Tips When Boiling Noodles

You can boil certain noodles directly into the soup you are making and or you can just boil them in salted water on the side and then add them to your dish.

Besides hand-pulled noodles (수제비), most noodles should be boiled in salted water on the side. 

The water should be boiling when you add the noodles. After boiling your noodles, make sure to place your noodles in ice water to stop the cooking process. If you do not add your cooked noodles immediately to ice water after cooking, they will overcook and get mushy. Keep noodles you plan to use in cold noodle dishes in ice water till you serve them so that they can be extra chewy. 

Now, I will touch upon two noodles that need some extra steps.

“칼국수” can be added directly to the soup you are making to cook, or they can be boiled on the side and added later. There are some points you need to consider when doing either method.

• If you are adding the noodles directly to the soup. Then the first thing you need to do is shake off all the excess flour and starch that coat the noodles. Then use a strainer and wash the uncooked noodles in cold water. If you do not do this and just add your freshly made or fresh store-bought noodles to the soup, the flour and starch on the noodles will mess up the broth and make it thick. If you choose to boil them in a pot on the side, then you can do the same washing step, and this will help to prevent your water from overflowing. 
• If you cook your noodles in boiling salted water on the side and want to reheat them before serving them, then there is a specific way to do this properly. To reheat the noodles, add the noodles to a strainer. Then pour the hot broth from your soup over the noodles again and again to reheat them. Finally, add them to the serving bowl and pour the soup on top and serve. This will heat up the noodles easily. 

The second noodle is starch noodles (당면).

• You need to soak these types of starch noodles in water before cooking them so that the cooking time is reduced. The starch noodles should be cooked completely, not al dente because they will seem harder once they are chilled.