Noodle
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Place of origin | The earliest record of noodles was discovered in northwesternChina,from 4000 years ago.[1] |
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Main ingredients | Unleaveneddough |
Noodlesare a type offoodmade fromunleavened doughwhich is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are astaple foodin many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noodles are those derived from eitherChinese cuisineorItalian cuisine.Chinese noodlesare known by a variety of different names, while Italian noodles are known aspasta.
While long, thin strips may be the most common, many varieties of noodles are cut into waves, helices, tubes, strings, or shells, or folded over, or cut into other shapes. Noodles are usually cooked in boiling water, sometimes with cooking oil or salt added. They are often pan-fried or deep-fried. Noodles are often served with an accompanying sauce or in a soup. Noodles can be refrigerated for short-term storage or dried and stored for future use.
Etymology
The word for noodles in English was borrowed in the 18th century from theGermanwordNudel(German:[ˈnuːdl̩] ).[2]The German word likely came fromKnodelorNutel,and referred to any dumpling, though mostly of wheat.[3]
Colloquial uses for noodle to refer to someone's head, or to a "dummy" are unrelated, and likely came from the older English wordnoddle.[3]
History
Origin
The earliest written record of noodles is found in a book dated to theEastern Hanperiod (25–220 CE).[1]Noodles made from wheat dough became a prominent food for the people of theHan dynasty.[4]The oldest evidence of noodles was from 4,000 years ago in China.[1]In 2005, a team of archaeologists reported finding an earthenware bowl that contained 4000-year-old noodles at theLajia archaeological site.[5]These noodles were said to resemblelamian,a type of Chinese noodle.[5]Analyzing the huskphytolithsandstarchgrains present in the sediment associated with the noodles, they were identified as millet belonging toPanicum miliaceumandSetaria italica.[5]However, other researchers cast doubt that Lajia's noodles were made from specifically millet: it is difficult to make pure millet noodles, it is unclear whether the analyzed residue were directly derived from Lajia's noodles themselves, starch morphology after cooking shows distinctive alterations that does not fit with Lajia's noodles, and it is uncertain whether the starch-like grains from Laijia's noodles are starch as they show some non-starch characteristics.[6]
Food historians generally estimate that pasta's origin is from among the Mediterranean countries:[7]a homogenous mixture of flour and water calleditrionas described by 2nd-century Greek physicianGalen,[8]among 3rd to 5th-century Jews asitriumas described by theJerusalem Talmud[9]and asitriyya(Arabic cognate of the Greek word), string-like shapes made ofsemolinaand dried before cooking as defined by the 9th-century Aramean physician and lexicographer Isho bar Ali.[10]
Historical variations
East Asia
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Bun_thit_nuong.jpg/220px-Bun_thit_nuong.jpg)
There are over 1,200 types of noodles commonly consumed in China today.[11]Due to the vast diversity of Chinese noodles available, there is no unifying Chinese word for the Western concept of "noodles". InMandarin,miàn (simplified Chinese: Diện; traditional Chinese: Diện ) refers to noodles made from wheat flour and grains such as millet, sorghum, and oats. While fěn ( phấn ) refers to noodles made from other starches, particularly rice flour and mung bean starch.[12]
Wheat noodles in Japan (udon) were adapted from aChineserecipe as early as the 9th century. Innovations continued, such as noodles made withbuckwheat(naengmyeon) were developed in theJoseonDynasty ofKorea(1392–1897).Ramennoodles, based on southern Chinese noodle dishes fromGuangzhoubut named after the northern Chineselamian,became common in Japan by 1900.[13][14][15][16]
Central Asia
Kesmeor erişte noodles were eaten byTurkic peoplesby the 13th century.
West Asia
Ash reshteh(noodles in thick soup with herbs) is one of the most popular dishes in some middle eastern countries such as Iran, which was brought throughTurco-Mongol.
Europe
In the 1st centuryBCE,Horacewrote of fried sheets of dough calledlagana.[17]However, the cooking method does not correspond to the current definition of either a fresh or drypastaproduct.[18]
Italy
The first concrete information onpastaproducts inItalydates back to theEtruscan civilization,theTestaroli.The first noodles will only appear much later, in the 10th or 11th centuries,[19]and there is a popular legend aboutMarco Polobringing the first pasta back from China. Modern historians do not give much credibility to the story and rather believe the first noodles were imported earlier from the Arabs, in a form calledrishta.[20]Pasta has taken on avariety of shapes,often based on regional specializations.
Germany
InGermany,documents dating from 1725 mentionSpätzle.Medievalillustrations are believed to place this noodle at an even earlier date.[21]
Ancient Israel and diaspora
The Latinized worditriumreferred to a kind of boiled dough.[8]Arabs adapted noodles for long journeys in the fifth century, the first written record of drypasta.Muhammad al-Idrisiwrote in 1154 thatitriyyawas manufactured and exported fromNorman Sicily.Itriyawas also known by thePersian Jewsduring early Persian rule (when they spokeAramaic) and during Islamic rule. It referred to a small soup noodle, of Greek origin, prepared by twisting bits of kneaded dough into shape, resembling Italianorzo.[22]
Polish Jews
Zacierkiis a type of noodle found inPolish Jewish cuisine.[23] It was part of the rations distributed toJewish victimsin theŁódź Ghettoby theNazis. (Out of the "major ghettos", Łódź was the most affected by hunger, starvation and malnutrition-related deaths.) The diary of a young Jewish girl from Łódź recounts a fight she had with her father over a spoonful ofzacierkitaken from the family's meager supply of 200 grams a week.[24][25]
Types by primary ingredient
Wheat
Rice
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Buckwheat
EggEgg noodles are made of a mixture of egg and flour.
Others
|
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Egg pasta
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Fresh pasta
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Long pasta
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Idiyappam,Indian rice noodles
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Mixian( mễ tuyến ) rice noodles being cooked in copper pots ( đồng oa ), China
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Wide, uncooked egg noodles
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Some different types of noodles commonly found in Southeast Asia
Types of dishes
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Wok_cooking.jpg/220px-Wok_cooking.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/SevMamra.jpg/220px-SevMamra.jpg)
- Baked noodles: Boiled and drained noodles are combined with other ingredients andbaked.Common examples include manycasseroles.
- Basic noodles: These are cooked in water or broth, then drained. Other foods can be added or the noodles are added to other foods (seefried noodles) or the noodles can be served plain with a dipping sauce or oil to be added at the table. In general, noodles are soft and absorb flavors.
- Chilled noodles: noodles that are served cold, sometimes in a salad. Examples includeThai glass noodle saladand coldudon.
- Fried noodles:dishes made of noodles stir fried with various meats, seafood, vegetables, and dairy products. Examples includechow mein,lo mein,mie goreng,hokkien mee,some varieties ofpancit,yakisoba,tallarín saltado,andpad thai.
- Noodle soup:noodles served in broth. Examples includephở,beef noodle soup,chicken noodle soup,ramen,laksa,mie ayam,saimin,andbatchoy.
Preservation
See also
References
- ^abcRoach, John (12 October 2005)."4,000-Year-Old Noodles Found in China".National Geographic:1–2. Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2005.
- ^"noodle | Definition of noodle in English by Oxford Dictionaries".Oxford Dictionaries | English.Archived fromthe originalon 31 March 2019.Retrieved7 May2019.
- ^abDean, Sam (18 January 2013)."The Origin of the Word Noodle".Bon Appétit.Retrieved12 October2023.
- ^Sinclair & Sinclair 2010,p. 91.
- ^abcLu, Houyuan; Yang, Xiaoyan; Ye, Maolin; et al. (13 October 2005). "Culinary archaeology: Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China".Nature.437(7061): 967–968.Bibcode:2005Natur.437..967L.doi:10.1038/437967a.PMID16222289.S2CID4385122.
- ^Ge, W.; Liu, L.; Chen, X.; Jin, Z. (2011)."Can noodles be made from millet? An experimental investigation of noodle manufacture together with starch grain analyses".Archaeometry.53:194–204.doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00539.x.
- ^López, Alfonso (8 July 2016)."The Twisted History of Pasta".National Geographic. Archived fromthe originalon 14 December 2019.Retrieved13 December2019.
- ^abServenti & Sabban 2002,p. 17.
- ^Serventi & Sabban 2002,p. 29.
- ^"A medical text in Arabic written by a Jewish doctor living in Tunisia in the early 900s" (Dickie 2008: 21).
- ^"Noodles in Contemporary China: Social Aspects underlying the Noodle Evolution (Qiulun Li) – Noodles on the Silk Road".Retrieved1 July2022.
- ^RAICHLEN, STEVEN (30 January 1992). "Noodle nomenclature".Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA).pp. W/6.
- ^"Japanese Noodles (No. 4)".Kikkoman Corporation(in Japanese).Retrieved20 July2022.
- ^"Part 1: China Origin".Ramen Culture.Retrieved20 July2022.
- ^Media, USEN."Indespensable Knowledge For Every Ramen Lover! A Glossary with Shop Recommendations".SAVOR JAPAN.Retrieved20 July2022.
- ^"Trá thái nhục ti diện đích nam bắc soa dị cập chế tác phương pháp".Sohu.
- ^Serventi & Sabban 2002,pp. 15–16 & 24.
- ^Serventi & Sabban 2002,pp. 15–16.
- ^Serventi & Sabban 2002,p. 10.
- ^Toscana, Cucina (12 July 2017)."The International Origins of Pasta | Cucina Toscana Salt Lake City".Cucina Toscana.Retrieved18 May2023.
- ^"City Profile: Stuttgart".London:Embassy of Germany, London.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 27 July 2017.Retrieved26 November2015.
Spätzle is a city specialty.
- ^Rodinson, Perry & Arberry 2001,p. 253.
- ^Strybel, Robert; Strybel, Maria (2005).Polish Heritage Cookery.Hippocrene Books.ISBN978-0-7818-1124-8.
- ^Zapruder, Alexandra (2015).Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust.Yale University Press. pp. 226–242.ISBN978-0-300-20599-2.
- ^Heberer, Patricia (31 May 2011).Children during the Holocaust.Rowman Altamira.ISBN978-0-7591-1986-4.
- ^Kitchen, Leanne (8 January 2019)."Know your noodle: The ultimate guide to Asian noodles".SBS-TV.Retrieved24 March2020.
- ^Klatskin, Debbie."Lokshen Noodles".PBS.Retrieved24 March2020.
- ^"Turkish Egg Noodle (Erişte)".Almost Turkish Recipes.Retrieved24 March2020.
- ^Cloake, Felicity (20 February 2019)."How to make perfect spätzle noodles".The Guardian.Retrieved24 March2020.
Bibliography
- Dickie, John (1 October 2010).Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and Their Food(Paper). New York: Atria Books.ISBN0743278070.
- Errington, Frederick et al. eds.The Noodle Narratives: The Global Rise of an Industrial Food into the Twenty-First Century(U. of California Press; 2013) 216 pages; studies three markets for instant noodles: Japan, the United States, and Papua New Guinea.
- Rodinson, Maxime; Perry, Charles; Arberry, Arthur J. (2001).Medieval Arab Cookery(Hardback). United Kingdom: Prospect Books. p. 253.ISBN0907325912.
- Serventi, Silvano; Sabban, Françoise (2002).Pasta: the Story of a Universal Food.New York:Columbia University Press.ISBN0231124422.
- Sinclair, Thomas R.; Sinclair, Carol Janas (2010).Bread, beer, and the seeds of change: Agriculture's imprint on world history.Wallingford: CABI. p. 91.ISBN978-1-84593-704-1.