Chinese Takeout Lo Mein Secrets Revealed

if you've ever tried to make Chinese takeout low-mainted home and been disappointed in the results this video is for you today we'll discuss the most common mistakes home Cooks make and how to fix them we'll talk about the exact noodles used by most takeout restaurants we'll go over how to make the most tender stir-fry beef of your life and I'll reveal to you all the secret lessons I've learned from speaking with dozens of restaurants by the end of this video you will be able to make lo mein better than 99 of takeout restaurants you're not going to need any special equipment everything in this video is adapted for the average home cook on a standard burner and I assure you this recipe is very low maintenance now the first thing we'll need to address is what kind of noodles to use traditionally takeout style lo mein is made with a type of thick Chinese egg noodle the most common brand I've seen in takeout kitchens is Twin Marquee lo mein noodles or twin Marquee cooked noodles they're essentially the same thing but the preparation differs slightly so this is a perfect opportunity to explain the difference between cooked noodles and oiled or cooked noodles if you take a closer look at these lo mein noodles you'll see they're covered in a thin coating of flour this is because they're uncooked and the flour is added to keep them from clumping together depending on the brand and the style of noodles you'll usually have to boil uncooked noodles for about three to five minutes before use oiled or cooked noodles on the other hand are fully cooked but you'll still need to plunge them into boiling water for about 15 to 20 seconds before stir frying just to loosen them up cooked noodles typically have a shinier appearance because they're coated in oil to keep them from clumping together but what if you can't find twin Marquee brand what you want to look for are Asian style thick yellow wheat and egg noodles you'll often find them labeled as pancit which is the filipino word for this exact type of noodle sometimes they're labeled as chow mein because the terms lo mein and chow mein are often used interchangeably in American Chinese cuisine I've even seen this style of noodle labeled as fresh spaghetti and bizarrely enough but at the end of the day if you can't find find any of these remember we're just making takeout noodles it's not rocket surgery so sometimes it's best to just use whatever's most convenient I've made tons of stir fries with regular spaghetti and while it's not exactly the same as Chinese egg noodles they still turned out great one of the distinguishing characteristics of western style takeout lo mein is that it tends to be Saucier than most traditional noodle dishes ideally we want the sauce to completely coat the noodles without the liquid pooling at the bottom so to make the sauce let's start with one tablespoon of corn starch one and a half teaspoons of sugar a quarter teaspoon of white pepper and half a teaspoon of salt and I use Diamond Brand kosher salt for all of my recipes so you may have to adjust the salt levels if you use something different now add a quarter cup of chicken stock and give it a stir until the cornstarch and spices are completely dissolved then add two tablespoons of light soy sauce for seasoning one teaspoon of dark soy sauce for color one teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and two tablespoons of oyster sauce and I've tested every available brand and I always return to leecom key premium oyster sauce the one with the picturesque label of a mother and son harvesting oysters suffering from gigantism in the Chinese Countryside and if you're allergic to shellfish or if you want a vegetarian or vegan option they do make several different styles of non-oyster oyster sauce like this vegan one made with mushrooms or this vegetarian oyster flavored sauce then give everything a stir until it's well combined and this amount of sauce with this amount of cornstarch thickener should give us enough to coat our noodles without the sauce pooling at the bottom for the beef the most commonly used cut in Chinese takeout is flank steak but skirt steak also works well no matter what cut you choose you'll want to follow this basic process first you want to identify the Grain in the beef with flank steak it's particularly noticeable see these thin lines going down our beef we want to cut across it to make our slices more tender and less chewy so let's start by making our first cut down the length of the grain to get our meat into manageable pieces then make quarter inch slices perpendicular to the Grain and a pro tip if you're having trouble getting your slices thin enough just toss the meat in the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes and it will firm up and make it much easier to deal with the second thing many Chinese takeout places do to get tender beef is to wash it under cold running water this process supposedly takes some of the minerally taste out of the meat and allows the marinade to penetrate deeper and to be completely honest with you it does make a difference so I would suggest adding this step to your stir-fry routine all you'll do is take your beef slices and run them under cold water for about a minute massaging them the entire time then squeeze out the water either with your hands or by pressing it against a colander the final step in achieving super tender beef is baking soda if you've ever wondered why your meat at home is never as tender as your local takeout restaurant the answer is baking soda it essentially alkalizes the surface of the meat which makes it harder for protein bands to tighten when exposed to heat here I've got eight ounces of beef slices so I'll add a quarter teaspoon of baking soda and massage it into it for about a minute and you want to be forceful with the meat enough to really discipline it and show it who's boss this will ensure we have the most tender stir-fried beef possible after the baking soda treatment We'll add a quarter teaspoon of cornstarch a quarter teaspoon of sugar a pinch of salt a quarter teaspoon of light soy sauce half a teaspoon of xiaoxing wine and half a teaspoon of a neutral oil then mix the marinade into the beef well and set it aside for at least 15 minutes or up to overnight to prepare the noodles just follow the instructions on the packaging and after they're cooked you want to drain and dry them as well as you can either by spinning them in a salad spinner or by laying them out on a baking sheet and allowing the steam to evaporate and you always want to toss the cooked noodles with just a bit of oil to prevent them from clumping when you're ready to make the lo mein you want to make sure you have everything prepared and ready to go this dish comes together in a matter of minutes so it's not really possible to prep as you go we'll go over all the ingredients as we're making the dish but it's critical to have everything prepared beforehand to get started let's heat our Wok over medium-high heat until you see very light wisps of smoke and if you don't have a wok just use your largest pan then add about a tablespoon of neutral oil and swirl it around until it's lightly shimmering then toss in one cup of roughly chopped cabbage a quarter cup of thinly sliced onion and a quarter cup of thinly sliced carrot and what we're looking for here is crisp tender vegetables you want there to be a slight crunch to them so you only want to go about a minute then set the vegetables aside and return the wok to medium-high heat we're going to cook everything in small batches and then combine it all at the end one of the biggest mistakes I see home Cooks make is just dumping everything in the pan at one time and cooking it all together because home burners aren't very powerful what this does is essentially boil everything and you'll never get that nice charred flavor of restaurant food once your Wok is back up to heat add about two tablespoons of oil and once it's hot let's toss in our marinated beef press the beef down in a single layer and leave it alone until it's nicely seared on the first side another mistake I see a lot of Home Cooks make is constantly stirring their meat and not allowing it to Brown and develop flavor so you want to make sure you get some good color on your beef and when it's done set it to the side put the wok back over medium high heat and add a bit more oil once it's heated add a tablespoon of minced ginger and a tablespoon of minced garlic I.E the best combo since linen and McCartney saute for about 10 to 15 seconds until they release just a bit of Aroma and immediately add in 16 ounces of your cooked noodles gently toss the noodles with the garlic and ginger so they're evenly mixed and at any point if you notice your noodles burning turn down the heat a bit once the noodles are pliable toss in the vegetables and the beef and mix everything until it's well combined then make a space in your pan and add one tablespoon of shaoxing wine directly to the rim of the wok and not on top of the noodles this is going to add just a bit of acidity and brightness to the dish and will help bring the other flavors to the Forefront once the rice wine is mixed in with with the noodles push them to the side again and make a space in the wok stir your sauce mixture from earlier to make sure the cornstarch hasn't settled in the bottom and add it directly to the pan and not on top of the noodles before stirring it into the noodles allow the sauce to Bubble for about 10 to 20 seconds to get that cornstarch to start thickening it you'll see the edges of the sauce start to bubble and caramelize then kill the Heat and immediately stir your noodles into it and be gentle broken noodles lead to a broken heart it's bad luck to break up noodles so just gently toss them until they're all coated in the thickened sauce then toss in three to four scallions cut into one inch sections and half a cup of bean sprouts adding these right at the end will give us a bit of that fresh earthy vegetable crunchiness conversely you could saute these with the vegetables in the previous step and I'm telling you this is a better lo mein than you can get at almost any takeout joint and it's a fraction of the cost per serving so let's give it a try and see how we did quickly before a taste test I just want to say I know this dish is called chow mein on the west coast and lo mein on the east coast and at the risk of igniting yet another East Coast West Coast rivalry I just want to say call it whatever you want it's just stir-fried noodles in a sweet and savory sauce it's a foundational dish of American Chinese cuisine and instead of arguing nomenclature can't we all just get along and enjoy it with our friends and family but that's just my opinion alright back to the taste test the main problem I have with western style takeout lo mein is that it's almost always either too oily or too soupy it's like drowning in sauce and I think we've made a version that solves both of these issues and is better than most takeout restaurants and I want to give you one last tip this is how you can make lo mein with ingredients that should be available at any Western grocery store you'll just replace the Chinese egg noodles with regular spaghetti and in the sauce use hoisin instead of oyster because it seems to be more widely available use whatever soy sauce you can find and use Sherry cooking wine in lieu of xiaoxing redemption and then proceed as normal and you can even do this in a cast iron skillet like this if you don't have a wok just make sure you work in really small batches for everything and this makes a totally passable lo mein to be completely honest it's just as good as most takeout restaurants I've tried and if you want to learn the secrets behind Chinese takeout style fried rice be sure to check out this video thanks for watching see you low Maniacs next time

Channel: Jason Farmer

Views: 2,287,118

Keywords: lo mein, lo mein recipe, lo mein noodles, chinese food, easy lo mein recipe, chinese takeout, chinese takeaway, beef lo mein, chicken lo mein, easy lo mein, how to make lo mein, lo mein noodles recipe, vegetable lo mein, best lo mein recipe, chow mein, chinese lo mein sauce, how to make lo mein like chinese restuarants, lo mein recipes, chicken lo mein recipe, stir fried noodles, vegetable lo mein recipe

Id: iRxDpjNDt3A

Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 14 2023