Noodles seem like a typical, everyday food, which in fact they are. Noodles are enjoyed all across China, available anywhere with a wide variety of dressings, sauces and meats. How noodles are made though, is completely out of the ordinary. Making noodles contains a sparkle of magic and very able hands.
This picture shows a young man in a restaurant on the Da Peng peninsula, about an hour and a half in a taxi and and two and a half hours by bus, from our apartment. Noodle making is typical all across China, and even more heavily practiced in the North of China. There are multiple ways of making noodles. Above, the man is making thin cylinder noodles. He can also make flat noodles and shaved noodles. To make round noodles he kneads the dough into a long thick band, then stretches it by twisting and twirling it. To make individual noodles he stretches the dough, slaps it against the table and folds the dough, then repeats the process. After a couple of folds he twists the top of the dough of and walks outside where a pot big enough for a child to sit in boils. He drops the noodles into the water then begins to make flat noodles. To shave noodles he lumps dough onto a sort of rolling pin, then takes a piece of flat metal with a curled edge and shaves bits of the dough into the pot.
At the “shi tang”, the law school cafeteria where we usually eat there is a noodle man as well. This noodle man does not make his noodles in front of us but brings them premade and boiled, then he fry’s the noodles with peanuts, chives, and sprouts.
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