Beef chow fun, also known as gōn cháau ngàuh hó or gānchǎo níuhé in Chinese (乾炒牛河) meaning "dry fried beef Shahe noodles", is a staple Cantonese dish, made from stir-frying

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, ''

hor fun ''Shahe fen'' (沙河粉), or simply ''he fen'' (河粉), is a type of wide Chinese noodle made from rice. Its Minnan Chinese name, translated from the Mandarin 粿條 (''guotiao''), is adapted into alternate names which are widely encounter ...

'' (wide rice noodles) and

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s. It is commonly found in '' yum cha'' restaurants in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, and overseas, as well as in ''

cha chaan teng ''Cha chaan teng'' (; "tea restaurant"), often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan teng are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to th ...

s''. Chow fun, or stir-fried hor fun (''

shahe fen ''Shahe fen'' (沙河粉), or simply ''he fen'' (河粉), is a type of wide Chinese noodle made from rice. Its Minnan Chinese name, translated from the Mandarin 粿條 (''guotiao''), is adapted into alternate names which are widely encounter ...

'') noodles, is any number of different individual preparations (and could be compared to the number of

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, on ...

varieties in United States cuisine). In the

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, it is called "beef hofan" ( 河粉). The main ingredient of this dish is ''hor fun'' noodles, which is also known as ''shahe fen'', originating in the town of Shahe in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

. It is a wide, flat noodle that is cut into shape ('' qiefen''). The most common methods of cooking ''hor fun'' are in soup or stir fried. ''Hor fun'' can be dry-fried (fried only with condiments such as soy sauce) or wet-fried (fried with a thickening sauce). Today, the dry-fried variant is much more common, to the extent that the method is usually not specified—"hor fun" on a restaurant menu would refer to dry-fried hor fun. Sliced beef is

marinated 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 flavor b ...

first. Then, the beef is seared in a wok. Other ingredients and the ''hor fun'' noodles are added, then combined with the beef and sauce. The

bean sprouts Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth. In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...

are then

stir-fried Stir frying () is a cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and t ...

with the rest of the chow fun until they are tender and the dish is ready to serve. An important factor in the making of this dish is '' wok hei'' (). The cooking must be done over a high

flame A flame (from Latin '' flamma'') is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density the ...

and the stirring must be done quickly. Not only must the ''hor fun'' be stirred quickly, it must not be handled too strongly or it will break into pieces. The amount of oil also needs to be controlled very well; if not, the excess oil or dry texture will ruin the dish. Because of these factors, this dish is a major test for chefs in Cantonese cooking.

History

The origin of chow fun is unknown, but there is a legend concerning the origin of dry-fried chow fun:

References

{{Guangdong topics Beef dishes Cantonese cuisine Chinese noodle dishes Fried noodles Hong Kong noodle dishes Soy-based foods

History

See also

References