Noodles and oodles of fun

When chef Mark Pi set a Guinness World Record by stretching out 4,096 strings of Chinese noodles by hand in 41.34 seconds in 1993, the Chinese art of La Mian, or hand-pulling noodles, swept the world. Now some Beijing workshops give noodle eaters the chance to learn the ancient art and get into a tangle of fun as they make meters of noodles and great sauces.

La Mian is usually found in the Hui (Muslim) restaurants, which offer dishes quite different from regular Chinese food. La Mian is not technically street food, even though many noodle makers work right by the sidewalk.

The rope of dough is folded in half, twisted and stretched back to its original length about ten times. The twisting is done by holding one end of the rope in each hand while the center hangs down under the force of gravity and flings one side against the other in a circular motion. The rope is first twisted to the right, stretched, floured by rolling on the countertop and then twisted to the left, stretched and floured again. Each time, the number of noodles doubles.