Wandering Adventure Party

For the Shin brand specifically, I like:

• Poached (2 minute boil) or soft boiled egg (6 minute boil)
• Frozen edamame (cooks in the broth in the same amount of time as the noodles)
• Fresh garlic (micro plane or mince and add to the broth towards the end of the cook)
• Baby bok choy (if cut into individual leaves, cooks in broth in same time as noodles)
• Shitake mushrooms (fresh, sliced, quick stir fry in the pot with butter or something to cook before adding water for the broth)
• Kimchi (just dump on top of the finished bowl as a garnish)
• Scallions (slice and put on finished bowl)

I usually only do one or two of these, but the point is to make it way better without actually adding to the cooking time. And the combinations of the above can work pretty well at mixing things up for a long time before getting bored.

Other ramen flavors, I sometimes add some of the above, or shredded cabbage, spinach, peas, other beans or legumes. Sometimes nori, canned corn, canned bamboo. Sometimes with the broth I’ll add gelatin to thicken. For some seafood flavors I might throw in frozen shrimp. Certain flavors can go with sesame seeds.

Lots of people swear by lots of things when it comes to cast iron. There’s a lot of confidently stated incorrect information about cast iron all over the internet, which gets repeated by commenters in places like reddit.

It’s like when people swore by flaxseed oil, which makes for a pretty seasoning that flakes off easily and is actually a terrible choice for cooking.

Or all sorts of old wives tales about not using detergent, or using chain mail instead of a regular scrubber, or avoiding metal utensils. There’s a ton of misinformation out there that doesn’t hold up to real experience (and often traces back to vibes, not science).

Plenty of people have sanded their lodge pans with no issues. I personally haven’t, but mainly because I don’t care enough about the smooth surface.

I don’t see why the seasoning wouldn’t stick with a smooth surface over a pebbled surface, though. The polymerization should happen at the surface no matter what.