Chow Fun

Recipe: "Chinese Beef Chow Fun with Broccoli" from Sunday Nite Dinner
Rating: Ok.  I have trouble separating the rice noodles (probably because my noodles aren't fresh enough)
Status: Made once.

The first time I made this, I followed the recipe for "Chinese Beef Chow Fun with Broccoli" from Sunday Nite Dinner.  I made 1/2 the recipe (a little less then 1 pound of noodles and 3/4 pound of flank steak); this was almost too large a quantity for my 12" saute pan, so I would not suggest making a large quantity.  This made enough for about 2 dinners for 2 people.  I used black bean paste (in a jar) instead of dried black beans (since I didn't have any dried black beans) so I just used 1 Tbsp of the paste directly and didn't soak or rinse it.  I needed a lot more oyster sauce then the recipe indicates (about 1/4 of the jar).  You need enough oyster sauce to coat the noodles; you should taste test it, since there is a line between having too much and too little sauce.

You should cook the rice noodles as soon as possible; the longer they sit out the more dried out and brittle they become.  Store them at room temperature--never in the refrigerator.

I slightly messed up the beginning of the recipe since I was confused about what to do about the noodles sticking together in the package.  Since you soak dried rice noodles in hot water, I tried to soak them and break them apart, only to suddenly discover that this is exactly what you are not supposed to do.  See Serious Eats write up on wok skills for dry fried chow fun (the accompanying recipe for their article is here, I didn't follow it since I wanted to have beef in my noodles).  Specifically Serious Eats says that: "Chow Fun noodles offer particular difficulties—they break easily and stick together. You might be tempted to separate them in a bowl of water, but this isn't a good idea. Not only will the water that clings to them make them difficult to sear, it'll also get absorbed, making them mushy."  So you should briefly rinse the noodles when you take them out of the package to remove the excess oil, but don't soak them and don't try to break them apart (if they are flat sheets, it is okay to cut them though).  Luckily I had only soaked them for a few minutes, and the water hadn't penetrated into the noodle block, so most of the noodles were intact.

When you are cooking the noodles, use high heat and a cast iron pan.  Serious Eats also says that: "The only trick needed: use plenty of oil, and to turn them gently one they're in the pan using a wide spatula, allowing them to gently fall apart instead of violently breaking them apart."

Cooking wok-style (in a regular cast-iron pan though) was dramatically different then the sort of cooking that I'm used to since everything happens so fast.  I was bumbling around and stressed because I didn't want to over cook anything.  However, in the end, the noodles tasted fine.  We clearly enjoyed them since we ate lots, so they were very edible, though I think next time I could do better since I'll know what I'm doing.  The one thing that came out really great this time is that I cooked the beef really well; they were mostly cooked with a small amount of pink here and there.

I used regular broccoli, not Chinese broccoli in this.

Recipe: "Dry Fried Chow Fun with Chinese Broccoli" from SeriousEats.com (the accompanying recipe for their article is here)
Rating: Ok.  I have trouble separating the rice noodles (probably because my noodles aren't fresh enough)
Status: Made once.

The second time I made this, I used 1.5 pounds of rice noodles.  I pressed a block of tofu better two plates with a weight on top to remove some of the oil, and then sliced it and coated it in corn starch and pan fried it.  I cooked the Chinese broccoli and onions just as specified in the recipe and then set them aside.  I mixed the sauce into just the noodles first and tossed it around until the noodles started to loosen.  I also had to add some water with the sauces; since the pan was very hot, this prevented everything from burning.  I used a bit too much oyster sauce (I didn't measure it out).  I used whole fermented black beans; 3 Tbsp was a bit too much, so next time I would only use 2 Tbsp.   After the noodles were as separated as I could get them (I still have a lot of trouble separating the noodles), I added the vegetables and tofu and a tiny bit more water so that the sauce would flavor them and tossed them for a minute or two more until the extra water evaporated.  Next time I would cook the noodles in two batches, since once you add the vegetables, the amount of ingredients gets large and it becomes hard to toss the noodles.

The Chinese broccoli was nice in this.