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Why does restaurant chow mein always taste better than homemade one?

Firstly, instead of boiling the noodles before frying, Chinese chefs usually steam the noodles, so that they are more 筋道（pronounced as “jīn dao”) or “al dente” in Italian (“to the teeth”).

I really couldn’t find the corresponding English words to describe this texture. Could you please leave a comment if you know it? If you can not find fresh Chinese egg noodles, you can also use dry egg noodles. For dry noodles, boil them by following instructions on package, then “shock” them with an ice bath right after they’re boiled. With this step, you can make your chow mein more al dente.

Secondly, commercial stoves are much hotter than residential ones.

Therefore, in order to mimic the restaurant style stir-fry temperature, we need to use high heat from the beginning to the end. I usually heat the oil with heat heat, and wait until it’s literarily smoky hot, then start to fry. Once we start, to prevent our chow mein from overcooked, we need to make sure that the entire stir-fry time is no longer than five minutes. So we’d better get all ingredients prepared before we turn on the stove.

Thirdly, chefs know the best sauce ratio of chow mein, which I’ll share with you today! And it’s unbelievable easy.

With these chef secrets, you will be able to make authentic Chinese restaurant-style chow mein at home, or even open a chew mein restaurant! If you try this recipe once, you will realize that I am not joking at all.

Chow Mein vs Lo Mein

In Chinese, “Mein” (面） means “noodle”; “Chow” （炒） means “stir fry”; “Lo” （捞）means “toss”. Therefore, “chow mein” means stir fried noodles, while “lo mein” means tossed noodles.

For chow mein, we half-cook the noodles, put them into the wok to stir fry them with other ingredients, then add the sauce. For lo mein, we boil the noodles until fully cooked, stir fry the other ingredients with sauce, then toss the noodles in the sauce. SAN-J NEWSLETTER has a very detailed article comparing the differences and similarities about these two kinds of traditional Chinese noodles. To me, the major difference is about the taste: chow mein is dryer and crispier, while lo mein is softer and has more sauce covered on the noodles.

Cabbage Glass Noodles Stir Fry

Ms Shi’s Chow Mein Recipe:

Ingredients:

8 oz fresh Chinese egg noodles about 230g
1 tbsp sesame oil or cooking oil

Sauce:

1 tbsp light soy sauce for the savory flavor
1 tbsp dark soy sauce for the reddish brown color
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce (lee kum kee has vegetarian oyster sauce made from mushrooms if you want)
1 tbsp water

Other Ingredients:

3 tbsp cooking oil (I used corn oil)
2 eggs
1/2 sweet onion
1/2 bell pepper
1 green onion
1 handful of cabbage strips

Instructions:

Beat 2 eggs. Cut cabbages and 1/2 bell pepper into strips. Cut green onions into 2 inch length. Set prepared ingredients aside.

2. Mix all sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

3. Put fresh egg noodles in a large bowl, loosen the noodles. Add sesame oil into the noodles, mix well.

4. Once the water in the steamer is boiling, put in the noodles, and steam over high heat for 5 minutes. Transfer the noodles into a plate, loosen the noodles, and set aside.

5. Preheat the wok over high-heat for about 1 minute. Add 3 tbsps of cooking oil. Heat oil over high heat until its smoking hot. I usually wait until my oil is literarily smoking.

6. Pour in the eggs and stir fry for about 30 seconds. (I set a timer. So I literarily mean 30s here.) Add vegetables and stir fry for 1 minute. Add steamed noodles and stir fry for 1 minute. Pour in the sauce, toss or stir fry for 1 minute.

7. Dish out and serve.

Notes:

You can substitute the eggs with frim tofu and use vegetarian oyster sauce for a vegan version of this recipe.
If you like kimchi, feel free to add 1/2 cup of slices kimchi to stir fry with the other vegetables. Check out my kimchi recipe.