Hele Pressed Noodles 饸饹面
Hele Pressed Noodles is featured among the local specialties of Henan.
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Hele Pressed Noodles (饸饹面) are a Xuchang (许昌) noodle dish with a firm, springy bite. At the local Laoma family operation (老马家), mutton broth and freshly pressed noodles are prepared in three separate pots, a method documented by Xuchang Cultural Centre.
Three pots, three jobs
The first pot produces the broth. Fresh mutton bones, meat and fat cook for six hours, with a strong boil followed by gentler cooking to draw out the marrow. The finished soup is milky white. A second pot handles seasoning: packets containing more than twenty spices are used, and the soup is adjusted several times during the day.
The third pot is reserved for noodles. High-gluten flour is kneaded into a smooth dough, rested and pressed into strands before boiling. The cultural centre describes the cooked noodles as both firm and smooth.
Finishing the bowl
The drained noodles go into a bowl with chopped scallion, coriander and slices of mutton. Milky broth is poured over them, followed by a spoonful of the shop’s mutton-fat chilli condiment.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.