Why Your Homemade Lo Mein Is Never As Good As A Chinese Restaurant's

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Lo mein is a seemingly simple dish that's widely available at Chinese restaurants, but homemade attempts often fall short of expectations. So we spoke with Rich Wang, a certified noodle artisan who learned the art of hand-pulled noodles in Lao Zhou, China before becoming the founder and executive chef at Minyoli, a Taiwanese noodle shop in Chicago. He shared his considerable expertise with Daily Meal on why homemade lo mein doesn't stack up to restaurant dishes.

Chef Wang told us "Lo-mein is the Cantonese word that denotes boiled noodles tossed in a sauce without stir-frying — in Taiwan, we call it "gan-ban" noodle," and one common error in homemade lo mein is cooking with the wrong noodles. "Using plain wheat noodles often results in noodles that are too soft or sticking together," Wang explained. For the ideal texture, he recommended using egg noodles or alkaline noodles.

Next he advised us against "crowding the noodle pot." Adding that it's best to "use a big pot with a generous amount of boiling water, this will ensure the noodles are cooked evenly and not sticking together." Boiling noodles releases starch into the water, but if there's not enough water to disperse the starch, it will make your noodles clump together instead.

Another common error in homemade lo mein, chef Rich Wang told us, is "not enough fat in the sauce: One important element of lo-mein is fat (whether it be oil, lard, or butter). Without it, the noodles will stick." Fat in the form of cooking oil is crucial to a good lo mein, and not enough in the sauce can also cause a failed emulsion, leading us to the third common mistake.

"One important aspect of lo-mein is that the sauce must be emulsified," Wang explained, meaning that you must vigorously mix the normally insoluble fat and water with an emulsifier, like starch from the noodle boiling water. "This is the same reason Italians add pasta water to finish pasta sauce," he noted.

Wang told us that "without emulsification, your soy sauce and chili oil will just pool at the bottom of your lo-mein rather than coating the noodle like a sauce should." And if lo mein sauce doesn't cling to the noodles, the noodles will instead cling to each other.

Noodle artisan Rich Wang told us that for a great lo mein, the sauce should be packed with aromatics. "Any kind of allium — garlic, ginger, green onion — would be ideal candidates for giving your lo-mein sauce that all so important fragrance," he explained, which helps make up for the lack of enticing stir-fry aromas. Wang also recommended julienne-cut vegetables, which mix well and are easy to eat.

Wang's final tips for restaurant-grade lo mein bring us back to the all-important sauce. Soy sauce is a common base, but "the unique umami of oyster sauce really adds that je ne sais quoi that other seasonings cannot simulate," he revealed. First discovered in 1888 by a chef after accidentally overcooking oysters, oyster sauce became ubiquitous in Chinese cuisine, and can add terrific depth to lo mein. Many varieties of oyster sauce are available on Amazon.

You should also consider using black vinegar, a Chinese umami bomb made of aged rice vinegar which sometimes includes spices. "Adding a dash of black vinegar in lo-mein will give the sauce a piquant flavor similar to that of balsamic vinegar," Wang explained. Like oyster sauce, black vinegar is also available on Amazon. Follow these tips and your next homemade lo mein will taste just like at the restaurant.