Go to the Recipe: These Chicken Noodles Are Made Out of Chicken. It’s a Little Crazy. Also Delicious.
Will this recipe work without Sodium Tripolyphosphates? What's the function of it? Activa should be able to glue to chicken together by itself...
I like this one, and I think chicken noodle soup is sexy!What a great first course to get the guests talking!
Can the non-dairy version of Activa transglutaminase be subbed out for this recipe? Would any modifications need to be made?
You can use the Activa TI, which does not contain caseinate. You should not need to make any modifications for this particular recipe.
Yes, it will work without the tripolyphosphate (STPP), which helps to give the noodle more snap. This curing salt helps to extract myosin protein from the meat, which will gel during cooking and increase the overall strength of the noodle. A good way to get to a similar end result is to let the prepared chicken puree sit in the bag refrigerated overnight before cooking. That extra time will allow the salt alone to help extract plenty of myosin.
Very nice guys! I was thinking about doing this a while back when I was playing around with shrimp noodles. One thought I've had is to deep fry the noodles after cutting to get some browning and extra texture on them. Any thoughts for or against that idea?
Chris, what about TSSP (Tetrasodium pyrophosphate - Tetrasodium diphosphate) can only get that?would that function in the same way as tripolyphosphate?
When you say "let the prepared chicken puree sit in the bag refrigerated overnight before cooking" would you then add the Activa RM just before cooking the noodles or does it go in before you put the chicken in the fridge? If you add the meat glue before refrigerating, you would need to get your noodle sheets well flattened/formed before the refrigeration, right? This is all so fascinating!
Has anyone any idea if Activa EB is the same thing as Activa RM. The EB is the only one available on amazon in europe. The ingridients seem to be the same.
Jondrak if you google that suppliers own site they sell it in 100g bags.like everyone else I've had Activa that became non-active rather too quickly in the larger format.
Can I use a piping bag w/tip to make noodles right into the boiling hot broth? Or will it not cook long enough(meaning raw chicken)? Imagine chicken parm but with chicken spaghetti instead.Can I use other proteins besides chicken?(pork, duck, beef, fish)
These noodles look super delicate to me, but I like the idea of browning them. Maybe brush with oil and hit with a torch?
- originally posted by Greg Hastain
I really want to do this. I don't have a food processor, but I do have the Waring Xtreme blender with variable speed control. Would that do the job? Or is this definitely a food processor only recipe? I also don't have a vacuum sealer so would ziplock bags suffice? And the chicken only needs 10 minutes to cook? That sounds very quick. Thank you!
No, you would prepare the recipe as described, just without STPP and then refrigerate it (Activa and all) prior to cooking. That gives the salt more time to solublize myosin protein and the Activa more time to cross-link those proteins.
See comment below. Also see updated text above that talks about the function of the phosphate salts.
Sure, that would work.
Shrimp noodles are great. Indeed our friend Wylie Dufresne at wd~50 was doing this years ago. It's certainly an inspiration for this recipe. You can wok-fry the shrimp noodles if you like.
Yes, it would work in a similar way.
Yes, EB is the European version of RM. I have no idea why Ajinomoto makes this so confusing.
Yes to all of those questions. Better to pipe them into a 50 °C bath to speed the enzyme in Activa, and then after a few minutes, move them to a hotter bath to gel the meat proteins fully.
It would be tricky with a blender. Probably possible, but I won't lie, it won't be easy nor will it be clean.
Yes, and no modifications required.
do you think I could add some stock from the beginning to maybe help keep it together, if you know what I mean. Or do you first need to really get those chicken thighs into a paste before adding any stock? There is no way I could add the chicken and stock at the same time right? Having trouble visualizing this hypothetical as I've never made chicken paste before, haha
In the Harvard Science & Cooking Lecture with Wylie Dufresne (wd~50) (Meat Glue Mania), a video shows making their shrimp noodles by injecting the shrimp paste directly into a water bath @55C. I would love to find one of those Japanese noodle makers to make my own noodles. http://youtu.be/D3RsMQKGZm8
Thank you! You guys are awesome!
Is there a good way to do something more akin to a spaghetti noodle? Hand chopping won't really work I imagine.
Wylie Dufresne at wd~50 will extrude them from a noodle-gun straight into simmering water to cause the protein in the meat to set.
I did it just fine with a piping bag with a very small tip. I have a recipe up for them on the community recipes page, I piped directly into the bath, worked very well and was very easy.
In accordance to Modernist Cuisine should the mixture containing the Activa transglutaminase never get warmer than 60 °C (though the enzyme activity is destroyed at that temperature and above). However, the recipe here suggests 65 °C... Can you comment on that?
Note to self, don't use legs as it takes 2 to 3 hours to sieve the bits out even if you have removed everything before hand. Don't let "her" see what you did to sieves either as it takes days to get them clean!
Overall this was a great disappointment, it went together well with the consommé which using methycellulose F50 certainly tasted better than any consommé I have made but over all and despite using many more mushrooms basically the chicken noddle's were bland at best. A comment passed by all. I wonder if browning before cutting and serving would bring out more flavours? what about adding some taste/flavours to the noddle's - any idea's? I would have to say apart from its novelty fact its a huge amount of time to spend on a bland dish. such a pity. chicken was free range so tastier than most but still didn't work. hand chopping worked a treat and made them look "rustic" which helped, presentation of dish was good as well, just taste of noddle's was the problem.
Modernist Pantry has got 50gm bags of Sodium tripolyphosphate for sale now - nice people and helpful to deal with - thanks guys.
The enzyme will deactivate at 60C but in the time it takes for the mix to reach that temp it will have probably reached about 90% bond. It's called speed setting, I do it almost always when working with activa because I don't like to wait 12+ hours for it to set in the fridge.
Would a ziploc bag work for this recipe?
Can one substitute sodium hexametaphosphate for the sodium tripolyphosphates?
Damn, this perfect for my cold zuchini noodle salad! Does the chicken bologna freeze well?
and...I love chefsteps!
Got around to making these the other night for a annual dinner I host. Tried several iterations before settling on this one. The air bubbles are a little difficult to work out before sealing the bag and dropping in for a sous vide (be sure to roll out in the bag before sealing the bag). Otherwise, it's pretty spot on in terms of ingredients and method. STPP was acquired in industrial size (I think minimum purchase was like 5lbs of the stuff) only to use 1/8 of a tsp if that. I think you could do without the STPP.
Hi Chefsteps!!!
I have one quick question... I can only find Activa GS here in Ecuador where I am from. Can I use this enzyme instead of the Activa RM to make the chicken noodles???
Thanks,
Tony
PS.... you guys f'ing rock!!!
I made this about a year ago and loved it. Want to do it again, but I forget where it calls for whole chicken thigh, does that include the bone?
is this similar to 'lunch meat'??
You're popping the chicken thighs into the blender, so including the bones would probably be a bad idea.
I didn't feel like noodles but I had different ideas on how to use this recipe. I rolled mine out to 5 mm thick and SV'd a little longer and it is now chilling in my fridge to be used for a sandwich. I tasted before putting in fridge and it's awesome! I'm thinking of adding herbs and or spices next time. I also lined a ramekin with prosciutto and half filled with chicken mixture , added a little blue cheese and topped with more mixture and prosciutto. Leaving in fridge to set - remove from ramekin and SV in a ziplock bag tomorrow followed by pan searing. Should be good... I have so many other ideas for this recipe. Thank You Chefsteps!
BTW I didn't put the mixture through a sieve - didn't think it was needed for my purposes.....
Link to buy Sodium Trip-hopglucose is dead.....
Is Activa RM the same as/the same product as TG2N?
Do u think this will work with beef?
So, I figured this out the hard way after working my paste through the strainer for 15 minutes. The reason he's wearing gloves in the video is because TG/activa serves the function of binding meat proteins together. Coincidentally, all of my fingers are made of meat... you see where I'm going here?
If you wanted to use this as a method to make cold cuts, would you also add curing salts?
Hello
I was wondering how did you figure out the recipe needed 0.5g of Sodium Tripolyphosphate for this recipe?
In industry it appears that its common to use between 0.2 and 0.3% of final product weight in Phosphates. And this recipe only calls for about 0.0167%,are you trying to avoid some of the metallic taste that might come with a higher percentage.
Thankyou.
Haha - so what happened?
Could you freeze the bags either after shaping or after 8 hours in the fridge (if not using STPP) and then later sousvide for 20-25 mins to allow defrost and cooking time?
It won't have the same texture, or durability. But it should work as an alternative.
