When first tasked with deciding on a noodle dish to make, I was hesitant given my own (relatively poor) cooking skills. But I decided if there was any time to learn a new dish, it was during quarantine. Having some experience making Italian pasta from my time studying abroad, I decided I wanted to make a traditional Chinese noodle dish. After reaching out to my professor, Dr. Hong Li, I decided on Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup because it entailed a very well-known dish that paired warm, fragranced broth with fresh hand-pulled noodles.

Lanzhou Beef Noodle soup – also known as Lanzhou lamian -- is traditionally paired with hand-pulled noodles that are made just before they reach your bowl. The freshness of the noodles is a defining characteristic of the soup, and a staple in Chinese cuisine. The broth itself is made from beef bones, which spend hours simmering over the stove. It is not until the last hour or so, prior to serving, that we add the spices. While the beef broth is not suitable for vegans or vegetarians, hand-pulled noodles don’t use egg (only flour, salt, and water), so can be paired with a wide variety of other Chinese dishes. Lanzhou Beef Noodle soup is one of the most popular dishes in China and is viewed as popular “to China, as McDonald’s is to the United States”1. It is often served early in the morning as breakfast food and averages out to be only $1 USD per bowl. 2

While the fragrant beef broth is a staple of the soup, the hand-pulled noodles truly define the dish and its global popularity. The history of Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup is just as rich as its flavor. While the history of hand-pulled noodles dates back centuries, the origin of Lanzhou Beef Noodle soup occurred more recently, around 1915, by Ma Baozi, a Muslim man of Hui descent.3 The recipe was formulated by Chinese Muslims, exemplified in the dish by the use of beef, not pork, and wheat flour instead of rice. Muslims had originally entered the region through the west, via the Silk Road, and inhabited cities such as Lanzhou along the Yellow River.4

Today, the city of Lanzhou is often recognized as the authentic source of hand-pulled noodle soup. Hundreds of people travel to the city and surrounding areas of Northern China to experience the traditional Lanzhou soup and try their hand at noodle-pulling. A growing industry is noodle soup schools, which teach intensive courses on perfecting the hand-pulled noodle and beef soup. In fact, many hope to bring this talent back home with them to potentially open Lanzhou noodle shops and take advantage of the global phenomenon. Despite the growing globalization of Lanzhou beef soup, the culture has, so far, remained free of “centralized chains or monopolies” within China and is instead built on individual shops, with more than 20,000 shops in China alone. 5

However, it is not difficult to find hand-pulled noodle shops opening in various regions around the world. Some shop owners, such as Liu Haokun, owner of Tasty Hand-pulled Noodles II in New York City, were born in the Gansu province (home of Lanzhou) and have brought the Lanzhou beef soup recipe to the United States. While there are currently 10 hand-pulled noodle restaurants in New York City, Haokun and many others plan on capitalizing on the cuisine’s popularity by opening more hand-pulled noodle shops across the U.S. and Canada. 6 Overall, while Lanzhou Beef soup and hand-pulled noodles have begun to become a globalized industry, many still return to the city of Lanzhou to learn the authentic process of this traditional Chinese dish.

Reflecting on my own experience cooking Lanzhou noodle soup, I had success with the hand-pulled noodles – not only were they immensely fresh, but they truly allowed me to see (and taste) the fruits of my labor. Pulling the noodles required a lot of patience as I had to carefully pull and twist the dough to ensure I was elongating the noodle without breaking it. While I quickly realized perfecting this process entails years of practice, and probably an extensive lesson at the noodle schools in Lanzhou, I was able to see progress in each subsequent batch. I also thought it was helpful to watch videos of expert chefs in Lanzhou demonstrate pulling the noodles, which enhanced my understanding of the artistic and delicate nature of the process.

Overall, this project allowed me to delve deeper into traditional Chinese noodle dishes. I not only learned about Lanzhou noodle soup’s ties to the Chinese Muslim population, but was also exposed to a global industry of both the soup and hand-pulled noodle restaurants. This project has inspired me to refine my noodle-pulling until I can make it to Lanzhou for an authentic class on the dish and continue to cook and understand traditional cuisines from around the globe.