Re: Little help identifying Chinese noodles "Guobian flakes"On Jun 26, 11:06 pm, niisonge <niiso...@yahoo . com > wrote:
> > Hmm... I see from your post and more searching that "guobian" seems to
> > be the name of the soup itself... the "guobian flakes" I have must be
> > the white noodles in the guobian.
>
> That's right, it's the name of the dish itself.
>
> > I am using them as a replacement for fresh Thai rice noodles, but can
> > you tell me how the noodles are made for the guobian? Is this a dish
> > you make yourself or just buy out?
>
> This is not a dish that you would want to make yourself. It's kind of
> complicated. And the "noodles" really aren't noodles. First, some rice
> is made into a paste or slurry in water. Then, it's added to a large
> wok, and it's boiled down. As it boils down, the slurry that stuck to
> the sides gets dried up. Then, they take a spatula and go around the
> edges of the wok, lifiting up this dried up rice paste and putting it
> back into the wok of water. They do this repeated times until there
> are enough "noodles". That's why it's called "guo bian". The trick
> though, is to make thin noodles rather than too thick. And the rest of
> the ingredients are cooked in the same wok along with it.
>
> Maybe I can take a picture later of how it's actually made.
Wow! Thanks for all of the info! That paints a very clear picture
actually and makes total sense (who said a picture is worth a thousand
words? :) Although I dug your photos, that old Chinese pot was sweet
and the skewered grub/bug things seemed quite odd.
By any chance could you describe the broth? I am now very interested
in trying to make some real guobian (with the guobian flakes at first
as the other seems a touch time intensive which I sadly do not have
these days) The Internet never ceases to amaze me, I toss out a crazy
off-topic question and find as close to the source as possible in a
matter of hours. Crazy.
Tons of thanks!
- Dominic