Dan Dan Mein
Cyril N. Alberga/64000
I had a dish consisting of noodles with a hot, red sauce, filled with
chilli flakes and other ingrediants. They were refered to as Dan dan mein.
Since then I have been trying to find them in the U.S. I haven't found
a recipe anywhere, and when I ask in a Chinese resturant I get one of
two reactions: a) "Don't know what you're talking about" or b) "Ah yes,
dan dan mein--no we don't make them."
Does anyone have a recipe or the name of a resturant in the New York
City area which serves these???
Hoping,
Cyril N. Alberga
Carol Miller-Tutzauer
recipe is the most tasty. It also sounds closest to what you have
described eating while you were in China:
Tai Tai Mein -- From Madame Wong's Long-Life Chinese Cookbook
------------
2 T light soy sauce
1 1/2 + another 3 t sesame oil (dark, oriental kind)
1 1/2 t red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 t chili paste with garlic (Lan Chi brand is excellent)
2 T chicken stock (preferred) or water
1/2 lb Chinese fresh water noodles (fine) (Note: We use Japanese
somen noodles with excellent results)
boiling water
2 T Szechuan preserved vegetable (we omit this about 1/2 the time)
chopped
2 T roasted (unsalted) peanuts, chopped fine
1 scallion, chopped fine
Szechuan pepper (roasted, then crushed, and sprinkled on, optional)
Combine soy sauce, 1 1/2 t sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, and chili
paste with garlic, and chicken stock (or water) in bowl. Stir
well and set aside.
Bring water to boil. Add noodles to boiling water for 5 minutes,
stirring constantly. Drain. Mix with 3 t sesame oil.
Put noodles into bowl. Pour sauce over them. Sprinkle preserved
vegetable, peanuts, and scallions on top. Sprinkle with
szechuan pepper, if desired.
--
Carol.
Cyril N. Alberga/64000
request for dan dan mein.
The noodles were served hot, not cold, and the sauce did not contain
ANY trace of sesame or peanut flavor. It may have contained some meat,
but I'm not sure. It was hot in both flavor and temperature, somewhat
oily, filled with red chili flakes, and a deep red in color.
(BTW, I am guessing, as I never saw the name written, but I think "dan"
is a trasliteration of the character for a shade of red.)
Cyril N. Alberga
Carol Miller-Tutzauer
Well, almost every recipe I have calls for sesame paste or peanut
butter. The recipe I posted only contains sesame oil (which is
used in nearly everything -- like salt & pepper in the U.S.) and
crushed peanuts for garnish. Based on what you described, I
though that the recipe I posted sounded quite close. My noodles
also are red in color (from the chili paste with garlic). On the
other hand, if you really need something exactly like you ate, I
suggest writing the restaurant where you had the dish. OR try
recreating it yourself based on your memory. The only hints you
have given the net are that it is hot and it is red in color and
there is no "peanut flavor". Sounds like the recipe I posted to
me, but I can't read your mind. I think you must have had a
special regional version as dan dan mein is VERY common. But it
is a little bit like ordering chilli in Texas -- people SWEAR
by their particular version, though I think that the chilli-
uninitiated would think they are all about the same. Of course,
the chilli-aficionado would argue with every subtlety.
So....what made it red in color? The chili paste has red flakes
in it. Does it have hoisin sauce, bean paste (yellow, black, or
brown), catsup, etc? What type of noodles -- rice, wheat, egg,
mung bean threads, and thickness of noodles? Can you be more
specific?
Carol
Cyril N. Alberga/64000
The recipe posted does look close (I haven't tried it yet). To (try to) be
more specific--
I think the color is from the chilies (BTW, I have been corrected by
a co-worker, the meaning of "dan" is NOT red, but is rather the
character for a carrying-pole. He didn't know WHY, though.)
While it may have been regional, the dish was basicly the same in at
least three places in Sechuan, Chengdu, Lushan and Chungching (sp?).
We never had it anywhere else in China. As to writing the resturant,
I'm not sure I can reconstruct exactly where we had it.
The noodles were wheat, about the thickness of no. 8 linguine.
Yes, there could well have been semame oil in it, but it was not the
predominant flavor. The predominant flavor was HOT.
Anyway, thanks for the help, and if any of my other inquires turn up
anything I'll post it. (Or should this whole thing be moved to
rec.food.recipes?)
Cyril N. Alberga
Ruby Pan-Ratzlaff
> The noodles were served hot, not cold, and the sauce did not contain
> ANY trace of sesame or peanut flavor. It may have contained some meat,
> but I'm not sure. It was hot in both flavor and temperature, somewhat
> oily, filled with red chili flakes, and a deep red in color.
>
> (BTW, I am guessing, as I never saw the name written, but I think "dan"
> is a trasliteration of the character for a shade of red.)
Well, most "dan dan mein" have peanuts in them. It's served a few different
ways. Sometimes all of the ingredients are mixed in ahead of time, sometimes
"toppings" are there for you to add as you like. And most Chinese noodles
have a spritz of sesame oil to enhance its flavor. I think dan dan mein is
usually served hot. There are some Chinese noodles which are served cold
with similar toppings to what you would add to dan dan mein. It is one of
my favorite noodles, but you're right they are hard to find in the states.
I guess 'cause it's not the usual Chinese food fare.
BTW, I think "dan dan mein" (if I remember my Chinese correctly), means,
losely, basket to basket noodles. My dad was telling me that this name
came from the fact that you got the noodles served separately in a hot
platter and you would dredge the noodle through the different dishes of
toppings before putting it in your mouth. But, this is all childhood
memories which are fading fast, so I don't know how accurate I am here!
--
"the electron surfer"
Ruby Pan-Ratzlaff,Dell Computer Corp.,9505 Arboretum Blvd,Austin, Texas 78759
Benjamin W. Lee
>In article <1991Apr09.1...@watson.ibm.com>, alb...@koshchei.watson.ibm.com (Cyril N. Alberga/64000) writes...
>So....what made it red in color? The chili paste has red flakes
>Carol
God, your people are asking too much. Even me, a Chinese, has no idea of how
that thing is made. However, I believe this is still a question to be answered
by us. I hope, this days you can't tell a Chinese knows better anymore.
The noodle is acturally Taiwanese style. As you know, there are north, south,
east, west and all provinces that I have a hard time to keep track. This
particular one is made from a meat sauce. I believe the inventor (may be some
hundred years ago) has kept the secret of making it pretty well. I had
tried canned sauce, make my own sauce from recipe, but nothing work even
close. One good way of getting the taste is go to one of these Chinese
super-market, look for instant noodle section in a wide varities. There you
can find packaged dan dan mein (printed in Chinese though). They TASTE no
worse than the resturant stuff. Back to how to make it now. Don't have the
recipe with me. But, it seems consists of a certain selection of pork, some
green onion, some garlic, some dried fish, dried shrimp and handful of other
magic ingredients. However, when YOU put it together, it never taste the same.
I guess that is always the secret of trade. The other reason why I can't
duplicate it is, when I lived in Taiwan, there are literally hundreds of
small cart type of food vendors on the open market. Stuff they sell from day
to night is all different. The tradition is go out and buy one of those
instead of making my own. Now I am trapped in here, with my mouth watering.
I have thought about this problem before. One of my guess is even "green
onion" is taste different here, let alone "pork, etc.". The water and soil is
different so the taste will change I guess. The chef in here have to find
other ways to get around this problem.
Alas, if you still not deterred by the difficulties there may have, let me
know. I will try to retrieve all available recipe from my collection and dump
it to the net. I will see if I can translate the recipe well. You know, when
people says "five-flower meat" in Chinese means,
five is half of ten, so, half fat, half lean, the fat and lean meat looked
like some flower pattern. You have the idea. God help me. Cooking is so
difficult.
Pamela Kee
Dun Dun Mein is that it can be served hot or cold and the sauce is a
Szechuan style peanut sauce. I've seen it served with bean sprouts mixed
in. As far as your guess what dun or dan means, my dictionary has nothing
to indicate that it means anything red ;)
Stuart Siu
restaurant called Taiwan that serves Taiwanese style Chinese food and
they have a dish called Dan Dan Mein in Chinese. In English it has been
translated as Szechuan Hot Noodles (or something to that effect) which
basically is a spicy reddish meat sauce over noodles ( very tasty ). When
I go into most northern Chinese restaurants, Dan Dan Mein is usually the
peanuts-hot sesame seed oil noodles. However I have also found a few other
restaurants that make Dan Dan Mein as a spicy red meat sauce over noodles,
so I don't know why the discrepancy in the contents of Dan Dan Mein. Maybe
you should look for a recipe calling for Szechuan Hot Noodles. Unfortunately,
I don't have a recipe.
Stuart Siu
Ken Segel
>Several years ago I was in China, and in a number of cities in Szechwan
>I had a dish consisting of noodles with a hot, red sauce, filled with
>chilli flakes and other ingrediants. They were refered to as Dan dan mein.
>
>Does anyone have a recipe or the name of a resturant in the New York
>City area which serves these???
>
>Hoping,
> Cyril N. Alberga
There is a recipie for this in
Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook
published by Harper and Row, it is in its second printing.
If you can't find the book, write me, and I will send you the recipie.
(this is my first posting, I hope I did it right)
Ken Segel
Mrs. Chiang writes
"This is the most famous street food of Szechwan. Its name
echoes the hollow, clunky sound of the two sticks hit together by the
itinerant vendors who hawked it through the streets. They sold a
portion of cold, cooked noodles over which they would ladle out each
ingredient of the sauce separately -- sesame paste, soy sauce, hot
peppers, scallions, raw garlic, and ginger. The buyer mixed the
noodles and condiments together himself. Nothing could have been
simpler, cheaper, or more delicious. Though the most common of street
foods, dandan mian is a renowned specialty of Szechwan; it is the
noodle version of the classic Szechwanese combination of a cold main
ingredient with a peppery hot, sesame past-based sauce."
------------------- recipe follows -------------------------------
Note that this is an assembled dish; each portion is put together
separately. The sauce materials are enough for about four portions.
Ingredients
12 cloves garlic
3 inch piece fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons water
6 scallions
1 pound noodles, fresh Chinese or fettucine
2 tablespoons hot pepper flakes in oil, per serving
1/8 teaspoon ground roasted Szechwan peppercorns, per serving
4 teaspoons sesame paste, per serving
2 tablespoons soy sauce per serving
12 teaspoon granulated sugar, per serving
Preparation
Smash the garlic cloves with the flat side of your cleaver, then peel.
chop the garlic coarsely into pieces about the size of a pea.
Peel the ginger, then chop it into small pieces, about the size of a
match head.
Put the garlic and ginger into a small steep-sided bowl or mortar.
Add the salt and then, using the handle of your cleaver, a wooden
spoon, or a pestle, mash everything together until it turns into a
coarse paste. The salt helps the pulverization along as well as
bringing out the flavor of the garlic and ginger.
Add the water to the mashed garlic and ginger and stir well, so the
water and the juice of the mashed ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Clean the scallions, then chop them, both green and white, very fine,
until they reach the consistency of farina You should have about 1
tablespoon of chopped scallions for every individual serving of
noodles.
Cooking
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid rolling boil and cook the
noodles (1 pound) according to the directions on the package; fresh
Chinese noodles take from 5 to 10 minutes. (test them as they cook to
make sure they don't overcook and become mushy.)
Drain the noodles, rinse them in cold water, and then drainthem again.
Serving
Put each individual serving of noodles on a separate plate or bowl.
Then add the following ingredients to each: the garlic-ginger-water
mixture (1 tablespoon), chopped scallions (1 tablespoon), hot pepper
flakes in oil, ground roasted szechwan peppercorns, sesame paste, soy
sauce, and sugar.
note: Before eating, each diner should mix his sauce ingredients and
noodles together very well.
From "Mrs Chiangs Szechuan Cookbook", Chiang Jung-feng and Ellen
Schrecker, Harper and Row, New York
I heartily reccomend this cookbook, as it gives very detailed
instructions on how to recreate authentic Szechuan recipes in an
American kitchen. The instructions are easy enough for a total beginer
to follow and create good food. (although for the total novice I
recommend starting with the pepper steak)
_______________________________________________________________________
the opinions contained herin are entirely my own.
Ken Segel
ks...@thesis1.med.uth.hsc.edu
_______________________________________________________________________
