Chelseabun

Since i last posted on this topic, my local branch had a refit. I'm not sure it has improved though. I have given up on it and shop at Sainsbury's now. They ended a number of products i really like. Basically, i had no choice but to shop elsewhere to get what i wanted. The customer service in Morrisons can be variable too. The mist over the vegetables is baffling.

You have picked up on an anomaly in the rating system. It is very difficult for food EHOs to rate pubs that just sell crisps etc and you will find a wide variance in how they rate them. Basically 3 stars = compliant. So, giving the pub one star is a bit harsh to say the least and some local authorities give them 5 stars. however, it is very difficult to apply the rating system to them.

If you are looking for videos of lamian being made, then you might also like to try Youku http://www.youku.com/ If you put in the chineese for 'hand ramen' 手拉面 you should get lots of videos. Heres an example: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjUwNTkyMzcy.html Going further, Kleinebre in previous posts above used google translate to make searches in chinese. I looked up flour using that method too. Surprise surprise i found that the chinese flour i looked at specifically for lamian contained bleach. I only looked at a small sample though. As another example, i put into google the translated chinese for lamian and flour (together). This was one of the results: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4898a4880100l2j4.html (you can select for translation) This is interesting as they use a different method of hand pulling noodles (have come across this before) whereby the dough is cut into strips first but is then pulled as normal. Happy searching! Eat More Noodles!

+10. When California is having its state pension money stolen by bankstahs, or getting ripped off for billions in energy costs by the former crooks at Enron (rolling blackouts, too, as I recall!), or teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, does anyone in its electorate or government ever look at saving the money wasted on stupid crap like this as a way to balance the budget? They saved an imperiled populace from eating politically incorrect foie gras a while back, but could not seem to do anything about the Bittman bacterial chickens that were attempting to kill people a while back, as I recall... Food law generally works in favour of your economy because it means other countries can be confident in your food exports (being produced to a safe standard). In my oppinion one of the best single contributions the U.S. had made to the world was the development of HACCP. Think how many millions if not billions of people have been saved from food poisening and how standardised global food hygiene based on HACCP has boosted food business globally. Consumers need to be confident in the safety of their food. Just look at China and the problems they faced with milk contamination. Your politicians are only doing what they think is in the best interest. The single use glove law might not achievev its objective however.

I lived in Glasgow for about ten years. I don't know if this helps but not everybody in Glasgow was into single malts. The blended Scotch was probably more popular. However, of those people I knew who did drink single malts, Highland Park was probably the best regarded. Outside of Scotland, it seems to be less regarded. But I would say you have started with a very good single malt which you might even not better (but that is definitely down to personal taste). We had a local pub that was famous for its very wide range of single malts, so you could go in and order a glass to try it. Just to mention for interest, I lived opposite the Port Dundas distillery (said to be the largest whisky distillery. It had a very distinctive aroma. I used to walk past it everyday on my way into the city centre. Happy days back then!

I am not sure about this single use glove law. From a UK perspective it doesn't sound like it will have the result that the law makers think it will have. Sometimes law makers pass laws because they want to improve confidence in food hygiene but requiring food handlers to wear gloves might not actually make much (if any difference). Getting food operators to wash their hands is the point regardless of if they are wearing gloves or not.

Sub; the video you uploaded on post 182 is really cool too. theres many many vedeos on youtube of noodle pulling but they are mainly videos shot on camera phones etc

Hi Sub, I have a cupboard full of flour left over from my noodling attempts. i have just checked and i have an opened bag of 'speciality' pizza flour (it says grade 0). I dont remember using it or what the results where but i obviously did. i would have to check my notes that i made at the time. thanks for your suggestion, i have just looked online and it appears Caputo (blue) is available online in 25kg bags in the UK. It highlights how elastic the dough made from it is, so that is definately worth a try. The other brands may be available here too, i will look. i might even look into obtaining the lye. i dont mind using it experimentally i.e. if i can get a recipe working with it, then work out how to get the same or similar results without it. The Bosch MUM mixer looks really cool. I had never seen them before looking them up just now. I have a 'Kenwood Chef' which is similar to the US 'Kitchen Aid'. Mine is from the 1960's and is still a solid working mixer. Going from what i read on the Mr Wong blog, 25 minutes in a stand mixer sounds right (with an appropriate length rest). I am definately going to be trying this. The dough working technique and noodle pulling technique does seem to be very important too (as above) and i thought Mr Wong explained it very well on the video. Look how he uses the 'V' shaped 'kneading'. I think the video has been edited a lot too but there is enough there for me to improve on what i have been doing so far. Some of the noodle doughs i made were stretchable too. But not as stretchable as they needed to be. Please see some of the videos i posted earlier (back on page 6). You can see that i am not far away. I was using if i remember correctly 10% protien 'bread' flour blended (wtih water) in my food processor for 3 to 4 minutes to form a dough, then worked by hand to make it stretchable. I have more to do on this but i am happy that i am heading in the right direction. Many thanks

Hi Sub, Many thanks. Cee Cee also posted a link to this video (post 175). It is very very good. I read mr Wong's blog too. That is why i will be using a stand mixer next time (as above). I spoke to my local Miller (we have a working windmill nearby) and he said to rest the dough. This concurs with mr Wong's blog. Klienebre (previous posts) deleloped the dough by resting too. if you read the previous posts, he put quite a lot of effort into it and obtained edible hand pulled noodles! Some of my attempts received rests (sometimes very long rests unintentionally!). I would say it makes a difference too. In his blog, mr wong also says they use a different recipe. I cant remember what it was exactly but i remember it was more than just flour and water - i think he could have been advocating using some semolina in the recipe but to be honest cant quite remember so i stand to be corrected. Keep calm and make more Noodles!

Hi Dcarch, Agree totally. If you remember, I posted some videos of my technique. it was poor to say the least but I was improving. Agree with the protein comment as well. I tried the high protein flour approach but didn't particularly have a lot of success. As above I will be trying again but later in the year. Next time I will use lower protein flour and try some new ideas as well. Remember, practice makes perfect (noodles)!

Sub: Many thanks for posting the 'on food and cooking' extract. I do not have a copy and many people believe this book to be excellent. There may be a clue in this extract. For Asian wheat noodles it says they use flour which is (develops) weak in gluten (low protein?) and amylopectin rich. I am not able to do any 'noodling' for a while but will try out some new things when I eventually get back to it and I will keep you all posted. Many thanks to everybody who has contributed to this topic. One request though please, can we have some videos of you all making hand pulled noodles? Best Regards and keep noodling!

Ader1 post 178: I agree. As stated above, Kleinaber visited a London restaurant making hand pulled noodles and found out the brand name of the flour. I looked it up and found it was from a UK flour supplier. However, it was specifically labelled as being for making hand pulled noodles. I don't know if this means it had additives or was otherwise processed to give suitable qualities. Keep Calm and carry on making noodles!

Sub: Sodium Carbonate = Washing Soda! I use Sodium Carbonate in my photography processing. Here is what is says on the packet of washing soda; "Causes serious eye irritation, wash hands thoroughly after handling. Wear protective gloves / protective clothing / eye protection / face protection". This does not sound like a very good food additive does it? Same goes for Potassium Carbonate. Furthermore, when I have used them, the dough has a 'chemical' feel and aroma to it. It was not 'appetising'. I realise it is tempting to use highly processed flour and food additives such as sodium carbonate (which is a very common additive). Bleached flour is not available in the UK and I have been merely trying to find a way to make lamien hand pulled noodles without it because I can not regularly buy it. However, seeing that I am not using bleached flour, it makes sense not to use the other additive ingredients too.

Takadi: Yes, many US recipes advocate the use of 'cake flour'. However, please note that cake flour has been bleached. Yes, this is as it sounds. For health reasons, it is prohibited in Europe. I did manage to obtain some bleached 'general purpose' flour and it certainly does have very different properties from unbleached flour. Also, the aroma is 'correct'. It smells just like ramen when worked into noodles. However, would you seriously want to eat noodles made from bleached flour? I would advocate using unbleached flour. The same goes for the other additives (please see my posts above). If the additive is normally used for cleaning drains or has been noted as 'highly corrosive', I choose not to add it to my noodles. Keep on 'noodling' folks!

This topic will just not die! It keeps on going! Many thanks CeeCee. The video is very very good. yes, Ader1 the dough had been worked and was ready to go. They say in the video it is 'just flour and water'. However saying 'just flour' is a meaningless comment as flour can be highly processed and can be highly variable. That's why we have strong bread flours and soft flours. You would not want confuse them i.e. use bread flour for cakes or cake flour for bread. The expert in the video has I believe his own restaurant in London. I looked up his web site and there are recipes on there. the recipes given use more than 'flour and water' though. Kleinebre (see posts above) visited a London restaurant making hand pulled noodles and gave the name of the flour brand they were using. I looked up the brand and found they were a UK flour supplier. they list a flour specifically for hand pulled noodles. I have no further information on it except that it would probably need to be purchased in bulk! the most important thing I gained from the video and subsequent browsing of the website is that they are advocating the use of stand mixers. If you read my posts, I have a stand mixer but chose to process my dough in a food processor in an attempt to form the gluten in a different way. this was probably not the best option and in future, the stand mixer will be seeing some noodle action! Keep noodling! If you succeed, don't forget to invite me round for tea!

I have just made up some dough using bleached general purpose flour. Its the first time I have ever used bleached flour and I was not sure what to expect. My biggest observation is that it smelt correct. it had the same smell that you get from packets of Ramen noodles. The colour was good too. However, it also remained uneven and blotchy no matter how much I kneaded it. Interesting, but this time unsuccessful.

Agree totally. Can't be botheredness will be the main reason (i was thinking about a specific case i read about in Environmental Health News to be fair). I stand corrected. My point was that Westminster clamping down on rare burgers is more about ensuring food safety than heavy handed 'food police' depriving people of their liberty to eat rare burgers.

If you don't order your burgers rare, it doesn't cause you any risk if someone else does... so a rule like that doesn't really benefit you in any way and not having that rule doesn't harm you in any way. I think it means Westminster Council are clamping down on food businesses selling their burgers rare (or undercooked) to all of their customers (if they have asked for their burger rare or not). I am afraid that food businesses can cut energy costs by cooking their food to a lower temperature for a shorter period of time. Some people put profits ahead of public health. I fully support Westminster's stance on this and hope other councils follow their example.

I am a big fan of Alton Brown and 'Good Eats'. He recommends Kosher Salt but living in the UK have not been able to find it. The closest i have found is maldon salt as above. I do not know its availability in Ireland though. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I am giving myself a break from 'noodling'. The kitchen looks like a bakery and there is dried dough all over the house. :-)

At the end of yesterdays batch six, i tried an experiment by adding water to the dough to see how much water i could get into the batch. The result was surprising. Although it was very sticky, it was also very, very stretchy. We are talking 20 + folds without it tearing. Please see link to video http://youtu.be/Pd5Q2uzvqow I then wrapped it in plastic film and rested until today. The dough was no longer very wet and was workable with surprising results. http://youtu.be/ndlMpTZfCYw

I am still not able to pull noodles. I am not using oil, flour or water at the moment as i am looking to improve my technique first. I have embeded this video i made earlier kneading batch six. Let me know what you think please. http://youtu.be/xRtB0gGgOvY <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xRtB0gGgOvY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Morrisons is one of the better supermarkets in the UK. I do my regular shop there. I agree with the comments above and would add that it has improved greatly over recent times. I dont know why, but they do seem to have a very wide range of tinned rice pudding. Different brands / low fat / creamy /extra creamy / value / own brand etc.

I have had food poisoning and never want it again. I like my burgers cooked and safe to eat and I expect food businesses to have food safety systems in place to manage the risks. Is that too much to ask?

I check the ratings quite a lot and avoid establishments with a low rating.