On Wed, 10 Feb 2016 15:36:34 -0600, Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost>
wrote:
>Day 4 of Chinese New Year:
>
>Wether you call it lo mein or chow mein is basically a regional thing.
>
>
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwertz/24918221316/in/photostream/lightbox/
That's neither chow mein or lo mein in any region on this planet... it
may taste fine but there's nothing Chinese or American Chinese
restaurant about that... perhaps it's Texass-Mexass Chinese. I've
eaten both those dishes in every major city in the US and Canada and
in every Chinatown. Chow Mein consists of onions, celery, bean
sprouts, and some water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, a few button
mushrooms, small bits of pork, or chicken, or shrimp, all in a
thickened gloppy sauce, usually served with crispy noodles and white
rice in separate bowls on the side, same as steh canned stuff at teh
stupidmarket... some lousy cheapo joints serve it over the noodles and
rice so it looks like more.
Lo Mein consists mostly of long soft noodles in a thin sauce, with
some white parts of diced bok choy and sometimes also napa cabbage,
often bits of omelet, and some small bits of pork, or chicken,or
shrimp, typically garnished with a few cashews and green onions. The
only regional differences I've seen are that some restaurants may add
some bits of carrot, some may use almonds or peanuts rather than
cashews, some serve a special house version that includes all three
meats and I've seen some that add bits of lobster too... some may add
diced tomato to lo mein. Chinese restaurants use broccoli in other
dishes but not those two.
At home I usually prepare Sub Gum Chow Mein, a much more sophisticated
version of Chow Mein, contains several oriental vegetables but no
onions, celery, or bean sprouts as fillers and no gloppy sauce, and
meats are slices rather than tiny julienned bits... contains baby
corn, snow peas, and straw mushrooms... no noodles or rice with sub
gum.
Rather than Lo Mein at home I prepare Yatka Mein, it's a rich brothy
soup of mostly long noodles with several vegetables and sliced meats.
At good restaurants I like Duck Yatka Mein, typically served in a
tureen enough for two to share... it's the sort of dish that's not
worth the trouble to prepare for just one serving, although I can
easily eat the entire quart tureen as my lunch. The yatka mein served
in New Orleans is a total bastardization. When ordered in any US
Chinatown it's very differenmt and it contains no boiled eggs, it's
actually an authentic Chinese dish, it will arrive with a few duck
feet in this very gelatinous soup... most Americans don't like
gelatinous but I love it. You won't find yatka mein at today's
Chinese take outs and rarely at any US Chinese restaurant... when
properly made it's one of my favorite dishes. You pretty much need to
go to a Chinatown or prepare it yourself.