287757 Fri Oct 19 16:25:59 -0700 2001 12 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1549756 going to a wonderful chinese restaurant tonight for the umpteenth time, and having gotten my fill of chow fun, taro cakes, and whole fried fish, I thought I'd try something new. the two things they serve which intrigue me are: chicken with almonds and silver noodles (it might be sliver, probably is, I don't remember) and chinese bacon with yellow chives. I don't know what silver noodles, or chinese bacon is, anyone have an idea? thanks ben Fri Oct 19 16:25:59 -0700 2001 0 ben f 1 1549766 Silver noodles might be their own translation. My guess would be that it can be mung bean thread, which is sometimes called glass noodled. Chinese bacon is probably a kind of cured meats very similiar to country ham. It's very salty and very flavorful. Fri Oct 19 17:39:18 -0700 2001 1549756 0 Wendy Lai 1 1549796 Intriguing. I'm trying to guess which regional food this Chinese restaurant serves. Will you tell us? The only place I've seen the word "Silver" used for noodles was in a Teo-Chow restaurant where one of their noodle options were "Silver Needle" noodles. They are quite plump, sharp on either ends, and has a bounce when you bite into them. I liked them. Chinese Bacon is probably like Wendy said, cured/smoked meat. It's usually the pork belly, what we call the 3-layer meat. It may have more fat than you're used to. Yellow chives...?...Taro cakes (sweet or salty?) I'm still trying to figure out which region..... Sat Oct 20 19:08:51 -0700 2001 1549756 0 HLing 2 1549798 You correctly describe what I have seen called silver noodles or silver pin noodles- thick short fresh white noodles, which are good to chew-always had them at cantonese dim sum places, 20 Mott, Harmony, HSF,Golden Unicorn, Etc. They are lightly fried with bits of egg, ham, bean sprouts etc. and tipped out from glass bowls, like the sticky rice. Likewise the pork belly - had it at 20 Mott and other places - a fatty cut of "three layer" meat. that the waiters usually caution us away from (you no like). Often served in casserole. Doesnt have the strong cure that chinese hams do - mostly pleasantly fatty and gelatinous. Taro cake - well Im figuring that is the cantonese dim sum staple too. Sat Oct 20 20:36:50 -0700 2001 1549796 0 jen kalb 3 1549844 The didn't get their delivery of chinese bacon, so alas, no luck. Maybe you all can help me, I've been trying to figure out what their specialty is also. According to their menu, they specialize in cantonese, hunan, szechuan, and hong kong. But it's a small town and I think they have to include everything. the more unique things they have on the menu, in addition to the above mentioned silver noodles and chinese bacon, are: fried shrimp cake crab with longevity noodles about 10 different varieties of whole fried fish and of course dim sum on the weekends. pretty much everything I've had is extremely fresh and lightly sauced. They also have a lot of specials which I haven't really tried because I haven't made it through the regular menu yet, so if anyone: knows what type of chinese this is and knows some specials I should look out for let me know. Thanks for the help Ben Mon Oct 22 10:11:04 -0700 2001 1549798 0 ben f 4 1549871 Based on everything youve mentioned so far, I would be willing to bet that the restaurant's cooks are cantonese/hong kong origin. Especially in smaller places, many restaurants added some szechuan and hunan style dishes to the menu to capitalize on the craze for those dishes. Where is this restaurant, bty? Mon Oct 22 14:29:48 -0700 2001 1549844 0 jen kalb 4 1549906 In your previous post you mentioned Taro Cake. Was it savory or sweet? Jen is probably right about it being Cantonese. But then little things might give the specialty of the chef away, too. I'm not sure what "Crab with Longevity noodles" is. Is it noodle soup? Pan-fried? When I hear longevity noodles I think those thin, white angel hair noodles. "Fried Shrimp Cake" instead of "Fried Shrimp Toast"? Anything else on the menu that are unusual? Mon Oct 22 18:58:13 -0700 2001 1549844 0 HLing 5 1549909 FWIW Ive been served crab with longevity noodle at Sun Golden Island in Chinatown - I get a little confused, but I think it was flat, maybe ruffly egg noodles, with crabmeat and eggwhite (like lobster sauce), juicy but not soupy. Cantonese, chiu chow, something like that. They also serve an interesting red-colored noodle dish with sugar and vinegar - both of these are special holiday dishes, and a very good goose breast, also dishes with dried fish in them. BTY we had just rock bottom service the last time we went here (after being repeat visitors and well served for many years), so are not anxious to return, It may have been an off evening, but ...well, I guess I am balancing off our lack of forgiveness by suggesting it might be worth a visit here. Mon Oct 22 19:45:13 -0700 2001 1549906 0 jen kalb 6 1549939 This restaurant is in Durham NC. I have no idea how it got here, but it's the first chinese I've been happy with since I lived in new york (3 years ago). That red noodle dish sounds intriguing, do you remember what it was called? And yes, you've described the crabmeat with longevity noodles. I'll look out for goose next time I go, and if there's any other dishes (or a particularly good cantonese specific web site I should check out) let me know, as I love the people who run this restaurant and spend far too much time there. Hling, the shrimp cake (most definitely not shrimp toast)... as best I can reconstruct it, it was mashed shrimp, mostly fresh, some dried, formed into a thick cake and steamed, then fried briefly on the outside, sliced thinly, and served with a light sauce and vegetables. Heavenly, but a little strangely textured. Thanks so much, 'hounds, I should have asked here earlier. learned my lesson. Ben Tue Oct 23 08:20:34 -0700 2001 1549909 0 ben f 7 1549971 Sounds like you've got a nice find there in Durham! I've read that there are 3 types of Cantonese cuisine but can only remember 2: one is Tong Chiang(means East River) and the other is Chow Zhou(or Teow Chow...) AS for the Fried Shrimp Cake it sounds similar to a taro cake I had once in a Fouzhou restaurant: bits of dried shrimp, mashed taro..It was a big triangular deep fried cake. Actually I tried to order their oyster cake, but they ran out. This Fouzhou place had mostly seadfood and water fowl on its menu. Also they have lots dishes made with the red wine sediment sauce.(not regular red wine in the western sense) Let us know what else you find there.... Tue Oct 23 15:50:09 -0700 2001 1549939 0 HLing 1 1549828 Don't know about silver noodles (maybe cellophane noodles) but Chinese bacon is usually Smithfield bacon, (at least in San Francisco) very fatty and rich in flavor Sun Oct 21 22:32:57 -0700 2001 1549756 0 Jim H. 1 1549975 Silver noodles, also called glass noodles, are made from mung beans, are thin and long like white angel hair, and are the chief ingredient in Pad Woon Sen, my favourite Thai-American dish. In fact, their name in Thai is "woon sen". Sometimes you will see pho noodles (banh) (that is, rice noodles used in Vietnamese beef noodle soup) called silver noodles, but this is wrong. When you pan-fry silver noodles, they become translucent and are just yummilicious. I don't know your location, but you can get silver noodles at 99 Ranch ("For 100 we try harder!") in California and Nevada, and at any Asian grocery store. Tue Oct 23 16:55:29 -0700 2001 1549756 0 Dave L 2 1549993 I was interested from your post that sometimes the cellophane noodles are called silver noodles by the thais - the silver pin noodles in chinese restaurants are a completely different beast, sort of like some of the handmade italian pastas. They are short, fat and rolled to a point on both ends (thus the "pin" name)If my cookbook had not said the {chinese) silver noodles were made of wheat flour and starch, I would have said they were fresh rice flour noodles, they are so white. Perhaps Sometimes they are - one online source said that laksa noodles, which are fat fresh rice noodles, were a decent substitute. Tue Oct 23 22:32:16 -0700 2001 1549975 0 jen kalb