Chinese stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu. Chow mai fun steamed chow mein has a softer texture, while the latter is crisper and drier. Crispy chow mein uses fried, flat noodles, while soft chow mein uses long, rounded noodles.
Crispy chow mein either has onions and celery in the finished dish or is served “strained”, without any vegetables. There is a regional difference in the US between the East and West Coast use of the term “chow mein”. On the East Coast, “chow mein” is always the crispy kind. The crispy version of chow mein can also be served in a hamburger-style bun as a chow mein sandwich. There are also variations on how either one of the two main types of chow mein can be prepared as a dish. When ordering “chow mein” in some restaurants in Chicago, a diner might receive “chop suey poured over crunchy fried noodles”.
Food historians and cultural anthropologists have noted that chow mein and other dishes served in Chinese American restaurants located away from areas without any significant Asian American population tend to be very different from what is served in China and are heavily modified to fit the taste preference of the local dominant population. Chow mein was mentioned as early as 1920, in the novel Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. In 1946, one of the first companies to market “chow mein” in a can was Chun King. By 1960, Paulucci described in The New York Times that “At Chun King we have turned out a ‘stew-type’ chow mein. I’d guess this type has been around for thirty – maybe forty – years. To make it, all the meat, seasonings and vegetables are dumped into a kettle and stewed for hours – until everything is cooked.
This section does not cite any sources. This section possibly contains original research. Traditional chow mein is made with egg noodles which are boiled then strained and left to dry. They are then stir fried and finally left to sit at the bottom of the wok and pressed down, this crisps the noodles at the edges and underside.
Chow mein is made with either seafood, often just prawns, chicken, beef or barbecued pork. It fits Brazilian tastes rather than Japanese ones though, and is thus more similar to the North American versions of chow mein. Pastelarias and Asian restaurants serve it in the entire country. Canadian westernized Chinese restaurants may offer up to three different types of chow mein, none of which is identical to either of the two types of American chow mein. In Newfoundland, their chow mein does not contain any noodles. In place of noodles, cabbage cut in such a way to resemble noodles are used as a substitute. In Cuba, aside from the foreign-owned tourist hotels which often serve Western-style Chinese food, local Chinese restaurants can be found in Havana that offer a distinct Cuban style.
In Panama, chow mein is prepared with a mixture of onions, peppers, celery and carrots with pork or chicken and stir fried with noodles. Chow mein is also common in Indian Chinese, Bangladeshi Chinese, and Pakistani Chinese cuisine. There are two Indonesian versions of chow mein. Chow mein has gained popularity in Mexico, which received waves of Chinese immigrants in the past, particularly in northwestern Mexico. Tibetans who settled in Nepal brought chow mein with them. It is a popular fast food in Nepal. Peru and is now a part of mainstream Peruvian culture.
Chow mein is known to Peruvians as Tallarín saltado and may contain peppers, onions, green onions, and tomatoes. Chicken or beef are the preferred meats used in this Peruvian variant. Indian Chinese Cuisine: India’s Love Affair with Chinese Food”. Nepal: Country Guide Series, Lonely Planet guidebooks.
Theories on origin of other Chinese foods”. Top Spots For Chow Mein In The Region”. Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America. Note: The essay in this book was original published in the July 21, 1988 issue of the East-West News as an article titled “Minnesota Chow Mein”. Bite Of Minnesota: Subgum Chow Mein”.
Recipes: Beef Chow Mein Hot Dish”. Origins and Destinations: 41 Essays on Chinese America. Los Angeles: Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Mostly Mississippi: Chinese Cuisine Made In America”. Jeno Paulucci, pioneer of frozen-food business, dies at 93″. Fountain Specials for the Peoples Drug Store ad”.