Menzi () is a special snack popular in the regions of

Jiaodong Peninsula The Shandong (Shantung) Peninsula or Jiaodong (Chiaotung) Peninsula is a peninsula in Shandong Province in eastern China, between the Bohai Sea to the north and the Yellow Sea to the south. The latter name refers to the east and Jiaozhou. G ...

Liaodong Peninsula The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

and

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

in China. It is mainly distributed in the cities of

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

Dandong Dandong (), formerly known as Andong, is a coastal prefecture-level city in southeastern Liaoning province, in the northeastern region of People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese border city, facing Sinuiju, North Korea across the ...

Tangshan Tangshan () is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in the central area of the Boha ...

Dingzhou Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...

, and

Qinhuangdao Qinhuangdao (; ) is a port city on the coast of China in northern Hebei. It is administratively a prefecture-level city, about east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. Its population during the 2020 national ...

, among other places. The main ingredient is cold noodle made of tapioca starch, accompanied by sesame sauce.

Origins

There are various sayings about the origin of Menzi; the following is one of them. More than a hundred years ago, two brothers of the Men's family went to

to dry

vermicelli Vermicelli (; , , also , ) is a traditional type of pasta round in section similar to spaghetti. In English-speaking regions it is usually thinner than spaghetti, while in Italy it is typically thicker. The term ''vermicelli'' is also used to ...

. Once they had just finished making the vermicelli, when there was a cloudy day, it could not be dried and was going to be sour. In an emergency, the brothers invited the villagers to fry the vermicelli in oil and eat it with garlic. After eating, the people said in unison that it was delicious and flavorful. So they helped the Men brothers to set up a pot and stove to fry the vermicelli for sale. Although people said it was delicious, no one could tell them the name of the food when asked. One of them thought that it was created by the Men brothers, and fried in oil, so they came out with the name 'Menzi'.

Varieties

Dalian Menzi

Menzi is a famous local snack. It is golden and oily, spicy and lasting aftertaste. Cut the Menzi into several three to four centimeter-long pieces and fry them in a pan of hot oil until golden brown and fragrant on both sides. Spoon them out with a spatula and divide them into several small plates. Then put the garlic paste, sesame sauce, soy sauce and make a sauce. Pour the sauce over the Menzi and eat it with a small fork while it is still hot.

Yantai Menzi

Menzi uses Yantai cold noodles as the main ingredient. The cold noodles are cut into small pieces and fried in a pan until the outside of the noodles become charred. Then served with seasonings such as shrimp oil,

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and '' Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''Asp ...

sesame Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

sauce and

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

sauce. The taste is similar to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

's fried sausage.{{Cite web , last=网易 , date=2020-02-14 , title=北方人爱吃的焖子，到底有多少种？ , url=https://www.163.com/dy/article/F5BOM3MD052484F3.html , access-date=2022-04-20 , website=www.163.com

Yuzhou Menzi

Another name for Yuzhou Menzi is

Xuchang Xuchang (; postal: Hsuchang) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province of China, province in Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe to the s ...

Menzi. Yuzhou Menzi comes from the rural areas of Xuchang. It is made by mixing

tapioca starch Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America. ...

and sweet potato vermicelli, which is usually used for stir-frying and dipping in

sauce.

Dingzhou Menzi

Menzi is made of lean pork and Dingzhou's special yam flour noodles. Dingzhou's Menzi is passed down through the style of each family, each with its own characteristics.

References

Chinese cuisine