Hand-Pulled Beef Noodles

The first person to cook Lanzhou hand-pulled beef noodles that now one can never have enough would deserve much appreciation for his first attempt to make this dish, especially for those who are faithful to it, they will definitely show the extreme admiration. Chen Weijing, the first icon who made the noodle was ever the student of Directorate of Imperial Academy during the reign of Emperor Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty. He was well-known for not only his benevolence but also his mastery of excellent cooking skills during his schooling at the Directorate, thus having quite an influence among his peers.

Seeing that his classmate Ma Liuqi had a difficult living during his studies, Chen just taught Ma his patrimonial skills of cooking beef noodles in the hope that this could help relieve Ma's living pressure. Subsequently, Ma brought his cooking skills into Jin City (now "Lanzhou") and then opened a noodle restaurant there with proper operation. Before long he made the business of the restaurant boom and the noodles began to spread among the folks. Since then, Chen Hesheng, Chen's descendant and Ma Baozi, a Hui's chef, successively innovated the cooking of beef noodles, thereafter they finally reached the point that the standard of beef noodles were established as the following: "One Light", "Two White's", "Three Red's", "Four Green's" and "Five Yellow's". During the subsequent 200 years, the beef noodles were ranked the "Chinese Top Ten Noodles" for the tender beef, fresh soup and the finely-prepared noodles.

In the year of 2007, the first "Lanzhou Hand-Pulled Beef Noodles Festival of China" was launched in Red Oriental Square of Lanzhou. Meanwhile, the "Big Cow Bowl" statue, the sign of Lanzhou Hand-Pulled Beef Noodles were shown there as well. The ten "Most Popular Beef Noodles Restaurant" selected by Beef Noodles Festival were the first restaurants to use this sign.

Unstrained Sweet Liquor

Unstrained sweet liquor, or the unstrained liquor, is one kind of traditional snack of local Han People to Gansu Province. While a southerner first comes to Lanzhou and has a look at the unstrained sweet liquor, he or she would naturally consider it as the fermented glutinous rice wine that is common in the South, with a different name merely. As a matter of fact, nevertheless, the two drinks are totally different. Both the raw materials and the cooking methods are different-the raw material of unstrained sweet liquor is hulless oat, one variety of coarse food grain, which resembles glutinous rice but actually not. The unstrained sweet liquor was made out of hulless oats would taste mellow and more pleasant to drink.

The key to prepare the unstrained sweet liquor with the best taste lies in the fermenting process, which is in turn dependent on the control over the temperature. The unsealing of the fermented liquor would take into consideration the seasonal differences, a decision to be made by the producer based on his or her experience. As one might expect, the liquor prepared manually would taste much more authentic than those processed by assembly lines. It is also noteworthy that sweet liquor that is formed out of repeated fermenting is very precious, not only for the mellow taste but also for the high nutritious values, and that the liquor is quite desirable for drinking during summer time.

The high-quality yet inexpensive unstrained sweet liquor is extremely popular with local folks. In addition to the home-made one, there is also a lot for sale. One would expect to see the stall everywhere selling the unstrained sweet liquor in the high streets and back lanes of the county towns. Carrying one shoulder pole with two big bamboo baskets, the old men and women also carry the smile everywhere when they sell the sweet and shining white liquor contained in the washbasins. Just a bowl of the liquor would allow one to feel the sweetness like that of candy, to promote the secretion of saliva and refresh himself or herself from the exhaust, and can indeed one to indulge in the pleasure and happiness in that bowl of liquor. The impressiveness can only be expressed by a sentence used in Lanzhou vernacular-full of happiness!

Stewed Lamb

As the account in Essentials of Medicine Medica goes, "Ginseng replenishes the vital energy for humans while the mutton nourishes the body." Mutton has always been used as a raw material for cooking to keep out the cold of the bodies and replenish the vital energy. For the fact that the mutton can warm the torso, replenish the vital energy, nutrish the body, keep out of the cold and develop muscles adding strengths to the body, since Song Dynasty the mutton has been used as the main ingredient for court cuisine. Particularly in Qing Dynasty, the royal court loved a lot of the mutton. The stewed lamb is one of the dishes made of mutton then, with Lanzhou Stewed Lamb most famous across the nation.

One living in Lanzhou cannot resist the food of mutton. Lanzhou people are not only fond of mutton, but also skilled in cooking dishes of mutton. Since the sheep in Northwestern China has been growing on feeding the grass by Yellow River, the lamb would taste very palatable with little typical odor found in sheep from other areas. The cooking of lamb with additions of potatoes, green peppers and hand-made rice noodles would make a perfect match of both mutton and vegetables, not only upgrading the taste but also achieving a more balanced dietary pattern. It is noteworthy that the rice noodles in the dish are hand-made locally, an ingredient that can be enjoyed safely and taste really nice. As the stapled food in the stewed lamb, the rice noodles would taste to the best extent if one dips the noodles into the juice of stewed lamb.

Soften Freezing Pear

The soft pear is nearly round in shape, looks yellow-green and has a thick pericarp and hard pulp. In winter, the soft pear would be frozen to become an icy ball, and later melts at the weak part, a cycle that would repeat several times before the matters contained in soft pears finally transform, by which time the pear would taste much sweeter and turn into brown from the earlier yellow-green color.

Regarding to this palatable fruit, there is a story. It is said that during the South Song Dynasty, when an eminent monk who was on his tour for begging for alms stopped by a farmer's house in an attempt to ask for some water to drink. The farmer gave some brown and soft pears to the monk. Having not seen such pears before, the monk asked the farmer what kind of pears these were. The farmer replied that a bite would answer his question. While the eminent monk tried some bites, he gave his acclaim for the pears: "Although the pears look brown and ugly, it tastes so sweet and refreshing. It is indeed delicious."

In spite of a poor look yet good taste,the soft pears really enjoy an advantage of practical value that the pears are highly nutritious, capable of clearing away heat and toxic materials and promoting the secretion of saliva or body fluid while removing the phlegm. In the memory of most Lanzhou locals, the soft pears to them was cough syrup to the patients. Today while we are now subject to the harms by haze, it is worth our consideration whether to value the soft pears as the natural cure for bodies against the negative consequences from haze.

Lanzhou Grey Beans

Red beans and green beans got their names for the appearance they have-being red or green. Thus presumably, is it the case that grey beans got the name for its grey look? As the coincidence might be, the beans appear heather grey, resembling grey to some extent. However, as a matter of fact, "grey" in the name refers to the Peng-hui, a variety of edible alkali extracted from a plant typical of Lanzhou. As a result, if we put a more straightforward and simple fashion to describe the grey beans, it would be:a soup made of peas with additional edible alkali.

Nevertheless, the gray beans are different from other bean porridges in that grey beans porridge containing Peng-hui. For the effect of Peng-hui, the beans taste much more softer, but retain its outer shape without being grinded, plus the more dense and thicker soup. Adding several sweet red dates will give the grey beans a more particular flavor.

Being so tasty and nutritious, the grey beans would impress you by just a bowl of it even though you are not from Lanzhou locally, which lives up to a famous comment: Should you find it to your satisfaction, then please enjoy more of it! It is really difficult for one to stop eating the grey beans!

Starch Solution Noodles

Starch solution noodles are common in Linxia, Tianshui and Dingxi of Gansu Province and Hanzhong of Shaanxi Province, but the way of eating might vary to some extent among different areas. However, the most famous and popular one is starch solution noodles in Lanzhou.

In mid-summer time, the Lanzhou folks would unanimously have the starch solution noodles. A bowl of starch solution noodles, with the addition of a spoon of hot pepper sauce, plus a plate of Sichuan-style pepper, a cold dish of mixed green vegetables, pork feet and sparebid cooked with five spice, so forth, tastes light yet delicious, bringing up a joyful atmosphere.

This kind of matching is considered to be very reasonable and exquisite. The tasty and refreshing Starch solution noodles can ease the oil and grease of the meat, allowing the poor-appetite people in summer time to have it with great pleasure; what's more, the plentiful varieties of side dishes can just lift the starvation out of everyone. Besides, the starch solution itself during summer time could also serve as the drinks for sunstroke prevention and be taken directly. Therefore, the starch solution could be said to be the "One of Treasures in Gansu".