eric@chronon.UUCP (Eric Black) (03/07/86)
> My wife has a burning question; she can't seem to sleep nights > without an answer, so I turn to the net for assistance. > > In the movie "The Four Seasons," near the beginning, some friends > are cooking dinner at a country retreat. The man in charge is very > fussy about getting the wok to a specified high temperature (I don't > remember what the temperature was). When he is satisfied with the > temperature, he tosses in a mass of dried something that looks like > compressed noodle. > > Whombah! The mess of dried stuff, the size of your fist, is > suddenly a wokful of noodle. The expansion takes about a second > and a half. If I ever find out that they speeded up the camera > for this scene, I'll be massively pissed. > > So: what is this stuff? Looks like a lot of fun to prepare. > I'd appreciate a name and directions for preparation, if known. > Thanks, y'all. > > Chris > {decwrl,allegra,sun}!pyramid!isieng!chrisk They are "fun see", also called "bean thread" or "cellophane noodles". They are often used in Chinese, Japanese and other Oriental cooking. If soaked in cold water for a couple of hours before use, they are transparent; deep-fried they puff up ~eightfold or more. (One Chinese dish I like to prepare, and those I have served it to enjoy, is called "Ants Climb the Trees". It's basically a meat sauce served on deep-fried fun see. The crackling sound suggests armies of ants climbing and munching in/on leaves.) -- Eric Black "Garbage In, Gospel Out" UUCP: {sun,pyramid,hplabs,amdcad}!chronon!eric VOICE: (415) 941-0403 US SNAIL: Chronon Computer Corp. 2570 El Camino Real W. Suite 206 Mountain View, CA 94040
jon@msunix.UUCP (Otto) (03/08/86)
In article <171@chronon.UUCP>, eric@chronon.UUCP (Eric Black) writes: > > My wife has a burning question; she can't seem to sleep nights > > without an answer, so I turn to the net for assistance. > > > > Whombah! The mess of dried stuff, the size of your fist, is > > suddenly a wokful of noodle. The expansion takes about a second > > and a half. If I ever find out that they speeded up the camera > > for this scene, I'll be massively pissed. > > They are "fun see", also called "bean thread" or "cellophane noodles". That's funny, I'm Chinese and I call them "rice noodles". :^) They are also used in Chinese Chicken Salad and Szechaun Beef. And yes, they do puff up that fast. Local interest only --> A good oriental grocery store is at the corner of Wolfe Road and Old San Francisco Road in Sunnyvale. A few stores down is a Chinese restaurant where you can buy BBQ pork or takeout Chinese food (BBQ pork is ok, food is of unknown quality). Bitchin' Camaro! Jonathan Hue Bitchin' Camaro! LMSC-Mechanisms & Servos Tire Tracks Across your Lawn! (c) The Dead Milkmen, 1985 {amdcad!cae780,sun!sunncal}!leadsv!msunix!jon
rtummers1@watrose.UUCP (Richard Tummers) (03/08/86)
> > > > In the movie "The Four Seasons," near the beginning, some friends > > are cooking dinner at a country retreat. The man in charge is very > > fussy about getting the wok to a specified high temperature (I don't > > remember what the temperature was). When he is satisfied with the > > temperature, he tosses in a mass of dried something that looks like > > compressed noodle. > > > > Whombah! The mess of dried stuff, the size of your fist, is > > suddenly a wokful of noodle. The expansion takes about a second > > and a half. If I ever find out that they speeded up the camera > > for this scene, I'll be massively pissed. > > > > So: what is this stuff? Looks like a lot of fun to prepare. > > I'd appreciate a name and directions for preparation, if known. > > Thanks, y'all. > > > > Chris > > {decwrl,allegra,sun}!pyramid!isieng!chrisk > > They are "fun see", also called "bean thread" or "cellophane noodles". > They are often used in Chinese, Japanese and other Oriental cooking. > If soaked in cold water for a couple of hours before use, they are > transparent; deep-fried they puff up ~eightfold or more. > > (One Chinese dish I like to prepare, and those I have served it to enjoy, > is called "Ants Climb the Trees". It's basically a meat sauce served > on deep-fried fun see. The crackling sound suggests armies of ants > climbing and munching in/on leaves.) > The Dutch have a similar dish as well, called 'Kroepoek'. It is not a noodle dish per se, but is prepared by deep frying in hot (450-500 Farenheit) fat, and it expands many times it's origional size in a few seconds. Simple to cook, all you do is drop it in hot fat, and take it out a few seconds (5-10) later. Another chinese dish, known by the english name 'shrimp chips' is also similar in preparation and properties. > -- > Eric Black "Garbage In, Gospel Out" > UUCP: {sun,pyramid,hplabs,amdcad}!chronon!eric > VOICE: (415) 941-0403 > US SNAIL: Chronon Computer Corp. > 2570 El Camino Real W. Suite 206 > Mountain View, CA 94040