Uncut Noodles
Let’s talk rice noodle rolls. We tend to be so focused on their riceness (stretchy gooey carby) that we overlook their noodleness. In other words, their texture and dimensions and fillings and flavorings are much more varied than you might think. Some versions are sedate, others are chaotic. It just depends on where you happen to be in Guangdong province when you order them.
HK-style
You'll know this type from Hong Kong dim sum restaurants. When the cart lady lifts up that oblong silver lid, this is the type of cheung fun she reveals: snowy white rolls awaiting their sweet soy sauce baptism. These noodle blankets are as smooth as heavy satin and as tidy as unused stationery, with char siu pork, shrimp, or minced beef tucked within.
Deliciously orthodox.
Guangzhou-style
Thin rice slurry is rakishly painted onto a steel sheet, then drizzled with yolk and sprinkled with ground pork and maybe a leaf of lettuce. After a hot minute in a steamer cabinet, the sheet of noodle is swiftly scraped onto a plate. It can get ruched and wrinkly, dishabille and devil-may-care, but the noodle's soft corrugations are ideal catchments for soy sauce.
Teochew-style
OK, now it's time to expand our definition of cheung fun. In northeastern Guangdong province (Chaozhou and Shantou), fillings such as shrimp, scallops, squid, pork offal, fish cake, are swathed in a big uncut noodle sheet. The omelette-like bundle is drenched not in soy sauce but a puddle of savory broth.
Imagine a noodle soup that has been deconstructed and remixed.
Plain edition
Known as zai cheong 斋肠 in Hong Kong and chee cheong fun 猪肠粉 in Southeast Asia. Noodle sheets wound into tight scrolls are usually enlisted to serve as a bland base for something intensely savory, like braised beef tendon stew, or the chaotic melange of hoisin sauce, sesame paste, and sriracha. Half the fun of eating these dishes is unraveling the noodle coils with your tongue.
