Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know my noodles are cooked?

For the rice vermicelli, they will start out white/opaque and when they are partially cooked they will turn clear but still feel brittle. They are fully cooked when they are soft, clear and easily chewed. If it feels brittle, add more broth and cook a bit longer.

For any other types of noodles, they should not be hard when you bite into them. If there is no more cooking liquid, add a ¼ cup of water and let it simmer off until the noodles are cooked. Please refer to the package instructions.

I thought I had salt, but I don’t. Will this be a disaster?

No, not at all! There are other ways to season your dishes with things you might have on hand.

Add a splash of soy sauce or tamari to the noodles, roasted vegetables, or carrot salad. You can also use fish sauce, nutritional yeast, or a teaspoon of miso diluted in a tablespoon of water.

Not as common, but if you have dried mushrooms you can pulverize/crush them and sprinkle into the broth stage of the pancit for more umami.

This might also sound crazy but a spoonful of pickle juice will perk up any of the dishes (except the cracker toffee!).

All I have is olive oil! Is that okay?

Yes, this is okay! You might need more of it because olive oil has a lower smoke point than vegetable oil, so it will burn off faster in the course of stir-frying.

If you don’t have any oil, butter also works but will also create smoke. Please open a window or turn on the stove vent.

The toffee recipe requires 1 "sleeve" of graham crackers... how many is that exactly? The Honey Maid sleeves are small, only about 8 crackers. Is that the correct size?

Good question! My sleeve has 9 full rectangles that break into 18 squares to fit exactly into a quarter sheet pan or half the space of a half sheet pan. For saltines, that’s 16 to 18 crackers to fill a quarter sheet pan.