Let me start from something I have more than 20 times first, Beijing style noodles with soy bean paste, a very common noodles and inexpensive at all, which have been serving the people in Beijing for more than 600 years.
Beijing style noodles with soy bean paste (北京炸醬麵, běi jīng zhà jiàng miàn) comprises noodles, toppings and soy bean paste sauce. For noodles, the best is fresh handmade plain flour noodle, no egg and no alkaline taste. Noodle should be as thick as udon but more chewy. There are 2 ways to serve the noodle, right from the pot (鍋挑, guō tiāo ) and cold wash (過水, guò shuǐ ). Cold washed noodle are welcomed in summer but I always prefer the noodles right from the pot to my bowl. In some restaurant, when you make the order for the noddle, you can tell the chef to cook the noodle a little longer and make it not that chewy.
For the toppings (麵碼儿, miàn mǎ ér), you can put whatever you like. In fact, I did see somebody put sliced apple with noodle unauthentically. Traditionally, toppings should be some seasonal veggies, e.g. soy bean, tender leaves of Chinese toon, leek, celery, sliced Asparagusplettuce, sprout, fine cucumber strip, sweet pink-fleshed radish, etc. For the very poor people, the only topping is rusty nail. Yes, you didn’t get me wrong, it is uneatable rusty nail. They get the salty flavor by licking the rusty nail when they eat the noodles. Just hope they won’t get Tetanus by doing this. By the way, my favour is always a clove of raw garlic, it can enrich the taste of the soy bean paste sauce.
There are 2 kinds of paste sauce, sweet fermented flour sauce and soy bean sauce. FYI, sweet fermented flour sauce is exactly the sauce for wrapping Peking duck pancake. All two kind of sauce need to be cooked with a lot of diced pork fat, gingers and garlics in order to make it taste better. Only animal fat can make the paste sauce more flavourable. Bad paste sauce taste only salty. In contrast, good paste sauce give you taste of soy bean and porky aroma, and it doesn’t really taste like pork.
After many times of trying Beijing style noodles with soy bean paste, my conclusion is that it can taste better to mix just the noodle with paste sauce first and then put the topping afterward. My point is that the soy bean paste sauce can enhance the taste and flavor of noodle, it taste like lard dregs in some degree. Keep topping clean from paste sauce and you can taste the refreshing veggies.
My most beloved noodle restaurant in Beijing is 海碗居 Hǎi Wǎn Jū and it always make my tummy so satisfied.
Herewith the information to get there,
Restaurant name: 海碗居 Hǎi Wǎn Jū
Address: 北京 朝阳区 松榆南路 36号 36 Sōng Yú Nán Lù, Cháo Yáng Qū, Beijing
Tel: 87313518
At last, be careful! Korean style noodles with soy bean paste use only sweet fermented flour sauce and no lard flavor at all. So, it taste just boring.
