Hunan Rice Noodles With Chicken and Salted Chilies

I found this recipe originally in Fuchsia Dunlop’s amazing Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, which is the simply best book on the subject of Hunan cookery published in English. It uses salted chilies, a condiment which is ubiquitous to Hunan, but which is not available in stores here int he US; instead, Dunlop gives a simple recipe […]

Two-Sides-Brown: Pan-Fried Noodle Pancake

This recipe is not often found on the typical American Chinese restaurants, and that is a shame, because it is a delicious dish, filled with textural and flavor contrasts. I used to eat it at the Chinese restaurant where I worked, and I loved watching the chefs cook the pancakes; they used a large wok […]

Noodle Shop Secret for Springy Noodles: Pre-Steaming

If you have ever eaten good wheat-based soup noodles or pan-fried noodles at a Chinese restaurant or noodle shop, one thing that you cannot help but notice is the texture of them. In soup, they are always springy, flavorful and firm, never mushy or overcooked, and when they are pan fried, they are toothsome on […]

Cold Sesame-Peanut Noodles Beat The Summer Heat

I always tend to lose weight during the months of August and September. That is because those tend to be the hottest months of the year here in Southeastern Ohio. Humidity is usually off the scale, and no breezes blow, while the endless sunlight pours from an azure sky in unremitting waves of heat, crashing […]

Chinese Wheat Noodles 101

Italy and China have been metaphorically duking it out over which country is the birthplace to the ubiquitous noodle. Archaeologists can confidently say that noodles as a foodstuff originated in China; recently a noodle excavated inside an overturned pot near the Yellow River was carbon-dated to approximately 4,000 years ago. That is an old noodle, […]