Breaking the Stereotype of Bibim Noodles: 'Nongshim Kalbimyeon'

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] Nongshim has launched a new product, 'Kalbimmyun,' taking an early step to capture summer appetites. Kalbimmyun is a product inspired by bibim kalguksu, a popular summer delicacy. It features thick kalguksu noodles for a chewy texture and a unique bibim noodle sauce made with minced kimchi.

Most bibim noodles on the market use regular ramen noodles, but Nongshim decided to start by changing the thickness of the noodles to develop a distinctive bibim noodle. Nongshim focused on the increasingly popular 'bibim kalguksu' over recent years. It gained fame as a summer delicacy through famous old restaurants and various cooking programs.

Nongshim believed that applying kalguksu noodles to bibim noodles would deliver a more chewy texture and a full mouthfeel, offering a unique taste, and began development using various technologies. The main focus was to create thick noodles that would hold the sauce well. Thick noodles can sometimes feel like they don’t blend well with the sauce. They found the optimal flour blend ratio with a rougher dough surface than regular ramen to create fine holes and grooves on the noodles.

They also considered the nature of bibim noodles, which are rinsed in cold water and mixed with sauce, unlike regular soup noodles. Rinsing in cold water tends to harden the noodles. After hundreds of experiments, Nongshim found the best blend ratio to achieve a chewy texture without hardening.

Most bibim noodles use a gochujang base with lemon or fruit for a sweet and sour flavor, but Nongshim aimed to find a new taste different from existing bibim noodles, yet familiar and well-matched with bibim noodles. While reviewing various ingredients, kimchi caught their attention. They got the idea from many consumers eating bibim noodles topped with kimchi. In fact, 'kimchi bibim noodles' have been a popular menu item at many noodle restaurants, but no kimchi-flavored bibim noodles were available on the market.

They were also careful in selecting the right kimchi for making the sauce. After tasting more than 20 types of kimchi and considering factors such as ripeness and sourness, they found the kimchi that produced the optimal flavor. To create a sauce with a spicy and tangy taste and a good viscosity for mixing, they repeatedly experimented by adjusting the ratio of minced kimchi and gochujang, ultimately creating the current Kalbimmyun sauce.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.