A Taste of Soup Noodle in Luzhou

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Experiences

Cooking Soup Noodle by Ourselves
Mr. Li, Mr. Chou's nephew, would teach us how to cook Soup Noodle. What?! We needed to cook by ourselves? All the steps should be done by our own hands? This time, we did not just look at Mr. Li cooking, but we really needed to become the owner of Damiaokou Soup Noodle Shop to cook a bowl of authentic Soup noodle. We recorded the steps of cooking one by one:

1. Grasping the noodle
The first step was to grasp the noodle. Alas! Too little! No! No! We realized that it was not easy to grasp an appropriate amount of noodles. We rubbed the noodles repeatedly, but we still could not meet the requirements of Mr. Li. The seemly simple action had much knowledge in it.

2. Grasping bean sprouts Small, soft, and white bean sprouts were a most important element of traditional Soup. Without them, the bowl of Soup Noodle would lose its ancient flavor. We grasped a handful of bean sprouts and chives and put them in the bamboo colander which would be put into boiling water with the noodle later.

3. Sieving the noodle Sieving the noodle or shaking the noodle in boiling water up and down produced the sound of chhek-chhek-chhek, which sounded similar to the Hokkien pronunciation of Soup Noodle. Mr. Li patiently reminded us that we needed to control the cooking time well.
The best noodle was medium well. Seeing our bewildered looks, he told us, "Cook for about 50 seconds." Now, we had a more specific concept.

4. Adding soup and sprinkling secret sauce
The final step was to sprinkle Mr. Chou's secret sauce, which was of course commercially confidential. Then, we put in shallots and pork bone soup which had been stewed for ten hours. Mr. Li repeatedly reminded us that to pour the soup to fill 80% of the bowl, otherwise too much would affect the tradition flavor.

5. Completed Finally, we completed cooking the noodle. We asked people in the shop to have a taste to see if it was good. We could not wait to have it.


The Experience of Cooking Soup Noodle
	Mr. Chou wanted us to experience the fun of cooking Soup Noodle by ourselves, so Wen-ning Wu and I followed Mr. Li to the stove. First, Mr. Li demonstrated once to us. Then, we followed him to cook once.
First, we needed to grasp an appropriate amount of noodles out from a bucket according to the size of our palms. Then, we filled half of the bamboo colander with bean sprouts and shook them together with the noodles up and down in boiling water. The action would produce the sound of "chhek-chhek-chhek". While the noodles were in the boiling water, we must keep our hands turning and shaking so that the noodles would become soft and al dente. When the noodles were medium well, they would swim back to the colander. Then, we got then out and put in a bowl together with bean sprouts. Then, we added a tablespoon of secret sauce, shallot, and oil. It was extremely important to fill 90% of the bowl. Finally, a bowl of sweet-smelling Soup Noodle was completed. Our first time of cooking Soup Noodle by our own hands was wonderful! I only cooked noodles twice, one at home, and the other here. I was surprised to find that cooking Soup Noodle contained much knowledge and skills, such as the control of heat, the power while shaking the noodles, and the amount of noodles and bean sprouts. Moreover, it was hard that one needed to cooking noodles while serving customers. Sometimes, the hot air blew to our faces directly, so we could hardly see anything. How difficult it was to run a Soup Noodle shop!

	I was very nervous to cook Soup Noodle for the first time. First, Mr. Li asked us to hold two bamboo colanders, one for oil noodles, and the other for bean sprouts. Then, put the colanders and their content in boiling water and shake them for twice or three times.
The step was difficult, because if you could not control well, the noodles and bean sprouts would fall out of the colanders. We did not perform the step well. But Mr. Li's with his skillful hands immediately solved our problems. The next step was to pour in pork bone soup and top with a spoonful of Mr. Chou's special sauce and a bit Chinese chives. While standing there, my mouth was watering. I wanted to taste it so much! Let's taste the sweet-smelling Soup Noodle immediately. Though, it was not as good as that by Mr. Chou, we still enjoyed it. After we were all full, Mr. Chou played a video shot by them. The six minute video recorded a whole day of their hard work from opening the shop at five o'clock early in the morning till closing at three in the afternoon. We understood their hard work, efforts, and devotion for every customer with their bowls of hot Soup Noodle. Through the visit, I realized the efforts paid behind success. I admired Mr. Chou who passed down the culture of Soup Noodle regardless of the pains so that everyone could enjoy the most original flavor and taste of Soup Noodle. I believed that a good culture requires perseverance and constantly efforts so that quality Luzhou culture can be promoted to the outside.