WELCOME TO OUR KITCHEN: We're making Garlic Chili Noodles
We're veteran cookbook authors Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. Welcome to our kitchen!
In this episode of our food and cooking podcast, we're making Garlic Chili Noodles: a storied dish that's a great, quick lunch or dinner. Best with a beer and a streaming movie.
Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK;
[00:57] Our one-minute cooking tip: use a bouillon cube or bouillon powder to flavor the water for cooking dried pasta.
[02:38] We're making garlic chili noodles!
Here's the recipe. For ingredient links, scroll down a bit.
For one serving, cook and drain 4 ounces of dried, wide, hand-cut Taiwanese noodles (although you can use dried udon or ramen noodles).
Mix all this in a bowl: 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon black vinegar (or 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar), 1/4 teaspoon granulated white sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon table salt.
Add the hot noodles, then top with 2 minced and peeled garlic cloves, 1 trimmed and thinly sliced medium scallion, and 1 tablespoon chili flakes (such as Sichuan chili flakes or Korean chili flakes).
Heat 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of a neutral-flavored oil (that is, canola, corn, vegetable, safflower, etc.) in a small skillet set over high heat until the oil waggles. Pour over the noodles and aromatics and toss as everything sizzles. Cool a minute or two, then gobble down.
For the dried, wide, "hand-cut" noodles we used, click here.
For the dark soy sauce, click here.
For the black vinegar, click here.
And for the Sichuan chili flakes, click here.
[16:48] What’s making us happy in food this week: fall raspberries and MOD Pizza.
Transcript
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein.
Bruce:It is the podcast cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Mark:And I'm Mark Scarbrough.
Mark:And together with Bruce, we have written 36 cookbooks, not counting the ones for celebrities that we had to sign.
Mark:Confidentiality agreements for but 36 under our own names We have a book coming out very soon the look and cook air fryer Bible Which I have to tell you we are super proud of over 700 photographs Everything you could need to learn to operate your air fryer.
Mark:But in this episode of our food and cooking podcast, we're going to have a one minute cooking tip.
Mark:As we always do, we are actually making a recipe.
Mark:We're going to make garlic chili noodles, a storied recipe.
Mark:You can find lots of videos for this and tick tock on YouTube, but we're going to make our own here on the podcast and we'll let you know what's making us happy in food this week.
Mark:So let's get started.
Bruce:Today's one minute cooking tip.
Bruce:We all know you need to salt water for boiling pasta, right?
Bruce:Otherwise, the pasta doesn't have much flavor.
Bruce:But you can up that flavor even more by substituting bouillon cubes or bouillon powder for salt.
Bruce:Wait, a whole cube?
Bruce:Oh, even more than one.
Bruce:Because you put a handful of salt in a pot of water for pasta.
Bruce:So, throw a few bouillon cubes in.
Bruce:Throw a...
Bruce:Big couple tablespoons of bouillon powder.
Mark:You can have salty noodles, aren't you?
Bruce:Nah, they're not going to get any saltier than if you just use salt.
Bruce:And this will add the salt, but a ton of other flavors to your pasta, even before you sauce it.
Mark:Okay, since Bruce is the chef and I'm the naysayer, let me just say, and I often am naysayers, saying as the writer.
Mark:Maybe I could start with one bouillon cube.
Mark:What kind?
Mark:Beef?
Mark:Chicken?
Bruce:It's up to you.
Bruce:You can use any.
Bruce:Vegemite?
Bruce:Oh, Vegemite.
Bruce:Why not?
Bruce:I probably would.
Bruce:Look, I always have a giant container of powdered chicken bouillon in the house because I use it in a lot of Chinese cooking.
Bruce:What about powdered Vegemite?
Bruce:I don't even know there is such a thing like I suppose you could buy the Vegemite and dehydrate it and grind it and make your own just for pasta cooking.
Mark:Oh, gross, gross, gross.
Mark:Anyway, um, yeah.
Mark:So you're, uh, anyway, you're saying like the chicken or the beef bouillon.
Bruce:Yeah, just throw them in instead of salt and that will give your pasta a lot of flavor.
Bruce:Wow.
Mark:Okay.
Mark:Uh, I actually have never thought of such a thing.
Mark:So I see I came to this podcast that we are recording blind.
Mark:But up next, I do know a little something.
Mark:Garlic chili noodles.
Mark:Not a lot, but I do know that I'm obsessed with them and have become obsessed with them through hundreds of Tik TOK and YouTube videos and hundreds of Instagram reels.
Mark:So let's get in the kitchen and let's make some garlic chili noodles.
Bruce:Mark has been showing me these videos and saying, we have to make these, we have to make these, you have to make these.
Bruce:So here, so we're going to make them.
Bruce:So there, you can hear the water boiling.
Bruce:We have a little pot of water boiling and no, I am not adding bouillon cubes or salt to this water because we are using Chinese dried noodles, which tend to have salt in the mine, do
Mark:and the condiments that are
Mark:going to go on.
Mark:This are super salty, too.
Bruce:You're not going to need it.
Mark:So you really don't need it.
Mark:Now, listen, while I tell you, as we're sitting here, getting ready to put the noodles in the pot that we are making.
Mark:a serving.
Mark:So this is one serving.
Mark:You can find this recipe on our website, Bruce and mark.
Mark:com or cooking with Bruce and mark.
Mark:com.
Mark:Either way, you'll get to our website and you can find this podcast episode as well as this recipe there.
Mark:So watch for that.
Mark:But now we're gonna put the noodles in and what are these very fancy, ruffly noodles.
Bruce:These are dried, wide, hand cut noodles from Taiwan.
Bruce:Now, they're labeled hand cut.
Bruce:Do you really think these are hand cut?
Bruce:I think these are extruded, but the package says hand cut.
Mark:Is that because the Olden days, they would have been hand cut.
Mark:And so these look like the olden days.
Mark:Well, the, I, I want to say that these are roughly on both sides.
Mark:So they have this, if you know what mafaldina is the Italian pasta, they look kind of like that.
Mark:They're paler, right?
Mark:I mean, a lot of mafaldina is quite yellow, at least in the United States, but this is paler than that
Bruce:because it's not made with any egg.
Bruce:These are just wheat noodles.
Bruce:Um, and they're.
Bruce:Thicker in the center and roughly edges of thinner and other noodles.
Bruce:You might find like Udon or ramen would work.
Bruce:Chinese low main style egg noodles.
Bruce:I guess would work.
Mark:Lo Mein style egg noodles.
Mark:Not the crunchy crap.
Mark:My mother bought in a can and poured over top.
Bruce:No.
Bruce:And, but those are also very different.
Bruce:from American egg noodles.
Bruce:Don't use those.
Bruce:And try not to use spaghetti unless you absolutely have no other choice.
Bruce:And it's the only thing you could find.
Mark:But udon noodles would work.
Mark:Ramen noodles would work.
Mark:The Chinese low mine style egg noodles would work.
Mark:All these are all dried noodles, but if you can find the Taiwanese dried wide hand cut noodles, that's what you want.
Mark:And we're, we've put about four ounces into the pot.
Bruce:There are four ounces in there and we're just letting them.
Bruce:They're going to cook in about two to three minutes.
Bruce:They're not going to take very long.
Bruce:And while they're cooking, we are going to Build our sauce in our bowl.
Mark:Just step away, because this is the part I'm obsessed with.
Mark:So, um, let me just say that this is, again, for one serving.
Mark:So I'm putting a half a tablespoon of soy sauce in here.
Mark:And you can use low sodium.
Mark:I don't know why you would.
Mark:Why would you do that?
Mark:Just
Mark:use soy sauce.
Mark:Just use soy sauce.
Bruce:You do know that there are soy sauces long beyond Kikkoman and that kind of thing.
Bruce:And the soy sauce is in...
Bruce:integral to this dish.
Bruce:So maybe you want to up your game a little.
Bruce:Listen, if you make it with Kikkoman, you're fine.
Bruce:And let me also add that I am a fan of Kikkoman.
Bruce:And Bruce knows Bruce has all these fancy Chinese, uh, soy sauces like Korean and Taiwanese and all this stuff.
Bruce:And I always go for the Kikkoman out of the refrigerator to put
Bruce:on my rice.
Bruce:Well, we're using a Pearl river bridge.
Bruce:Okay.
Bruce:This is our half a tablespoon.
Mark:So half a tablespoon of just plain old soy sauce.
Mark:And now
Bruce:Only half a teaspoon, but half a teaspoon of dark soy.
Bruce:What is this?
Bruce:So dark soy is a thickened, richer soy sauce that has some caramel coloring added.
Bruce:And it's used mostly as a coloring agent, not as much as a flavoring agent.
Bruce:So they take...
Bruce:Wait, why do I need this?
Bruce:Because this will add a...
Bruce:It will add a little more depth of flavor because it is boiled down so it's a little richer, but it'll add the color.
Bruce:It'll give it that beautiful golden color.
Mark:What if I don't want to use this?
Mark:If you don't want to use it, you don't want to buy a bottle of dark soy sauce.
Mark:We don't just mean black like Kikoman and black soy sauce.
Mark:We mean this is specifically labeled dark soy.
Bruce:In fact, if you go to a Chinese market, most of the soy sauces you will find that are like Kikkoman will be labeled light soy sauce.
Bruce:I know, right.
Bruce:Because it's not dark.
Bruce:It doesn't mean it's lower in sodium, it doesn't mean it's lighter, it just means it's not that thick, sweeter,
Mark:glazy.
Mark:I didn't want to buy a bottle of this.
Mark:My hunch is I could just add a dribble more of soy sauce to this.
Mark:You could.
Mark:Okay, come on.
Mark:You Okay.
Mark:Okay.
Mark:And then I'm going to put in a half a teaspoon of black vinegar.
Mark:Now you explain what black vinegar is.
Bruce:Black vinegar is made from rice.
Bruce:It's made in all different regions of China and every region makes their own.
Bruce:It could come as mature aged vinegar.
Bruce:It could be a young vinegar and any black vinegar will work.
Bruce:You are only putting a half a teaspoon, but don't.
Bruce:I'm too old to keep up with young vinegar.
Bruce:Don't substitute just plain old rice vinegar.
Bruce:Look for the black vinegar.
Bruce:You will find it.
Mark:And what if I...
Mark:didn't find it.
Mark:Let's pretend that, you know, I live in rural, rural New England and they're not going to have dark vinegar, black vinegar at my supermarket.
Mark:So I believe you can, you can knock me down for this, but I believe I could use a quarter teaspoon of rice vinegar and a quarter teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.
Mark:I get close to this.
Bruce:You could do that.
Bruce:Sure.
Bruce:I would even let you do that.
Bruce:And if you have any.
Bruce:Super aged balsamic that's syrupy and thick in the house.
Bruce:You could put a drop or two of that in as well.
Bruce:That would even give you the color you're missing from the dark soy you didn't want to put in.
Mark:Well, I'm just being careful.
Mark:And so a quarter teaspoon of granulated sugar, here it goes, and a quarter teaspoon of salt.
Mark:So you see how salty this is and you see why you don't need to salt those noodles.
Bruce:I'm going to stir this up with a little fork.
Bruce:I just want to make sure that sugar and salt are dissolved.
Bruce:And now we are, the noodles are just about done.
Bruce:Let's check these.
Bruce:I'm going to pull one out with my chopsticks.
Bruce:And actually these...
Bruce:These are good.
Bruce:These are right.
Bruce:So I'm going to drain them here in this little colander.
Bruce:And now here's the thing.
Bruce:You could put them in the bowl warm and have these as warm noodles, or you could rinse them with cold water and have them as a cold noodle dish.
Mark:Ah, rinse them?
Mark:That seems wrong.
Bruce:You want this to be a hot
Mark:noodle dish today?
Mark:Well, yes, because we're going to do the whole hot noodle topping.
Bruce:Well, you do that even if they're cold.
Bruce:Okay, no, I like it hot.
Bruce:Okay, we're going to put the hot noodles in our bowl and dumping them in now.
Bruce:We have to do the topping, which is what this dish is all about.
Bruce:So, I want you, please, to chop up these two cloves of garlic.
Mark:Okay, these are nice, medium cloves of garlic.
Mark:So, we're talking here about, once I mince this thing down, about two, two and a half teaspoons of minced garlic.
Mark:If you want to use it out of the jar.
Mark:I know.
Mark:Ben, let me just say while we're doing this that there are people who make these, I've seen the videos of people from Korea and China and Taiwan making these and using 6, 7, 8, 10 cloves of garlic for one serving.
Mark:Well, yeah.
Mark:So we're being kind of conservative here.
Mark:They are garlic noodles.
Mark:I know they are, and garlic, raw garlic doesn't always agree with me, so this is good to put those on top of the noodles.
Bruce:Now I've got this scallion that I'm thinly slicing, and then I'm going to take this thinly sliced scallion, and I'm going to put it on top of the noodles next to your garlic.
Bruce:Okay.
Bruce:But now we need the chili part, and we have a choice.
Bruce:Yeah.
Bruce:Because this is our house, so we have a thousand kinds of chili.
Bruce:Of course.
Bruce:Now you could, if you don't have anything else, use standard old American red chili flakes.
Mark:Standard old?
Mark:Do they have to be old?
Mark:Like, old, like, ancient, like my grandmother's spices, or they became coloring agents?
Mark:Oh, God.
Mark:You mean like that?
Mark:Old.
Mark:Okay.
Mark:I'm going to use old.
Mark:Old spices,
Bruce:but the best thing to use here is like some kind of ground Szechuan chili flakes.
Bruce:Oh, and barring that fancy barring that you could do Korean chili flakes, which is that gochugaru.
Bruce:And we have the Szechuan Tablespoon.
Bruce:Now I have the tables when it's hot, but I have seen people in videos put a quarter cup of these per serving.
Bruce:I don't know how you eat it.
Bruce:So we're just putting a tablespoon.
Mark:Okay.
Mark:So now this is, um, we've done this.
Mark:So you, we made that sauce.
Mark:We put the noodles in it.
Mark:We toss in those with that sauce.
Mark:Now we put this topic and we're not going to mix this in.
Mark:This is really crucial.
Mark:So what I want you to do now is get yourself a small skillet.
Mark:I put three tablespoons of A neutral flavored oil.
Mark:So canola oil, safflower oil, corn oil, vegetable oil.
Mark:You can use peanut oil.
Mark:I love peanut oil.
Mark:Um, but again, a neutral flavored oil.
Mark:Don't use a fancy olive oil for God's sake.
Mark:No, no, no.
Mark:This is a Chinese dish and don't use a Fancy olive oil for God's sake, wrong part of the world.
Mark:And also don't use any kind of nut oil, like walnut oil, pecan oil.
Mark:We're not paying any of that.
Bruce:And part of that is you don't want to use the nut oils cause they have too low a smoke point and we're going to heat this.
Bruce:This is over a high heat and I want this to get to between 275 and 300 degrees.
Bruce:Now it's not deep enough for us to use a candy thermometer.
Bruce:So how do I know if it's hot enough?
Bruce:Well, the first thing you could do is.
Bruce:pull out your handy dandy laser thermometer.
Bruce:Oh,
Mark:yeah, everybody's got them.
Mark:Oh, yeah.
Bruce:If you don't have one of those, you take a chopstick and you put the wide end, not the thin end you eat from, the wide end, this is a wooden chopstick, not a metal chopstick, and you put the flat end of that in the bottom of the pot, against the bottom of the pot, in the oil, and if bubbles start to come up around the wood that's touching the bottom, you know it's hot enough.
Mark:Okay, so, in other words, this is going to get really hot.
Mark:So, if you have...
Mark:unrefined peanut oil.
Mark:This is not for you.
Mark:Those have low smoke points.
Mark:They ignite very quickly.
Mark:Some olive oils will ignite quickly.
Mark:The other thing you can use here besides all these neutral oils like safflower and corn and vegetable and canola and all that stuff or peanut oil, refined peanut oil.
Mark:You can also use grapeseed oil.
Mark:That's getting very fancy.
Mark:But grapeseed oil will have an extremely neutral taste.
Bruce:Okay, now little bits of smoke is coming off our oil, so I'm stopping it now.
Bruce:You really don't want to get smoking hot.
Bruce:Please don't burn our kitchen down.
Bruce:Okay, so now, this is the fun part.
Bruce:No noodle dish is worth a burned kitchen.
Bruce:Stand back, because I am going to pour this hot, hot oil Over that scallion, chili flakes, and garlic on top of the noodles.
Bruce:Oh, that sizzle
Mark:and you could smell it.
Mark:This is it.
Mark:And now what you want to do is you want to toss all this together.
Bruce:Now you take your chopsticks or your fork and you just stir it up.
Mark:You stir, stir, stir like crazy.
Mark:Um, you don't actually do anything else to this.
Mark:You don't have to worry about, uh, being fancy.
Mark:Um, yes.
Mark:Can you chop up some chives or mince up some chives and put it on top?
Mark:Of course.
Mark:Yes.
Mark:Can you do fancy things like a little dusting of Sichuan peppercorn?
Mark:That would be good.
Mark:Um, you know, ground Sichuan peppercorns.
Mark:Yes, you can.
Mark:But honestly, this is how it is to me.
Mark:It's just unadorned and delicious.
Mark:I'm going to try it.
Bruce:Oh, first of all, the hot, that tablespoon of chili stuff is hot.
Bruce:They're also hot, hot, but they're so fragrant and they're so yummy.
Bruce:And this took us.
Bruce:All of ten minutes to make.
Bruce:This is called Ten Minute Garlic Chili.
Mark:Wait, no, shut up.
Mark:The cookbook writer is going to tell you to be quiet.
Mark:Because, I'm sorry, this took a day to make.
Mark:Because you had to drive to an Asian supermarket and buy dark soy and black vinegar and come on, and you're Gochugaru.
Mark:So this took a day to make.
Mark:Now it's true, once you get these things in your pantry Then they take no time to make and this would be a good excuse to get some of these things because honestly This is a really fast meal.
Mark:I have eaten this very hot very Delicious little sweet very spicy noodles.
Mark:I've eaten them with a fried egg on top of it You can do a poached egg on top of it that makes old shrimp.
Mark:Yeah Sure, why not I think it was taken I think it would almost kill the taste of the meat, wouldn't it?
Bruce:Not if it's a good grass fed aged beef.
Mark:Well, no, that's right.
Mark:If it's gamey or has a slightly gamey quality to it.
Mark:Um, we have a friend who went out and hunted duck breasts.
Bruce:Wait, he only hunted the breasts?
Mark:Yeah, wait a minute, let me say that again.
Mark:Okay, we have a friend who went out and hunted some ducks, and he brought home the breasts, and probably more too.
Mark:We went over to their house the other night at, He seared the duck breast.
Mark:We just sat in their kitchen and he seared these just fresh wild caught ducks and it was delicious.
Mark:And I can't imagine this standing up to that gamey duck.
Bruce:It would.
Bruce:Even though these are usually just eaten on their own, you can have them as a side dish.
Bruce:You can have them as a base for something else for dinner.
Bruce:And not only will you get the recipe for this, um, under the show notes for this episode, I made a video of me making this, and that exists on our TikTok channel, cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Bruce:I see.
Bruce:And I'm posting it in our Facebook group, cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Mark:Okay.
Mark:So the videos everywhere, the recipes everywhere.
Mark:It's in the show notes to this program.
Mark:You can drop down in the player and look at them.
Mark:It's on our website, bruceandmark.
Mark:com.
Mark:You can find this recipe everywhere and we would love you to try it and even post a pic.
Mark:Of your results, that would be spectacular in the Facebook group.
Mark:Hey, before we get to the last segment of this podcast, let me just say that we have a newsletter.
Mark:It admittedly hasn't gone out for about three weeks.
Mark:Um, sorry.
Mark:Um, my mom is really super ill and I've been running back and forth from here in New England to St.
Mark:Louis to help take care of her with my brother.
Mark:So I haven't had a chance to get a newsletter out.
Mark:Sorry.
Mark:But it's coming in again.
Mark:If you want to sign up for that newsletter, go to our website.
Mark:And again, if you drop, I always say this, your name and your email address there to sign up for the newsletter, you can see it scroll down the page, it tells you how to do it.
Mark:Uh, I don't capture your email address and you can always back out and unsubscribe at any time.
Mark:So I can't sell or keep your email address and you can always get off the list.
Mark:Okay.
Mark:Our.
Mark:traditional last segment out of the podcast.
Mark:What's making us happy in food this week?
Bruce:It happened at the same dinner.
Bruce:We were at the other night with a duck breast hunting friend, right?
Bruce:Served us to duck breast to duck breast flying duck breast.
Bruce:They just served us some of that lovely duck breast.
Bruce:But for dessert, we had raspberries.
Bruce:Now it's the end of October in New England.
Bruce:We should have had a freeze a month ago and all these things you be done.
Bruce:But.
Bruce:Every garden up here where people grow fruit are still getting late fall raspberries.
Bruce:They picked them and they were delicious.
Mark:We don't grow raspberries.
Mark:We grow red and black currants and we grow gooseberries.
Mark:But, uh, I can't believe it.
Mark:I mean, even the farm stand that's not so far from our house is back to selling fall raspberries.
Mark:It's, it's crazy that we haven't had a killing freeze yet.
Mark:I know.
Mark:Uh, and they, they not only picked three quarts, they sent us home with a quart of fresh picked raspberries.
Mark:Which are finished, already done.
Mark:Yeah, I know.
Mark:I had them with a little piece of cheddar every morning for breakfast, and then Bruce finished them off in yogurt, and they, uh, they were really tasty.
Mark:So what's making me happy in food this week is a really weird thing.
Mark:It's going to be about St.
Mark:Louis.
Mark:So I, you know, I go back and forth to St.
Mark:Louis, and let me tell you that food is not the point of these trips because mom's sick and not doing really well, and so again, food is not the point of these trips.
Mark:But there's this chain and maybe you know about it called mod pizza, M O D pizza.
Mark:And I have grown to love it.
Mark:Um, my family eats a lot of fast food and it's not exactly my high end cooking life here with black vinegar and black soy sauce and dark soy sauce and all this stuff and ground Sichuan peppercorns.
Mark:But anyway, they eat a lot of fast And so we go to a Mod Pizza a lot and I have come to love it.
Mark:I actually look forward to a Mod Pizza.
Mark:The dough is delicious and here's the thing, it's like a cafeteria line, which is kind of weird I know, but you go through the line and you pick all the toppings you want and they just charge you for the crust.
Mark:And then you just load that thing up with, I load mine up with vegetables and fresh mozzarella and it's.
Mark:really delicious.
Mark:Does Mod stand for modular in this case?
Mark:I actually don't, M O D pizza.
Mark:I actually don't know.
Mark:It's a chain.
Mark:So if you ever are out and about and you want a quick, easy meal, I am not sponsored by nor paid by Mod Pizza, but I can tell you that the pizzas I have at Mod are terrific.
Mark:Let me give you one tip, is that I ask for my pizza to be burned.
Mark:I ask for it to be well done.
Mark:You ask for that everywhere.
Mark:I usually like.
Mark:So it's really great to have it burned.
Mark:And they tell me all the time in line that with as many toppings as I picked, I can't have it well done because the pizza will collapse in the center.
Mark:So I've learned to moderate my topping choice and have fewer toppings in order to have a more burned crust underneath.
Mark:That's the way it always goes, right?
Mark:So, um, that's our show for this week.
Mark:Thanks for joining us.
Mark:We're really glad that you're a part of our journey.
Mark:Thank you for being here with us on our revamped podcast, cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Mark:We're thrilled to do recipes like this, and we hope that you will also make garlicky spicy noodles.
Bruce:And we hope you will share pictures of it on our Facebook group, cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Bruce:And we tell you what's making us happy in food this week, every week.
Bruce:Tell us what's making you happy in food this week on our Facebook page, and we'll see you again on Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
