(Joyful music) (chopping sounds) (applause) - Welcome to Yan Can Cook!

This is our special show on noodles.

Today, we're gonna show you oodles and oodles of noodle.

Everybody knows that rice is the most common and most popular stable in China.

But a lot of people don't know, noodles, right behind rice is also very, very popular.

Particularly, in northern part of China like Beijing, Shandong, if you don't believe me, just ask Marco Polo.

(audience laughs) Now, here in this particular show, I wanna show you something everybody can do at home.

The first dish I wanna show you, I call it "Everyday noodle soup" You can use any kind of noodle you can use the wheat flour noodles, dry or fresh or you can use rice noodle or you can use spaghetti or linguini nobody really cares!

Whatever you have, use it.

Everyday noodle soup!

First, you start with the noodle.

Right here, this is regular with flour noodle which is fresh noodle, okay?

Noodle in Chinese is Mein, everybody, Mein.

- [Audience] Mein!

- You say it with energy, like you mean it.

Once again, - [Audience] Mein!

- Perfect, perfect Chinese.

(audience laughs) Now, I'm quite sure everybody knows, when you go out to a Chinese restaurant, you order, Chow Mein, Chop Suey, Chow means stir fry, Mein is noodles.

So, Chow Mein means stir fry noodle it's not the crispy kind of noodle.

So, it's very important to know, now you know what Chow Mein is, okay?

Here, I have some noodle which is approximately two to four ounces.

Depends on how many people you have, the more people you have, this is basically one serving okay?

And then, here, I have some four cups of broth heated up ahead of time.

Let me check the temperature, I'm gonna heat up four cups of whole mix stock.

You can actually get very, very genuine homemade soup stock in a can in the store.

They are just as good.

And then here, I have some barbecue pork I wanna slice a few pieces of barbecue pork.

One slice, I use approximately two ounces, okay?

It depends on how many people, you have one person, you use two ounces.

Four people, you use 8 ounces, okay?

We set this aside.

And then, I wanna show you, we also have mushroom, bell pepper, and we also have let me show you this, I wanna show you how to cut- how many of you have seen this before?

This is barbecue pork, I make this three weeks ago.

And I keep it specifically for this particular dish.

So when I run out of time, I do this "every day noodle".

When you cut hold onto it like this, of course when you cut you should always get into the right mood.

(cleaver clanging on chopping board) (audience laughs) And then you cut one, two, three, you see, very, very easy.

Set this aside and line them all up like this put this back.

Here, aside from this we also have some snow peas.

See, very nice snow pea.

When you pick up snow pea, make sure you do not pick up things like this which is big and old.

And do not pick up things that are wilted, like this.

When you snap this, it should break like this, that means its nice and fresh.

When you use snow pea this is how you do it you hold onto this, you see this.

Take the string off, turn it to the other side, take the string off to the other side, you see this?

You can actually take the string off.

And if you wanna make it fancy, all you have to do is go like this, one, two, you see this?

One, two, this way, you can have a nice thing like this.

This is just for fancy, particularly for those who are already retired and they don't know what to do with their time.

(audience laughs) Then you do the whole bunch like th..

Here, heat up the wok because I have to stir fry this, right?

Put a tiny, tiny bit of oil, at the most, two teaspoons, okay.

If you don't care about calories, yet another half a teaspoon or maybe another half a teaspoon that's all you need.

Now, when it's hot enough, I hope it's hot enough, when it's hot enough, WOW!

It's hot enough.

And then stir fry the mushroom, bell pepper and green onion, and then you toss this with a tiny tiny bit of soy sauce because you want to make a sauce.

(sizzling sounds) Wow look at this.

With a tiny bit of salt, half a teaspoon of salt, a tiny bit of white pepper, sesame seed oil, and a teaspoon of Hellsing wine.

Wow, look at this, isn't it amazing.

And a tiny bit of sesame seed oil in the last minute.

Look at this, in the meantime I am boiling this broth, the broth is done and I'll shut it off, and then I am going to lay out put a couple pieces of snow peas because you do not want to overcook the snow pea because the snow pea can be served raw, okay?

When it's done you put the broth right into the noodle, look at this.

Right into this noodle, okay.

And then, you shut this off.

And then, I'm gonna put all these ingredients look at this, one, look at how beautiful.

Not only that, let me set this aside, set this aside.

Not only this, you line this up with your knife and you go like this, look how beautiful this is.

(applause) As you may have guessed, not all noodles look alike.

Some are good looking, others are, well, I'll show you.

Here, this is the rice stick noodle.

This is cellophane noodle.

Rice stick noodle is made from long grain rice flour.

You can deep fry it, they puff up, you put it in soup, you make rice noodle soup.

Cellophane noodle, the same thing, when you go out to have Mandarin chicken salad, Cantonese chicken salad, Chinese chicken salad, all the white stuff is either this or this.

Cellophane noodle is made from mung bean flour.

You can also stir fry it, you can also make casseroles, you can put it in soup, you can deep fry, you can do anything you want.

And this is the regular egg flour noodle, dry, in a little package just like this.

And it's flavored with ground shrimp powder.

And here are a variety of different fresh noodles.

Skinny wonton noodles,fresh.

Medium, skinny, egg noodles.

Thick, big Shanghai noodles.

Slightly medium, thick yellow noodles.

Flat noodles.

All you have to do to make this, is from this.

You put this along the freeway, on the bottom.

(audience laughs) Two hours later, when thousands of.. you're gonna have flat noodles.

This is fresh rice noodles, can you see the texture?

Fresh rice noodle, you can stir fry them, you can put it in rice soup.

And then these are regular noodles.

These are skinny noodles, and these are also dry flat noodles.

Here is also rice noodles, but these are Thailand, Cambodian type of noodles, Vietnamese noodles, bigger than the regular noodle.

So I'm gonna remove this, and then we're gonna show you, how to do my next dish.

My next dish is very, very interesting.

There are so many ways to make noodles.

The next dish is called the glass noodles with peanut sauce.

So, everybody should enjoy this.

First of all, I'm gonna heat up my wok.

I'm gonna heat up all my wok.

First of all, all you need in this particular noodle is about eight ounces because I wanna make four servings of this cellophane noodles from mung bean flour.

They are sometimes also called bean thread noodles.

This is not the same thing for sewing, unless you are having button mushroom.

Button.

(audience laughs) You win some and you lose some, but at least, that person at home is smiling thank you very much.

(audience laughs) - Now, I am nuts about peanuts so I'm gonna use some peanuts, and chop up some peanuts to make peanut sauce.

This is approximately a quarter of a cup to half a cup.

It depends, it doesn't make any dif..

If you want smooth noodles, forget about chopped peanuts.

You want crunchy noodles?

Put chopped peanuts.

Nobody cares.

Now, when the wok is hot, you're gonna make the noodle sauce.

The first thing we do is add approximately, one teaspoon up to two teaspoons of oil.

Use about one whole chicken breast or half a chicken breast depends, this will make four servings.

Stir fry this.

(sizzling sound) We're gonna make... Stir, very important to stir this.

Move them around, uniform cooking.

And then, we're gonna make the sauce.

In this particular sauce, we're gonna use about two tables- one to two tablespoons of soy sauce, a tiny bit of chili oil.

Wow, this is tough, hot and spicy.

And also a tiny bit of sugar about half a teaspoon to three teaspoons.

Depends on how sweet you want it to be.

And also, a tiny bit of rice vinegar, about one to two tablespoons of rice vinegar.

And a tiny bit of chicken broth, and sesame seed oil.

You're gonna put the ground peanut, if you don't have time, you can also use about one garlic, chop them all up.

Make sure you stir them up.

Look at this.

Make enough sauce, then you can put it right on top of this noodle dish when this is done.

Let me remove this so everybody can se.. And then, look at this.

When this is done, you shut this off.

Put this right here, I have a small carrot already julienned.

Some cucumber, also a tiny bit of half a red onion.

And I put them all over here.

When you serve this, all you have to do is toss it up.

Look at this, sprinkle this, sprinkle this how beautiful this dish.

(audience applause) Now, since I have some time, I am gonna show you how to make another dish.

I call it the egg treasure noodle.

Here, I have approximately one package about fourteen ounces of noodles.

I'm gonna heat this up over here, I'm gonna get ready another wok because I have to stir fry the egg treasures, okay?

Treasure hunt.

Now here, heat up the wok, let's heat up the wok.

Always heat up the wok first.

Make the noodle pancake first, so this way you don't have to worry about it.

All you have to do is boil the noodles for three minutes, let it drain under cold water and then you can make a pancake (sizzling sounds) Okay, use your hand to push it around to make a little pancake.

Use a spatula, press it, tight pancake.

Now while you're doing this, make sure you don't run around.

Because if you let it burn, you're not gonna make a noodle pancake.

You are gonna make a Chinese disk, that you will have to throw.

Look at this darn thing, I made this yesterday.

And while I was doing it, I forgot the darn thing.

(audience laugh) And then you can go wow!

Since I don't like it, you can have it, please.

(audience cheers and laughs) And then in this particular dish, I am going to heat up the wok, the wok is hot.

I'm gonna add about two teaspoons because I'm gonna make this nice egg treasure.

I start with about one to two cups, depends on how many people you have.

I use about two of these, three of this Chinese sausage.

(chopping on cutting board) Okay, stir fry it.

About two to three mushrooms, okay.

Julienne, you can julienne them and also a tiny, tiny bit of celery.

(fast chopping) (audience clapping) You put it over here, and also put a tiny, tiny bit of bell peppers also julienned.

Stir!

Make sure you stir.

Wow!

Don't... Wow!

Look at this.

Make sure you stir, and then also because bell pepper doesn't take too long too cook, so you can cut more.

(chopping sound) Look at what you do.

(audience laughs) Set it aside, put it over here.

And then if you want, you can also use about one cup of bean sprouts in the very last minute, okay?

Look at this, can you see?

Wow!

Look at this.

(audience wows) And then, make a sauce, this is egg treasure, this is like a treasure hunt.

Not only fun to eat, but it's fun to hunt your treasure right on the plate.

Look at this.

Also put a tiny, tiny bit of green onion if you want.

A tiny bit of green onion, I have all my ingredients right here so everybody can see, see?

Very simple.

And then, thicken it up, this way you can do this ahead of time.

Mix one portion of corn starch, look at this.

When it's done, you set everything aside, set everything aside and then, you will put this noodles right here which I have made for another guest of mine put it right on top.

(audience applause) - The next dish I'm gonna show you, is Shanghai Chow Mein.

We're all out of Mein, noodles, but lucky for us, someone here can make us some more.

Will you please welcome, from the ShenWong restaurant, San Francisco, master noodle maker, Chef Tehfu Wang!

My good friend.

(indistinct conversation and applause from the audience) Now, what kind of noodle are you gonna make?

- (speaking Chinese) - (speaking Chinese) He told me in secret, in Chinese, hand pulled noodles.

Ancient Chinese art.

So let's go for it.

- (speaking in Chinese) - Okay Now, the important thing is, you start it out with this noodle, a dough.

All it is, is regular noodle mixed with water, okay?

You knead it into a nice cylindrical, and then you bang the darn thing.

(speaking in Chinese) Are you mad?

And he said no, I'm just shaking off some calories.

(audience laughs) - I don't know, this is, the idea of doing this is not only you shake off all your calories, also you can scare off all your neighbors.

Anybody you don't like.

The idea of doing this is to make the noodle more elastic,.. Just in case it breaks, it doesn't matter you do it all again.

When it breaks, it means it's not elastic enough.

You break it and bring out the gluten.

So now, you have one long strand, and then one more long strand and you fold it, and he is gonna, once it's ready, he can feel it, it's nice and smooth.

Enough flour is very important otherwise it gets stuck.

And then you twist it.

This is the Chinese yo yo.

He is having a good time, he's been doing this for thirty years.

You do it, I have been practicing this for th.. and I have no ... (audience applause) you twist this, look at this.

(audience clapping) - You twist this, now, it's long enough, he breaks it up because that's all he needs.

More flour, and then you roll it up into one long strand, and then he folds it.

Now, he's gonna have two long strands.

See?

Two long strands.

From two, he's gonna fold it into four long strands.

And then from four, he's gonna make it into eight strands.

Geometric progression.

If you have time, you can keep on doing it for three years, then you have millions of strands.

Now, he has sixteen strands.

Then you fold it one more time, then you have thirty-two strands.

Every time he stretches it.

This is why you call it hand stretched noodle.

You pull it and you stretch it, see?

You see how he stretch it?

You stretch it.

And then now he has sixty-four strands, and you do it one more time and it's one hundred and twenty-eight.

Look at this, look at this.

(audience cheers) - And then you can cut this like this, wow!look at this.

(audience claps) Now, this looks so exciting and it's so much fun.

I'm quite sure some of you in the audience, would love to try it.

Any volunteer?

Oh, the gentleman in the first, thank you.

(audience clapping) - What's your name sir?

- I'm Tom Walton.

- Tom Walton, I'm glad that we have you, have you ever done this before?

- Uh no.

- Me neither, I'm afraid to try it.

So now I'm gonna give you, we're gonna give you this is for you, now this is the annual noodle making contest.

Right here, in the Yan Can Cook show.

I'm gonna get some flour for you, let's get some flour, I'm gonna get some flour for you.

Okay, while you are you doing, Chef Tehfu Wang, you're gonna show my good friend Tom, how to make it.

First, you start by kneading this.

Let's go for it.

- Yes.

- I'm gonna give you, now without noodle, you gonna not .. you are gonna have come to stuck noodles.

(audience laughs) - All right - So very important, and then, bang the darn thing, bang, ban.. Bang more.

See, doesn't matter, do it again, bang more, roll it, roll it up, role it up into a long cylindrical.

Very important, wow!

Burn out more calories, burn more.

(audience laughs and cheers) - Now, roll it up long, roll it up more, roll it up longer, longer.

More noodles, more noodle, more flour, mo.. Wow, look at this, this is amazing.

Wow, more flour.

Wow, he already has, Tom already burned out at least six million calories.

Wow, are you having fun?

- Oh yes.

- Not only that, if it's long enough.

(audience laughs and clap) - I think he's winning.

- No, no, no, not yet because its not finished.

- No.

- Don't give up, never give up, because Chef Tehfu Wang has been doing, do it, be patient, be patient.

- Okay - Slow down, slow down Tehfu Wang so .. Do it again, you bang, bang, bang!

Wow!

( crowd applause) Okay, unbelievable.

Isn't that fun?

Do it, and then you twist it.

Do it, more force, more noodle.

- More flour.

- More flour.

- More flour.

(audience laughing) - This way you can always get the flour out.

- More flour - More flour, more flour, more flou.. okay, now see how the... Bang, bang some more, bang some more.

The great and pomping.

( bangs on table ) The idea of, let me show you, let me quickly show you while you are doing that, look at this you are rolling it into a long dough.

(speaking chinese) come over here.

(audience laughs) - Save Tom, show him how to do it.

- Okay, save Tom.

- More flour.

- More flour.

- No, no, no - Wow, Tom change positions, now you can have his.

- I like this.

- Wow, look at this, isn't it amazing?

(bang on table) Now ,I don't know what, Tom has such talent, it doesn't matter whether he got stuck.

Do more, do more, oh perfect.

More, oh more noodle.

Isn't is a... Bang some more, there's some more.

I am gonna get some more flour.

- More flour, - More flour, this is amazing.

More flour Oh look, try, try, twist, twist, twist, twist.

One more time, look at this, twist.

Tom you need more flour, - Yeah I need, on the table Martin.

- You need more flour Tom.

- Al right.

- Thank you.

- Right here, now lets see how Tefhu, Tom, how you doing, now lets have a little break and see how the master chef is doing.

Let's come over here and concentrate for a few seconds.

Now, see how we do a pull.

Now chef Tehfu Wang, ask Tom to take over Okay?

Okay, Tom please take over, this is gonna be fun.

Okay, now teach Tom what's wrong.

- Okay, hold on to this, pull this, look at this.

Hold on to this, okay.

Everybody should learn how to do this then hold on to this, pull it all together and then hold on to this with another finger, do it fast.

Now, the great thing about this, don't laught, because the great thing about this is the Chef can start all over again.

Tefhu Wang, start all over again.

You see, okay, with the same dough.

This is the same dough Tefhu Wang has been using for the past two years.

(audience laughs) This is your mess, you fix it yourself.

(audience laughs and applauds) We are having so much fun.

They are fooling around with a yo yo, fooling around with a Chinese yo yo.

You can actually burn out 1600 callories.

The idea of doing this is, look at this, this is why you call it the hand stretched noodles.

You twist, you pull (applause) Wow, perfect, try it again.

How are you doing Tom, are you having fun.

- Just great Martin.

Tom is having fun.

Probably, Tom needs more flour.

(audience laughs) You see, the idea of doing this is, look at this.

Tom lets take another lesson, let's come over here and see perfectly.

You start from one strand, two strand.

Okay, you see that, then four strands, look at this.

And then, eight strands, geometric progression.

The good thing about this is after you make all these noodles, let me show you.

After you make all these noodles, look at these, wonderful noodles, all you have to do is boil it in a big pot of boiling water then you can make Shanghai Chow Mein.

All you need is all of these ingredients, okay?

Bring these noodles to a boil for about three minutes and then you can use bell pepper, chicken or beef.

Once again, look at how wonderful, show everybody.

(applause) Look at this, you see that.

Now, you stir fry them and then when the noodles is ready, you set them aside and stir fry everything.

And all you have is a Shanghai or Beijing style stir fry noodles.

So, how do you enjoy this annual noodle making contest between Tom and my good friend, Chef Tefhu.

Now, if anybody at home and anybody in this studio audience think you can do it, come over here and take this.

Now, this one is for you, you can have it.

(audience laughs) Today, you have all witnessed the first annual noodle making challenge on Yan Can Cook show.

My special thanks for Chef Tefhu Wang, - Thank you.

- And good sport to Tom, let's give.. Tom will be coming back next week to defend his title.

Until then, don't forget to use a noodle.

- Thank you - If Yan can cook, so can you!

“Goodbye!”.. (applause) (Joyful music)