Make My Own Noodles? Mighty Joyoung to the Rescue....

....of this blog.  About three years ago, due to mobility issues, subsequently magnified by COVID-19 protocols, I put this blog in hiatus, since I was unable to continue the field work of seeking out the latest and greatest noshes that formed the core of Full Noodle Frontity's purpose at the time. But noodles have never left my mind nor my belly, with Mrs. Soup making life easier for herself and more pleasant for me by serving up her version of yangchun noodles, plain Shanghai-style noodles with (typically) "old hen' broth and toppings of the day about three times a week. On my back burners has long been the need (obligation?) to get more into the weeds of noodle manufacturing and variants, rather than just savoring preparations to slurp into my belly. I also have compiled info to share on obscure regional specialties which might end up deep in your Asian noodle bucket list. Where in China would you go for a cold "chitlin'-like" rice noodle dish? What and where are "Ba River" noodles?

Mrs. Soup's DIY soup dumplings

Another trigger for my foray into noodle-making has been Mrs. Soup's recently developed passion for DIY making of more substantial Chinese wheatens, progressing from crafting plain mantou to stuffed baozi, even fearlessly venturing into the intricacies of xiaolong bao and shengjian bao with surprisingly good results.

If Mrs. Soup could make elegant versions at home of the dumpling delicacies that would cost us substantially more hard cash at the markets and restaurants, why were we still using store-bought versions of the humble noodles in our soup bowls? Thus my logic for springing for a good noodle-making machine.

Christmas was  coming, and I wasted no time in researching noodle-making machines. I wanted an extrusion machine, not one that jut cut the noodles from pre-rolled dough.  Home extrusion noodle machines range from approximately $90 to $300 depending on quality, capacity and degree of automation.  Since the Christmas present was as much for me as for Ju Ju, I opted for the most automated (hence most expensive) version. When it comes down to it, I am lazy, and really didn't want to take myself beyond a couple of artisanal button pushes to make a nice batch of fresh noodles. Find out what I  came up with in my next post.

Upcoming: make, capabilities and first results of my Mighty Joyoung noodle maker, as well as an explanation of my nickname for my new best friend, for those of you too young to get it.

We're baaaaack!