Cold Noodle Soup

My mother-in-law gave me a new cookbook last month by one of my favorite cookbook authors, Mark Bittman (also author of "How to Cook Everything") called "The Best Recipes in the World." Obviously someone is a big fan of hyperbole...regardless though, I haven't tried a recipe in one of his books that didn't turn out well and that wasn't tasty. I was bragging to Hellen about all the Korean recipes that were included in my new cookbook and she got really excited when I said that one of them was Cold Buckwheat Noodle soup. She said that she hardly ever had it though because it was too much work. So, we worked out a compromise--Gropius and I would make the broth and she would take care of (what we call in my family) "the fixin's."

The broth had to be made the night before so it could sit in the fridge and get cold. The next morning, here's what we found in our fridge:



Gropius started meticulously skimming and purifying the broth to make it as clear as possible:


An action shot:


Later that day, we packed it up and took it over to Hellen and Derek's for dinner. Her mother had also brought up a TON of Korean-style ribs when she visited last month, so we had those, too. A Korean Smorgasbord! (isn't that multi-cultural?)

As promised, Hellen took care of the fixin's: picked ginger, summer kimchee, peppers, daikon sprouts, and some other stuff I can't remember:


Yes, those ARE ice cubes in the bottom of the picture (to keep the soup cold!):


And don't forget the ribs (expertly grilled by Derek):


Needless to say, Hellen was VERY happy to have her favorite soup!