The Art of Making Perfect Noodles at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide

One of the most exciting aspects of cooking is shaping noodles, and with a little practice, you can create beautiful and delicious dishes at home. In this article, we will explore the different techniques for making various types of noodles using nothing but your hands.

**Using Your Hands to Shape Noodles**

To start, let's talk about how to shape noodles by hand. This technique is perfect for creating a traditional "cat ear" noodle shape that's commonly found in Chinese cuisine. To begin, take a noodle square and place it on the wood or a surface of your choice. Using your thumb, push down and out with a gentle motion, which gives the noodle its signature curl. If you don't have access to a cat-shaped tool, don't worry! You can still create similar noodles by hand using a sushi mat or even just your fingers.

**Using a Cat-Shaped Tool**

For those who want to achieve that perfect cat ear shape with ease, using a cat-shaped noodle maker is the way to go. These tools are specifically designed to help you create uniform and consistent noodle shapes. Simply place a square noodle on the tool and twist it down into the groove, which will give your noodles those cool little grooves. If you don't have a cat-shaped tool, you can still use a sushi mat to curl your noodles by hand.

**Knife-Cut Noodles**

Now, let's move on to knife-cut noodles, which are made using a specialized knife called a PN dome. These knives have a sharp blade in the middle, allowing the dough to travel down the groove and create perfect noodles. While these knives can be a bit challenging to work with, they're also incredibly rewarding when you master the technique.

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to this specialized equipment, so we'll also explore an alternative solution using a danto doll. A donto doll is essentially a fancy vegetable peeler that's designed specifically for making knife-cut noodles. This tool is perfect for smaller batches of dough and makes it much easier to achieve the same level of precision as with the PN dome.

**Cooking Your Noodles**

Now that we've covered the basics of shaping noodles, let's talk about how to cook them. Regardless of the type of noodle you're making, the cooking process is similar. Once you've cooked your noodles, simply drain them and add them to your chosen dish. For this particular recipe, we'll be using a simple soup made with oil, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and a variety of other ingredients.

**The Recipe**

Here's our recipe for the perfect way Mian (also known as Chinese noodle soup):

* 1 cup noodles (of your choice)

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

* 3 cloves minced garlic

* 2 inches minced ginger

* 2 cups diced tomatoes

* 1 tablespoon tomato paste

* 1 tablespoon mayo (or hushing wine)

* 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

* Optional ingredients: dried and reconstituted wood ear mushroom, firm tofu, baby bok choy, scrambled eggs, sliced chili

To start, heat a quarter of a cup of oil in a pot over high flame. Add three cloves of minced garlic and two inches of minced ginger, and fry for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Then, add two cups of diced tomatoes, one tablespoon of tomato paste, and mix well. Swirl a tablespoon of mayo (or hushing wine) around the spatula to help combine the ingredients. Do the same move with one tablespoon of light soy sauce.

If you're using optional ingredients, now's the time to add them! Toss in five grams worth of dried and reconstituted wood ear mushroom, followed by 100 grams of firm tofu cut into 1-inch cubes. Mix everything together for about 30 seconds.

Next, bring the mixture up to a boil, then cover the pot with a lid and swap the flame to medium. Simmer for 15 minutes, after which time bring it back up to a boil again. This is when you add your noodles of choice and cook for about 90 seconds. Finally, toss in four cups of water, season with a teaspoon of five-spice powder and a teaspoon of salt.

**Tips and Variations**

One thing that's worth noting is that many old-school Chinese noodle recipes use very low hydrations, sometimes as low as 30 or 25%. The secret to achieving this is to really press your dough using the cat-shaped tool. If you're feeling adventurous, try experimenting with different levels of hydration to see what works best for you!

We also experimented with reducing the hydration level even further and found that it's possible to get away with as low as 30% without compromising the texture or quality of the noodles.

**Conclusion**

Making perfect noodles at home is easier than you think, and with a little practice, you can create beautiful and delicious dishes that will impress your friends and family. Whether you choose to shape your noodles by hand, use a cat-shaped tool, or opt for knife-cut noodles, the most important thing is to have fun and experiment with different techniques until you find what works best for you!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis week we wanted to show you how to whip up some northwestern style noodles now the Chinese Northwest has got a pretty insane depth and breadth of various noodles and it'd be impossible to cover them all so we'll focus on three types of noodles that are some of the more commonly seen in home kitchens the simple classic Miam pin or noodle sheets some Cattier noodles which are probably the sort that we love the most and finally the ever-popular dal Shan Mian or knife-cut noodles then to use those up we'll show you how to make an awesome noodle soup called Wayne Mian which is probably my personal favorite order when I met a northwest style noodle shop so first let's talk dough nothing crazy here all you'll need is flour salt and water both the noodle sheets and the cat ear noodles use the same exact dough which will be 200 grams of either all-purpose or noodle flour 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 92 grams of water just drizzle the water in bit by bit stirring and aiming for the dry bits then once it's all incorporated and everything's looking all shaggy need that by hand for 10 minutes or alternatively use a stand mixer on speed 2 for the same amount of time then once it comes together and forms a smooth dough cover and let that rest for 1/2 an hour knife-cut noodles meanwhile use an extremely similar dough but at a lower hydration we went with 40 percent hydration or 80 grams of water for these 200 grams of noodles but full disclosure that many traditional knife-cut noodles o's seem to go much drier just combine in the same way knead in the same way and set aside for 30 minutes in the same way so me MPN noodle sheets up first to make it first press this all down and start to roll the thing out into a big sheet just go until it's about 2 millimeters thick then slice your sheet into 2-inch ribbons then line up a few ribbons and cut those at an angle to get diamonds and that's pretty much it these are ready to drop in some boiling water next cat ears for these first roll the dough out thin just like the sheets but you don't need to be as paranoid about the thickness three to four millimeters will be good enough for government work so then just slice those into inch and a half ribbons flower those up and cut into inch and half squares now you can absolutely shape these with nothing but your hands but in order to make things all pretty cat your noodles often use some sort of set up like this the noodle squares placed on the wood and the shape gives it these really cool grooves it's definitely not mandatory though if you're using your hands to make a cat here just grab a noodle square and push down and out with your thumb this motion gives the noodle its signature curl if you do happen to have a cat your noodle maker though the process is even easier just put a square on the wood and twist down in a way to get those cool little grooves if you don't have that though and I guess why would you you can mimic it with a sushi mat just curl the noodles by hand same as before the grooves will be a touch wider here but these still turn out great so just work through your noodles and these cat ears are good to cook lastly the knife cut noodles and unfortunately these ones do take some special equipment now what they use at the noodle shops is one of these special knives called a PN dome this is a thin sharp knife Ben in the middle so that the dough can travel down the groove and make a noodle they're not the easiest to work with those so many home cooks use an alternative gadget called a danto down it basically looks like a fancy vegetable peeler and tends to do a better job with smaller batches of dough point is don't try to make this without a tool that can get the job done but if you're feeling handy whatever whack an old knife MacGyver a solution go for it now knife-cut noodles get cut straight into the pot so let's start by showing you how to use the pian down before we get into it though word of warning that we are not master noodle makers and we usually use our donto doll so please go easy on us the basic idea is to start near the bottom and with the knife parallel to the dough slice by using a quick up-and-down motion the key is to move quickly and with confidence that's it as you can see the donto doll is way easier so definitely go that route if you can source one then once you get to the end just tear everything into little pieces and cook it all for about three minutes or until a touch past al dente so right way Mian super simple quick soup first put a quarter of a cup of oil in a pot and definitely don't skimp on the oil here then over a high flame going with three cloves of minced garlic and two inches of minced ginger and fry those for about 30 seconds until fragrant then go in with two and diced tomatoes give those a quick mix and toss in one tablespoon of tomato paste which is a real ingredient in northwest cooking we swear continue frying that over a high flame until the minced tomatoes have mostly broken down and everything's looking saucy then swirl a tablespoon of mayo AKA hushing wine over your spatula and around the sides of the wok quick mix then do the same move with one tablespoon of light soy sauce now these next couple ingredients are optional but recommended we'll be tossing in five grams worth of dried and reconstituted wood ear mushroom giving that a quick mix then going in with a hundred grams of firm tofu cut into 1-inch cubes mix and cook for about 30 seconds then toss in four cups of water season that with a teaspoon of five-spice powder and a teaspoon of salt and bring it all up to a boil then cover swap the flame to medium and let it simmer for 15 minutes after that time bring it back up to a boil and go in with your noodle of choice give that a mix cover and cook for about 90 seconds then we'll go in with 70 grams of sliced baby bok choy two scrambled eggs and 1 sliced mild chili quick mix taste and add a bit more salt if you think it needs it then finally top that all with 3 tablespoons of chili oil to be completely honest here today we were feeling a bit lazy and just use the oil from some la cama chili crisp but making a proper homemade chili oh it would definitely be the most correct move quick mix out and your way Mian is done so ray if you look at many old-school Chinese noodle making recipes you will find they have really low hydrations sometimes I lost like 30 or 25% we went with 20% with the darshan man here because it gives you a more workable dog that still gives you a proper texture during testing we actually successfully went down to 30% the secret is to really press your dome however you see fit check out the link in description box for detail recipe a big thank you for everyone that's supporting us on patreon and of course more Chinese cooking videosthis week we wanted to show you how to whip up some northwestern style noodles now the Chinese Northwest has got a pretty insane depth and breadth of various noodles and it'd be impossible to cover them all so we'll focus on three types of noodles that are some of the more commonly seen in home kitchens the simple classic Miam pin or noodle sheets some Cattier noodles which are probably the sort that we love the most and finally the ever-popular dal Shan Mian or knife-cut noodles then to use those up we'll show you how to make an awesome noodle soup called Wayne Mian which is probably my personal favorite order when I met a northwest style noodle shop so first let's talk dough nothing crazy here all you'll need is flour salt and water both the noodle sheets and the cat ear noodles use the same exact dough which will be 200 grams of either all-purpose or noodle flour 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 92 grams of water just drizzle the water in bit by bit stirring and aiming for the dry bits then once it's all incorporated and everything's looking all shaggy need that by hand for 10 minutes or alternatively use a stand mixer on speed 2 for the same amount of time then once it comes together and forms a smooth dough cover and let that rest for 1/2 an hour knife-cut noodles meanwhile use an extremely similar dough but at a lower hydration we went with 40 percent hydration or 80 grams of water for these 200 grams of noodles but full disclosure that many traditional knife-cut noodles o's seem to go much drier just combine in the same way knead in the same way and set aside for 30 minutes in the same way so me MPN noodle sheets up first to make it first press this all down and start to roll the thing out into a big sheet just go until it's about 2 millimeters thick then slice your sheet into 2-inch ribbons then line up a few ribbons and cut those at an angle to get diamonds and that's pretty much it these are ready to drop in some boiling water next cat ears for these first roll the dough out thin just like the sheets but you don't need to be as paranoid about the thickness three to four millimeters will be good enough for government work so then just slice those into inch and a half ribbons flower those up and cut into inch and half squares now you can absolutely shape these with nothing but your hands but in order to make things all pretty cat your noodles often use some sort of set up like this the noodle squares placed on the wood and the shape gives it these really cool grooves it's definitely not mandatory though if you're using your hands to make a cat here just grab a noodle square and push down and out with your thumb this motion gives the noodle its signature curl if you do happen to have a cat your noodle maker though the process is even easier just put a square on the wood and twist down in a way to get those cool little grooves if you don't have that though and I guess why would you you can mimic it with a sushi mat just curl the noodles by hand same as before the grooves will be a touch wider here but these still turn out great so just work through your noodles and these cat ears are good to cook lastly the knife cut noodles and unfortunately these ones do take some special equipment now what they use at the noodle shops is one of these special knives called a PN dome this is a thin sharp knife Ben in the middle so that the dough can travel down the groove and make a noodle they're not the easiest to work with those so many home cooks use an alternative gadget called a danto down it basically looks like a fancy vegetable peeler and tends to do a better job with smaller batches of dough point is don't try to make this without a tool that can get the job done but if you're feeling handy whatever whack an old knife MacGyver a solution go for it now knife-cut noodles get cut straight into the pot so let's start by showing you how to use the pian down before we get into it though word of warning that we are not master noodle makers and we usually use our donto doll so please go easy on us the basic idea is to start near the bottom and with the knife parallel to the dough slice by using a quick up-and-down motion the key is to move quickly and with confidence that's it as you can see the donto doll is way easier so definitely go that route if you can source one then once you get to the end just tear everything into little pieces and cook it all for about three minutes or until a touch past al dente so right way Mian super simple quick soup first put a quarter of a cup of oil in a pot and definitely don't skimp on the oil here then over a high flame going with three cloves of minced garlic and two inches of minced ginger and fry those for about 30 seconds until fragrant then go in with two and diced tomatoes give those a quick mix and toss in one tablespoon of tomato paste which is a real ingredient in northwest cooking we swear continue frying that over a high flame until the minced tomatoes have mostly broken down and everything's looking saucy then swirl a tablespoon of mayo AKA hushing wine over your spatula and around the sides of the wok quick mix then do the same move with one tablespoon of light soy sauce now these next couple ingredients are optional but recommended we'll be tossing in five grams worth of dried and reconstituted wood ear mushroom giving that a quick mix then going in with a hundred grams of firm tofu cut into 1-inch cubes mix and cook for about 30 seconds then toss in four cups of water season that with a teaspoon of five-spice powder and a teaspoon of salt and bring it all up to a boil then cover swap the flame to medium and let it simmer for 15 minutes after that time bring it back up to a boil and go in with your noodle of choice give that a mix cover and cook for about 90 seconds then we'll go in with 70 grams of sliced baby bok choy two scrambled eggs and 1 sliced mild chili quick mix taste and add a bit more salt if you think it needs it then finally top that all with 3 tablespoons of chili oil to be completely honest here today we were feeling a bit lazy and just use the oil from some la cama chili crisp but making a proper homemade chili oh it would definitely be the most correct move quick mix out and your way Mian is done so ray if you look at many old-school Chinese noodle making recipes you will find they have really low hydrations sometimes I lost like 30 or 25% we went with 20% with the darshan man here because it gives you a more workable dog that still gives you a proper texture during testing we actually successfully went down to 30% the secret is to really press your dome however you see fit check out the link in description box for detail recipe a big thank you for everyone that's supporting us on patreon and of course more Chinese cooking videos\n"