Can anyone tell me how to cook noodles at home, so they taste as they
would when you buy them from a Chinese restaurant or takeaway?

wrote in message
news:1121865030.447932.212250@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

> Can anyone tell me how to cook noodles at home, so they taste as they
> would when you buy them from a Chinese restaurant or takeaway?


Oh my gawd... how long's a piece of string me dear? hehee... there's a few
vital things to remember but i'm not exactly sure if you can achieve the
same results at home as when they're cooking it in a takeaway or rest.

The most important thing is the fire or wok burner, w/o a serious bit of
fire you are hard pushed at re-creating that aroma which we Cantonese call
'Wok Hei'(wok's breath) or 'Wok Mei'(wok flavour).

But i have acheived a little of that flavour & aroma with a home stove,
better if it's a gas fire stove. Heat your iron wok up until it smokes
before you add any oil. Once the oil goes in, you'll want to wait until the
oil smokes as well before you add your ingredients in. I would start with
the 'aromatics' like garlic, ginger etc.. the kind of ingredients that
you'll want to stir/toss in the hot wok to bring out the smells & flavours
but be careful not to burn them. You should be able to smell these within
the first 5-10secs. if not your wok isn't hot enough. Next goes in the
noodles, depending on what type you're using/cooking, i would say that most
are partly cooked or can be cooked up pretty fast in such a hot wok. The wok
should be so hot that it basically sears the noodles through & you keep
tossing, not stirring as that would shred the noodles into a mush. Next goes
in the veg & any cooked meat etc. Final adjustment for flavour etc. or gravy
then dish up. This is the basic process/technique. Oh yes... very important
for home cooking, cook a small portion first then do the same again for the
next portion. Home stoves are not hot enough to do the lot all in one go. I
tried doing that before... the wok was smoking hot & as soon as the
ingredients were added, it made a loud Chaaaaarr... (Chinese sound bite for
frying) then it quieten down & the wok lost all it's heat... the resulting
stirfry turned watery as there wasn't enough heat to sear & a plopped mess
was achieve after 5mins. No Good!! Much Dishonour! heheee... another tip is
after you've done/added the aromatics, you should add the rest of the
ingredients according to how long it would take to cook, for eg. raw chunky
meats first followed by veg. etc. that's why meats are always sliced thin as
are veg. so they cook quickly & it is common to find cooked meat added
instead of raw meats. I would say a homemade stir fried noodles should take
no more then 5mins. if you're doing it the Chinese style. I mean they do it
in 2mins. in takeaways & rests. on those hot burners... so i'd double that.

HTH.

DC.

cook them when cold and slightly dried out and add a little sesame seed oil

When I do proper chow mein with thin noodles and meat & veg on top, My trick 
is to deep fry until the noodles are sealed and becoming slightly crisp and 
then  drain off all the oil though a fine mesh sieve   return the noodles to 
the wok and finish it off to crisp up and mould to the shape of the wok - 
remove put on kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil - cook the topping you 
have decided on and pour contents on top of the noodles which you have put 
on the plate!


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 wrote in message 
news:1121865030.447932.212250@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

> Can anyone tell me how to cook noodles at home, so they taste as they
> would when you buy them from a Chinese restaurant or takeaway?
> 

"William LACK"  wrote in message
news:dblsol$6ja$1@nwrdmz02.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...

> cook them when cold and slightly dried out and add a little sesame seed
oil
>
> When I do proper chow mein with thin noodles and meat & veg on top, My
trick
> is to deep fry until the noodles are sealed and becoming slightly crisp
and
> then  drain off all the oil though a fine mesh sieve   return the noodles
to
> the wok and finish it off to crisp up and mould to the shape of the wok -
> remove put on kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil - cook the topping
you
> have decided on and pour contents on top of the noodles which you have put
> on the plate!


Nice recipe William... but you might want to remove your sig. below from any
future posts, lots of weirdos out there who would be using your details for
spam & god knows what else!!


> --------------------------------------------------------
> William Lack
> Managing Director
> Altfield Limited


<snip>

DC.

which ones do you mean, dry or wet ones?

Chef!

 wrote in message
news:1121865030.447932.212250@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

> Can anyone tell me how to cook noodles at home, so they taste as they
> would when you buy them from a Chinese restaurant or takeaway?
>

"Chef!"  wrote in message
news:42debd87$1@127.0.0.1...

> which ones do you mean, dry or wet ones?
>
> Chef!


If you could Chef, please post a recipe for sup chow ngao ho (wet/gravy beef
hofun) or maybe yee meen with gravy for me : ) it's supper time now in
London & i'm craving for these...

what are you eating these days in HK?

DC.

On 20-Jul-2005, "DC."  wrote:


> Nice recipe William... but you might want to remove your sig. below from
> any
> future posts, lots of weirdos out there who would be using your details
> for
> spam & god knows what else!!
>
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> > William Lack
> > Managing Director
> > Altfield Limited


Awe, he's just name dropping now :+)

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 17:32:52 +0100, "DC."  wrote:

| "William LACK"  wrote in message
| news:dblsol$6ja$1@nwrdmz02.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...
| > cook them when cold and slightly dried out and add a little sesame seed
| oil
| >
| > When I do proper chow mein with thin noodles and meat & veg on top, My
| trick
| > is to deep fry until the noodles are sealed and becoming slightly crisp
| and
| > then  drain off all the oil though a fine mesh sieve   return the noodles
| to
| > the wok and finish it off to crisp up and mould to the shape of the wok -
| > remove put on kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil - cook the topping
| you
| > have decided on and pour contents on top of the noodles which you have put
| > on the plate!
| 
| Nice recipe William... but you might want to remove your sig. below from any
| future posts, lots of weirdos out there who would be using your details for
| spam & god knows what else!!
| 
| > --------------------------------------------------------
| > William Lack
| > Managing Director
| > Altfield Limited
| 
| <snip>

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