I have a question.... I have never ever seen lo mein on a menu in this part of California. So I don't know what it is!

Lo mein is a spaghetti like egg noodle with meat or seafood in a soy or oyster sauce with veggies. It's much like fried rice in that it's a staple of [american] chinese food. Similiar variations are chow fun or mei fun, just different noodles. Like farfalle vs gemelli.

In my experience, that is, I could be wrong - when you're dealing with cuisine from another culture that is not your own you tread lightly and open your mind to be educated if you have made a misstep in your assessment. Thats what I like about this forum, you can learn alot and/or you can try and mess up but still someone will help you to find the right answer without making you feel badly.

Lo mein is soft, boiled noodles (usually a wheat/egg noodle) tossed with vegetables and a little sauce.

You can put pretty much anything into lo mein.

My favorites is twice-cooked pork strips, mushrooms and scallions.

Second would be crab or shrimp (or both!) with a little ham for accent and strips of fennel.

And chicken's good, too.

Joe

sushipup:

Come to my part of Callifornia (Central Coast) and I'll take you to my two favorite Chinese restaurants and the chefs will make us any kind of lo mein we want.

Or, with your name in mind, should I take you to a Japanese place? Sans lo mein.

Joe

I like chicken lo mein. I would not serve lo mein and fried rice at the same meal. They are too similar. I think that is your quandary.

I suggest using the chicken in the lo mein and making some sort of stir fry with thinly slice beef. Maybe beef with broccoli, mushrooms or some combination.

Jim

Jim I think I'm on to what you're saying- how bout chicken and pork lo mein and beef broccoli and leek with black bean sauce and sticky rice? And Thai iced tea. Sounds like a plan!

Well, Joe, I'm in the Monterey area, and I'm familiar with a number of noodle dishes, but never see the name "lo mein" on any menu. And I frequent some pretty good Chinese restaurants.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Eagle

Most of the time I make beef lo mein with a small piece of sirloin steak, sliced onion, and either bok choy, spinach, or swiss chard - sometimes cabbage added, and I sub celery thin sliced on the diagonal for bamboo shoots. I'm not a fan of bean sprouts so I tend to leave them out. I use cooked linguine noodles because soba is hard to fine here.

I prefer to use raw steak and stir fry it first, separately. Now that I think about it, I've never made a chicken or shrimp lo mein. And I don't do tofu.

Next time I make this, I might try broccoli instead!

Sands I like version 2 of your menu better. Sounds good~

I love making Chinese food fun , mind you I seem to use every pot in the house.

Here are two of my favourite Lo Mein recipes. You can add chicken and or pork to the first one and sub out the shrimp for chicken inn the second

Chinese Lo Mein - Rachel Ray

2 Tbl vegetable or wok oil
1 Cup snow peas halved on a diagonal
1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into match stick size pie
1/2 Lb assorted mushrooms chopped
4 scallions thinly sliced on a diagonal
2 Cup (about 4 handfuls) fresh bean spouts
2 inches fresh ginger root minced or grated with hand grater
4 Clove garlic minced
1 Lb lo mein noodles or thin spaghetti cooked to al dente and drained well
1/2 Cup aged tamari soy sauce
toasted sesame oil, several drops ( I omit)

Heat a wok-shaped skillet or large non-stick skillet over high heat. When pan is very hot, add oil, (it will smoke a bit) then, immediately add the snow peas, pepper, mushrooms, scallions, and bean sprouts. Stir
fry for 1 minute to flavor the oil, then add the ginger and garlic, and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add the cooked noodles and toss with to combine. Add the soy sauce and toss the ingredients to coat noodles evenly with sauce.

Transfer the lo mein to a serving platter and garnish with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

Shrimp Lo Mein - Hot And Sour

1 1/2 Lb medium shrimp peeled

Ginger Marinade
3 Tbl Chinese rice wine or sake
1 1/2 Tbl minced fresh ginger (consider more)
1 Tsp toasted sesame oil

Hot and Sour Sauce
1 1/2 Cup chicken broth
5 1/2 Tbl soy sauce
2 Tbl Rice Wine Vinegar (changed from rice wine)
1 Tbl sugar
2 Tbl Lea And Perrin
1 1/2Tsp Hot Chile Sauce
1 Tbl cornstarch

Lo Mein
3 1/2 Tbl safflower or corn oil (Consider Reducing)
1 medium red onion thinly sliced (Consider Green Onions)
2 1/2 Tbl minced garlic
1/2 Lb snow peas ends snapped and strings removed
1 1/2 Cups Sliced Mushrooms (Original Called For Water Chestnuts)
1/2 Lb lo mein noodles

In a bowl, combine the shrimp with the ginger marinade, tossing lightly to coat.

Combine ingredients for Hot and Sour Sauce

In a wok or heavy skillet over high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the shrimp and toss lightly for about 1 1/2 minutes until they turn pink. Remove with a handled strainer or a slotted spoon and drain in a colander. Wipe out the wok.

Reheat the wok over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil and heat until hot, about 20 seconds. Add the onion mushroom, garlic and stir-fry until the onion and mushroom is slightly softened, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add the water chestnuts and snow peas,turn
up the heat to high and toss until heated through.

Add the hot-and- sour sauce and cook, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the shrimp and noodles and mix gently. Transfer to a platter and serve immediately

Scallions!!

Scallions or regular onion, mung bean sprouts, thin slices of green/red pepper, maybe some pea pods? Any veggies you like will be fine.

When we get Chinese I usually get an all veggie lo mein. Hubby and son love prok - pork fried rice, boneless spareribs, etc. so they always vote for pork lo mein as well. I don't eat pork so I usually win out getting veggie lo mein so at least I can eat something! I never get to have the rice because they only want pork so it's not a starch overload for us to get both.

And you're going to put all that together after providing cab service as well? I hope everyone appreciates your effort! I find Chinese food very work and time intensive cuisine. I guess if you have everything chopped and measured out and ready to go it's not that bad, but still, it's not a 10 minute meal!!

Lisa

Sands,

Your second menu sounds delicious to me.

Jim

I love lo mein with every kind of vegetable imaginable. The kind I get at Wegmans has those cute little mushrooms in it, the name escapes me now, the kind that look like minature toadstools . . . Anyway, if you're making a company dish, I would splurge on some groovy gourmet mushrooms like oyster, shitake and those other ones, darn it what is their name?

I love lo mein with egg rolls. I like the contrast between crispy eggrolls and slippery lo mein, lol! But then I'm a carb lover. I make lo mein with buckwheat noodles but then I don't know if that strictly qualifies as lo mein, but it add some variety to the dish, IMHO.