Chinese noodles

Noodles at a store in Yuen Long

Nomenclature of Chinese noodles can be difficult due to the vast spectrum available in China and the many dialects of Chinese used to name them. In Mandarin, miàn (simplified Chinese: 面; traditional Chinese: 麵; often transliterated as "mien" or "mein" ) refers to noodles made from wheat flour, while fěn (粉) or "fun" refers to noodles made from other starches, particularly rice flour and mung bean starch. Each noodle type can be rendered in pinyin for Mandarin, but in Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong it will be known by its Cantonese pronunciation ("meen" or "mien" for wheat noodles, "fun" for non-wheat). Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and many other Overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia may use Hokkien (Min Nan) instead (e.g. "mee" for wheat noodles, "hoon" or "hun" for non-wheat). Wheat noodles, for example, are called mian in Mandarin, mein in Cantonese, men in Japanese, mee in Thai and guksu in Korean.[2]

Sometimes, the principal ingredient used in the preparation such as wheat, buckwheat, rice, potato, corn flour, bean, soybean flour, yam flour, mung-bean starch, sweet potato, cassava, etc may also form the basis of naming noodles.[3]

Two men making noodles in Shanghai

The earliest written record of noodles is from a book dated to the Eastern Han period (25–220 AD).[4][5] Noodles, often made from wheat dough, became a prominent staple of food during the Han dynasty.[6] In the Western Han Dynasty, due to demand by the military, it was necessary for the Government to implement food processing technologies that would make the food storage easier and more affordable. During this time, “Laomian” emerged, it was made with starch-rich buckwheat, millet and pea flours with lower water content, making it easier to store and transport.[7]

During the Song dynasty (960–1279) noodle shops were very popular in the cities, and remained open all night. During the earlier dynastic periods Chinese wheat noodles were known as "soup cake" (Chinese: 湯餅; pinyin: tāng bǐng), as explained by the Song dynasty scholar Huáng Cháo Yīng (黃朝英) mentions in his work "A delightful mixed discussion on various scholarly topics" (Chinese: 靖康緗素雜記; pinyin: jìngkāngxiāngsùzájì, Scroll 2) that in ancient times bready foods like pasta are referred collectively as "bing" and differentiated through their cooking methods.[8]·

Up until 1992, most dried Chinese noodles in the United States could not be sold labelled as "noodles".[9][10] This is due to fact that many Chinese noodles are made without eggs and do not always use wheat as starch, thus resulting in the United States Department of Agriculture obliging manufacturers to label them as "imitation noodles" or "alimentary paste".[9]

Chinese noodles are generally made from either wheat flour, rice flour, or mung bean starch, with wheat noodles being more commonly produced and consumed with the ancient wooden noodles mold technology in northern China and rice noodles being more typical of southern China. Egg, lye, and cereal may also be added to noodles made from wheat flour in order to give the noodles a different color or flavor. Egg whites, arrowroot or tapioca starch are sometimes added to the flour mixture in low quantities to change the texture and tenderness of the noodles' strands. Although illegal, the practice of adding the chemical cross-linker borax to whiten noodles and improve their texture is also quite common in East Asia.[11] In general, the Chinese noodles cooking method involves making a dough with flour, salt, and water; mixing the dough by hand to form bar shapes; bending the bars for proofing; pulling the bars into strips; dropping the strips into a pot with boiling water; and removing the noodles when finished cooking.[7] Chinese type noodles are generally made from hard wheat flours, characterized by bright creamy white or bright yellow color and firm texture.[12]

Before the automatic noodle machine was invented in 1950s, the processing of Chinese noodles were made with four steps, including:

• Fresh – The noodles are often consumed within 24 hours of manufacture due to quick discoloration. Their shelf life can be extended to 3–5 days if stored under refrigeration;
• Dried – Fresh noodle strands are dried by sunlight or in a controlled chamber;
• Boiled – Fresh noodle strands are either parboiled or fully cooked. After parboiling, Chinese noodles are rinsed in cold water, drained and covered with 1–2% vegetable oil to prevent sticking;
• Steamed – Fresh alkaline noodle strands are steamed in a steamer and softened with water through rinsing.[13]

The dough for noodles made from wheat flour is typically made from wheat flour, salt, and water, with the addition of eggs or lye depending on the desired texture and taste of the noodles. Rice or other starch-based noodles are typically made with only the starch or rice flour and water. After the formation of a pliable dough mass, one of five types of mechanical processing may be applied to produce the noodles:

While cut and extruded noodles can be dried to create a shelf-stable product to be eaten months after production, most peeled, pulled and kneaded noodles are consumed shortly after they are produced.

• 
  Cutting thin strips of dough from a loaf directly into a container of boiling water to make knife-cut noodles in Datong, Shanxi
• 
  Pulling wheat dough into one thin strand to form lamian
• Noodle maker in Pengzhou, Sichuan extruding noodles directly into a pot of boiling water.

A bowl of mala beef daoxiaomian (刀削面)

Noodles may be cooked from either their fresh (moist) or dry forms. They are generally boiled, although they may also be deep-fried in oil until crispy. Boiled noodles may then be stir fried, served with sauce or other accompaniments, or served in soup, often with meat and other ingredients. Certain rice-noodles are made directly from steaming the raw rice slurry and are only consumed fresh.

Unlike many Western noodles and pastas, Chinese noodles made from wheat flour are usually made from salted dough, and therefore do not require the addition of salt to the liquid in which they are boiled. Chinese noodles also cook very quickly, generally requiring less than 5 minutes to become al dente and some taking less than a minute to finish cooking, with thinner noodles requiring less time to cook. Chinese noodles made from rice or mung bean starch do not generally contain salt.

Cart noodle dishes at Chinese Noodle Shop in Yuen Long

The following are a small portion of Chinese dishes that incorporate noodles:

• Ban mian
• Beef chow fun
• Cart noodle
• Char kway teow
• Chow mein
• Laksa
• Lo mein
• Re gan mian
• Wonton noodles
• Zhajiangmian

• Chinese cuisine
• Japanese noodles
• Korean noodles
• List of noodles
• List of noodle dishes
• Noodle soup

• Cook's Thesaurus: Asian Noodles