Meat Chow Main

History

Over centuries, variations of chǎomiàn developed in many regions of China, with several methods of frying the noodles and a range of toppings. In Guangdong province and Hong Kong, noodles were fried in bunches in oil until browned and crispy on the outer edges but still soft in the middle—the southern style that was carried to the United States by Chinese immigrants. The dish remained rooted in regional Chinese foodways until the dramatic displacement of the mid-nineteenth century.

Chaomian was introduced from China into the United States by Chinese immigrants who came from the Guangdong provinces in the California gold rush era, bringing their Cantonese style of cooking. During the California Gold Rush, the influx of workers from the Pearl River Delta led to the creation of the first "chow-chow houses." These establishments were the pioneers of what we now recognize as Chinese-American food. Cooks used what was cheap and available — celery, onions and cabbage — for bulk and crunch in their noodle dishes. The written term first appeared in American English as chow mien in 1890 and as the current spelling chow mein in 1903. By the early twentieth century, chow mein was introduced to the American market and dominated the menus of Chinese restaurants across the country. White Americans began to flood to Chinese restaurants and menus were redesigned to match their taste.

In the 1920s, westernized dishes like Fried Rice and Chow Mein were introduced to the American market and dominated the menus of Chinese restaurants across the country. Chow mein became one of the top dishes alongside chop suey and fried rice. This recipe, documented in Sara Bosse and Onoto Watanna's Chinese-Japanese Cook Book published in Chicago in 1914, captures the dish at a pivotal moment in its American evolution—when Chinese immigrant cooks had already begun adapting Cantonese techniques to Western ingredients and tastes. The inclusion of pork, veal, ham, celery, onions, water chestnuts, and dried mushrooms (items either locally available or adapted from the Chinese pantry) in a crispy noodle base reflects the hybrid cuisine being standardized in early-twentieth-century American kitchens. Chow mein remains a cornerstone of Chinese-American cuisine, though modern practitioners increasingly seek to recover the Cantonese techniques underlying the American adaptation.

Ingredients

• 1 quart peanut oil
• 1/4 pound noodles
• 1/2 pound pork
• 1/2 pound veal
• 2 tablespoonfuls syou
• 1/2 bunch celery
• 1 whole onion
• 1/2 pound Chinese dried mushrooms
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/4 pound ham
• 1/2 tablespoonful salt
• 6 whole water chestnuts

Instructions

1. Heat one quart of peanut oil and fry a quarter pound of noodles until crisp.
2. Remove the fried noodles and drain on a plate.
3. Cut one pound of pork into small pieces and fry until golden brown.
4. Cut half a pound of veal into pieces and fry it with the pork for five minutes.
5. Add two tablespoonfuls of syou and half a tablespoonful of salt to the meat, and let it simmer slowly.
6. Wash and soak half a pound of dried mushrooms for ten minutes, then pull off the stalks.
7. Cut half a bunch of celery into small pieces.
8. Chop one onion fine and slice half a dozen water chestnuts fine.
9. Add the mushrooms, celery, onion, and water chestnuts to the simmering meat and cook all together for five minutes.
10. Place the fried noodles on a hot platter as a bottom layer.
11. Arrange the meat and vegetables on top of the noodles.
12. Hard-boil two eggs and allow to cool.
13. Separate the yolks from the whites and crumble the yolks.
14. Cut the quarter pound of ham into fine threads.
15. Garnish the top of the dish with the threaded ham and crumbled egg yolks.