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- Please, call me Waymond!
- [Evelyn] You know, he doesn't have to stay.
- Who's he? - Becky.
- Becky's a she. - You know me,
I always mix up he and she in Chinese.
Just one word, talk so easy.
The way you two are dressed, I'm sure I'm not the only one
calling him he, I mean her him.
Anyways, my English is fine.
- [Andrew] Hey, what's up, guys?
Welcome back to Binging with Babish, where this week,
we're celebrating one of the best movies ever made
winning all the awards by taking a look at
the scallion noodles from Everything Everywhere All At Once.
a fast, satisfying, and economical meal
no matter which version of Gong Gong you're cooking for.
Scallion noodles begin and end with their namesake,
so I'm gonna start by thinly slicing half a dozen scallions,
and over on the stovetop, placing about a half cup
of vegetable in a high-walled saute pan,
adding the scallions, bringing things up to a bubble,
and continuing to cook over medium-low heat
for about 10 minutes, keeping the oil at a bare simmer
so that the scallions don't brown
but rather darken and deepen.
Then it looked like Evelyn was working with lo mein noodles,
so I got a one pound block of the frozen stuff
that you can get at most grocery stores.
Plop that into some ready boiling water,
cook to manufacturers recommended specifications,
and once cooked to a desired level of toothsomeness.
We're scooping it out and dumping it directly into
our awaiting scallion oil, keeping things going
over low heat so everybody can get to know each other
as we add new flavors to the party.
A tablespoon and a half of dark soy sauce
and two tablespoons of light soy sauce,
along with one and a half teaspoons of granulated sugar
to help balance out all the salt.
Give everybody a good agitating for about 30 seconds
over low heat, and if ye be so bold,
give it a few quick tosses,
stopping when and if fire happens.
Straight off the heat, we're gonna pile proudly
into a big old bowl, and to really hammer home
what kind of noodles these are,
a few more thinly sliced fresh scallions.
And there you have it, a boldly flavorful,
delightfully expeditious, steaming delicious bowl
of a Chinese essential, one that lives up to its name
with a distinctly scalliony flavor cutting through
all the salty soy.
Not necessarily a dish that needs improvement,
but if we had the time and inclination,
what steps could we take to make the Alphaverse version
of scallion noodles?
Maybe not Alphaverse specifically, 'cause the Alphaverse
was kind of in a post-apocalyptic...
Never mind. First up, something I've been dreading
since my last tangle with them, hand-pulled noodles.
First, whisking together 250 grams of all-purpose flour
with a half teaspoon of salt before slowly adding,
in small splashes, between 125 to 150 milliliters of water,
in this recipe adapted from redhousespice.com.
Once the dough starts coming together,
you can start kneading with your hands.
If you've only added 125 mil and things are a little bit
too dry, go ahead and add another splash of water.
If you overdid it and things start to get a little bit
too wet, you can add a splash of flour,
until the dough comes together into a ball
that's not sticky but tacky.
On this very lightly flowered work surface,
it shouldn't stick at all, as I commenced kneading it
for just a couple minutes, enough so that no dry patches
of flour remain.
This guy's already been through a lot
and he's just getting started, so we're gonna gonna give him
a rest in a bowl covered with a moist and towel for about
15 minutes, enough time so that the gluten relaxes,
hopefully making our lives a little bit easier
as we commence to kneading for 10 to 15 minutes,
until the dough has become smooth, soft, supple.
If you press a divot into the dough and it bounces back
with vigor, you know you're ready to cut things in half
and give it another rest in, or, how 'bout under a bowl
for 10 minutes, enough time to once again
let the gluten relax so that we can more easily
roll these two pieces out into, um, ovals,
each about a quarter inch thick.
I got a rimmed baking sheet here with a thin layer of oil
on the bottom, so I'm gonna douse these guys
on both sides with oil, stack 'em,
cover 'em with a moist towel, and give 'em one more rest,
this time for an hour and a half,
plenty of time for us to contend with our scallion
and aromatic infused oil,
this time in a recipe courtesy of Chef Wang Gang.
I'm starting by peeling and slicing two shallots,
a dozen scallions, a couple stems of cilantro,
and half a white onion.
Over on the stovetop in a large wok goes one liter
of vegetable oil, which I'm gonna bring up
to about 140 degrees Fahrenheit over high heat,
reducing to medium once the target temp is reached
and dumping in all our yummies,
along with three star anise pods, six bay leaves,
and a three inch knob of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced.
Kinda like last time, we're adjusting the heat
as necessary to maintain a steady bubble
for about 20 to 25 minutes until the scallions turn yellow,
then reduce the heat to low and continue to cook until
the scallions are lightly browned.
Kill the heat, let it sit for five minutes,
and then strain out the oil, leaving the wok dirty,
'cause it's gonna be a perfect place to cook our noodles.
We're dumping all those deep fried caramelized aromatics,
or caramatics, onto some paper towels, shaking them out
to drain and maintain a slight crisp.
Now, this recipe obviously makes a lot more oil
than you're gonna need.
Luckily, this stuff is wildly delicious
and would work beautifully in everything
from salad dressing to Salisbury steak.
Now that we got that out of the way, it's noodlin' time.
Onto a lightly flowered work surface goes one of
our dough ovals, or doughvals, which we're gonna use
a bench scraper to start cutting into thin strips
the same width as the height of the dough.
Then you're supposed to grab these strands
and stretch them out like taffy, and to my joyous disbelief,
it worked, enough so that I could fold the noodles in half
and give them a further stretching and whacking
against the tabletop.
You might find yourself with thick little nubbins
at the end of your noodles, you can always chop these off,
and then place the noodles onto a generously floured
sheet tray, tossing together after every few noodles
to prevent stickage.
Rinse and repeat the undeniably fun process
with the remaining strands, and with that,
we're ready to head over to the stovetop, where I've got
some boiling water and our dirty wok waiting.
Like most fresh noodles, these guys cook really fast,
so they're only headed into the water for about one minute,
during which time we got our wok pre-heating
over medium flame.
Soon as the noodles are done, we're fishing 'em out
and into the wok they go.
Make sure you're not carrying too much water with you,
because there will be spatters.
Get things moving immediately so that nobody sticks
because you forgot to add the scallion oil, Andy.
No matter, it's not too late.
Quarter cup of scallion oil and the same one and a half
tablespoons dark soy sauce, two tablespoons light soy sauce,
and one and a half teaspoons of granulated sugar.
Keep things moving over medium heat,
allowing everybody to cook together
and get to know each other for about one minute,
giving things a toss, hopefully with less flames this time,
finishing things off with a half cup of scallions,
sliced thinly on the bias, and a half cup of our reserved
crispy aromatics, minus the bay leaves and star anise pods.
Prep some more scallions for garnish,
dump everybody into a big ol' bowl,
top with a few more fresh scallions, and there you have it,
scallion noodles with deeply flavorful infused oil
and semi-hand pulled noodles.
Now, we're talking a difference of like,
15 minutes versus more than three hours.
Is it worth all the extra effort?
And the answer is a subjective yes.
The sauce is definitely way more complex and tasty,
and a bouncy chewy noodle that you made yourself by hand
adds the flavor of accomplishment.
Now, I'm a little noodled out at this point,
so I needed my crew to help me induct it
in the Clean Plate Club, but it is a worthy member.
Congratulations to the cast and crew
of Everything Everywhere All At Once, and I hope that one
of your versions tries out one of these versions.
Thanks again to Squarespace for sponsoring today's episode.
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(smooth music)