Learning How to Make La Mian (Hand-Pulled Noodles)

Noodles are popular in China. There are hundreds of different kinds! One of the most popular are la mian (拉面) or hand-pulled noodles. I took a cooking class at The Hutong to learn how to make them.

Location: 
Beijing, China

Photos

The Hutong, where the cooking class is held, is tucked away in a traditional Beijing neighborhood.
The Hutong offers many cooking classes in group settings. I'm a terrible cook, so I was a bit nervous, but everything we needed was already laid out and ready for us.
All we need to make our dough is flour and water.
We knead the dough until it is very smooth. Once smooth, we cut it into smaller strips which we will eventually shape into our noodles.
Once we cut our dough into smaller slices, we roll them out and then put them into a pin-wheel shape so that we can simply unwind a piece and start hand-pulling when we're ready.
To pull the noodles apart you hit the dough repeatedly against the cutting board while pulling to the sides. This makes longer and longer noodles. You then fold your dough and repeat the process.
Our instructor, Sophia, shows us just how long these noodles can get.
My hand-pulled noodles looked... okay.

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