Different Types of Noodles For Tasty Soup Recipes

There are lots of kinds of noodles and you could use any of them in a soup recipe, depending on what kind of soup are making and what other ingredients you are going to use. For a traditional chicken noodle soup recipe, for example, you might choose egg noodles but you could substitute another kind of noodles if you wanted to.

Noodles Made from Egg

Egg noodles are very popular and they feature in a lot of Asian recipes, as well as in soups like chicken noodle soup. Egg noodles can be dried or fresh, round or flat and thick, medium or thin. They have to be cooked in boiling water. If you are making a chicken noodle soup recipe or something similar, use fresh egg noodles rather than dried ones for the best results.

Hokkien noodles are made from wheat flour and egg and these are yellow and thick. You can find them vacuum-packed or fresh in Asian grocery stores. Ramen noodles are the Japanese equivalent to Chinese egg noodles. "Ramen" actually means Chinese noodle. Ramen noodles are thin and you need to keep them in the refrigerator until you use them.

Other Kinds

Rice stick noodles are flat and translucent. You can use them in salads or soup recipes and you have to soak them in warm water before using them. Fresh rice kinds can be thick or thin and they are steamed and oiled, then packaged. Do not refrigerate fresh rice or they will become hard. Dried rice vermicelli are thin and white. They are good at absorbing flavors from other foods.

Wheat flour noodles like udon noodles are Japanese in origin and these need to be boiled, and then added to soup recipes. Soba noodles can be made with buckwheat or wheat flour.

Mung bean thread vermicelli are also known as glass noodles or cellophane noodles and these are made from mung beans. They need to be soaked and drained before being added to recipes.

How to Make Easy Beef Noodle Soup

The following recipe makes enough beef soup to serve a family of four. For this soup, you can use beef-flavored ramen noodles, which come with a seasoning packet. If you prefer, you can use another type of noodles and add some extra soy sauce to the soup instead of the seasoning packet. For a chicken noodle soup, substitute three boneless chicken breasts for the beef and use chicken flavored pasta.

You will need:

1 lb ground beef
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 chopped onion
6 oz beef-flavored ramen noodles
1 head chopped Chinese cabbage
4 cups water
2 minced cloves garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

How to make it:

Brown the beef in a skillet, then drain off the fat. Put the browned beef in a big pan and add the garlic, ginger, and onion. Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Stir in the Chinese cabbage, turn the heat down, and simmer the beef soup for three minutes. Stir in the ramen noodles and simmer until the vegetables are al dente and the noodles are soft. Stir in the oil, seasoning packets and soy sauce, and serve the soup hot.

How Do Different Cultures Barbecue?

We all like to think that we invented barbecue. The truth, however, is that different cultures in different countries throughout the world have their own homegrown styles of barbecue grill, some of which go back thousands of years. Any fan of barbecued meat that avoids these other styles is missing out on learning some new techniques and eating some great food. This article will give you a brief, whirlwind tour of different barbecue traditions and techniques across the globe.

To appreciate other styles of barbecued grill, we'll have to leave behind some comfortable American notions about barbecue. When we think of barbecue, we think of pork and beef cooked low and slow over indirect heat for some truly fine tender and juicy meat slathered in a sweet and spicy tomato-based sauce. Barbecue grill in other cultures, however, cook lots of other meat in addition to beef and pork, and use their own native spices and sauces. And while we see an important difference between grilling and barbecuing indeed, may even come to blows over it after a few beers in a Texas roadhouse, few other cultures make such a distinction. So for this article, we'll have included grilling as part of barbecue.

European countries have had their own types of barbecue grill for centuries. Before refrigeration, smoking was one of the standard ways to preserve meat for the winter. Europeans smoke just about any animal that walks, swims, or flies. Central and Eastern European countries are famous for their sausages smoked over oak or hickory wood. Ireland smoked meat over peat instead of a charcoal or wood grill, creating a distinctive flavor in the process, and the Irish make a mean smoked potato. France, Italy, Greece, and other Mediterranean countries have a tradition of meat delicately seasoned with persillade (garlic and parsley), brushed with olive oil to seal in the juices, and smoked over grapevine wood.

The Asian barbecue tradition evolved completely separately from western barbecue grill over thousands of years. The kamado cooker burns lump charcoal, and is tightly sealed to keep in moisture, the ceramic cooker walls radiate the low, indirect heat all around the meat for hours. Southern China serves Char Sui, pork marinated in soy sauce and honey and grilled in long narrow strips. Korea sports Bulgogi, thinly sliced beef, pork, or chicken marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and chili pepper, and is grilled right at the table. Japanese barbecue is marinated in soy-based sauces such as their famous Teriyaki, and sport some of the world's finest techniques for barbecuing seafood and vegetables. They even barbecue [http://www.mybbqonline.com] fried noodles, known as Yakisoba. The southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Vietnam boast the world famous Satay, meat skewered on bamboo, BBQ grilled over charcoal, and marinated and basted with a thick, gooey curry-peanut sauce.

There are many other barbecuing traditions across the globe that merits at least a brief mention. In the Middle East, the world-famous Persian grill kebab is deeply entrenched with many regional variations. In South Asia, the Indian Tandoori barbecuing grill tradition marinates chicken and lamb in yogurt and spices, then cooks it in a charcoal-fired clay oven. In the Pacific Island style of pit-smoking, of which Hawaiian Kalua is perhaps the most famous, salted pork is laid in an earthen pit lined with banana or Ti plant leaves and filled with hot stones, then covered in more leaves and burlap, then reburied to steam all day. Lechon barbeque from the Caribbean and Philippines roasts a slowly turning pig on a spit over charcoal.

Thanks to the glories of the internet, exotic new barbecue recipes, cooking instructions, and even barbecue equipment from around the world can be found within seconds from our homes and offices. Any barbecuer worth his salt can learn a new trick or two from the different cooking and seasoning styles of other cultures, and would do well to take advantage of this vast and ancient resource.

A Look at Different International Soup Recipes

French onion is one example of an international soup which is popular all over the world but there are more. India is famed for its lentil soups, Japan's miso is unique and delicious and most of us are familiar with the healing properties of Jewish chicken noodle is another example.

Scotch broth, which is barley and mutton, and cullen skink, a smoked haddock soup, are renowned in Scotland. In Eastern Europe you will find borscht, a meat and beetroot soup, and goulash, which is a paprika and beef stew which used to be a soup.

The American South gives us chicken, meat, seafood and okra gumbo soups and in the Middle East a chickpea, lamb and lentil combination is the perfect snack for breaking the Ramadan fast. In Italy you will find minestrone and many other varieties of pasta and bean types and Greece is home to delicious lemon and egg soup. Spanish gazpacho is a wonderful example of a famous chilled version and Lebanese cucumber soup is just as refreshing.

How It has Evolved Through History

Soups vary from chilled to piping hot, as well as from water thin to thick and creamy. The word "soup" can be traced back to the word "suppare" which in Latin means to soak, and this refers to the way vegetables or meat is soaked in cooking liquid to make a soup. Soup used to known as "pottage" which means cooked in a pot, or "broth" which means brewed.

"Bouillon" is French for boil and a bouillon is a stock. The word chowder comes from the Breton word "chaudree" which means cauldron and chowders are rich, thick soups from the American northeast and New England areas. A chowder might have a creamy base, a tomato base or a clear broth base.

A bisque is a thick soup which is thought to come from the Bay of Biscay near Spain. Bisques used to feature game birds and poultry but now most are made with seafood such as crab or lobster.

Soups used to be basic combinations of meat, vegetables and water but international soups developed in their own way and today there are many types of soup recipes and lots of different flavors and ingredients you can add to soup to recreate famous international soup recipes like French onion soup and more.

Recipe for Greek Egg and Lemon Soup

This delicious soup is called Avoglemeno in Greek and the tangy lemon, chicken, rice and egg combine to make a wonderfully aromatic soup. For a tangier soup you can add more lemon. For a more filling soup, add more rice. This recipe serves four people.

What you will need:

2 diced boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 egg
1 1/2 cups raw instant rice
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper, to taste

How to make it:

Bring the broth to a boil, then add the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the rice. Beat the lemon juice and egg and slowly stir this mixture into the soup. Cook for 5 more minutes and serve hot.