Hello! Today, I’m introducing Harim’s new ramen menu, Songtan-style Budae Jjageul Myeon (Songtan-style Budae Jjigae Ramen with a rich broth). Over the years, several Budae Jjigae ramens have been released and discontinued, leaving few options for this style of ramen. As a fan of Budae Jjigae and someone who enjoys the convenience of ramen, I’m thrilled about this release. Let’s find out more about this menu.
Songtan-style Budae Jjageul Myeon Price and Features
Currently, the representative Budae Jjigae ramens officially sold in Korea are Nongshim’s Bogeul Bogeul Budae Jjigae Myeon and Ottogi’s Budae Jjigae Ramen. Additionally, a few seasonal limited menus occasionally appear in convenience stores. Despite being a menu worth making, Budae Jjigae ramen is not frequently released, so this new release is very welcome.
This menu is said to be made in a style close to Songtan-style Budae Jjigae! I’m really curious how they recreated the famous rich beef bone broth of Songtan-style Budae Jjigae in ramen form! Haha. I purchased a 4-pack multipack at the market for about 5,000 won.
The total content of this menu is 119g, with 515Kcal, and sodium accounts for 62% of the daily recommended intake. This total content, calorie, and sodium content are almost similar to regular ramen! Considering that Budae Jjigae generally had high sodium content, I’m curious about the taste!
The cooking method is a bit unique. For this menu, boil the noodles and flakes in 600ml of boiling water for 4 minutes, then leave about 100ml of water and drain the rest. Then add the powder soup and boil for another 30 seconds. It seems you need to make it slightly thick rather than cooking it like regular ramen. This somewhat explains the sodium content.
Songtan-style Budae Jjageul Myeon Content Composition
Let’s take a quick look at the composition! This menu consists of three components: noodles, powder soup, and flakes!
The powder soup feels similar to regular ramen soup, but the amount is quite large to put in 100ml of water. It seems to mainly consist of beef bone powder.
The flakes to be boiled with the noodles include a bit of dried ham, as you can see. The right photo shows the amount for two servings! The flakes seem to be carefully prepared to match the concept. Haha.
Songtan-style Budae Jjageul Myeon Cooking Method
First, put the noodles and flakes in 600ml of water and boil for about 4 minutes!
It says to leave only 100ml of water and add the soup to make it thick for about 30 seconds, but when I tried to boil two in a regular ramen pot, I wasn’t sure how much to leave. So I drained all the water and added about 230-240ml of noodle water and boiled it!
Then the finished visual looks like this! It’s not easy to leave the noodles in 100ml units in the pot, but if you adjust the water well, the cooking itself doesn’t seem too difficult!
Songtan-style Budae Jjageul Myeon Taste
Let’s taste it right away! First, contrary to expectations, it doesn’t look bland at all! Some people put ramen noodles in Budae Jjigae from the start, while others add them at the end as a dessert! This case seems closer to the latter!
After taking a bite, since it was boiled for only about 30 seconds, the noodles alone didn’t feel as salty as expected.
When you only drink the soup, it’s definitely salty, but since the soup was added at the end and just lightly touched, the noodles didn’t absorb much of the broth! The soup taste is decent with beef bone and appropriate Budae Jjigae seasoning, and thanks to the cooking method, it can be enjoyed without being overwhelming.
Still, since it’s ramen, even though I added a bit more water, it’s a bit challenging to drink the soup alone. If you want to mix rice with the soup, you should add a bit of hot water later and do a double boiler!
Personally, the soup was a bit salty, but it was a ramen that could be eaten comfortably. Perhaps because of the Budae Jjigae powder, the soup subtly tasted like ham, and if something more was added, it might resemble the old sausage taste of Samyang Ramen!
While ‘Songtan Budae Jjigae Jjageul Myeon’ is good, it might sell quite well if the name is changed to something more intuitive like ‘Sausage Ramen, Ham Ramen’. I also thought it would have been great if Harim applied their preferred experimental spirit here! Haha.
This menu seems suitable for those who eat noodles quickly. As time goes by, the noodles absorb the seasoning and may taste a bit salty, and it’s burdensome to drink the soup alone, so it’s better to eat the noodles first! Still, when you drink the soup, adding a bit of boiling water and doing a double boiler makes a pretty good ham ramen soup, so keep that in mind!
