Innards Lovers Alert: A Noodle Not to Miss in Chengdu

 

To my mind there are few Sichuanese pasta dishes as delicious as dandan mian . But Chengdu boasts many other noodle specialties well worth keeping your eye out for. There's these comforting shouzhuang mian, for instance. And on a warm day (or even a cold one) it's hard to beat a well-tossed liang mian.

And then there's feichang fen. Unlike the aforementioned dishes this one may not be for everyone. The wonderfully elastic noodles, made of sweet potato flour, are utterly accessible. But the main ingredient, pigs' large intestines, might just give some pause.

Not far from Chengdu's Xin Nan bus station is a shop selling guokui -- both the griddled version, like the greasy-good ones in this post, and the 'tandoor'-baked pita-like version eaten stuffed with your choice of filling (to be honest, here they're not as tasty as the ones we swooned over in this post). In an adjacent room, it's all about feichang fen.

The sweet potato noodles for this dish are made steps from the shop's bubbling pot of innards broth. It's a quick and simple procedure: thickish batter is pushed through a sieve directly into boiling water and after a few minutes the noodles are spooled onto a pair of chopsticks, then transferred to cool water to stop the cooking. There they remain (top photo) until made into a dish.

Proving once again that one can do almost anything while smoking

Like most any Chinese noodle dish feichang fen is made-to-taste fare: spicy or not, with or without bean sprouts or intestine pieces (or with an extra portion of innards). Also available here: xin fei tang, or heart and lung soup.)

For our order the noodle master placed chopped scallions and Chinese celery, la jiao you ('sandy' chili oil), garlic, vinegar, a dash of soy sauce and MSG in bowl.

He placed bean sprouts together with noodles in a long-handled strainer and submerged that into the guts broth, leaving it there just long enough for the sprouts to wilt and the noodles, which are already fully cooked, to heat up

He then dumped these on top of the condiments, topped it all up with a little broth, and added pieces of intestine.

The verdict?

Dave, long an innards lover, truly enjoyed this dish. I eat intestine and other bits and bobs on occasion, but to my palate the broth was over-the-top funky to the point I couldn't bear more than a few sips. (Dave was happy to finish our shared bowl all by his own self.)

The seasoning was perfect, however -- we asked for 'extra spicy' and very vinegar-y and the noodle master delivered on both fronts (thumbs up always to Asian food vendors who take our caucasian selves seriously when we say we want it spicy) -- and the noodles divine. More substantial than rice noodles, not as heavy as wheat noodles, pleasingly elastic, utterly slurpable, sweet potato noodles may just be the ultimate pasta.

An absolute Do Not Miss for any pasta and guts loving traveler headed to Chengdu.

Jin Tang Jiu Long Guo Kui (look for red characters on a white sign), corner of Xin Nan Lu and Nan Tai Lu, Chengdu. Morning to evening.

 

Comments

[Chubbypanda]

I love the shot of the noodle maker smoking while he coils the noodles. He kinda looks like Marco Pierre White in that photo from White Heat. Totally badass.

[vewe]

Great Post, one of my fave kind of noodles, I usually ask for extra big intestine...
You should try out yibin ranmian (宜宾燃面）if possible, it's one of the best noodles I have eaten so far

[Robyn]

Chubbypanda - I have a sentimental attachment to that photo. My mom sometimes cooked with a cig in her mouth. And yes, she is a total badass. ;-)

vewe -- yeah we were sorry to miss those this last trip. Next time, I hope. Also wanted to try chacha mian and tomato-egg noodles. The latter esp because I wonder if they are anything like a friend from Sichuan taught me to make 25 yrs ago? Described/recipe in this post:

http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2005/11/more_greens_pea.html

[Selba]

Oh my.... smoking while cooking???

[Robyn]

Selba - there are plenty worse things than a stray ash to find in your bowl of streetside feichang fen! ;-)

[angie]

i want to try this!

your posts always make me want to go to the place and try the food real bad.

[Amy]

Great post! I’m looking to make some changes in my own eating habits and learning to cook, so I appreciate your insight a lot! Thank you.
-Amy

[Mzungu]

Great post. Yeah side street gaffs in China are never big on hygiene, but it's where the best food comes from.

[shayma]

deliciousness. x shayma

[jodi]

lol, I love that shot of the intestine floating in broth.

[Albert]

that looks like a tasty bowl, I love intestine.

I wonder if it is just as good without the MSG.

Did you try 大腸麵線 (thin rice noodle with pig intestine, sometimes also with oysters, in a really thick soup), when you were in Taiwan?

[Going With My Gut]

Robyn, I LOVE sweet potato noodles in Korean japchae. Very intrigued to see it in a soupy Sichuan rendition.

Dave, I don't know how you make a basin of noodles and an empty bowl look so awesome. You break my photography heart regularly.

@Albert I just tried Taiwan style pig intestine & oyster noodle soup on the weekend in London! Loved it, will be going back for more.

Wen

[John]

I completely agree with your assessment of sweet potato noodles -- they have excellent bite and mouthfeel.

[Yue Edwards]

Chengdu is my hometown, your post made me homesick!!!! and that sweet potato noodle is one of my favorite, i know where to find the best sweet potato noodle restaurant in the city.