So what’s for Thanksgiving this year?
For anyone who’s ever been on a budget, you’ve probably found your way to microwavable ramen noodles one time or another. A cup o’ noodles? Why not? Who says you can’t get lunch for a little more than a dollar? I’ve been a fan of the idea of lunch in a cup since seeing Steve Martin in 1979 living on the old stock of Cup o’ Pizza from the back of a truck in the movie The Jerk. (I have a good recipe for this). So how can we connect the dots between Steve Martin in The Jerk and the one thing you haven’t tried with pumpkin flavor? Nissin, the company behind one of the favorite ramen noodles brands, Cup Noodles, has done that for you.
Following up on last year’s Everything Bagel Noodles and Cup Noodle Breakfast (reviewed here), Nissin has added end caps to WalMart stores for two new limited noodle products in time for Thanksgiving: Cup Noodles Turkey Dinner and Cup Noodles Pumpkin Pie.
So how do they taste?
First let’s look at the more obvious product, the Cup Noodles Turkey Dinner. It’s no stretch from the regular ramen products featuring chicken and vegetables to one boasting essences of your favorite Thanksgiving foods. You get no specifics or promises here, but pulling the lid open reveals some unsurprising things. You’ll find some corn kernels from corn casserole, a staple in my home. I’m also a pea salad fan, and the most discernible items seem to be peas. I think I see some green beans, too. The red bits look like a mix of turkey and cranberries. No surprises there. And the overall scent is simialr to turkey boullion. Again, no surprises.
If there’s anything of mashed potatoes and gravy, it’s hidden in the overall aroma, which is so close to the smell of KFC it’s uncanny. After cooking, it’s hard to ignore the peas as the big standout both flavor and texture, because there’s so many in there it takes over from the turkey broth flavor. I didn’t taste the cranberries or anything particularly dressing/stuffing flavored–it has no celery or onion or mushroom pieces I could see. Frankly the biggest surprise is no apparent use of the spice flavor that defines Thanksgiving dinner for me: sage.
For a dollar cup of ramen it tastes good, the creamy texture is almost cheesy, and after a few sporksful I did feel and taste pieces of turkey. Overall it’s a little underwhelming and I can’t help but wonder if this is how my dogs felt when I opened them cans of Thanksgiving turkey dog food. It’s a good effort, but bring on the real thing!
So let’s move on to Cup Noodles Pumpkin Pie. If you tried last year’s limited holiday products Everything Bagel Noodles and Cup Noodle Breakfast, you may have figured out that the best ramen try-ons are the products that sound the strangest. Everything Bagel Noodles were a good surprise, but Cup Noodle Breakfast is a product you could see becoming a regular thing, simply because it replicated pancakes and syrup so well without any weird consistency. This year Cup Noodles Pumpkin Pie wins overwhelmingly for several reasons.
First, pumpkin is so similar to squash that it’s an easy flavor substitution. Who hasn’t swapped in butternut squash for pumpkin? Manufacturers of pumpkin do it all the time, just read the label on the can. Butternut squash ravioli and suqash pasta is a staple here. So pumpkin flavored noodles is a no-brainer.
On opening the lid you’ll get a real pumpkin spice blast of aroma. After adding water and heating it, the pumpkin flavor is slightly sweet, but no more than sweet potatoes in any classic dessert recipe. Not cheesy or like the normal ramen, it’s much closer to canned or frozen stroganoff products in consistency. As for those expected spice flavors, this tastes as much like apple pie as pumpkin pie–the sweetness creates a flavor that could go either way, but it definitely shouts “holiday pie.” I could taste nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. The labeling mentions brown sugar, but that flavor doesn’t come to the surface. I am surprised that for the illusion of pumpkin pie as an Asian noodle the creators didn’t make use of a frequent spice pairing for both Asian noodles and the typical American Thanksgiving dinner–and that’s ginger. Still it works, and I’m more likely to buy it again than the Cup Noodles regular line of products were it released beyond a limited release. But despite the advertisements, this is a savory product, so I wouldn’t add the whipped cream.
So ultimately I found Cup Noodles Turkey Dinner as a product I probably wouldn’t pick up again, but it was fun to try once. However, I may give Cup Noodles Pumpkin Pie another try or two. Neither compares to the Cup Noodles Breakfast version from last year, which I plan to stock up on if it returns. Sure, noodles for breakfast is unusual to my palate. But it didn’t take long before I could see carrying one of these on trips, or just grabbing one every few weeks. Maple syrup paired with pasta just fine.
Nothing beats a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with elements of your own personal experience. But that’s not possible for everyone. I wouldn’t take these as a substitute but give them a try for what they are–something new and fun to try with friends over the holidays. I found these more available in local stores this year than last year’s limited release. If your taste buds are up to the challenge, give them a try! Cup Noodles Turkey Dinner and Cup Noodles Pumpkin Pie are only available at WalMart for a limited time.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
