One version has soup, the other is served dry. Both are connected by China’s tumultuous modern history.
Thick, nutty, spicy—Sichuan-style dan dan noodles are ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants around the world. A surprisingly delicious combination of soup and noodles, the dish is punctuated by mouth-numbingly spicy chili and sesame paste sauce.
But go to Sichuan, the birthplace of dan dan noodles, and you’ll find a very different version of the dish, served dry, with minced pork and without soup or sesame. So where did the soupy version come from? That is a story of politics, migration, and innovation.
The original dan dan noodles are typically served in small bowls. “Dan dan noodles, first and foremost, are a snack,” says Yang Gang, owner of Tianshuimian Dandanmian, a popular dan dan noodle restaurant in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital.
The name “dan dan” refers to the bamboo poles from which they were sold. Local lore says the first person who sold the noodles carried them in buckets strung on poles called danzi 担子. They became a popular street snack.
“People started saying, ‘I want to eat the bamboo pole noodles, the dan dan noodles,’ and after a while, the name caught on,” Yang says.
“A lot of people say they’ve eaten soupy dan dan noodles. I don’t think those are authentic.”
Unlike dan dan noodles elsewhere, the noodles in Sichuan are served dry. “In a lot of other places like Beijing and Shanghai, a lot of people say they’ve eaten soupy dan dan noodles,” Yang says. “I don’t think those are authentic.”
The heart and soul of an authentic bowl is the meat sauce, or saozi 臊子. “The meat sauce must be made according to a recipe that has been passed down,” Yang says. “It’s made with pork that’s been minced and stir-fried. It’s very crispy and fragrant.”
In that way, Sichuan’s dan dan noodles are close cousins of Wuhan’s hot dry noodles and northern China’s zhajiangmian—all three are served dry with a meat or bean sauce. The only difference is that dan dan noodles contain Sichuan’s famously numbing peppercorn, chili oil, and yacai 芽菜, pickled mustard greens.
The soup came in at the turn of the century. In 1911, China’s last dynasty fell to revolutionary forces led by Sun Yat Sen. Yeung Din-wu was a chef in the imperial court, and when the emperor was overthrown, he and his family fled to Hong Kong, then a British colony.
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For a while, Yeung struggled to provide for his family. Later, he met a man from Sichuan who had recently moved to Hong Kong and wanted to open a restaurant in the city, but he didn’t have any cooking experience. Yeung offered his services.
The restaurant, Wing Lai Yuen, opened in the Diamond Hill area of Hong Kong in 1947 and served Sichuan specialties, including dan dan noodles. But the Hong Kong palate was not used to the bold and spicy flavors of Sichuan cuisine, so Yeung decided to tweak the recipe.
First, he removed the spicy chilli oil and made it optional for customers who wanted an extra kick. Then, he did something controversial—he added soup to the noodles. Lily Yeung, the granddaughter of Yeung Din-wu and current owner of Wing Lai Yuen, says he did it to present a soup recipe he had used in the palace.
“It was once served to the emperor in the palace,” she says. “First of all, the soup base is sweet and umami. It has many different ingredients. It includes the aroma of sesame paste and peanut butter.”
This less spicy, more soupy version of dan dan noodles became a hit. Lily Yeung says her grandfather was able to make ends meet with the noodles alone. “So we kept making it the same way and customers love it,” she says.
Other Sichuan restaurants in Hong Kong have since imitated Yeung’s recipe. Chains Din Tai Fung and Crystal Jade serve a version of dan dan noodles similar to the one at Wing Lai Yuen. The dish has been replicated in Chinese restaurants around the world.
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But back in Sichuan, locals are proud of their version and insist it’s the only way to serve them.
“Dan dan noodles are something that Sichuan people grew up eating,” says Yang, the noodle shop owner. “It’s a snack that Chengdu people cannot live without.”
