Master Recipe

Pork Lo Mein

serves 4

NOTE: Noodles tossed with some vegetables and protein make a delicious side dish for a more involved meal or a quick entrée for a weeknight supper. The key is to slightly undercook the noodles when they are first boiled and to cut the vegetables into thin strips. If fresh Chinese noodles are not available, substitute fresh Italian linguine and cook it for 1 to 2 minutes. Chopsticks or tongs (be careful not to scratch the pan bottom) help to combine the noodles with the other ingredients. Simply lift the noodles high off the pan, blending the components as you do so.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in large pot. Add salt and noodles, stir to separate, and cook until noodles are slightly underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain thoroughly, rinse in cold water, and drain again. Toss noodles with sesame oil in large bowl. (Noodles can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day.)

2. Mix sherry and 1 tablespoon soy sauce together in small bowl. Slice meat crosswise against the grain into thin strips about 1¹/₂ inches long. Place in bowl and marinate for at least 10 minutes.

3. Mix chicken broth with oyster sauce and remaining tablespoon soy sauce in small bowl; set aside.

4. Heat a 12-or 14-inch nonstick skillet over high heat for 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil and swirl so that oil coats bottom of pan evenly. Add pork and stir-fry until seared and three-quarters cooked, about 2 minutes. Scrape pork and all liquid into clean bowl, cover, and set aside. Carefully wipe out skillet with paper towel.

5. Let pan come back up to temperature, 1 to 2 minutes. When hot, add 1 tablespoon oil and swirl to coat bottom of pan evenly. Add carrot and cabbage and stir-fry until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Clear center of pan and add scallions, ginger, garlic, and remaining tablespoon of oil. Cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds, stir into the vegetables, and stir-fry 20 seconds off heat.

6. Add noodles, pork, sprouts, and chicken broth mixture to pan. Stir-fry and toss to combine all ingredients until noodles are heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

VARIATIONS:

Beef and Pepper Lo Mein

Follow master recipe, substituting 8 ounces flank steak, cut into thin strips (see figures 12 and 13), for pork. Reduce stir-frying time in step 4 to 1 minute and place cooked steak in strainer to drain off excess juice. Replace carrot with ¹/₂ small red bell pepper cut into thin strips.

Shrimp and Snow Pea Lo Mein

Follow master recipe, substituting 8 ounces small, peeled shrimp for pork. Reduce stir-frying time in step 4 to 1 to 2 minutes. Replace carrot with 24 snow peas, ends and strings trimmed.

Vegetable Lo Mein

Place 8 dried shiitake mushrooms in small bowl, cover with hot water, and soak until softened, about 20 minutes. Carefully lift shiitake from water, leaving the grit in the bottom of the bowl. Pour off ¹/₄ cup of soaking liquid and substitute for chicken broth in master recipe. Trim and discard mushroom stems and slice caps into 1/8-inch strips. Prepare master recipe, omitting pork and all of step 2, including sherry. Add an extra tablespoon of soy to mushroom liquid mixture in step 3. Substitute mushroom strips for pork in step 4, leaving them in pan when cooked. Continue with master recipe, substituting 4 cups shredded bok choy (greens only—see figures 14 and 16) for napa cabbage.

COLD SESAME NOODLES

Cold sesame noodles, a popular item on Chinese restaurant menus, are easy to make at home. The noodles are simply boiled, oiled, chilled, and then tossed with a smooth dressing.

As we found with lo mein, traditional recipes call for fresh Chinese egg noodles, but we wanted to see if other noodles could be successfully substituted. Chinese sesame paste is a traditional component of the sauce. Since it is available only in Asian food stores, we wondered how tahini (a Middle Eastern sesame paste sold in most supermarkets) or peanut butter would perform.

As we expected, fresh Chinese egg noodles performed best in this dish, cooking up tender but not mushy. In fact, we soon realized that this soft texture is a major difference between Chinese and Western pasta dishes, where a springier, chewier texture is prized. Frozen Chinese egg noodles, which require an extra two minutes of cooking time, worked well, too.

We wondered if fresh Italian pasta, which served as a good substitute for fresh Chinese noodles in lo mein, would also do the job here. Our tests initially looked promising, but the noodles continued to absorb sauce as they sat, eventually became very mushy. In fact, noodles that were pretty good at the outset collapsed under the weight of the sauce after just 10 minutes.

This time dried Italian pasta—spaghetti—eventually proved to be the best substitute. When cooked until al dente, the pasta did not absorb the sauce as well as fresh egg noodles and its texture was too springy. Somewhat surprisingly, when we overcooked dried Italian spaghetti (it was cooked a full 15 minutes), we had much better results. Now the pasta was soft, just like fresh Chinese egg noodles. Because dried spaghetti swells much more than fresh pasta, we found we needed a smaller amount of spaghetti than Chinese noodles to achieve the same volume of cooked noodles.

Our success with dried Chinese noodles varied by brand. When cooked till soft, the noodles in some brands became mushy or even fell apart when sauced. We eventually found some brands that held their shape better, but since all brands of dried spaghetti worked fine, we recommend that you stick with Italian pasta as a substitute for fresh Chinese egg noodles in this dish.

In our testing of the sauce, we substituted both tahini and peanut butter for Chinese sesame paste and found that peanut butter contributed a nuttier flavor that comes closer to that of Chinese sesame paste. Surprisingly, tasters reported that the sauce made with peanut butter tasted "nutty" but did not detect a "peanuty" flavor. Tahini has a nice creamy texture, but the nut flavor is rather muted. Choose a smooth peanut butter made without sugar (look for a natural brand) for the best results.

A wide array of seasonings were called for in the sesame noodle recipes we looked at, including ginger, garlic, sake, coriander, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey, Szechuan pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Ginger and garlic were the most common, but we found their flavors too harsh when raw. Other seasonings, such as hoisin sauce and Szechuan pepper, competed with the nut flavor. In the end, we chose very simple seasonings to round out the flavors: soy sauce to add a salty note, some rice vinegar for acidity, a little hot sauce for heat, and some sugar to keep everything in balance.

Water is used to thin the sauce, and hot is preferable to cold for its ability to release more flavor. We found it best to let the sauce rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop and to ensure that the sugar dissolves.

We found that mixing the pasta with the sauce and then refrigerating for any amount of time results in a rather dry and sticky mixture, no matter how much oil and water the sauce contains. It is best to mix the sauce with the chilled and oiled pasta just before serving to ensure the creamiest result.