Hand Pulled Noodle, The Secret

The kitchen was the greatest lab for human culture. Through endless trials and errors, noodles of various shapes were developed. Our desire for thinner and longer noodles has made the creative invention possible. "Kaifung, China" China is where this kind of experiment occurs most often. The most popular noodle at the street markets in China is the handmade noodle. Out of about one thousand noodle dishes, the handmade noodle is most representative of China. After repeatedly kneading and twisting the dough, like magic a chewy noodle is made. The handmade noodle was originally from Shaanxi, known as the hometown of the noodle. This is a high-speed film view of the process of making handmade noodles. After throwing down and stretching the dough 14 times, it is divided into 16,000 noodle strands. However, aside from the chef's incredible technique, there is another secret behind this. "Yungang Cave Temple" The clue to this mystery lies in an unexpected place. The Yungang Cave Temple in Shaanxi, is the largest cave temple in China. This cliff monument carved 1,500 years ago during the Northern Wie Era, is the representative Buddhist monument. This delicate and beautiful cave has such high artistic value that it was designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage. However, this place is in a crisis. It's because the images of Buddha began to corrode from a long time ago. The images in the inner areas with a lot of humidity especially have become hard to recognize. Why has this happened? Experts suspect the materials in the subterranean water of this region. We decided to go into the 150-year-old well in a neighboring village. To get water from this unused well, we had to go in more than 30m. The water was found dozens of meters further down from the bottom. The water was immediately tested for its acidity level. If the result of the test shows it to be over 7 pH, it is considered alkaline. Many wells in the same Shaanxi region, contain alkaline in its subterranean water. The secret of their noodles lies in the dough. They add a little salt and water to the flour. And they added something else. They put this powder in the water for the dough. This powder made the water alkaline. And in turn, it makes the dough elastic. The secret of the handmade noodle was the alkaline water. The alkaline water used during the kneading process, maximized the gluten, which is a protein that gives elasticity to the dough. The magic of the handmade noodle is the result of the mysterious power of nature in addition to the Chinese chef's creativity.