My Yakisoba came out bitter! How can I reduce the bitterness?
We made this Yakisoba recipe last week, but the noodles came out tasting more bitter than we'd like. I added soy sauce to mine, but that mostly just drowned out the bitterness.
What can we do with this recipe to make it less bitter? I like Yakisoba, so I want to try to make it work rather than having something different. But I'm afraid that if I add something (like sugar) it would change the recipe's flavor too much.
Best Answer
I'm at a bit of a loss providing advice on this issue because I've never heard of it (short of burning the ingredients in the dish). There's a very, very slight bitterness in proper ramen-style noodles because of the alkali content of kansui (potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate or bicarbonate in water solution), but in typical noodles of reasonable quality I would expect the bitterness to be lower than, say, the outer skin of a pretzel.
To me it sounds like you've stumbled on poor quality noodles, or you're hypersensitive to the very mild alkali content. You might consider looking for Chinese egg noodles instead, which have a similar color but may have less or no kansui, or you might try a completely different noodle, such as udon, and make yaki-udon instead. Alternatively, consider trying a different brand of noodles, or a different form (dry instead of refrigerated, frozen instead of dry, etc.) One local brand of refrigerated noodles meant for yakisoba available where I live (Seattle) has been so inconsistent in quality for me that I skip it and go straight to the (probably imported) frozen ones in our market. (Dry ones will require brief boiling), but in my case our complaint was about texture, not bitterness. Switching out for a different supplier may resolve your issue.
ETA: It occurs to me that if you were starting from dry noodles, you may encounter rancidity with unusually old ones. That's a bit more aggressive than just bitterness, but I've seen it on occasion with long-forgotten packaged noodles; it was obvious before cooking, though, so I've just tossed them.
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Quick Answer about "My Yakisoba came out bitter! How can I reduce the bitterness?"
Balance out bitterness with some fat. Fat naturally masks bitter tastes and makes them more palatable. This is why adding some milk or cream to coffee makes it taste better. Try using a cream sauce, milk, fatty cheese, olive oil, or similar fatty ingredients to help cover bitter tastes.How do you neutralize bitter taste?
Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal.How do you take the bitterness out of cooking?
Your dish has a bitter flavor Fats and sweetness can help smooth the bitter corners of a dish, just like they make coffee taste less bitter. So add a spoonful of sugar, cream or butter to tame that bitterness.Why are my noodles bitter?
Nitrites are not necessarily a bad thing as they help to preserve your food. When meat with a high concentration of nitrites is cooked over high heat, it can develop a bitter and unpleasant flavor.Why are soba noodles bitter?
Soba is actually the Japanese word for buckwheat, a triangular little grain that is also the star ingredient in soba noodles. Buckwheat seeds give off a subtle nutty, yet bitter flavour when made into flours, groats, teas, and noodles.How to Reduce Bitter Taste - 9 Ways to Reduce Bitter Taste in Any Food - Fitness and Nutrition Guide
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