"You can't argue with a homemade noodle"

Bob Burda, Cawker City, said “You can’t argue with a homemade noodle.” He loves homemade noodles. One might not be able to argue with a homemade noodle but there can certainly be lots of “discussion” about how to make one.

Noodles should be simple – just three ingredients.  Eggs, flour and salt. Okay, here is the first “discussion.” One local noodle maker who told me, “Don’t put that in the paper!” does not use salt. Actually, there could be several flying under the radar who don’t use salt.

So, back to the beginning – noodles should be simple, just two or three ingredients. Second “discussion.”  What about eggs? There are those who use whole eggs, or only egg yolks or only egg whites or more yolks than whites. “Grandma’s Noodles,” the recipe of the late Fern Crotts of Hutchinson states “6 egg yolks (5 yolks, 1 whole egg).” It seems there are as many ways to make noodles as there are noodle makers.

Actually, there is only the “rule of thumb” that says two or three ingredients. Clarise Hastings, Jewell, adds “just a little” water while Mary Mallory, Jewell, and Sharon Tullar, Jewell, both add “just a little” milk.  Not a precise amount, “just a little.”

It still is pretty simple – maybe salt, eggs (whole eggs, just yolks, just whites or a combination), some liquid (or not), and flour. “Just regular flour not bread flour,” according to LeRoy Bourbon, Jewell. It doesn’t seem simple at all.

Eggs, in some form, seem to be a common denominator, but then comes the question “How many”? The answers vary from two, Sharon Tullar, Jewell; six, Becky Cockroft, Jewell; 12, Ann Colson, Ionia; to 22, LeRoy Bourbon, Jewell. And yes, several used three or four eggs.

But there are variations – it depends on “the size of the egg” according to Jane Pahls of Jewell and Berta Burda of Cawker City. Becky Cockroft will “add another egg” if she is using pullet eggs. But Becky Keys, Concordia, noted “it depends on the size of the crowd” how many eggs need to be used in the first place.

Not only the size of the eggs, but the weather makes a difference.  Kathleen Little, Jewell, said to make noodles “on a sunny day.” Clarise Hastings agrees and noted that the noodles dry slower on a “cloudy day.”

Then there is the way to combine the ingredients. Actually not “way” but “ways.” Though there are just two or three ingredients, they aren’t always combined in the same way. Most noodle makers, nearly all, beat the eggs, (with or without salt or milk or water) then add the flour.

But not all – Mary Mallory puts the flour in the bowl, makes a “well” and “cracks the eggs into the flour.”  Why?  “My mother always did it that way.” That is actually the reason most noodle makers give for doing what they do, because “my mother did” or “my grandma did it that way.”

Then there is the question, how much flour?  Most noodle makers don’t give the “measurement” in cups. On “Noodle Day” at the Ionia Community Church, Ann Colson said “a couple of cups” but she was using a pitcher and it wasn’t a standard cup. How much flour was actually in the “two cups” isn’t really precisely known, but “the measurement” was what went into the 12 eggs (and a bit of salt). Eleven batches of noodles were made that day.

Noodle makers don’t seem to talk about how much flour.  They talk about the dough’s “consistency” or “how it feels” and they stop adding flour when “it feels right.” Or as Becky Cockroft said, “There is always some flour on my counter.” It can be added if needed when the dough is rolled out.

Rolling out the dough – how thin?  How thick?  Joel Kemmerer, Jewell, likes his noodles “thick.” Not Lola Abram, Jewell. She, like her mother and grandmother before her, rolls hers “really thin, really thin.” ‘Thin’ is often used to describe the noodle but this author is guessing that thin to one noodle maker might be thick to another.

After the dough is rolled out, into a somewhat rectangular shape, it is allowed to begin to dry. Not dried too much or the dough will just break into pieces. But enough so it can be cut. Another discussion point, how to cut the noodle.

Some like Becky Keys, have a noodle cutter. Others use a knife. Lola Abram cuts her noodles, “really, really thin,” not surprisingly that is exactly how her mother and grandmother cut theirs. Most cut the rolled-out noodles into strips right where the dough is laying on counters or boards. 

Jada Eilert, Jewell, disagreed, that just isn’t what her grandmother does. Her grandmother is Becky Cockroft and Jada has been helping Cockroft make noodles since she needed a stool to be able to reach the counter top. Cockroft rolls up the rolled-out dough, like one would roll up bread dough for cinnamon rolls.  After she cuts the rolls into slices, she (or Jada) unrolls the slices and let the long strips of noodle dry. 

While noodles are drying, Jane Pahls would say they needed to be “fluffed.” A not especially precise word meaning to just move the noodles around, to “fluff” them as they dry. Then when they are dry, bag them up.  Better yet, cook them in broth and enjoy!

As Dale Simmelink, Ionia, said, “Everyone loves homemade noodles!”