Nongshim’s Oksusu-Myeon is a corn flavored cup of instant noodles for the corn lovers out there. If you can’t get enough of corn, then these noodles might be just for you. Myself, on the other hand, was not so thrilled to be reviewing these noodles. Not because I hate the taste of corn, but because my childhood environment was saturated with this cash crop in every direction. I wonder what the original landscape of the Midwest was like? Was it only prairies and timber? That sounds nice… Now that I have my tangent out of the way, this cup of noodles turned out to be surprisingly good. Here are my thoughts.
Flavor:
A very corny cup of noodles indeed! The flavor is bursting with corn, cooked corn, and / or corn soup, whichever you like best. The dried flakes that were added to this cup of noodles were big chunks of beef, corn, red pepper, and some spring onions or leek. Corn is the start here. The flavor is rich and salty, which make it a fairly balanced cup of instant noodles. This cup was also fairly low calorie. It came in at around 275 calories for a single small cup of these noodles, which I didn’t think was very high at all.
Spiciness:
I really didn’t expect this flavor of instant noodles to incorporate some heat, but Nongshim did it anyways. There is some spiciness here. It’s not overwhelming and it certainly doesn’t stay long in your mouth. There is a lack of oiliness that might be the reason why the spice doesn’t linger. This isn’t a building heat, but you will get a slight tingle in your mouth from this level of spiciness. This won’t be a ramen for little ones, but I’m certain that most older children can handle this level of heat.
Smell:
Nongshim’s Oksusu-Myeon smells like corn soup with a touch of beef. These noodles do an excellent job of at least replicating the fragrance of cooked corn. Despite being a tad bit spicy, you won’t be able to detect any of the spiciness from the odor.
Noodles:
These are definitely not your basic ramen noodles. The noodles almost look like long, thin egg noodles, but they could be corn? I’m stumped on this one. This cup of noodles features a type of noodles that I have rarely seen. They were soft, which I didn’t like. However, the noodles did a fantastic job at picking up all of the flavor of the broth. They absorbed the flavors well.
Overall:
I really thought I would end up disliking something that comes from the corn forests where I grew up. I was pleasantly surprised with Nongshim’s Oksusu-Myeon because of its clean and non-artificial flavor. It’s a nice, great tasting cup of noodles with big chunks of beef and corn, that’s not dripping with oil like most other instant noodles these days.
What foods or crops grew in the area where you grew up? Do you like or dislike any of those foods? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re interested in hearing more about instant ramen, check out my on-going series, Noodle Story: An Exploration of Korean Instant Noodles, here on Medium.
Note: This article may contain affiliate links that support the author’s ramen purchases for these how-to guides and reviews.
