Noodles Are Noodles

Those instant noodle bricks—the ones that cost almost nothing and outlast civilizations—are one of the great underrated pleasures. No shame in it. You know what you’re getting, you know it’s going to taste good in exactly the way it always does, and sometimes that’s the whole point.

David Chang made a video series for Lucky Peach about doing something more ambitious with them. In one episode he makes lasagna—actual lasagna, using instant ramen as the pasta layer. The result looks absurd and apparently works completely. It’s the kind of culinary logic that only makes sense once someone’s already done it: of course the noodles work, they’re just noodles, and noodles are noodles. A useful reminder that kitchen experiments don’t require expensive ingredients or a particularly good reason—just a packet of instant noodles and the willingness to see what happens.