Dandan Noodles (Dan Dan Mian)
Dan dan man takes its name from the dan dan shoulder pole — the pole balanced across the vendor's shoulders with a pot of noodles hanging from one end and the sauce components from the other. The vendor would walk the streets of Chengdu selling small portions to passersby — the original fast food, each portion dressed and served in the time it took to lift the noodles from the broth and toss them with the sauce.
A preparation of wheat noodles (or thin noodles of any type) dressed with a sauce of ground pork (cooked with Sichuan preserved vegetable and soy sauce), sesame paste, chilli oil, Sichuan pepper, light soy sauce, and vinegar — served as a street food snack in Chengdu, either as a dry-dressed noodle (the original dan dan man format: a small portion of noodles, the sauce components added and tossed at the table) or as a soupy version with the sauce diluted with a small amount of stock. Dunlop's treatment in *The Food of Sichuan* provides both the dry and soupy versions and a detailed account of the preparation's street food origins.
**The ground pork (zha jiang — cooked separately):** - Ground pork: 100g per portion. - Sichuan preserved vegetable (ya cai — specifically Yibin ya cai: preserved mustard greens, slightly salty, slightly spicy, with a characteristic fermented depth): 2 tablespoons, rinsed and finely chopped. - Soy sauce. - Shaoxing wine. Fry the ground pork in a wok with a small amount of oil until cooked and slightly caramelised. Add ya cai, soy sauce, and wine. Stir-fry until dry and fragrant. The result: a slightly crispy, very savoury, aromatic ground pork that is used as a topping. **The sauce (per portion):** - Chinese sesame paste (zhi ma jiang): 2 tablespoons — not tahini. Chinese sesame paste is made from roasted sesame seeds and has a deeper, more complex, slightly bitter flavour than the raw sesame of tahini. - Chilli oil (hong you) with its sediment: 1–2 tablespoons. - Light soy sauce: 1 tablespoon. - Chinkiang black vinegar (zhenjiang cu): 1 teaspoon. - Sichuan pepper, toasted and ground: ½ teaspoon. - A small amount of stock or hot water: to loosen the sesame paste to a pourable consistency. - Sugar: a pinch. Combine in the serving bowl. **The noodles:** - Fresh wheat noodles (the Sichuan version) or dried thin wheat noodles. - Boiled in vigorous boiling water until just cooked — al dente or slightly past, depending on preference. - Drained directly from the boiling water into the sauce-prepared bowl. **The assembly:** Noodles in the sauce bowl. Ground pork topping on top. Optional: blanched pea shoots or baby spinach. Scatter spring onion. **Tossing:** The diner (or the cook at service) tosses the noodles through the sauce — coating every strand with the sesame-chilli-Sichuan pepper combination. The sauce should coat the noodles in a glossy, orange-red film. Decisive moment: The consistency of the sesame paste after loosening with stock. Too thick: the sauce clumps on the noodles rather than coating. Too thin: the sauce runs off the noodles into a pool at the bottom of the bowl. The correct consistency: pourable but viscous — it should coat the back of a spoon and flow slowly when tilted. Sensory tests: **Smell — the dressed bowl:** The combination of the chilli oil's roasted chilli aroma, the Sichuan pepper's citrus-floral-ma note, the sesame paste's deep roasted richness, and the vinegar's sharp brightness — all released simultaneously when the hot noodles are lowered into the sauce bowl. **Taste:** Dandan mian's flavour should deliver simultaneously: the sesame paste's deep, roasted, slightly bitter richness; the chilli oil's heat; the Sichuan pepper's ma tingle; the soy sauce's salt-umami; the vinegar's bright sharpness. All five registers in every mouthful.
Fuchsia Dunlop, *Land of Plenty* (2001); *Every Grain of Rice* (2012); *Land of Fish and Rice* (2016); *The Food of Sichuan* (2019)