Pingnan Mandarin Duck Noodles

Pingnan Mandarin Duck Noodles

　　Mandarin Duck Noodles are a local specialty of Pingnan, a mountainous city. With an amber hue, smooth texture, and elasticity, they are not only a beloved local delicacy but also a highly regarded medicinal dish, winning widespread popularity among food enthusiasts. Their fame has grown alongside the increasing influence of the Yuanyang Stream and Baishuiyang Scenic Area. Mandarin Duck Noodles are like the star performers on stage, whose glamorous stories are not known to everyone.

　　Mandarin Duck Noodles are actually made from bitter oak flour. The bitter oak, also poetically called the "Mandarin Duck Fruit," comes in two types: one with slightly oval fruits that have an astringent taste and grow on shrubs, and another with rounder fruits that are bitter and grow on trees. Every late autumn, when the bitter oak fruits ripen, local women head up the mountains to pick or gather them, then carry them back home in sacks. First, the fruits are soaked in water for several hours before being spread out in the sun to dry. Once their hard shells crack open, the shells are removed one by one. The shelled flesh is then placed in buckets and soaked in water for one or two days. Afterward, it is taken to a mill to be ground, then brought back home to be filtered, with the residue discarded and the powder retained. The filtered powder is further soaked in clean water for another day or two before the water is poured off to eliminate the bitterness of the bitter oak.

　　Once the bitterness of the bitter oak powder is largely removed, it can be processed into Mandarin Duck Noodles. There are two methods for making the noodles. One involves mixing the bitter oak powder with water to achieve a suitable consistency, pouring it into a basin to a certain thickness, then briefly placing the basin over boiling water before quickly removing it. After cooling slightly, the noodles can be peeled off, cut into strips, and dried in the sun. This method is similar to the traditional rural practice of making rice noodles. The other method involves stirring the bitter oak powder in a pot to form a paste, letting it cool, then cutting it into blocks before slicing them into strips, which are also dried in the sun. This approach resembles the traditional rural way of making rice jelly.

　　The dried bitter oak noodles can be stored and, during the New Year, cooked with pork trotters. The resulting dish features QQ-textured noodles with an excellent mouthfeel that also helps cut through the greasiness of the meat broth. For everyday cooking, because the noodles are quite hard, they must first be soaked in water, boiled in hot water, then drained and stir-fried to make them tender enough to bite into.

　　Transforming the bitter or astringent bitter oak fruit into the delicious Mandarin Duck Noodles on your plate requires many processing steps—akin to a rebirth through nirvana, much like a phoenix rising from the ashes. If creating a single dish involves such a profound transformation, how could attaining the pinnacle of life ever be easy? (Jiang Liangre)

　　Source: People's Government of Fujian Province