Chinese Noodle Question: Whence the Smokiness?

LTHers,

Here's one for you. I've had numerous versions of noodle dishes, many styles, many names—Hunan noodles at Princess Garden in KC, Shanghai-style noodles at Sichuan in Montréal, for example—which have a subtle but distinct *smoky* flavor to them. I've tried to duplicate it, but to no avail. My first thought was that the sauce must contain oyster sauce, but that didn't seem to do it. Nothing I've tried has come even close.

Any ideas?

TIA!

Geo

While wok hay, or "breath of wok" describes more than just smokiness, it is in any case the product of a very very hot and properly seasoned wok. This is hard to achieve at home with conventional burners, which do not get hot enough to produce the effect, though I've had some luck with thick, cast-iron woks that retain and concentrate heat very well, even on a household stove-top.

Geo-

Good question. Are you talking about the noodles themselves being smoky? Or could it be the broth they were cooked in? I ask because we had bowls of breakfast noodles in Yunnan this year that were smoky. As it happened, the Chef was meeting with our group. His recipe for broth was pork bones, chicken, ginger, and Yunnan ham, which imparts a very slight smokiness to the broth, although it is air cured, not smoked. The smokiness might also come from a mushroom element. To me, dried porcinis are smoky, for instance.

I'm with Habibi. Wok hay.

It is hard to duplicate at home, but crank the heat up as high as it goes, add peanut oil or something with a similarly high smoke point, and don't add the food until the oil is really smoking.

Tnx everyone! Flavor seems to be in the sauce.

Hmmm, wok hay,eh? I suspect it's done with sesame oil in the wok. That's typically what went into the mix in kitchens in Wuhan, along with murky (from being way overpressed) vegetable oil.

I'll try it.

Geo