It's April the 4th, 2024, Ramen Noodle Day.

Time to fire up that grill. From smoked pork to smash burgers outdoor cooking just tastes better. This is the Okie Smokin' Podcast, and here's your host, John.

Barry, it is National Ramen Noodle Day everybody. So welcome in for a real quick, special episode. We're just going to make this quick, fast, a little bonus show for you. Today, for those of you that didn't know it, it is National Ramen Day, 2024. Which I mean, come on now, who does not like some ramen noodles? I mean I don't know about you, but ramen noodles I mean that's where it's at, ain't it? I mean they originated in Japan, have become a global culinary sensation, culinary sensation. I mean you're talking about warm broth, springy, those real thin noodles that are extra long and just full of toppings. I mean you can be creative, you can make them any and every way you want, add vegetables. I mean you just got to like it. It's ramen noodles and I'm going to tell you what tomorrow's video, late tomorrow evening, I'm going to be having for dinner in celebration of this. Hey, is it ramen noodles? Probably so, and that's going to be tomorrow's video. But I want to go ahead and go over some facts, some interesting facts about ramen noodles that you might kind of enjoy. So sit back, relax. This quick, blasted episode, this little bonus episode, right here, let's go ahead and talk about 10 facts from a website called Be Loud, a blog by Yism, and you can check it out if you look up their blog. So this is directly a credit to them on showing these 10 facts. This is number 10. Are you ready for the top 10? Facts Number 10, it's the best selling item in New York's Rikers prison. Now it makes sense to me. I mean ramen noodles. In a prison. That's something you'd probably expect to see there. But because ramen noodles is cheap, easy to make, it's very popular with the inmates, doesn't require much seasoning. You just throw that packet that's in there and, boom, heat it up, you're good to go. So number 10, it's the best selling item in New York's Ricker's Prison. Number nine Are you looking to jazz it up? Because you know you can have you ever added hot dogs? Maybe some bologna Mushrooms, whatever it is you want. A ton of recipes are out there. You can make it any way you like it. Our famous phrase we have on this channel make it how you like it. I'm going to make it how I like it. Add vegetables, add seasonings, I mean, drizzle chocolate syrup on it. Hey, make it how you like it. Number eight it, hey, make it how you like it. Number eight you can slurp it up now.

In japan, slurping your soup isn't considered rude at all, according to this website, in fact, they expect you to. So go ahead, put that noodle in, let it dangle down and slurp it all the way in. You know, it's actually considered rude to chat while eating because it takes away all the hard work the chef put into the meal. So go ahead and slurp and quit chatting. So shut up and eat. Number seven it actually used to be considered a luxury item in Japan. It was cheaper to buy fresh noodles, known as udon, than to purchase instant noodles, so only those wealthy enough could even have ramen noodles. So, yes, a luxury item.

Number six some people actually eat it raw. Yep, waiting five minutes just takes too daggum long, and you want to enjoy that delicious ramen now, so you can consume it crunchy and raw. So how many of you have ever done that? Consumed it crunchy raw, didn't even cook it? Hey, some people do it. So that's something to consider too. Matt, try that one day. Don't worry about boiling it, just go ahead, crunch right in and enjoy it. Wouldn't that be something? Have a little crunchy ramen noodle. Number five have a little crunchy ramen noodle. Number five Ramen is the Japanese for lo mein Ramen noodles were inspired by the Chinese lo mein noodles, which did come first. And number four Now this is an interesting one that I kind of like.

Number four it was eaten in space in 2005. Now the ramen noodle was created and I have to make sure I pronounce this right and it's Momo Bukuendal that is the creator of the inventor. And there's another fun fact in the top four that I'll be getting to with him as well, but just before his death, he he created a vacuum-sealed package of ramen that had smaller noodles and thicker broth. He actually had no idea it would be eaten in space, but it was perfect for astronauts. So number four it was eaten in space in 2005, with the sauce that was a little thicker. Isn't that pretty wild? A little smaller noodles, a little thicker Isn't that pretty wild? A little smaller noodles, a little thicker sauce.

And as I just mentioned, number three it took Mo Mu I've got to look at the pronunciation, I don't want to mess his name up Mo Mu or Mo Mo Fu Ku and Dow. It took him an entire year to create the perfect recipe. So a very interesting fact there. I mean, you're talking about someone dedicated, someone that really wanted to get it perfect and he did, because I think it is perfect.

Number two the noodles, as I mentioned earlier, are very long. They're really really long. Did you know that an instant ramen was officially measured at 167 feet? 167 feet. So yeah, the noodles are really long folks. And the number one reason, or the number one fun fact about ramen noodles you only need about $200 to survive on ramen for an entire year. Yeah, buddy, don't take much to pay for ramen. Used to be a delicacy because fresh cost more. But there you got it. There is the top 10 fun facts, or just facts, about instant ramen noodle. And tomorrow evening I'm having ramen noodles. So sometime before midnight on april, the 4th national ramen noodle day, it'll be aired on my youtube channel thank you for listening to the Okie Smokin' podcast.

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