Hey guys, a few notes: 1. For a “general formula” for Yee Mein exploration (1) par-cook the noodles until just before al dante (i.e. there’s still a touch of hardness in the center) (2) season ¾ cup - 1 cup of stock - or some flavorful stock-like liquid - and finish the Yee Mein in it. If you have any additional sauce, mix it in with the noodles after. So like… if you wanted to try to get all fun and wacky with a ragu Yee Mein… I’d finish the noodles in beef stock, then mix the ragu in. 2. Ok, so I (Chris) am probably a bit less hard on the classic cheesy lobster Yee Mein than Steph is. If you’re curious about that version, do check out 職人吹水’s video on the topic: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-trkiFPIf5Fc.html 3. Over on the Patreon Discord, the Furu fermented tofu in white sauce trick ended up eliciting a flurry of discussion whether furu could be used in a vegan mac n’ cheese. Unfortunately, that ‘cheesiness’, I think, comes from that specific combination of milk, milk powder, and furu. That said, someone on the server said that plant milk together with nutritional yeast and furu ended up producing the closest thing to a cheese sauce that they’ve had before (though apparently the texture was still off). 4. On that note, for the vegetarians in the room, the pork is totally optional in the first shiitake mushroom Yee Mein. 5. Oh, and for the morbidly curious… a few months back I shared my ‘Furu Mac’ recipe to a subreddit of other China expats if you’re interested: www.reddit.com/r/chinalife/comments/q2957v/recipes_for_china_mac_n_cheese_using_what_we_got/ A couple alterations from that I’d recommend: (1) just like this video, even adding 2-3 tbsp of grated parm goes a long way to adding depth (2) recently I’ve been souring a little on the use of custard powder, and instead opt for milk powder and (3) adding a touch of turmeric for color can be nice. Serve the Furu Mac alongside Hong Kong style curry fishballs and stir fried broccoli with garlic for a nice, complete, third culture meal. 6. One thing that we perhaps neglected to mention in the video… when par-cooking, make sure you’re boiling the Yee Mein in a LOT of water. You want to minimize breakage. If you don’t own a large wok, boil these noodles in a stock pot. 7. Regarding the use of brandy, I might’ve been a little fast and loose with my words when I said “a lot of Cantonese chefs seem to reach for it when making Canto-western…”. Should’ve been a little less strong, something like “you can see it used at times in Canto-western…”. A small mistake, but I don’t want people to run around thinking that Brandy’s like this hyper common thing or anything. 8. Random aside though: the Changyu (the Chinese brand of brandy) corporate video that I used a couple seconds of in the video is simply a thing of beauty: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2zocpPBNWOE.html 9. Yee Mein is a simply fantastic noodle in a wonton noodle. Unfortunately, many noodle shops don’t seem to do it much nowadays. 10. Huge thank you to our Patron, Discord user Ping Ping (a.k.a. Level 99 Mooncake Masticator) for the picture of the Yee Mein at 99 Ranch. For the curious, that's the 99 Ranch in Van Nuys that 100% carries it. 11. So... assuming that 50,000 people watch this video, 30% make it to the end, and half of those people make it to the comments… happy birthday to the ~28 people reading this comment :) That’s all I can think of for now. Apologies again for the super long video - the more we do this the gassier we seem to get.
18 minutes is not a long video considering you have two recipes and a rant. 😉 The two of you cover so much detail and context the time is very well spent.
I didn't think it was long at all! Thanks for the bean sprout substitution. Veggies at my Asian market seem to vary month to month. I always go with an open mind.
I always appreciate the footnotes for extra guidance on nuances in technique or other things to look out for that don't always make it to the video. Thanks again for some more great recipes to try out.
It was a HUGE miss to not show (stage) Steph's first taste of Chris's take on the cursed not-lobster-mac-and-cheese after building up that she's never liked any of it.
That being missing made me come away with the impression that she didn't like it. 1 - Steph talks about how she's never liked the dish 2 - Chris goes through his version of the dish that he thinks she might like 3 - Cut back to Steph who wishes someone a happy birthday, and then eats some of the Shiitake and pork Yee Mein
@@toothgnash Haha we answered this farther down in the comments, I'll just link a screenshot because I don't want to put words in Steph's mouth :) i.ibb.co/gTQv8vR/Untitled.png
@@ChineseCookingDemystified yeah i think we deserve a video of just Steph and her dad eating cheesy noodles and shrimps. you may even need to spring for the lobster this time. great episode team! :D
Lobster Yee mein with cheese(龍蝦伊麵） is my favourite dishes of all time,I remember when I was young my family and I always go to the Chinese restaurant and we always have this.
Some food for thought: you can skip the American Cheese (not invented by Americans, oddly) for some better cheeses without sacrificing texture by using sodium citrate. Its a fantastic emulsifier I recently converted to, and can replace processed cheese or a roux in a cheese-sauce recipe. You can also use it to make your own processed cheese if you have a mold.
Yeah I've played around with that before, but I feel that sodium citrate works a little... too well? Like, things end up a little on the "nacho-cheesy" side (for lack of a better word)... though I'm sure it's just a portioning issue. I guess I just prefer my sodium citrate in sheet cheese form lol. Also has the advantage that I don't need to purchase it online :)
I wanted to make the cheesy yee mein with shrimp so bad but I didnt have all the right ingredients. We dont get yee mein noodles in Qatar, mostly canton pancit noodles because of the big Filipino community here. I used what I had in my kitchen cupboard, that being spaghetti, digestive yeast instead of the fermented tofu for the cheese sauce and whisky instead of brandy, creamed cheese instead of the sheet cheese. Its still a delicious meal at the end of the day! Thank you for all your great recipes and content. It is much appreciated.
Made this for my birthday dinner, using wild garlic instead of jiu huang or jiu cai, and with dried shrimp stock instead of shrimp shell stock and it was awesome! Definitely one of my favourite noodle types after having seen this!
One hour for fish or seafood stock?! Isnt that a bit long? I have learned that 30mins is about the right cooking time for something like that, if cooked longer the stock can turn a bit bitter
American-style cheese gets that gooey texture from being processed with sodium citrate (which, amusingly, has the chemical formula of NaCHO, if you drop the numbers). It's easy to source and gives you some flexibility in making gooey cheese that's got a bit more culinary street cred than sheet cheese.
If you only need a little bit it's incredibly easy to make yourself, just mix some citric acid and baking soda in water, and boil the water off. The remaining powder will be sodium citrate. Use roughly 1.25 parts baking soda to 1 part citric acid per volume.
Thanks, came here to make this comment. There is a whole WORLD of interesting salts out there, including sodium citrate, monosodium glutamate, sodium bicarbonate, the list goes on. Their flavors and properties are varied and impressive, and any home cooking nerd would do well to familiarize themselves.
The weirdest thing... My wife said to me yesterday, "I have these Chinese noodles. Do you know how to cook them?" I went to look a Chinese Cooking Demystified today and... Yes... Yes, there is a video about these noodles :-) Good thing I didn't look yesterday...
Fermented tofu is used in some vegan cheese substitutes to give it a cheesy flavor, so it makes sense that it could also intensify the flavor of real cheese!
Nutritional yeast is used in both vegan chicken broth and vegan cheese because it also has a cheesey, almost meaty flavor. I think both could be great for these noodles!
was thinking the same about LaoGanMa "fermented tofu in chilli oil", that thing is uncannily similar to some very strong blue cheese when added to sauces/stir fry.
You're right about the fermented tofu though. I bought some for a sauce, and it said CHINESE CHEESE on the lid. I laughed. What? I'm going to spread it on crostini or something? Turns out, yes, I'm going to do that. It reminds me of a spreadable mild bleu cheese, it's honestly amazing.
Woaj. American vegans must have brain damage to not be looking out for these things and spreading the word, I've never heard of this in my life and it sounds amazing.
Quick tip: if you're not sure, always pre-boil the yee mein before cooking. Some brands of yee mein "bleed" excess oil, small particles and/or lye water when they are boiled. If you are used to it and you are using strong sauces you could boil them directly, but otherwise it could easily affect the quality of the sauce/stock and the final product.
The ones ive been eating growing up tend to have more colour to it, yellowish to brown or dark brown. And if the sauce is that thick, we usually just pour it right on top of the noodle straight out of the packet. Maybe some restaurant fry them again before serving, but the ones that get boiled first are usually when served with soup that arent that thick. Personally i prefer them to be crispy and just have that sauce to just sit on top of it and slowly soften it while still having some crispy bits where the sauce doesnt touch.
10:23 老冯烤羊蝎子馆 once recommended covering the shrimp in dry corn/potato starch and washing it off to effectively remove the slime. I've never tried it myself but it might be worth a shot when you are not generous with running water haha
The dog looks so angry with the trim, yet keeps slapping ur arm for pets 😂 adorable, what a good boi Also 08:00 I wasn't quite signing up for the existential dread but thank you none the less :D
@@OlEgSaS32 Yeah unfortunately we had to film this one over three days. Day 1 cheesy Yi Mein, Day 2 Mushroom Yi Mein, Day 3 Steph talking to the camera and eating shot. We didn't want the cheesy Yi Mein to sit too long, and it was a long day of filming on that first day anyway, so... we devoured it right after :) I want to make it for Steph's Dad next time we cook for him (fancy Cantonese stuff's always a nice way to impress him haha), and maybe we can film the two of them eating it & put it on IG stories -Chris
lobster with cheesy yi mien was my extended family’s regular dish at the Hung Hom restaurant where we had dinner every Sunday when I was studying in HK. That restaurants version never disappointed, I can still taste the thin cheesiness of the sauce. When my dad recreated it at home in NYC, he basically took the cheese powder from a box of white cheddar Kraft mac and cheese and added some garlicky goodness to the base. (similar to when he would make cauliflower cheese bake at home, a HKified British classic)
I feel like Cantonese fascination with using brandy in cooking is flavour + prestige (using the XO stuff a bit like western cuisine use caviar/gold flakes) and maybe a little nostalgia, at least for me. The way I remember those dishes made by my parents (chicken wings and whole crab) you could actually taste and smell the brandy pretty well, so definitely heavy on 'adult flavour' as another cooking RU-vidr would say. :D Maybe not totally suited for children and one of the reasons why you were not allowed to have more than a few pieces... Yee Mein on the other hand was my goto restaurant favorite. The local classic version was a vegetarian one with enoki mushrooms and pack full of flavour/umami that would make even the meatlovers drool. I'm definitely going to try making your cheesy version for my parents birthdays.
Ye Mein noodles are absolutely one of the best noodles around! unfortunately I was diagnosed with coeliac disease ~1yr or so ago so I cannot enjoy them anymore, but I still love watching your all of videos for cooking inspiration!
Same boat! Have you found a decent replacement? It is not the same butt I find thick cut rice noodles/wide rice stick to be decent. They are nothing alike but they have the sauce cling nicely and absorb flavor well if you soften them in the sauce instead of water.
@@nikkiewhite476 no unfortunately I have not found a decent replacement! I do love edamame noodles + rice noodles though, there are also some decent gf ramen noodles out there. The edamame noodles have tons of protein + fiber, plus a satisfying texture. I have actually been meaning to get thick/ wide rice noodles so thanks for the reminder + tip!
Chinese mac and cheese! Never imagined I'd see the day. Having worked at place in Portland, ME that served a ton of lobster mac, I can say that your adaptations are quite clever, and if anyone has a problem with using "American" / processed cheese, just about any bog standard cream cheese should make for a suitable substitute. You just have to mechanically blend it more thoroughly. (Stick blenders work well here if you don't want to dirty your blender carafe.)
Dude! The fermented tofu makes so much sense, I can’t believe I never thought of adding it to cheese sauce. It totally has that red rind ripened cheese vibe.
That place was awesome! A number of years back me and Steph traveled to Portland and went to that place to have a seafood feast. Lobster, scallops, uni... whipped it up back at the AirBnB. Was one of Steph's favorite meals in the USA
I am half Italian (from Bologna on my mother's side) and half Peruvian (which for too-long-to-explain reasons we love Cantonese cuisine), so I know my noodles. That being said I completely agree with Steph: Yee Mein are the BEST oriental noodles while Tagliatelle are the best western noodles. We are lucky enough to have at least two local brands of Yee Mein that are as good as the ones made in China.
Yee mein is subpar even in Hong Kong. I had it in Foshan & was blown away. So fluffy, so airy yet greaseless, but with an unctuous bite as the porous noodles have sponged up all the sauce. Mass produced Yee mein (greasy, too much lye) just can't compare to artisanal noodle makers in China. I think your American audience will have a hard time sourcing quality Yee mein. Never understood the lobster cheese sauce either. It was probably very novel back in the day (& the ONLY time my grandparents would enjoy "cheese") but processed cheese & cornstarch sort of cheapens the whole lux lobster flex. But more modern Chinese restos like Ho Lee Fook are dishing out sublime versions (probably with better cheese combined with processed cheese, & perhaps your not-so-secret fermented tofu trick) of this old-school Cantonese-European fusion Yee mein classic nowadays. PS) Your doggo always wants Steph's attention even when she's not eating LOL.
Hey nice Harbor Fish Market shoutout! Best seafood market in New England. Incidentally, lobster prices are insane here in the US now too. I live on the coast of NH, and even here in the epicenter of the lobster fishery, some markets are selling lobster meat for $80 a pound. Those shrimp noodles look stellar btw.
I've attempted to make cheesy Yee Mein with prawns before in the UK, followed a Hong Kong recipe from TVB. Turned out alright, but I found even the cheap most-popular-brand-of-cheese-slice in the UK is too cheesy and didn't taste Cantonese enough. Maybe going the other way and using 'proper' cheese is the way to go instead of trying to replicate the flavours of restaurants in Hong Kong like in the video. Yes, lobster cheesy Yee Mein was totally my favourite dish at banquets.
Can you do a Yat mein recipe please the recipes I see on RU-vid are nothing like how they make it in phila here its a noodle and gravy dish with onions and a protein I always get shrimp yat mein..plz help I know you'll make it authentically
Love hearing the tidbits about the "soy sauce Chinese" cooking....the original sort of fusion! Interesting mix of cuisines from a historical perspective. And the brandy video will be fun to see.
One of my favourites. We often use it at the end of a HotPot at home as it absorbs all the yummy flavours of the built up broth. But one should note that unlike other noodles Yee Mein does have a limited shelf life unlike other dry noodles due to the oils in the noodle going rancid.
Yee Mein is that kind of noodle that you either love or hate, it's true it's much better at absorbing flavor especially from thick broth compared to all noodles, very good tasting too if you like a combination of wet and dry in one bite containing all the broth in it, heck you can even eat the noodle as it is and it tasted like some kind of wheat crackers, the downside of this noodle is that the noodle itself is not as springy as other noodles that made it kinda the worst for some people who love springy noodles because it feels like a combination of hard, dry, and soggy noodles in one package
Hi Steph and Chris! Please show us more vegetarian dishes, I love your channel so much but I would love to be able to try more of the recipes myself. Thanks!!
My very first thought already from the thumbnail and as a German: this looks like very long Spätzle! For those who don't know: it's a traditional kind of egg noodle from south Germany with a rather rough surface which adheres to sauces or cheese very well due to to being partly made of rough semolina flour and which as a sign of good quality is usually home made by the restaurants offering it.
Thanks for the fantastic video. My Cantonese partner nearly passed out hyperventilating over your cheesy lobster recipe. 😂🦐🦐🦐I’d love to see a collaboration with you and Max Miller from Tasting History about the history of brandy in Cantonese cooking!
yee mein that you buy in the Asian grocery store will usually be in the refridgerated section. If you don't use right away, store in the fridge. If you put it in the pantry, a week or two later, you will find mold growing on the noodles.
fun fact, you dont really need to cook Yee Mee to enjoy it, you can plate an un-cook Yee Mee and just pour your sauce on top of it and wait for a few minutes or so, the sauce will soften the noodle some what but still crunchy, giving you a really interesting texture.
When Steph was explaining yi mian, it just dawned me that the closest we have of those noodles in the PH is what we call "canton" noodles/pancit canton. They're flat, yellowish and puffy and is cooked for "long life" noodles. They're my favorite, more than bihon and vermicelli.
Chris please next time you make macaroni and cheese add a little bit of mustard powder to the cheese sauce. Makes it taste more cheesy. Let me know if you do it
Preserved beancurd with chilli also makes an awesome sauce to go with tong choi. My local Sichuan restaurant makes it and I got addicted so I learned to make it at home.
Yee mein has always been my favorite chinese wheat noodle since I was a kid! I just wish they sold individual portion sized packs. Thanks for sharing this video, will definitely pick some up at my local chinese grocery store to try one of these recipes soon!
Thanks for including 'maybe' in the title. It's come to the point that if I see a youtuber telling me what I've never seen before, I will for sure not click the link. Love the content, long-time fan!
Haha yeah I mean, part of the job is to grab (being an internet creator these days isn't *too* far off from being a newspaper boy on the streets on Manhattan in the heyday of yellow journalism), but like, a whole host of the people watching these videos probably already know about Yee Mein - it's a Cantonese classic, after all
Didn't realize the Malaysian Yee Mee I've been eating since I was a kid was the same as in this video, they looks pretty similar but also unfamiliar at the same time
Wow! Incredible work guys - thank you for all the work going into researching and making this one - I will definitely be looking out for opportunities to try the first ever iteration. I have memories of eating the lobster yee mein every time I visited my grandma in Hong kong (: All my appreciation to all the hard work that you guys put into these videos! Your videos have a lot of heart!
This is some nasty fusion concoction. Cheese and noodles don't go together. Lately Koreans have been putting cheese into everything. Noodles and dairy is the worst combo.
You forgot to flame that brandy! I was so dissapointed :(. Actually using brandy in the lobster recipe is probably a French influence. The famous French cheese baked lobster dish "Homard Thermidor" very often uses cognac or brandy. And many other French lobster dishes feature it too. In Lobster Thermidor you add a bunch of spice such as mustard and cayenne pepper, and I'll bet it would work very well here too.
Lobster is $150 / kg?!! Like $300+ / lb? Um, no. No, no, no, no way. And they're serving y'all poorly made noodle dishes with that? Wrong just wrong. God bless you two for saving me some serious cash showing us all the way to a better path. 🙏🏾
So yeah! Usually for my Mac N Cheese I use a béchamel with a roux. That was actually the first route I went, but I felt like texturally it didn't cling to the noodles quite in the same way that cheesy Yee Mein usually does when you get it outside at restaurants here? So I swapped for a slurry, which felt about right. You can absolutely use something roux-based though, even saw a couple Chinese sources that went that route.
You really should tell people to beware of the two kinds of "yi mein." The Taiwanese "yi mian" is completely different. They usually are not fried nor shaped like a big disk. It's also good noodle but SO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
If you are going to go full on Lobster I would pick Parmigiano Reggiano (Or Grana Padano for you lactose intolerant people) I would keep the Tofu cause is pretty special for this recipe and a real sliced cheese of your choosing with a bit of sodium citrate to get those same qualities without risking "Plastic Cheese"
I appreciate that "maybe" in the title. It really should go without saying, but after all those "you're doing it wrong" titles, this one tells me you have some respect for your audience. And no, I had never heard of this. Thank you for sharing!
There's a very common Malaysian food court dish called 'Sizzling Yee Mee' it's yee mee cooked in a cornstarch thickened, soy sauce based sauce, served sizzling hot, on a cast iron plate (similar to those used to make sisig) It's absurdly delicious
It has a thick, chewy texture (as long as you don’t overcook them), better mouthfeel than udon, more satisfying chew. Seriously absorbs sauce like nothing else.
That's some good Yeah ah Man. Everytime I go to chinese restaurant I go like; Can I get some of that awesome YEEAAA AH MAAAN? Waitress usually stares at me for a good minute before I hand gesture it out. But nothing like a good hand gesture wouldn't solve for some of that YEEAAA AH MAAAN!
'When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.' Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 'For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. ' Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
maybe when I'm bored I'll try to make Cheesy Yee Mien but start with a Bechemel base and slather it in grated aged cheddar maybe low fat mozarella? I'll probably use some instant noodles only just to get the "sauce" right I have to add I made some small scale recipes based around this idea the bechamel sauce seems to hold well however I have yet to add the cheese part to the sauce for my case I basically made green curry without coconut milk (this is why I used bechamel as the most brain dead substitute I can think off) heat the butter or ghee if you prefer, add green curry paste (home made or store bought), fry till fragrant, add flour (AP because you probably have that more likely than not), fry some more of the thick paste to remove raw taste of flour, add milk till thicken, remove from heat add cheese of your preference, mix well set aside. take your par boiled noodles, into a stock (optional if you just want to judge the sauce), after stock is absorbed, set aside. take your white sauce, and your noodles, mix well serve it forth
OK, but does Steph likes the Cheese Shrimps Yee Mein or not ? Or it this still something that needs to be improved ? I think the Yee mein might do well in a Mornay sauce (like real Mac and cheese) but I suppose the cheddar like the lobster is just out of price in China. It's sad to think something that can be on the cheap side in one part of the world is just too expensive in another.
Would you be willing to make a video of what the essential basic ingredients are that I should buy from an Asian grocery store to make the majority of Chinese recipes? I live 2 hours from an Asian grocery store, so when I go, I want to have a good list of essentials to buy. (Maybe you already have a video for this, I just haven’t seen it) Thanks
I have the hardest time finding specific items at Chinese Markets. One I cannot read Mandarin, and most of these products are labled in Mandarin. Two, I dont think I can pronounce Yee Mein right, and whenever I try and ask someone working there where something is, something is always lost in that language barrier. I will try though, and see if I can find this package based on the picture you provided.
You can get a lot of that gooey, silky texture that American cheese gives without diluting your cheese flavor by adding a bit of sodium citrate to your sauce. It would also allow you a bit less starch in the sauce recipe and help that dry parmesan to emulsify and melt properly. Really you can get a killer cheese sauce for macaroni with just sharp cheddar, sodium citrate and milk, and maybe a little mustard (and obviously salt and pepper.) It's much lower maintenance than making a full bechamel then adding cheese.
I hate when youtube channels say "go to your local Chinese supermarket" or a variation of that. I'm in Brazil, and not in São Paulo, there are no Chinese supermarkets anywhere.
haha "like" because your thumbnail/title sounded like how i'd write it..probably for the fast paced bold style of the internet leaving out (maybe) is probably the slicker way to go, but i'd put it in because i'd know it's probably not true that zero people have heard of it, and it feels a little presumptuous to tell the reader what they don't know (especially if it turns out they do know it 😀)
If these noodles are supposed to be absorbing the sauce, can I just make any old sauce (I'll likely try a 'fish fragrant' sauce, as per the 'food of sichuan' cookbook) and throw the pre-boiled noodles in? Is there anything in particular I should keep in mind to do with a sauce that might make it better to use with these noodles?
I make a similar preparation with my shrimp shells, but after cooking i stick it all in a blender and blitz it and then filter the junk with a fine sieve. Then back to the stove and reduce it into a sort of seafood demi-glace. Freeze it in icecube trays and you have instant, super flavourful seafood base for whatever you need.
that lobster is so expensive. I think it's probably because China has restricted import of lobster from Australia due to diplomatic conflict. The price as shown in the video is almost over 6 times as expensive as fresh frozen lobster in Canada.
Thanks so much for this tip on making easy saucy noodles. I never would have tried these but for this video but they were so easy and quick to use. The fact that they soak up sauce gives you a lot more room for timing other dishes and they are so easy to cook. I made a version of the pork and shiitake noodles, using coarse pork mince instead of the loin and snow peas and garlic scapes instead of choy sum. It was a hit! These will definitely become a staple. I like the fact that they’re rinsed after the first boil - gets rid of that pre-fried noodle taste.
This is like our pancit canton here in the philippines., We buy them dry coz they're pre fried in the factory. To cook it, we braise some meat and veggies and then put the pancit canton in. It will soften up as it soaks up all the braising liquid
Why do you add the white pepper, msg, and sesame oil at the very end? Seems really difficult to evenly distribute these 3 ingredients throughout the entire dish. Makes more sense to add them with the rest of the wet ingredients.
