Lo mein
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| Lo mein | |||||||||||||
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| Cantonese-style lo mein | |||||||||||||
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| American-Chinese-style lo mein | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese: | 撈麵 or 撈麪 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 捞面 | ||||||||||||
| Cantonese Jyutping: | lou1 min6 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning: | mixed/stirred noodles | ||||||||||||
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| alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese: | 拌麵 or 拌麪 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 拌面 | ||||||||||||
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Lo mein is a Chinese dish with noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or wontons. Traditionally this is a variation of wonton noodle soup. The soup is simply separated from the noodles and other ingredients and served on the side. However, the version sold in many places in North America is rather a hybrid of chow mein, though they are prepared differently. Chow mein is stir-fried while lo mein is not fried.[1]
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[edit] Etymology
The term lo mein comes from the Cantonese lōu mihn (撈麵), meaning stirred noodles.[2] The Cantonese usage of the character 撈, pronounced lōu and meaning "to stir", differs from the character's usual meaning of "to dredge" or "to scoop out of water" in standard Mandarin Chinese, in which case it would be pronounced làauh or lòuh in Cantonese (lāo in Standard Mandarin).[3][4] In Mandarin, the dish is more typically called bàn miàn (拌麵), not to be confused with bǎn miàn (板麵).
[edit] American Chinese cuisine
In American Chinese restaurants, lo mein is a popular take-out food. In this setting, Lo mein noodles are usually stirred with brown sauce (a sauce made from soy sauce, corn starch, sugar, and other seasoning), carrots, bok choy or cabbage, onions, and shrimp, roast pork, beef, or chicken. Lobster lo mein, vegetable lo mein, and "House" lo mein (more than one meat) are often available.
However, in some regions of Western North America such as Vancouver, ordering Lo Mein will result in a dry dish of thin noodles with oyster sauce on top. This is accompanied by a bowl of broth used for wonton soup. This is much closer to the original Hong Kong version of the dish.
[edit] References
- ^ http://chinesefood.about.com lomein
- ^ “lo mein”, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online, 2008, <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lo%20mein>
- ^ 撈 (Chinese). 《現代標準漢語與粵語對照資料庫》 (A Comparative Study of Modern Chinese and Cantonese). 香港中文大學 (Chinese University of Hong Kong).
- ^ 撈 (Chinese). 《粵語審音配詞字庫》 (Chinese Character Database: With Word-formations Phonologically Disambiguated According to the Cantonese Dialect). 香港中文大學 (Chinese University of Hong Kong).
