Garlic noodles

Key points

It seems like this recipe is an interesting fusion of Italian and Asian cooking. It boils down to:

1. Infusing garlic flavor into the butter/oil similar to the Spaghetti aglio e olio,
2. Usage of chewy egg noodles (or spaghetti).
3. Asian umami bomb: oyster sauce + Soy sauce (Golden Mountain sauce¹) + fish sauce (Some skips fish sauce²).
4. Using Parmigiano Reggiano to create a smooth and thick texture.

Variations

YY’s recipe with anchovy

This recipe can be considered as “Spaghetti aglio e olio with soy/oyster/fish sauce and cheese.” or “Garlic noodles with anchovies”.

1. Boil water without salt or just a little bit of salt (salt primarily comes from anchovy and sauce) and start the pasta. Use spaghetti if you’re unsure. Don’t use too much water to have more starch-concentrated water at the end.
2. Start heating garlic with a fair amount of oil (optionally butter). You can prepare garlic by thinly slicing, chopping, or however you want just like aglio e olio. You can also add Asian chili oil to add spiciness.
3. Put several anchovies or anchovy fillets. Although you can use any anchovies, it is important to estimate and regulate the salt content. The thick canned anchovies (e.g., from wild planet or patagnoia) have less salt than the flat fillet ones. Because the sauce is very salty, don’t put too much anchovies (salt).
4. Optionally, add chili pepper flakes, peperoncino, or black pepper to taste. Don’t burn garlic or chili pepper flake.
5. Make the “Asian umami bomb” sauce by mixing soy sauce, oyster sauce (e.g., Lee Kum Kee), and fish sauce (e.g., three crabs or squid brands).
   1. You don’t need a lot because all of them are very salty (maybe between 1 tsp - 1 TBSP each, depending on how much you make).
   2. Soy sauce provides the primary saltiness and umami. Oyster sauce adds richness and sweetness onto it with strong umami. Finally, fish sauce further enhance the fishy flavor of anchovy with strong umami.
   3. You can try 1:1:1 ratio first then adjust the ratio. If it tastes too “fishy”, you can reduce or even remove the fish sauce. You can also adjust the amount at the last stage of cooking (e.g., if it is not salted enough, you can put a bit of soy sauce and/or oyster sauce). So many Asian dishes can be made with a variation of this sauce.
   4. Optionally, you can also add the “dark” soy sauce. This is less saltier than the normal soy sauce, but it adds strong dark color with a bit of sweetness.
6. Prepare some cheese (e.g., parmigiano-reggiano) by fine-grating it. Cheese is not critical but recommended.
7. When garlic is almost “done” (just like Aglio e olio), reduce or turn off the heat and wait for the pasta.
   1. Optionally, you can put a bit of sauce (or even just the soy sauce) on the garlic & anchovy mixture and cook it. Putting the soy sauce onto the heated oil and cooking it produces a stronger flavor (a common technique in East Asian cooking). This also adds more flavor to the garlic. But it is ok to skip this step.
8. Transfer pasta to the pan with some pasta water and mix. You can either finish the last few minutes in the pan with more water or just transfer when pasta is done at al dente. Finishing the cooking in the pan can provide more starch concentration and creamier sauce but can be more cumbersome.
9. Pour the sauce and mix. If you’re unsure about the quantity, you can pour some and taste. Adjust with pasta water. When the temperature gets low enough, put cheese and mix well to create creamy sauce.