Chow mein

"Chow mein" (炒面/炒麵chǎomiàn) is the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese characters 炒面/炒麵  above, which means stir-fried noodles. Generally speaking, this stir-fried dish consists of noodles, meat (usually chicken, beef, shrimp, or pork), scallions, bean sprouts, carrots and sometimes tofu.

The dish is popular throughout the Chinese diaspora and appears on the menus of most Chinese restaurants abroad. It is particularly popular in India, Nepal, the UK, and the USA. It is often served as a specific dish at westernized Chinese restaurants. Vegetarian or vegan chow mein is also common

There are two main kinds of chow mein available on the market: steamed chow mein, and crispy chow mein, also in the USA known as Hong Kong-style chow mein, which is often prepared in Southeast Asian countries .

The steamed chow mein has a softer texture, while the latter is crisper and drier. Crispy chow mein uses fried, fresh egg noodles that will be fried in hot oil first, while soft chow mein uses long, rounded noodles that is boiled before the preparation.

Crispy chow mein either has onions and celery in the finished dish, it is served  with meat or seafood,  vegetables, stir-fried  topped on the fried noodle layer. Steamed chow mein can have many different kinds of vegetables in the finished dish, most commonly including onions and celery but sometimes carrots, cabbage and mung bean sprouts as well. Crispy chow mein is usually topped with a thick brown sauce, while steamed chow mein is mixed with soy sauce before being served.

 There is a regional difference in the US between the East and West Coast use of the term "chow mein". On the East Coast, "chow mein" is always the crispy or "Hong Kong style". At some restaurants located in those areas, the crispy chow mein noodles are sometimes deep fried and could be crispy "like the ones in cans" or "fried as crisp as hash browns". At a few East Coast locations, "chow mein" is also served over rice. There, the steamed style using soft noodles is a separate dish called "lo mein". On the West Coast, "chow mein" is always the steamed style; the crispy style is simply called "Hong Kong style" and the term "lo mein" is not widely used. Lo mein is basically boiled noodles, not stir-fried, only mixing with a sauce, meat or seadfood, vegetable and served with a small bowl of soup.

The crispy version of chow mein can also be served in a hamburger-style bun as a chow mein sandwich in the USA.

There are also variations on how either one of the two main types of chow mein can be prepared as a dish. When ordering "chow mein" in some restaurants in Chicago, a diner might receive "chop suey poured over crunchy fried noodles". In Philadelphia, Americanized chow mein tends to be similar to chop suey but has crispy fried noodles on the side and includes much celery and bean sprouts and is sometimes accompanied with fried rice. Jeremy Iggers of the Star Tribune describes "Minnesota-style chow mein" as "a green slurry of celery and ground pork topped with ribbons of gray processed chicken". Bay Area journalist William Wong made a similar comment about what is sold as chow mein in places like Minnesota. A published recipe for Minnesota-style chow mein includes generous portions of celery and bean sprouts. Another Minnesotan variant includes ground beef and cream of mushroom soup.

Food historians and cultural anthropologists have noted that chow mein and other dishes served in Chinese American restaurants located away from areas without any significant Asian American population tend to be very different from what is served in China and are heavily modified to fit the taste preference of the local dominant population. As an example, the chow mein gravy favored in the Fall River area more closely resembles that used in local New England cooking than that used in traditional Chinese cooking. The founder of the food manufacturer Chun King and the creator of canned chow mein admits to using Italian spices to make his product more acceptable to Americans whose ancestors came from Europe.

Traditional chow mein is made with egg noodles which are boiled then strained and left to drop the water. They are then stir fried and finally left to sit at the bottom of the wok and pressed down, this crisps the noodles at the edges and underside. Chow mein is made with either seafood, often just prawns, chicken, beef or barbecued pork. Restaurants will serve a combination chow mein or a single type. Chicken and beef are often softened with a little bicarbonate of soda. The sauce is made from garlic, rice wine, light stock, MSG(Monosodium glutamate ), salt and corn flour. Vegetables are usually one green such as bok choy or choy sum plus a little chopped carrot, but also other green vegetables are acceptable. This stir fry is poured onto the noodles. Chow mein is unique as its noodles are both soft in part but also crispy.