Ramen Noodle Recipe

The American Chef Who Beat Britain's Best

Chefs add dimension and flavor with soy sauce and red wine, and evoke the exotic with saffron and curry. Chef Tim Anderson’s inspiration is smog.

German beer and smoked salt, he says, smogged up his Los Angeles Slider of wagyu tartare with smoky lime and jalapeño marmalade and avocado and butter bean mousse. The homage to smog, Mexico and Japan was one of Anderson’s Tri-City Sliders, three burgers that helped him clinch the top spot in the BBC cooking competition, MasterChef. Wisconsin-born, twenty-six-year-old Anderson is the youngest winner ever.

The London Slider -- curried lamb cheeseburger, apple and ale chutney and raita (Indian yogurt and cucumber) mayonnaise -- referenced India ’s cuisine. The Tokyo Slider -- monkfish liver, umeboshikKetchup (made from a pickled Japanese sour plum,) jellied ponzu (a citrus and soy-based sauce) and matcha (powdered green tea) mayonnaise -- reflected classical Japanese elements. “I’ve always liked monkfish liver,” says Anderson. “It’s the foie gras of the sea.”

Anderson has an uncanny ability to successfully execute bizarre pairings like Kyushu-Style Pork Ramen (pork-bone-flavored noodle soup) with Truffled Lobster Gyoza (dumplings) and Cheddar Cheesecake with Whiskey Jelly, and also reinvent classic dishes. His Croque-Monsieur substitutes chicken shank and pumpkin for the grilled ham-and-cheese original. What’s more remarkable is that Anderson has no formal training and has only been cooking for four years.

“It’s not about shoehorning flavors and dishes together, but noticing aspects of certain ingredients that are compatible, like with the monkfish slider,” he says. Blending unusual ingredients happens organically as you develop a sense for what you’re working with. It’s almost entirely intuitive and you either have it or you don’t.

“Real chefs are used to coping with tight timeframes. We don’t have the skills or the practice,” Anderson explains of the competition. Challenges included catering a wedding in hundred-degree heat, cooking in an Australian rain forest and preparing a meal for circus performers in their tent. Winners receive no prize money and no Apprentice-style job, but they can tap into MasterChef’s network of valuable contacts. And Anderson’s okay with that. “I like that no one handed me anything. My career is in my own hands.”

Two things gave Anderson an edge. A love of craft beer nurtured not in his native Racine, but in Los Angeles during college (where he also developed his appreciation for smog.) And, majoring in Japanese Studies.

College+Life Blog: College Book Renter's Ramen Noodle Recipe Winner

T means a cow can eat it, so can this student. Preparing ramen is a tricky ordeal as the kitchen is scanned for a clean pot, a bowl, and possibly a spork. The flies lead the starving college student’s eyes to the pile of dishes that have been abandoned ages ago in what use to be a sink buried under fuzz and debris. Cooking the precious package of ramen has now been ruled out. This clever student brainstorms the next plan – sifting through old Taco Bell bags scattered around the living room. The first bag of many is an immediate gold mine of hot and mild sauce packets. The ramen package is busted open and the taco bell bag becomes a serving platter for this delectable treat. The hard ramen is first dipped into the red sauce and then dipped into the seasoning. This crunchy little treat must be enjoyed quickly before the roomie awakes and sucker punches the student for not sharing this morsel.

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