Blog Archives
Cheat Code: Seasoning Ramen Yourself
There’s an interesting dynamic when it comes to ramen in the United States. On the one hand there’s the packaged ramen you can buy at any grocery store for like, 25 cents and that’s been stereotyped as a poor college kid food staple. On the other hand you have ramen houses/restaurants where you can get more authentic ramen dishes, but they tend to range from a bit pricey to way too expensive. I’m not entirely sure what it means, I’m just interested by the fact that there isn’t much of an in between.
That is, of course, unless you make your own in between. This post will look at some ways you can upgrade your cheap grocery store ramen to something a bit more personalized. Ramen comes with its own flavor packets, which are tasty, but a lot of times people don’t want to use them because of the massive amounts of sodium in them. Here at PCFG if we’re using the flavor packet we usually only use about half of it, and it’s fine. But here’s some ways to give flavor to your ramen without using the flavor packet at all.
Pizza Lab #39: Chicken Katsu Pizza
Here at Poor Couple’s Food Guide, we strive to bring you at least one Pizza Lab per month. Most of the time we’re pretty good at it, but there’ve been instances where we came close to missing that timetable. Some of you might be wondering, “What about February? It’s the last day of the month…”And for sure dudes and dudettes, you are right. But we’ll be damned if we broke our promise to deliver a new wacky pizza in time, and so on this magical day, February 29th, also known as Leap Day, we would like to direct your attention to the following: Chicken Katsu Pizza.
Spices 101: What is Sansho Pepper?
Recently we went over the interesting quirks behind black pepper, and how it’s not really a pepper but really more of a berry, and how they start off as these weird little green things, and so on and so forth. You may remember that red peppercorns weren’t really technically peppercorns, but were instead a similar berry from a different plant. Today we’re going to learn about yet another look-alike (taste-alike?) of black pepper, sansho pepper.
Sansho
Origin: Japan
Appearance: Light green powder OR small green berries
Scent: Fruity, zesty
Taste: Citric, spicy, warm
Foods: Japanese, other Asian
Rareness: Rare
The Snack Report: Cookies & Cream Pocky
I’m gonna let everyone in on a little secret here. I spent a large chunk of my childhood and early teens as a total weeaboo. You know, those dopey, white kids that obsess over everything Japanese because it’s the number one source of anime and video games in their narrow, youthful scope of the world. Fortunately I outgrew that archetype, and as an adult I have a modest appreciation for Asian culture in a more subtle, grown-up way. That said, I do have a soft spot for wacky Japanese stuff and when Meg and I hit up Asian markets once in a while to get groceries, we do end up with our fair share of zany foods and snacks. See: everyone’s favorite stick-based snake, Pocky.
Plus come on, everyone likes Pocky, right?
Quick Recipe: Sesame Chicken
Sesame chicken is a Chinese food restaurant staple. And even though each place usually makes it slightly differently, it’s almost always good and a safe bet to order if you’re unsure what to get. Well there’s good news! You can easily make sesame chicken yourself at home. It’s important to note though, that Chinese food restaurants’ sesame chicken usually has chicken that has been coated and fried. Ours does not. Honestly though, that kind of makes it even better since it makes it a bit lighter than the fried version. This sesame chicken is so good you’re going to want to eat it every day. You could also just make the sauce and use it on another meat like pork or on a ton of veggies (substituting vegetable broth if you want a vegetarian dish) if you wish. This is one of our favorite quick stir-fry recipes to make for dinner.
The Poor Couple's Food Guide 
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