Chinese Wheaten Food

Background of Chinese Wheaten Food

Shanxi located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is one of the earliest and most significant centers of agricultural origin in the world and is also the birthplace of Chinese Noodles culture.

Shanxi has a complex geographic environment and significant climatic differences. Its cultivated land mainly distributes in five basins in the middle and intermountain valleys. Moreover, we repute the Jinghong area in the middle of Shanxi as the “small kingdom of coarse cereals.” And the Jinzhong Basin is also as a core area of Shanxi wheaten food.

Jinzhong Basin is a cross temperate zone and cold temperate zone, and also there are high mountains and dangerous peaks spreading here. There is a big temperature difference between the foot and the top of the Taihang Mountains, so it is the place in the world where most food crops can be grown, including wheat, buckwheat, hulless oat, panicled millet, glutinous millet, and other most-rare plants in the world. Even the millet produced in a large quantity in other places grows well here. So individual five bowls of cereal with various types provide Jinzhong people precious raw materials to make wheaten food.

The diligent civilians in Jinzhong have had a habit of planting high-quality wheat for a long time in history. “Planting one grain of wheat in the spring, you’ll harvest ten thousand grains in the fall.” The fertile yellow soil in the Taihang Mountains and high mountains and lofty hills provide them with the harvest happiness.

Shanxi people and Shanxi wheaten food

The people living on this land are not very rich in life, but they are not shallow in eating. Its long history, rich meaning, and profound accumulation have caused the world's attention. Once a diet type is mature enough to be called a kind of culture, there are many stories behind it.

And it said the experience had been still spreading so far in Shanxi. For a person who is going to travel in a place far away from home, one of the methods for curing homesickness is to put two things into his traveling bag before he leaves the hometown, a knife, and a pole. The blade is a noodle-slicing knife, not longer than a palm and made of high-quality steel. Eating wheaten food can alleviate his homesickness. Without a doubt, wheaten food culture can best embody the life of Shanxi people.

Sliced noodles 刀削面

Sliced noodles is a kind of most distinctive wheaten food in Jinzhong of Shanxi, and is a kind of most representative classical wheaten food in China. Today, in the hands of the performer, it looks very festive. But its origin has a bitter history: there was no other alternative but to do it.

It said during the war in ancient China, to prevent the ordinary people's uprising and disturbance, the regulate was that only a kitchen knife was allowed to keep in several households.

One day, an old woman asked her husband to cook the meal in the village. So he went outside to borrow a knife. As a result, he could not find a knife for a long time. On the way home, he was depressed that a hard object strumbled him. After looking down, he saw a metal sheet. So he put this metal sheet into his bosom and brought it home.

Later, his wife asked him if he borrowed the knife. He said no. So he took out that metal sheet. His wife thought he would cook the meal with it. So she scolded him: “You are nonsense.” In Shanxi dialect, that means boasting. But that word reminded him. So he had a brainwave and took up this metal sheet and sharpened it on the outside stone. After taking it back, he chopped the noodles into the pot one by one. Then the sliced noodles were born.

From mouth to mouth, the earliest noodle chopping with metal sheet was spread to the street vendors from households and widely covered in Jinzhong in the end. Despite many times’ improvement, they keep the tradition of making the knife with a metal sheet, but only chopping was changed into slicing, evolving into the instant sliced noodles. So far, in many counties of Jinzhong, like Pingyao, Jiexiu, Lingshi, and Zuoquan, both men and women can slice noodles.

How to make the sliced noodles

There are three critical points for making the sliced noodles.

The first point is an excellent noodle-slicing knife. The knife must be tailor-made. It bends slightly in shape. There should be a pad on the knife handle, to prevent the bleeding of the part of the hand between the thumb and forefinger. For the grinding of the knife.

The second is the flexibility of dough. In many recipes, people introduce that mix of 0.15 kg dough with 0.5 kg water. But the local people rely on the feeling when kneading the dough, controlling the flexibility to the point.

The third point is the operation. The traditional operation method is holding the dough in one hand and holding the knife in the other hand, and then directly slicing the noodles into the boiling water pot. There is saying that “the knife and the dough shall be in a tight contact; the arm with a knife shall straightly and rigidly stretch forward, and the other shall hold the dough evenly. The eyesight and the hand shall be in one direction”, and one slice follows the next slice. The noodle is cut one by one at a steady rate.

Following this, you will see the noodles flying like flowers, and jumping into the boiling water in a parabolic trajectory. Sliced noodles made in this manner are flexible and stiff, soft and pliable, and has a unique flavor in the mouth. Scooped the hot noodles out of the pot, poured with fried sauces or gravies, and mixed with Shanxi mature vinegar, and then sent into your mouth, it will arouse your appetite and make you hard to stop.

Sliced noodles cultures

In the Qixian County governed by Jinzhong City. Qixian County is the hometown of Shanxi businessmen (晋商). During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, saving “Gold Taigu County, Silver Qixian County, and Poor Yuci County with coarse food grains as main food” was used to describe the prosperity of its life.

Sometimes, here you could see a youngster who comes from a wheaten food family - Hao Family, he can perform a unique technique handed down from his older generations: standing on the wheelbarrow and slicing the noodles on top of the head.

If eating the sliced noodles satisfies the appetite, watching the slicing of noodles feasts the eyes. Jinzhong people make the making process of wheaten food reach a degree of vaudeville. This food idea may be unique around China. The slicing of noodles is particular about the same line of eyes and hands so that they can slice the noodles into the pot. Slice with both hands, with the dough on the head. The eyes cannot see the dough. It entirely relies on the master’s hand-feel.

Ti Jian noodles 剔尖面 拨鱼儿面

Ti Jian noodles (a kind of wheaten food) is also a favorite food among Jinzhong people, which is also called “Bo Yu'r” The reason that it becomes a popular food is that cook it is swift, and the dough preparation is no specific requirements. Thus, some Shanxi people gave it a nickname, “noodle of the lazy woman.” It seems that the Shanxi people are born with business sense and such ordinary wheaten food as Ti Jian finally became a street performance. In Ti Jian's performance, it requires more than speed but also strength and accuracy. The performer limits the direction by using a square board with a hole and casts the thin noodle through the round hole precisely into the pot 10 meters away.

Scissors-made noodles 剪刀面

The advantage of Ti Jian lay at its fast speed but dwarf it when compared with the scissors-made noodles.

In Jinzhong, when the relatives go far from home, women staying at home will express their love in the way of cooking scissors-made noodles. Thus, as time passes by, the women compete with each other. They believe that the one who does it fast and efficiently has the most profound love for her relatives. Finally, it becomes the highly commended wheaten food of the Jinzhong area. A skilled cook could cut 140 ~260 times in a minute with a pair of scissors. 

Hand-stretched noodles 拉面

This tool is useful for making noodles. However, even without the help of machines, Jinzhong people can also cook noodles with their hands.

While the noodles, the most challenging food cooked by their hands is the hand-stretched noodles. “Hand-stretched noodles” is one of China’s four critical kinds of wheaten foods, which preserves the unique skills in making wheaten food of China. We call the process of folding and stretching the noodles once as you and a master-hand may fold the noodles for more than 10 times. The noodle made is even thinner than the hair. Skilled ramen can wrap the noodles for 14 times. Each noodle is 2 m long, totaling 16000 noodles. If they are connected, they may travel to Pingyao Ancient Town for six rounds.

How to make the hand-stretched noodles

We still need further investigate the origin of hand-stretched noodles. According to the “Brief The description on Vegetable Diet” by Xue Baochen in the Qing Dynasty, in the middle area of Shanxi Province then, there were popular “hand-stretched noodles.” After the water, flour, salt and alkali, and edible oil are mixed and kneaded well, the dough made is pulled into thin strips and then cooked in a pot. This cooking method was prevalent in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. As thin as chives, and as fine as fine dried noodles, it may be made into a cornered shape, or a hollow shape, and will not be broken during cooking. The vivid description by the ancestor grasps the essence of hand-stretched noodles.

The delicious taste of hand-stretched noodles doesn’t lie in pulling, but in the effort of kneading the dough. When making the dough, they need adding water continuously and kneading the dough without stopping. The dough seems to be a sponge, with a significant capacity of water absorption. After pressing for five to six times, the dough will become smooth and very pliable and sturdy. After being cut into thin noodles, we put it into a pot only by slightly pulling it with hands.

The traditional cooking method of hand-stretched noodles are to put the noodles into a pot one by one. When we put the last strand of noodles into the pot, the noodles boiled previously have well done. In the eyes of gastronomists, this may highlight its length, and also has a strong feeling of liveness. 

Hand-stretched noodles Culture

According to the rules of Jinzhong, “Noodles are pulled by hand rather than made by knife if a guest comes.” To entertain the guest with high-quality noodles, we need to do the handmake noodles. As made by pulling with hands, hand-stretched noodles have the meaning of connection, symbolizing the friendship between the host and guest will last forever and become closer and closer. Especially when the son-in-law comes, he will eat the hand-stretched noodles. When a single man is having a blind date visit the girl’s family for the first time, if the family treats him with hand-stretched noodles, it indicates the girl is willing to have a relationship with the man, and the longer the noodle is, the thicker the feeling will be.

Also, when making the hand-stretched noodles, generally the whole family will participate. The parents, brothers, and sisters will make it by turns to substitute those who have not yet eaten. They talk while pulling the noodles around the stove, with a moving atmosphere.

Single-strand noodle 一根面

If people connect the length of noodle with the affection, then, the unique preparation method of the “single-strand noodle” in Jinzhong remarkably represents the way people in Jinzhong express their emotions.

The “single-strand noodle” is a whole bowl of noodles, which is made by one single thick noodle. Therefore it can be stretched much longer than the hand-stretched noodles. Also, it implies the affection, so it’s not allowed to get broken during stretching, but uniform in size. The cook should act continuously. Otherwise, the noodle will be unshapely. Different thickness results in different weights, so it’s easy to be broken. Since there’s only one strand of noodle, it can reach a length of several dozens of meters, symbolizing long and happy life, and carry the deepest emotions of people in Jinzhong.

Stone cake 石头饼

Various evidence indicates that the development of wheaten food in Jinzhong firstly appeared in the Han Dynasty (BC 202 – BC 220), at the earliest.

The cooking method of “stone cake” is an ancient method in Jinzhong for processing wheaten food handed down from generation to generation. The old people lighted the fire and dried the dough on the hot stone to make that delicious cake. The stone cake is dry and salty and cannot be considered tasty. But today, it’s still popular on the streets and lanes of Jinzhong, especially among middle-aged and the older adults. Perhaps people are tasting not only the cake but also the thousands of years of feelings.

Chinese Dumplings 饺子

Some Jinzhong people just compare the wheaten food to an “easy-going man,” with happiness and sadness as well as different emotions. For example, if a family has a newly-born baby, they will arrange to eat “Chinese dumplings” for welcoming the newly-born baby, expecting to use family love to “wrap” the new life so that the baby will be far away from various poisons and grow up healthily.

Among the folk, there is a saying “make Chinese dumplings for guests when they leave and noodles when they come.” Here, “hand-stretched noodles” implies to stay the guests, while “Chinese dumplings” are just compared to shoe-shaped gold ingots in shape. Making Chinese dumplings to guests means to send wealth to guests, symbolizing the best wishes to the guests who will leave. 

Bao-Pi noodles 包皮面 夹心面

In Jinzhong wheaten food, the one which can reflect the hard life is possibly Bao-Pi noodles. Cook the sorghum flour by scaling with boiled water, and then wrap it in the wheat flour. "Bao-Pi noodles” came into being when the Jinzhong people lived the most laborious life.

That time, sorghum grains were the principal food of Jinzhong people. As the sorghum grains were too coarse to be swallowed, some smart and handywomen just wrapped them in the wheat flour. Them, they invented a thing called “Pi Bao Mian.” Which not only has the month feel like eating wheat flour food, but also has the character of resistance to hunger. Moreover, the noodles made of sorghum have large grains and are filled with soup, so you can taste different flavors when eating them. Eating them, you will have a feeling of tasting the sweets and bitters of life.

As for Jinzhong people, if marrying a wife, they pay more attention to the wife's ability to make wheaten food. In the past, when a new bride came into the husband’s family, her husband’s mother would test her for skills of making “Pi Bao Mian.” From her skills of making such food, her housekeeping ability would be self-evident. The food, according to the words of a folk-custom expert, is no longer the food to stop hunger but has become the mental nourishment with feeling and hope. Due to the hardship of life, Jinzhong people just regarded life and wheaten food as a whole.

Shanxi wheaten food spreads to the world

In 13th Century A.D., Marco Polo, an Italian, once came to Shanxi for two times. Then, along the “Silk Road,” he brought wheaten food to Italy.

Later, many Italian people paying attention to the Orient feeling liked noodles gradually. They just developed over 400 kinds of noodles. Most of them are hollow noodles, among which, some are as thick as a finger, while some are as thin as a hair. The Italian “macaroni” which is very popular in the world just came into being under such background.

The introduction of noodles, relative to the single use of wheat flour, bread, in the nomadic culture only widened the wheat flour to a new field. Like what the westerners said, a new eating method came into being, and also the storage of wheat flour was solved. In such a way, Shanxi people had spread their wheaten food to foreign countries.