Nongshim Shin Noodle Ramyun, Gourmet Spicy Picante, 4.2-Ounce Packages (Pack of 16)

Review:I've eaten ramen for a long time (30+ years) and have eaten numerous varieties and the Shin ramen is probably my #1 tasting. The reasons are as follows:* Best flavor broth - it's spicy (but adjustable), leaves a good aftertaste (yes, even when you burp), tint of mushroom flavor coupled with a good balance of red pepper, onions and spices.* Noodles have good texture - depending how you cook them of course but with bad ones, no matter how you cook them they come out soggy/soft. These come out chewy if you want or softer if you overcook them.* It's not oily - I've noticed with some noodles, you can see a ring of oil around the pot after you cook the noodles. So with these I sometimes had to boil an extra pot of water and then transfer the cooked noodles to the fresh pot of water to get rid of the oil. Not with Shin Ramen.* Economical - for less than a dollar a pack, they beat any dollar menu item* Great for any weather - particularly winter to keep you warm. In the summer, they help to break out a sweat and opens your pores* Can be a hearty meal - you can add all types of things to this ramen as others have posted. An egg is recommended but so are vegetables and meat.Tips:Amount of water - add about 2 mug size cup fulls of water. If not sure, add a little less. You can always add more after it's fully cooked. Adding cold water at the end cools down the boiling hot soup so it's easier to eat.How to cook - wait til the water boils. As soon as it does, drop in everything: the soup base, noodles, dried vegie packet. If you want to add vegies, let it cook for about a minute before adding e.g. mushrooms, bean sprouts, tomatoes, green onions. Don't put more than a quarter couple of any vegies or meat cuz you'll kill the flavor. For eggs, if you like them well cooked, add them at the beginning. You can add at the end of cooking too but this is a bit too raw for my tasteCooking time - boil the noodles 2 - 4 minutes. This depends on how hard or soft you like your noodles. Just pull a strand out and taste it every 30 seconds after the first minute. There's no right or wrong here.Soup base - add all of it. Don't worry about it being too spicy. Per above you can always water it down later. The soup will be plenty hot. Remember it just finished boiling and it's difficult to put something in your mouth when it was just boiling.How to serve - there are 3 ways I'd recommend1) The traditional Korean way - folks like to eat straight from the pot. There's actually an 'art' to this. After removing it from the stove, place the pot on something that wont burn. Grab the lid of the pot, a spoon (yes a spoon) and chop sticks (fork if you can't wield them).2) In a bowl. Don't use a plastic one unless it can stand the heat. I don't like to use plastic period for health reasons but up to you. Remove some of the excess soup from the pot first and then pour everything directly into the bowl. Grab a spoon and chopsticks/fork and place the bowl down and go to work.3) combination of 1 and 2 above. Place the pot of ramen and get a bowl along with a spoon and chopsticks/fork.How to eat:First, forget what your parents have told you on slurping. To eat ramen, you must slurp. Why? Because 1) if you don't you'll burn your lips because no slurping means the noodles must pass through your lips slower and enclosed more around the noodles. 2) because your lips are more enclosed, most of the soup around the noodles are sucked away from noodles, leaving you with less flavorful noodles. So forget the decorum. Eat it asian style and slurp away.2nd, I'd recommend the Korean way (#1 above). You grab the pot lid then take about 2 mouthful amounts of noodle and dump it into the lid. You should be holding the lid with your left hand (switch if you're right handed) and quickly grab a large spoon and add several spoonfuls of soup broth into the lid. You're doing 3 things here 1) you're saturating the noodles with the flavorful broth. 2) by adding the noodles to the lid, you're cooling it down for consumption while keeping the rest of the noodles hot. 3) When you eat straight from the lid, you first eat the noodles and immediately follow up with a slurp from the lid itself to drink the soup base. To do this, you put the lid close to your mouth and then push the noodles in with your utensil, drink the soup right after or together as you push the noodles in. I know this sounds crude but the flavor is maximized this way. You can add any vegetables or meat to eat bite this way too.If you want to eat using method #2, well, it needs no explanation, just make sure you slurp and drink the broth as you eat the noodles.For method #3, you're basically substituting the bowl for the lid. Works as well but assuming your lid is metal, it keeps the noodles hotter. Also, people tend to put more noodles into a bowl then a lid and this ends up cooling the noodle down too much. It's also slower cuz you dont hold the bowl in your hand where as with the lid, since you're holding it, you grab noodles, place them briefly on the lid then straight to your mouth. It's cooler too ;>)Third, some people like to make this a heartier meal by adding rice. I usually don't add the rice to the pot until I'm half-way through because it's too hot and because the meal loses its flavor and it's too heavy. However, by adding rice directly to the pot full of ramen, you have more of a hearty meal.Now, enjoy!