Mixian
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Mixian
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Mixian (Simplified Chinese: 米线; Traditional Chinese: 米線; Pinyin: Mǐ xiàn; often Yunnan rice noodles) are round, smooth, fairly thick noodles made from rice, strongly identified with Yunnan Food and eaten throughout southwest China. They come in two main Yunnan styles—fermented (酸浆米线, lightly sour and springy) and dry-milled (干浆米线, firmer and easier to store)—and appear in dozens of dishes: breakfast bowls in bone broth topped with minced-pork sauce, bubbling small-pot mixian (小锅米线) in Kunming and Kaiyuan, cold dressed mixian, and the celebrated table-assembled Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles. This page covers the noodle and its general family. It is distinct from Guilin Rice Noodles (a Guangxi mifen tradition with its own brine sauce), from Guizhou's Huaxi Beef Rice Noodle, and from Luo Si Fen (Liuzhou river-snail rice noodles), even though English menus sometimes call all of them "rice noodles."[1][2]
Characteristics
Round, white, slippery strands with a tender bite; fermented types carry a faint tang. Bowls range from clear bone broth to chili-oil red, with toppings such as minced pork sauce (rou mao), pickled greens, chives, mint and peanuts.
Ingredients (overview)
Rice (soaked, ground or fermented, then extruded and cooked); broths of pork bone or chicken; toppings and condiments vary by city. Overview only.
History and culture
Chinese encyclopedic sources trace extruded rice strands to early culinary texts associated with the Qimin Yaoshu era and describe later dry "rice cord" gifts in Song-era writing; the modern Yunnan mixian industry grew around Mengzi, Kunming and other prefectures. The popular scholar-and-wife tale behind Crossing Bridge noodles is a local legend. Since the 1990s–2000s, mixian chains have also become a fixture in Hong Kong, where house styles (often without the Yunnan chicken-oil broth) differ from mainland originals, and in overseas Chinese cities.[1]
Serving and variations
Morning bowl with broth and meat sauce; small copper-pot mixian; cold dressed mixian; Crossing Bridge set meal. See Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles, Yunnan Food, Guilin Rice Noodles and Huaxi Beef Rice Noodle.
See also
- Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles
- Guilin Rice Noodles
- Huaxi Beef Rice Noodle
- Luo Si Fen
- Zunyi Mutton Rice Noodles
- Yunnan Food
- List of dishes (A-Z)