ORIENT Magazine - Cuisine Article - The Incredible Edible Noodle

The Incredible Edible Noodle

ASIAN FOODS [Asian Vegetables] [Noodles] [Tea] [Calamondin] [Sushi] [Korean Food] [Bananas] [Asian Fruit] [Sea Cucumber] [Rice]

Nobody knows when America's love affair with the noodle really began. Whether it is Italian pasta or Asian noodles, fresh or dried, hot or cold, whatever the shape and size, we are slurping them up.
It is said that we are consuming more than 2 billion pounds of pasta a year, and that each of us will eat two-thirds of a mile of it in our lifetime. That's a lot of noodles.
Pasta is a generic Italian term for food products made from a mixture of water and semolina---that golden sugar-fine flour ground from the heart of durum wheat, the hardest and purest of all wheats. Chinese noodles are made in much the same way, except they add eggs and use flour from shrimp, rice, corn, peas, soybeans, potato, seaweed, mung bean, wheat and buckwheat, among other things.
Nutritionists claim it is one of the world's perfect foods---very digestible, low in fat, and high in protein---more protein and carbohydrates than potatoes. It is believed that rice and wheat flour have a catalytic property that "stretches" the vegetable protein content of food, thus enabling one to sustain energy longer. For most, it is the alternative food which can fill their need for a balanced, inexpensive diet.
Europeans are crazy about them, too. In fact, it is hard to find a culture that does not, in one way or another, use some form of noodle in their cooking.
The Germans have their "spaetzle"; the Jewish, their "kugel" noodle puddings and their "kreplachs"; France, their "farfalle" (or butterfly) noodles which they cook with mussels; Hungary has its own "Tarhonya"; Portugal, their green noodles with anchovies; Greece, their "trahana" soups; Sicily, their "penne" pasta with white clams; Malaysia, their "Kway Teow" with squid, shrimps and red chilies; Japan, their noodle fish custard; Indians, their "phaluda" served cold with syrup and rosewater ice cream; and Americans, their spaghetti with meat and mushroom sauce, and their macaroni and cheese.
Who first mixed flour and water and discovered this incredibly versatile food? Historians cannot seem to agree. Twenty years before Marco Polo's famous travels to the Orient and adventure in China, the Romans were already eating ravioli. The Arabs claim they were first to use dried pasta to preserve flour during their long treks in the desert and introduced this food to Southern Italy. During an archeological excavation, however, the Chinese unearthed an amazing find---a petrified prehistoric noodle dumpling.
All these notwithstanding, historians seem to agree on one thing---the two greatest noodle making cultures are China and Italy. European noodles take their style from Italy and from the fresh noodles of Middle Europe while the Chinese noodles are found through Southeast Asia and Japan, spreading into Burma, India and the Middle East.
There are over 600 varieties in Italian noodle factories, which you can order by weight, shape and size---from the grain-sized pastina, orzo and acini de pepe to the tubular ziti, mostaccioli and rigatoni to the flat and curly rotini, farfalle, lasagna, and mafalda. If they are tubular, they come from the South, and the flat ribbons variety are from the North.
Any self-respecting Italian cook will, of course, tell you that pasta must be cooked "al dente," just firm and springy enough "to the tooth." Experts say use a deep pot, and 6 quarts of water for every one pound of pasta, so pasta can swim, and strands do not crowd. Add 2 tablespoons of salt after the water boils and just before the pasta goes in, and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking. Do not oversauce, use grating cheese, and, if you are using frozen fresh pasta, do not defrost before you cook it.
Asian noodles also come in a wide assortment of type and thickness of the strands; most varieties are long to symbolize longevity. Many Asians believe you should eat noodles on your birthday and on New Year's Day to get a "new lease on life."
Japanese noodles come from wheat and buckwheat---the "Udon," which are large, soft white noodles, the "Somen" which are thin wheat vermicellis, and the "Soba" which are thin and greenish, and come in varieties of gray buckwheat, green tea leaf, green spinach and curly noodle. They are very good in soups, to "wipe out your tensions for the day", and are ritually presented to newcomers in Japanese neighborhoods as an offer of close friendship.
Most Chinese noodles are used in soups, and in stir-fried or cold dishes. They are soaked, simmered, deep fried, or tossed in hot oil.
Bean thread noodles, from "mung beans" (from which most bean sprouts are made), are thin and translucent. Cellophane or vermicelli noodles are usually made from sea weed, very fine and translucent and particularly good in cold dishes. "Shirataki" is the Japanese version of this noodle.
Rice sticks, flat and thin like linguini, and rice chips are made from rice flour. They are placed in a bowl and soaked in cold water, drained and stir-fried. Rice vermicellis are similar to angel's hair, and much thinner than rice sticks. These are soaked at least 30 minutes in cold water and drained before cooking. The "mei fun" rice sticks come in a green package, and are broken into clusters, not soaked, before being deep-fat-fried for a few seconds in very hot oil.
Chinese egg noodles (lo-mein), are available fresh and dried. They are interchangeable in recipes. Fresh egg noodles are always boiled, drained, rinsed, then tossed with peanut or sesame oil.
When your recipe requires boiling, here is the 3-step Chinese method:

Bring a large kettle of water to a rolling boil and add the noodles.
When they rise to the top, add 1 cup cold water.
When the water comes to a boil again, add another cup of water.
When the water boils for the 3rd time, the noodles should be done. The center of the noodle must be thoroughly cooked. Drain the noodles, rinse under cold water to cool, and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

If cooking is not your thing, there is an astonishing proliferation of oriental noodle food shops offering a wide variety of noodle recipes, from huge bowls of soups to heaping portions of stir-fries, for "eat-ins" or "take-outs," and Americans are digging in with their chopsticks and soup spoons. These noodle shops are no longer confined to Chinatowns, but are found in storefronts in Chicago, in stylish Japanese soba shops in Boston, lunchtime noodle shops in New York, and quaint Asian diners in San Francisco.
And yes, when it comes to noodle soups, slurping is allowed. For a hearty asian meal of noodle soup, try this recipe for Mi Thap Cam.
Recommended further reading "A World of Pasta" by Maria Luisa Scott and Jack Denton Scott; "Noodles Galore" by Merry White.

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