Actually, “dredge” isn’t quite right either, but it’s the closest one-word translation. The actual meaning of the verb is “to attempt to procure solid objects from a liquid in which said objects are suspended in.”
So, panning for gold, trying to grab fish with your bare hands, dredging slime from a canal, bobbing for apples, chasing that missing piece of meat stuck in your fondue, and – most importantly – ladling noodles from boiling water are all terms in which that Chinese character (lao in Mandarin, lo in Cantonese) could be used.
“Boiling” isn’t close. Besides, if you wait until the noodles are boiled, they’ve been in there too long.
If it helps, I’ll also point out that a common
Mandarin Chinese name for instant ramen is “pao4 mian4”,
which does mean “boiled noodles” (or literally,
“immersed noodles”). I suspect the term
post-dates the invention of ramen, though.
Thank you, onigame. My Chinese friend seems to think that Lo Mein is a kind of noodle… that it doesn’t translate that way. I’m going to check further. Do you have any translation websites to show this, oni?
Yes, jr8, it’s entirely possible that Japanese “ramen” comes from Chinese “La1 Mian4”. (If you read my first post carefully, you’ll notice I wasn’t making any statements
regarding the origin of “Ramen”, just contesting the claim
that “lo mein” means “boiled noodles.”
Okay. Here are some statements which I know to be FACT (but it’s okay if the reader won’t believe them until they are backed up):
Chinese restaurants in America often serve a dish called “lo mein”, which tend to be stir-fried noodles.
“Lo mein” is written in characters that would be pronounced “lou4 min6” in Cantonese and “lau1 mien4” in Mandarin. “Lo mein” is a reasonable Romanization.
Those characters (“lo mein” Cantonese, “lau1 mien4” Mandarin) mean (approximately) “dredged noodles.”
The Japanese noodle dish(es) is called “ramen” in Japan.
“Ramen” (Japanese) is called “la1 mien4” in Mandarin. The Chinese characters mean “pulled noodles.”
Now.
I don’t know which came first, “ramen”, “lo mein/lau mien”, or “la mien”. One possibility is that “lo mein” came first, got translated into “ramen” in Japan, then got translated back into “la mien”. Another possibility is that “lo mein” and “la mien” both predate “ramen”, and that “ramen” actually came from “la mien” (and not “lo mein” as Jill’s original article claimed).
Looking at the sites, it appears clear that it is a southern Chinese dish. The phrase “Cantonese lo mein” turns up quite common. For instance, here’s my translation of a paragraph on this page (a gourmet site in Taiwan): http://magazines.sina.com.tw/gourmet/contents/200011/200011-006_3.html
“Anyone who’s eaten Cantonese chau mien will be deeply attracted to this form of pasta; but some might confust Cantonese chau mien with Cantonese lau mien. So, the editor has specially asked LiBa Restaurant’s Executive Chef of Chinese cuisine Mau-yang Jian, who said: ‘The difference between Cantonese chau mien and Cantonese lau mien is in the preparation of the noodles. Although both dishes use egg noodles made from egg and flour, lau mien is a dish where the egg noodles are cooked and seasonings are added, whereas chay mien takes the uncooked egg noodles, steams them in a steamer and then cools them into shape with a fan, then dips them into hot water before putting them into a wok with hot oil, and then uses medium heat to stir-fry until the noodles are golden and fragrant on both sides – this noodle is also known colloquially as “two-faced yellow.”’”
All of these sites, as far as I can tell, talk about “Japanese style la mien”; many of them Japanese-style ramen houses that are apparently quite popular in Taiwan.
“The origin of Japanese la mien”
“Seeded from China, Rooted in Japan”
“La mien has its origins in China. The earliest recording in Japanese history is in ‘Mitokoumon’ Naka Kakukuwa’s work ‘Junsui Ju Story’, where he writes that he has eaten something similar to udon in Mitokoumon. In the fifth year of the Meiji era, a treaty between Japan and the Qing Dynasty allowed for a large group of Chinese immigrants to settle in three large ports in Japan: Yokohama, Goudo, and Nagasaki; this created ‘Chinatown’ areas in these ports. The method of cooking broth from chicken bones or pig bones was hence introduced to Japan, and incited the birth of ‘Chinese ramen.’ The earliest ramen house was ‘Rairaiken’, which opened in the Asakusa area of Tokyo in the 43rd year of the Meiji era. It took traditional Japanese flavorings such as bonito and kelp broth, and mixed them with chicken broth or pork broth, creating a Tokyo-style soy sauce la mien. Such is the origin of la mien.”
This disagrees with Jill’s article in some ways – It sure seems to me from the description that Mitokoumon is a place name. (Which it is.) Possibly Mito Koumon discovered the dish among the plebians in the town named after him. Junsui Ju was a Chinese explorer who was apparently somewhat influential in Japan; not sure how he figures into this, but possibly he was the actual person who introduced the idea.
Rairaiken in Asakusa still exists! Asakusa’s tourist bureau’s website has a section on Chinese restaurants in Asakusa: http://www.asakusa.net/shouten/bunya-01.html
Not that you can read it, but Rairaiken is the 11th listing from the bottom.
Okay, all that research (especially looking up the correct Romanization of those Japanese names, since my Japanese knowledge is rudimentary) is tiring me out. I’ll stop here.
I don’t read Japanese, but you can get a poor translation from babelfish.altavista.com. (Note that “raamen” becomes “Chinese noodles”, and “Mitokoumon” becomes “Mito Yellow Gate”.)