The noodle soup oracle
Noodle soups have a lot going for them. They are comforting, texturally satisfying, and the perfect remedy on a sick day. Fans of this age-old dish (widely consumed in Asia) know just how easy it is to make a meal out of flavorful broth cooked with starchy egg- or rice-based noodle ribbons. But it's not always easy to think of fresh takes on noodle soup.
Noodlr.net aka "the noodle soup oracle," is an online generator of pared down, noodle soup recipes. It helps you find your ideal combination, or just great new ideas. Not sure you want macaroni in chicken broth, topped with eggplant tempura, bok choy, and furikake? Then onto the next: a bowl of hot udon in beef broth topped with a tea egg, grilled zucchini, and pickled radish. Not sure what furikake is? It's probably linked to Wikipedia's detailed description.
Hong Kong-native Michele Humes developed this fun noodle-centric website with collaborator Joshua Sierles to demonstrate the versatility of the noodle soup format. Each dish is randomly generated, to a degree--the engine is coded so as not to combine certain ingredients, such as clams with beef stock.
The lack of detailed recipes is a comment on our culture's over-reliance of recipes. "I like the idea of a cook being more or less self-sufficient, and being able to make a meal out of a general idea rather than a detailed set of instructions," Humes says.
And that's precisely what you get with Noodlr recipes: Concepts, not formulas, and bowls of noodles made the old-fashioned way--through trial and error, and by cooking with the senses.
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