When chef mom made Yangchun noodle in clear soup,
She would fry scallions in pig oil,
She would add boiling water with salt and soy sauce,
With a little spoon she would taste the soup.
She cooked the thin noodle using hot water,
Then she closed the fire and wash the noodles with cold water,
In thin strings,
Clean as the winter snow.
In the bowl of soup with scallions and garlic,
We would be attracted by the smell,
After two bowls of in a row,
A little fragment of onion will appear on the teeth and the stomach would be satisfied.
I chose to imitate Hong Junju’s Noodle in the Broth. I chose to imitate this poem because I want to write about Yangchun noodle（阳春面）, which is a very simple kind of noodle with not much meat or vegetables in it. This poem is not very long, which is very suitable to describe the procedure of Yangchun noodle. Also, this poem describes the eagerness, enjoyment and satisfaction after people had the noodle, which resembles my satisfaction and love for Yangchun noodle made by my mom. Therefore, I chose to imitate this poem.
I learn that in ancient times, the noodles they eat are cooked very simply. And the ingredients for noodles are limited because there is just noodles and onions. However, different from our nowadays, in ancient times, they also add tea infusion into the noodle soup, so that maybe help the noodles taste better and make them more delicious. And most commonly, they will make the noodles themselves from dough while nowadays, we usually bought noodles from supermarkets.
Moreover, I also learned some knowledge for my own culture. For example, nowadays, we still follow the standard method of making noodles, like we would make noodles and soup separately because making soup takes more time to cook than making noodles do. Also, we would add the same ingredients into the noodle soup too, like onions or scallions. Therefore, nowadays, we definitely follow a lot of old method from ancient time. In addition, I think nowadays, we also add more ingredients into the noodle soup, like garlic. The reason behind the addition might be that nowadays, our taste changes a lot and adding garlic into the soup not only will make the body warmer, but also will add more nutrients to the body.
By comparing my poem and the old poem, I think there is cultural DNA embedded. Both poems describe the way of making noodles. The methods described in both poems are very Chinese. Firstly, in the old poem, Hong Junju mentions long strings, which a lot of Chinese like because long noodles can represent longevity and most of the noodles in China are in string shapes. Secondly, the way of making noodles are very Chinese. For example, in my poem, I mention that noodles have to be cooked with hot water and then use cold water to wash them afterwards. This is because Chinese people believe that only by this way, the noodles will become more stretchy and taste better. I think other countries might not cook their noodles like this. Therefore, there is definitely cultural DNA embedded in the texts.