Taizhou Ginger Broth Noodles (Jiang Tang Mian)
Noodles cooked in a broth of long-simmered ginger and rice wine, loaded with shrimp, clams, dried squid, pork and egg, eaten for warmth in winter and by new mothers.
How to eat it
The broth is the point, so taste it first with the spoon; it is yellow with ginger and carries a burn at the back of the throat that builds as you eat. Work through the toppings with chopsticks, peeling the shrimp with your fingers if they come in the shell, and pull the noodles up in small bunches since they soften quickly in the hot liquid. Break the fried egg so the yolk runs into the broth. Finish the broth if you can; it is meant to be drunk to the bottom, particularly on a cold, wet evening.
The story behind the dish
Taizhou sits on a damp stretch of coast where winters are raw rather than freezing, and ginger has long been the household remedy for the chill. Old ginger is simmered until the water turns sharp and yellow, and that liquid, rather than stock, becomes the base for noodles. The dish is closely tied to the month of confinement after childbirth, when new mothers in Taizhou are fed ginger broth daily to "drive out the cold", and a bowl of ginger noodles with seafood, pork and egg is the fuller version of that same idea. It moved from the home into noodle shops, where it is now a late-night and winter staple ordered by anyone with a cold or a hangover.
For reference
Every kitchen does it its own way. What follows is the typical version — ingredients, heat and price shift from city to city and from one restaurant to the next, so take it as a guide rather than a fixed recipe.
If you have an allergy or something you can't eat, check with the staff before you order.