Frog Scratching Noodles

Frog Scratching Noodles

　　Frog Scratching Noodles

　　Frog Scratching Noodles, also known as “Scraped Noodles,” is a distinctive local noodle dish from Yonghe County and other areas. The preparation method is simple and convenient, making it especially suitable for group settings with many people. Hotels and guesthouses in Yonghe County often serve Frog Scratching Noodles to visiting guests from other regions and senior leaders.

　　To make this noodle dish, the following steps are essential:

　　1. Have the scraping tool — the “noodle scraper bed.” It has slightly wider holes than a vegetable scraper, resembling crescent moons and scaled like fish scales, and must be made of copper to prevent rusting, facilitate cleaning, and allow easy washing. The larger scraper beds have a frame over three feet long, while the smaller ones are around one and a half feet.

　　2. There's no need to knead or roll the dough — just mix it into small lumps and scrape them directly into boiling water.

　　3. The dough can be made with wheat flour alone, or mixed with corn flour, sorghum flour, bean flour, starch, or elm bark flour.

　　4. When scraping the noodles, work swiftly. After scraping one lump of dough, dip the tool in water before moving on to the next, otherwise the hot scraper bed will cause the dough to stick.

　　5. The water temperature for the dough should be moderate — the dough should be soft but manageable. If too soft, it won’t hold its shape when scraped; if too hard, it won’t come out smoothly. So, when mixing the dough, most of it should be moist powder with a bit of dry flour still remaining.