Is a noodle obsession a matter of nature or nurture?
Lane Li was pondering this when she saw her noodle-loving 11-year-old son, Jackson, reach for a chef’s knife the size of his forearm. Certainly knife skills, she decided, require some nurturing.
“Let’s work up to that,” she said, giving him a paring knife instead. This was Jackson’s first cooking lesson, and Ms. Li, who owns Noodle Lane in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband, Chris Wang, wanted to pass down more than just safety tips.
Recipe: Cantonese Noodle Soup
When Ms. Li was in grade school, her mother taught her how to cook Cantonese noodle soup so that she’d always be able to feed herself something filling and healthy. It became the after-school go-to for her and her friends growing up in nearby Flatbush.
“Other kids ate peanut butter sandwiches,” she said, guiding Jackson’s hands as he sliced scallions. “We ate noodle soup.”
Now that Jackson was starting middle school, it was time to graduate from microwaved instant ramen.
As he chopped vegetables, Ms. Li shared her wisdom for making the perfect Cantonese noodle soup.
The first thing was to start with good broth. Ms. Li uses a homemade chicken stock that she doesn’t degrease entirely, keeping a touch of fat for flavor and body.
Then the noodles, either rice noodles or Chinese egg noodles, must be boiled in a separate pot of water so they don’t cloud the broth. And it’s important that the broth and noodles meet for the first time in the bowl, which helps prevent the noodles from overcooking. She adds bok choy, pickled mustard greens and a little oyster sauce for brightness and umami depth.
The final step is to combine all the ingredients and season them perfectly to taste. That’s where the real magic happens.
Jackson seized the moment and doused his soup with dark red chile oil, watching it bloom across the golden surface.
He slurped loudly and let out a contented sigh.
“How did it come out?” asked his father, who had just walked into the kitchen.
“Really good,” Jackson replied. Then, he added, a note of pity in his tone, “My dad doesn’t even like noodle soup.”
When asked what his after-school favorite had been, Mr. Wang came clean: “Stouffer’s frozen pizza.”
He watched his son dive back into the spicy bowl. “Obviously,” he said, “he gets his noodle soup genes from his mom.”
Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting.
The post Kids Love Making (and Eating) This Easy Noodle Soup appeared first on New York Times.
