When cooked, a good dried rice noodle (made from ground rice and water) should taste like fresh rice with a tender but not mushy bite. We gathered three national brands, tasting them plain and in our Thai noodle stir-fry. Each brand looked slightly different: One boasted wider, flat noodles; the others resembled spaghetti with more narrow, rounded strands. Tasted plain, the brands were very similar, but in our stir-fry, one stood out: The broad, planklike strands of our winner delivered far more of the char that is critical to the dish.