A Bite of China brings fame to 'hollow noodles'
The second season of the gourmet documentary "A Bite of China" has created quite a buzz with the stunning culinary skills featured. It's particularly cooked up a lot of interest in some specially-made noodles from Shaanxi province. Let's head to the small village in northwest China where the locals are the master noodle-makers, and find out more about the thousand-year-old technique.
Early in the morning, when day light is soon to break the night, Zhang Shihong gets up to prepare the flour. 40 to 3.5, the proportion between flour and salt, is the perfect number after decades of trials.
In qinjiazhuang village, everybody is a master at making kongxin noodles, which translates to hollow noodles. The skill is carried on from generation to generation. After Zhang's parents passed away, his sixth uncle took on the duty of carrying on the torch.
"There are 7 steps in making the noodles and every one connects with each other. Fail at any step, it is impossible to move on to the next one."
After two rounds of fermentation, at 2 the next morning, Zhang and his wife start the most essential process.
"This is the hardest step: twist the dough and split it into two, tie them up on the sticks and press them to make sure they don't drop." said Zhang Shihong, Noodle Maker.
Related: A Bite of China 2 starts from food, ends with people
