Liuzhou Luosifen

[Duvel]

Do you have any idea whether those sour-pickled bamboo shoots are an export item ..?

[liuzhou]

20 minutes ago, Duvel said:

Do you have any idea whether those sour-pickled bamboo shoots are an export item ..?

 

My instinct is to say that it's unlikely, but I really don't know. I've seen no mention of that locally.

The bamboo shoot is fermented in its own juices with just ambient yeasts.

There are a handful of restaurants selling home made luosifen in the US. How they get it I have no idea, but imagine they must be making it themselves.

[liuzhou]

If anyone is interested, there is a bilingual 我爱螺蛳粉 / I love Luosifen (snail noodles) Facebook page here.

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

My instinct is to say that it's unlikely, but I really don't know. I've seen no mention of that locally.

The bamboo shoot is fermented in its own juices with just ambient yeasts.

There are a handful of restaurants selling home made luosifen in the US. How they get it I have no idea, but imagine they must be making it themselves.

 

This one (despite being Thai in origin) seems to fit the bill. Bamboo shoots + salt, then undergoing a lacto-fermentation (the acidity regulators are to stop the fermentation process at the time of packaging). It also features the distinct smell that seems to depend on the lacto-fermentation of certain amino acids ...

 

Now: where to get the river snails ... 😜

Edited June 1, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[gfweb]

How can the river snail population support this degree of harvesting? Are there really snails in the exported stuff?

Edited June 1, 2022 by gfweb (log)

[liuzhou]

24 minutes ago, gfweb said:

How can the river snail population support this degree of harvesting? Are there really snails in there?

 

In the good versions, yes. Well no! It's very unusual  to find snails in your noodles. They are used to flavour the broth, then discarded.

 

The snails are prolific in their conception habits and it's a big river!

[liuzhou]

Of course, the real stuff uses snails but doesn't usually serve them in the dish.

[liuzhou]

This is a good summary of the developmentof luosifen in recent years.

[KennethT]

@liuzhouI didn't buy any of these but saw them in my local Korean grocery - HMart.

 

 

 

I didn't get a good enough look to see the differences between them - the store was way too crowded and I was late to start making dinner. Maybe next time.

 

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, KennethT said:

@liuzhouI didn't buy any of these but saw them in my local Korean grocery - HMart.

 

 

 

I didn't get a good enough look to see the differences between them - the store was way too crowded and I was late to start making dinner. Maybe next time.

 

 

I know the brand Luobawang butnever tried them. I'm worried by the last bag - Luosifen never has tomato in it!

[Duvel]

I found this package in Newcastle‘s Chinatown in the beginning of this week. It seemed to be the most popular of the choices they had … I will give it a try in the not too distant future.

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[liuzhou]

13 hours ago, Duvel said:

I found this package in Newcastle‘s Chinatown in the beginning of this week. It seemed to be the most popular of the choices they had … I will give it a try in the not too distant future.

 

 

I don't know that brand, but then I don't really know any - like most people in Liuzhou, I never buy that packaged stuff. I only tried once. I can get the real thing everywhere for much less money and it's much, much better!

It's kinda like the difference between real ramen in Japan and the stuff in your local convenience store. 😁

Edited August 22, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Duvel]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I don't know that brand, but then I don't really know any - like most people in Liuzhou, I never buy that packaged stuff. I only tried once. I can get the real thing everywhere for much less money and it's much, much better!

It's kinda like the difference between real ramen in Japan and the stuff in your local convenience store. 😁

That would be my expectation, but there are decent Ramen products out there. So maybe this one gives at least a bit of that flavor profile …

 

I think it might be the one your friend (from upthread) referred to ..?

 

 

[liuzhou]

56 minutes ago, Duvel said:

That would be my expectation, but there are decent Ramen products out there. So maybe this one gives at least a bit of that flavor profile …

 

 

I very much doubt it. Luosifen takes around 16 hours to make. You ain't going to to do it in 5 minutes.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/125375614155376

 

[Duvel]

Maybe they go the Ramen way, make the soup the traditional way and partially dehydrate it. As I said, severals good quality Ramen varieties are available (cf. Ichiran, …), which are produced that way. 
 

Regardless, as fresh Luosifen are not an option here and you continue to praise this dish (😜), I have no other chance than to give this very package a try. If your friend in the US is correct, it should be the least unauthentic 😉

[liuzhou]

I'm not going to get into the politics, but luosifen has!

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202301/1283989.shtml

 

Utter idiocy!

[liuzhou]

I suspected this, or something like it, would happen. Luosifen has long been a phenomenon on social media here. Now that China has dropped its zero-Covid policies, every weekend or holiday the city gets overrun by teenagers from all over China looking for real luosifen, to the extent that the locals are getting pissed off. We can't get into our favourite places anymore!

 

 

This is my favourite go-to place last weekend. The line is about 3 times longer than fitted into the photo. Damn Tik-Tack!

 

 

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

I suspected this, or something like it, would happen. Luosifen has long been a phenomenon on social media here. Now that China has dropped its zero-Covid policies, every weekend or holiday the city gets overrun by teenagers from all over China looking for real luosifen, to the extent that the locals are getting pissed off. We can't get into our favourite places anymore!

 

 

This is my favourite go-to place last weekend. The line is about 3 times longer than fitted into the photo. Damn Tik-Tack!

 

 

Wow!!!  That is insane!

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Wow!!!  That is insane!

 

 

Yup! And the restaurant only has four small tables inside and maybe five outside, maybe 36 chairs, so the folk at the back of the line are going to get the third or fourth sitting.

[KennethT]

Just now, liuzhou said:

 

 

Yup! And the restaurant only has four small tables inside and maybe five outside, maybe 36 chairs, so the folk at the back of the line are going to get the third or fourth sitting.

Something similar happens in NYC - tons of people come in from the suburbs on the weekends, so many NYers go out for dinner either during the week or on Sunday.  Most NYers want to avoid what is called teh Bridge & Tunnel crowd - as in people who don't live there.  Personally, I appreciate the B&T as well as foreign tourists - we need their tax revenue!

[liuzhou]

7 minutes ago, KennethT said:

tons of people come in from the suburbs

 

These clowns are not from the suburbs (they have their own luosifen places) but from all over China, here to put their dumb videos on the internet. That is just one 螺蛳粉 place, but arguably the best. The others are as packed and with lines waiting. Madness.

[liuzhou]

I give up! It gets worse! I just learned that since the Covid regulations were relaxed, thousands of the braindead so-called "influencers" and vacuous YouTube egotistical time wasters are flooding into China from all over the world to film themselves eating luosifen!

Edited March 31, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

To appease the 'strange food' tourist idiots turning up to sample and film themselves eating 螺蛳粉 (luó sī fěn) in the hope of it being disgusting, some restaurants are taking the ingredients for the dish, ditching the 16 hour preparation time broth which is the soul of the dish and instead serving 炒螺蛳粉 (chǎo luó sī fěn), fried luosifen. This they are selling at around twice the price of the real thing. Whether it contains snails, I don't know, but if not and I suspect not, it sure ain't luosifen. 螺蛳 (luó sī) means snails, specifically spiral shell river snails. (粉 (fěn) means rice noodles.) Yet, it appears the YouTube generation think they are eating the real thing giving Liuzhou's fine citizens a good laugh and enriching the economy. The people selling it are taking their money and enjoying their 16 hours rest.

 

炒螺蛳粉 - Fried Luosifen (image from Meituan delivery app)

 

[liuzhou]

It gets worse.

I read that Luosifen (螺蛳粉 - luó sī fěn) has been recognised by the Guinness World Records for coming up with the world's largest pack of instant noodles. It measures 1.20 m (3 ft 11.24 in) long, 1.32 m (4 ft 3.97 in) high and 1.18 m (3 ft 10.46 in). There is no end to their stupidity ingenuity?

 

For the full story, click on the image.

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

It gets worse.

I read that Luosifen (螺蛳粉 - luó sī fěn) has been recognised by the Guinness World Records for coming up with the world's largest pack of instant noodles. It measures 1.20 m (3 ft 11.24 in) long, 1.32 m (4 ft 3.97 in) high and 1.18 m (3 ft 10.46 in). There is not end to their stupidity ingenuity?

 

For the full story, click on the image.

 

 

Marketing genius!!