"Lamian" may on occasion may mean "coming from Lamia (city)

Lamia (city)

Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city has a continuous history since antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region .-Name:...

 in Greece".

Lamian ( lagman) is a type of hand-made or hand-pulled Chinese noodle. It is also the name of the dishes that use these noodles.

Etymology and preparation

Dishes using lamian are usually served in a beef or mutton-flavored soup called tāngmiàn (湯麵), but sometimes stir-fried and served with a tomato-based sauce, this dish being called chǎomiàn (炒麵). Literally, 拉 (lā) means to pull or stretch, while 麵 (miàn) means noodle. The hand-making process involves taking a lump of dough and repeatedly stretching it to produce many strands of thin, long noodle.

There are several styles of twisting the dough but they all employ the same concept: a piece of dough is repeatedly stretched and folded onto itself in order to align the glutens and warm up the dough for stretching. Then it is rolled out to a workable thickness and cut into workable portions. The end pieces of the starting dough are never used because the glutens are not as aligned as the middle pieces.

This dough is then pulled to about an arm span's length. The puller then makes a loop with the dough, joining the two ends into one clump of dough, and inserts his fingers into the loop to keep the strand from sticking to itself. Doing this, the pull has doubled the length of the dough while fractioning its thickness. This process is repeated several times until the desired thickness and quantity is achieved. Some pullers dip the strands into flour between stretching phases to keep them separated. When flour is used, there generally is a final slap of noodles against the prep board to remove excess flour.

In the Lanzhou style, the dough is worked aggressively. It is pulled in straight, quick, tugs with no twisting or waving. Some pullers regularly slam the noodle against their prep boards to ensure even stretching and uniform thickness. Flour is sometimes used to dust the strands and prevent sticking.

In the Beijing style of preparation, the dough is twisted, stretched delicately by waving the arms and body, untwisted, looped to double the strands, and then repeated. When stretching, they coordinate waving their torso and arms to increase the potential length of the noodle beyond that of the puller's arm span. Flour dusting is more liberally employed in this style than in the Lanzhou style of preparation.

There is also another style, mostly for show, in which the noodle maker stretches one thick, flat strand of dough between two hands. This is usually done for show and involves the puller twirling and spinning much like Chinese ribbon dancing.

China

Small restaurants serving Lanzhou

Lanzhou

Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....

-style lamian are very common throughout western China where they have formed a staple diet for millennia, as well as eastern Chinese cities, largely from internal migration from the western provinces. The lower socio-econimic state of western China has encouraged many from the western provinces to move to more prosperous parts of China, and north-western cuisine has spread as a result. They tend to serve a variety of low cost meals, with a choice of lamian, 'dāoxīaomìan/dāoxuēmiàn' (刀削麵, knife-sliced noodles) and perhaps Xi'an

Xi'an

Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...

-style 'paomo' (泡饃, steamed bread dipped in soup). Noodles may be served with beef or mutton, either in soup or stir-fried. Lamian can also be served cold with salad ingredients such as shredded cucumber and tomato to make a refreshing summer dish.

Many of the lamian restaurants are owned by Hui

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

 ethnic families from Northwestern China

Northwestern China

Northwestern China includes the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai.-Administrative divisions:ProvincesAutonomous Regions-Outer Northwest China:...

,
(in Xinjiang they are known as laghman, لەڭمەن, in Uyghur

Uyghur language

Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...

), and serve only halal

Halal

Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...

 food (thus no pork dishes). Lamian restaurants are the most common halal restaurants in eastern China.

Another typical variety of lamian is Shandong lamian (山东拉面), from the eastern province of Shandong

Shandong

' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

.

Japan

Lamian was introduced in the Chinatown

Chinatown

A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...

s of Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

 or Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 during the Meiji era. Historical linguistics is uncertain whether the word Ramen

Ramen

is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as , , kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn...

 is the Japanese pronunciation of the term lamian or arrived via a different etymology. Ramen is usually prepared very differently from lamian.

Korea

The Korean

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

 term ramyeon (라면) may be derived from lamian, myeon (면) means noodles and is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character for noodles (麵).

Central Asia

In Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

 the dish has thicker noodles and is significantly spicier, and is known as laghman. It is most popular in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

, where it is considered a national dish

National dish

A national dish is a dish, food or a drink that is considered to represent a particular country, nation or region.A dish can become a national dish for a variety of reasons. It can be the national dish because it is a staple daily food for the majority of the population. It can also be the national...

 of the local Uyghur

Uyghur people

The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

 and Dungan

Dungan

Dungans , called by Chinese and translated in Chinese language as Hui , are an ethnic group of Persian origin. The Dungans are dispersive people, comprising the majority population of Ningxia Autonomous Region, and scatter in other parts of China...

 ethnic minorities. It is also popular in Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

 and northeastern Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, where chick peas

Chickpea

The chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae...

 are added to it and in the Chitral

Chitral

Chitral or Chetrar , translated as field in the native language Khowar, is the capital of the Chitral District, situated on the western bank of the Kunar River , in Pakistan. The town is at the foot of Tirich Mir, the highest peak of the Hindu Kush, high...

 and Gilgit

Gilgit

Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...

 regions of northern Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 where it is known as Kalli or Dau Dau.

United States

In New York's Manhattan Chinatown

Chinatown, Manhattan

Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...

, lamian restaurants are a common sight. Most are run by Fuzhou

Fuzhou

Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....

nese, some featuring knife cut noodles, but most featuring only the hand-cut versions. Some call themselves "Lanzhou Lamian" restaurants, others are just called "Lamian" restaurants. Most are located in the Fuzhounese area of Chinatown east of Bowery

Bowery

Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...

.

Australia

Lamian restaurants are increasingly found in Australia's chinatowns and beyond. Most are run by non-Hui, non-Muslim Chinese migrants from mainland China and therefore differ from the typical Muslim 'lamian' restaurants in China, as the meat will not be halal and haram ingredients such as pork are offered. Whilst in China lamian restaurants are typically cheap in comparison to other local food, in Australia the price of lamian restaurant meals is on par with other Chinese and local food varieties. Whilst in China lamian restaurants are advertised as 'Lanzhou' lamian, regardless of whether the recipes and staff are from Lanzhou, in Australia one finds non-Lanzhou lamian advertised, such as Xi'an lamian and Xinjiang lamian.

Singapore

Singapore sports 'lamian' restaurants, however the taste may be alien to those accustomed to Chinese lanzhou lamian, as the ingredients are often altered to suit local tastes which are distinctly south-eastern Chinese. There are nevertheless lamian restaurants in Singapore serving tastes similar if not identical to lanzhou lamian, particularly if run by Chinese migrants.