Naengmyeon - Korean Cold Noodles

OMG it's so hot in Korea...*cries* I don't want to go outside.
Hey hey hey--what--let's get something cold to eat.
[Epic Tourism Music]
Did you know that in Korea, you are supposed to eat hot foods
like samgaetang (chicken soup) in order to cool down the body.
You perspire, and thus you are cooler than before.
[sound of crickets]
Yeah, forget that stuff! Let's get some cold food.
Yeah.
[cute and peppy noodle music! yay!]
[the music has bells! yay bells!]
So today we're going for naengmyeon which literally means "cold noodles"
and we're at a specialty restaurant that serves two kinds of cold noodles,
mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon.
So basic difference between the two, they have the same noodles and everything,
but mul naengmyeon is served with a broth,
and bibim naengmyeon is served without the broth;
instead it has a spicy red gochujang (spicy red pepper) sauce.
[same music as before, but a more rock feel]
Ok, so I got my mul naengmyeon
and the first thing I want to do it want my egg.
Now, we don't know if it's true or not,
but supposedly Korean people will eat the egg
and it coats their stomach and it protects them
from the harshness of the noodles
because the noodles are made out of buckwheat..but i don't know...
I just don't like my egg getting all mushed up inside the broth and everything.
[impending danger music]
AHHHHHH!
NOM NOM NOM! I ate your egg again...I always eat your egg...
cause that's what I do...
GO AWAY!...Oooh. Get out of here!!! Don't touch my egg...
Ok so I'm just going to dig right in here and start mixing up my noodles.
And I'm going to add some mustard and some vinegar.
Sounds delicious doesn't it?
[booing crowd]
What? Yeah, I know I know I know. The first time we found out
we had to add vinegar and mustard to our soup, we were like,
that's really weird and it's going to be gross--
but actually, it's really delicious.
The mustard is kind of like a wasabi burning mustard
and it adds a special little zing to it.
And the vinegar is refreshing and...best expressed via my interpretive vinegar dance.
[asian zither music]
That was my dance...*clears throat* Anyways...
Ok, so I'm going to add my stuff to it.
*lip smacking sounds* PERFECT! Time to eat! *mmmmm...ohh....mmmm*
[cheesy infomercial music]
Has this ever happened to you?
You look like an idiot because you have all these noodles in your mouth?
--heey!-- Well, don't be an idiot. Cut them with scissors.
That's what they give you scissors for.--I know...
Watch!--I knew that--Uh huh, and uh huh.
Great success! Thanks Ducky!
So now I'm going to eat mine--[suspicious danger music]--put your chopsticks down missy.
You owe me and egg! You get nothing from me.
Anyhow, I don't have to do anything to mine, no mustard no vinegar, it's all ready to go.
All I have to do is just chop up the noodles and mix...like so.
[cute noodle bell music]
Almost done...
[sleepy bedtime music]
My hand is getting sore...
It's ok, we're almost done here
[sleepy music ends]
Huh!? What?
When we first tried it, we totally hated it.
The concept of cold noodles was really weird and we thought that it was gross,
so when we tried it at first, and we didn't like it at all.
But after we gave it a couple more tries, we grew to really like it,
and now we're totally naengmyeon snobs. It's true.
[snobby pretentious music]
Oh yes, you could say we've become quite the naengmyeon connoisseur now.
In fact I bring wine glasses with me whenever we go for naengmyeon
so I can drink my water like a snob.
So what are you looking for in a good mul naengmyeon?
Well, most important thing, I think,
is that the broth should have some flavour to it.
Sometimes it just tastes like water, there's like, nothing to it all.
The broth itself should be almost a beefy flavour,
and then you add the mustard and vinegar to kind of enhance the crispiness--
give a bit of a kick to it--yeah exactly.
And the noodles should no be overcooked.
There's nothing worse then when you bite in and it's all mushy in your mouth,
that means they haven't been rinsed or cooled properly.
So what you're looking for in a bibim naengmyeon
is something with a good sesame oil to the noodles,
as well as the gochujang sauce so it makes a really good combination.
A lot of good restaurants will give you the broth on the side in it's purest form
so it' not mixed with anything else, and you can tell a really good restaurant
if the broth is absolutely delicious.
Yeah, that's when you're like, I'm going to live at this restaurant.
So if you don't want to be disappointed in your naengmyeon experience
we recommend going to specialty noodle shops and if you can't find one of those,
they often have really good naengmyeon when you go to galbi or samgyapsal restaurants.
Cheers! Oh...umm..cheers. I don't--you don't bring a wine glass
because you're not as snobby when it comes to naengmyeon as I am--that's not very nice.
[suspense danger music] *NOM*
Did you just eat...with your fingers?
I ate your egg! MMHH MHH MHH! Revenge is sweet! Sweet like...an egg.
And so civilized, with your dirty fingers.
I don't care! I got an egg!
[cute noodle bell music]
[GONG!!!!!]