La Mian (拉面) — Hand-Pulled Noodles: The Full Technique

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La mian (拉面, literally pull noodles) is the ancient Chinese noodle-making technique of stretching a piece of dough between the hands, folding it repeatedly to double the number of strands, and continuing until the desired fineness is achieved. A skilled la mian maker can produce noodles thinner than spaghetti from a single piece of dough through 10-12 folding passes (producing 1,024 to 4,096 individual strands). La mian originated in northern China and has spread throughout the country and into Japan (where ramen derives its name from la mian) and across the Silk Road. The Lanzhou style (兰州拉面, Gansu province) — beef broth, hand-pulled noodles, white radish, red chilli oil, and fresh coriander — is the most ubiquitous form across China.

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