Ants climbing a tree () is a classic

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

dish in

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...

. The name of the dish in Chinese, ''Mayishangshu'', has been translated as "ants climbing a tree", "ants on the tree", "ants creeping up a tree", "ants climbing a hill" or "ants climbing a log". It is so called because the dish has bits of ground meat clinging to noodles, evoking an image of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

s walking on twigs. The dish consists of

ground meat Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...

, such as pork, cooked in a sauce and poured over bean thread noodles. Other ingredients in the dish may include

rice vinegar Rice vinegar is a vinegar made from fermented rice in East Asia (China, Japan and Korea), as well as in Vietnam in Southeast Asia. It is used as a seasoning, dressing, and dipping in many dishes, including sushi, jiaozi, and banchans. Some of i ...

, soy sauce, vegetable oil,

sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. ...

scallion Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus '' Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, c ...

s, garlic, ginger, and chili paste. To make the "ants", meat is

marinate Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. The origin of the word alludes to the use of brine (''aqua marina'' or sea water) in the pickling process, which led to the technique of adding flav ...

d for a short time at room temperature while the noodles are soaked to soften. In a

wok A wok (; Pinyin: ; Cantonese ) is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan from China. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in China and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as ...

, oil is heated until almost smoking. The scallions, garlic, and ginger are cooked slightly in the wok before the marinated meat is added. The softened noodles are added to the wok to soak up the flavor and juices. Dry noodles that have not yet been softened can also be fried in hot oil to add texture to the dish. The noodles will puff immediately and can be removed with a bamboo or stainless wire skimmer, then set on paper towels to drain before adding to the rest of the dish. File:P1180314-HormigasSubenAlArbol.jpg, Ants climbing a tree

References

External links

Ants in Trees
recipe by

Alton Brown Alton Crawford Brown Jr. (born July 30, 1962) is an American television personality, food show presenter, chef, author, voice actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show '' Good Eats'' that ran for ...

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ants Climbing A Tree Sichuan cuisine Chinese noodle dishes Ground meat