Assignment: Prepare some food. Or visit an interesting food related place, perhaps a shop or dining establishment. Then, write a blog post about the food or place.
When I think of incredible Chinese food to which New York City has exposed me, two specific dishes come to mind: xiao long bao, the pork and crab soup dumplings common in Shanghainese cuisine (and perfected by the geniuses at Joe’s Shanghai), and spicy cumin lamb with biang-biang noodles, which hail from Xi’an. While I have not yet been brave enough to attempt to make soup dumplings at home, I have recently attempted spicy cumin lamb with biang-biang noodles, thanks to a meal kit from Xi’an Famous Foods .^1
The kit contains everything needed to make the dish (serves four), except for equipment, oil, and patience^2. Conveniently portioned bags need only be broken down and cooked according to the directions, which are clear and easy to follow. The noodles, however, are much more challenging than I was initially led to believe.
The spicy cumin lamb is simple: hot oil and aromatics, shaved lamb, more aromatics, and a chili spice blend shot through with oil and cumin. The cooking is fast-paced and frenetic, but takes just a few minutes. Once completed, the spiced lamb with onion, garlic, long pepper, and scallion simmer slowly and marry while the noodles are made.
As intended, the noodles are relatively simple to make. Each serving comes with two sheets of noodle dough, approximately two inches by five inches, and a quarter-inch thick. They are rolled out slightly, pressed in the middle, and pulled apart gently, with an up-and-down waving motion, until they are about five feet long. As the noodle is waved, it is slapped onto the table top (biang is Xi’an Chinese for the sound of slapping a noodle on the counter, which gives us the name^3), then pinched in the middle, and hand-torn almost to the ends. We are left with a large loop of flat, broad noodle, which is immediately boiled for three to five minutes. This worked for the first two noodles.^4
It just so happened that in my kitchen, the ambient air temperature was far too warm to make noodles in the standard method. The large brick of noodle dough, no longer differentiable, melted together. I was unable to stretch any piece of it in order to make noodles, so I portioned it out and made what appeared to be dumpling skins out of the noodle dough – oblate discs roughly two inches long and an inch wide. They cooked with the same texture, but left some of the cachet of the hand-torn noodles behind.^5
The pungent, deep-red chili-spiced oil stained my white plastic countertops and dripped onto my jeans^6 as I ravenously slurped noodles and ovoid noodle-dumplings with the tender, gamy lamb. The cabbage and scallions played incredible supporting roles, providing texture and body. The noodles soak up the chili oil and are soft, delicate, and vaguely sweet.
Two days later, my kitchen is haunted by the ghost of the intensely flavored dish. I will be sure to chill the noodle dough before I pull the noodles next time.^7
End Notes
1 This is a great setup. I hadn't any real idea where this was going at first, but your description of both dishes definitely made me want to keep going. Then to learn with this line that it might be possible to create this dish using a meal kit - that added a whole new layer of fun to this piece.
2 Ha - yes...worth noting
3 A nice detail
4 I'm curious - did you search to find a video of how this is done online to get a better sense of it? I know I would have needed to. I guess I'm wondering how easy it is to figure out this exact technique just from the instructions that come with the meal kit.
5 What I like most about this is your description of problem-solving - it's not only a helpful reminder that with some innovation, we can solve problems in the kitchen. But it's a very specific example of how to solve this one particular problem.
6 I enjoyed this recounting of what some could call a disaster as testament to how much you enjoyed this dish!
7 Good note to end on, as that really is the key takeaway regarding the noodle challenge.
Comments
Brennan,
Fantastic story - see the bluemarks for more. <unrelated commentary about a conversation we were having about Ears, Smokes, and the Ghosts of Farish Street.>
Comments