Something to Noodle On

Are you a rice person?  Or a wheat person?

 Northern China is the land of wheat eaters.  The South is the land of rice eaters.  The men from the North are taller...two or three inches taller on average when compared to Southern men...because wheat is more nutrient dense.  The people in the South are able to tolerate the summer heat because rice is a cooler, milder food.

Actually, those statements are not completely true.  They are stereotypes.  China as a country covers roughly the same land area as the U.S.  And just as the U.S. has regional differences in food, language, and culture, so does China. Just as Americans (and every other country) loves to stereotype our different regions, so do the Chinese.  The wheat vs. rice stereotype is deeply embedded.  If I had a nickel for every time something was explained as the difference between wheat and rice, then I'd have a few nickels.



Many stereotypes have a nugget of truth in them.  It is true to say that wheat is more important in the Northern diet, especially in Sha'anxi provice where Xi'an is located.  That's because Sha'anxi sits on the high plains of the Yellow River in the contental interior.  Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, sits on coastal delta of the Yangtze River.  Jiangsu is like Mississipi or Louisiana.  Sha'anxi s like Idaho or Iowa.  So it's no surprise that wheat grows better up there.  (Also no surprise that potatoes grow well up there.)  

The most popular way to eat wheat in the North is in the form of noodles.  Xi'an is famous for it's noodles - over 300 types they say.  Knowing that, our trip to Xi'an would not be complete without sampling the local noodles.  (Were you wondering when I would get to the point?)

The photos here were taken in the restaurant at the terracotta warrior museum.  The chefs made the noodles fresh and by hand.  They made several different types, most of which were similar to Western dumplings and spaetzle and cut noodles.  It could have been German cooking.  Stuff like that I've seen in my grandma's kitchen. 

What I've never seen before is the making of long noodles by hand.  The chef starts with a mass of dough, which he kneads until smooth...like any conventional bread recipe.  Where it gets weird is when he starts to pull it like taffy.   Pull the dough to twice its length, then double over and twist back into one short roll.  He did this over and over again about 15 times.  From time to time he would smear the mass of dough with water to adjust the plasticity.  With each pull the dough became more shiny and more like rubber.

Then it became amazing.  He pulled the dough out to twice it's length.  Then he dusted it with flour to keep it from sticking back together.  He folded it in half and had two thick noodles.  He pulled again, dusted, folded, and had four thick noodles.  He pulled, dusted, folded, and had eight, then 16, then 32, then 64, then...

Before you know it, he had countless thin, perfect noodles in his hands.  It was the magic of binary numbers raised to exponential powers.  Stretched as they were to arm's length, they were four or 5 feet long.  The first photo is the taffy-pulling stage.  The second photo shows the individual noodles being pulled.  The third photo is a close-up of his hands, where you can better see the individual noodles.  The bottom photo shows the ultimate fate of his creation.  The noodles were chopped into one foot segments and boiled in a broth of chicken and vegetables.  After five or so minutes of cooking, bowls were filled and served to the tourists.

In the end, it just a bowl of noodle soup.  I wouldn't say it was the best I've ever had.  But the entertainment factor set it apart.  Lunch with a show.