carrot
- 1 small piece of ginger
- 3 green chilies
- 2 green onions
- 250 grams of Korean glass noodle
- 2 tablespoons of oil
Sauce
- 4 cloves of grated garlic
- 1/2 cup of soy sauce
- 4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of vinegar
Steps to Prepare
For the second time around, I repeated most of what I did before, except that I soaked the noodles for 30 minutes, as noted in the default recipe. In addition, no adjustment was needed for the oil this time.
Time to Eat
With proportionately more carrots in the second batch, the dish was more appealing in color.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1️⃣6️⃣* | 🤏🤏 | 💰 | 🙂 |
Although the chicken was tender, the noodles were too salty.
Since the second batch of noodles came out extra salty, I will try the following next time:
Continuous Improvement
- Cut the oyster sauce in the recipe by a quarter or half and/or increase the carrots and potatoes by 1.5x.
It didn’t occur to me that making a meat substitution would impact the cooking process until I saw the chicken drumsticks smoke a lot. Because of this experience, I would like to share the following with my previous self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Prepare to add more oil when substituting meat with more fat with one that has less.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try Andong Jjimdak Recipe (Korean braised chicken) from the food blog, Odehlicious?
- What’s your favorite Korean braised dish?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)