Lo mein
| Lo mein | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 撈麵 or 撈麪 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 捞面 | ||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | lāo miàn | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | mix noodle | ||||||||||
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Lo mein is a Chinese dish with noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, or shrimp. Traditionally, lo mein is not fried, whereas a similar food chow mein is stirfried. [1]
Etymology
The Chinese word 撈 (lāo in Mandarin and lau4 in Cantonese) means "scoop something out of water," or "separate something from water," like straining. The same written 撈 (pronounced differently as lo) also means "stir" or "mix" in Cantonese. To native Chinese, the name refers to a way of serving noodles rather than a particular dish.
Chinese American cuisine
In American Chinese restaurants, lo mein is a popular take-out food. In this setting, Lo mein noodles are usually stirred with brown sauce (a sauce made from soy sauce, corn starch, sugar, and other seasoning), carrots, bok choy or cabbage, onions, and shrimp, roast pork, beef, or chicken. Lobster Lo mein, vegetable Lo mein, and "House" Lo mein (more than one meat) are often available. Lo mein and Fried rice are often the only dishes sold without white rice.
Comparison
Lo mein is very similar to the Japanese version of stir-fried noodles, yakisoba. Many instant noodles come in a yakisoba variety which resembles lo mein.