Yiyang Rice Noodles 益阳米粉

Yiyang Rice Noodles (益阳米粉) are the rice noodles of Yiyang (益阳), Hunan, made mainly by hand from stone-ground rice and served in broth under a topping (码子). Huasheng Online describes them as a little thicker and chewier than Changsha rice noodles, not heavily spiced, and most often topped with shredded pork and wood-ear fungus or with shredded pork and chilli.

How it is made

The noodles start from carefully chosen stored early-season indica rice from the Dongting Lake (洞庭湖) area, which is soaked and steamed. The finished noodles are soft and smooth but keep their bite, and take up the flavour of the broth. A topping widely liked in Yiyang is simmered pork and wood ear (木耳肉丝煨码): pork foreleg is cut into shreds and simmered with shredded wood-ear fungus over a low flame, leaving the wood ear crisp rather than soft.

Flavour and texture

Rather than chilli heat, the bowl leans on a savoury sauce aroma, tender meat and natural, unmasked flavours, with the fresh pork and wood ear carrying the flavour.

Where it comes from

At the 2020 Hunan Rice Noodle Contest (湖南米粉大擂台), where the provincial government portal counted noodles from all 14 of Hunan's cities and prefectures, Yiyang was represented by Liu San Rice Noodles (刘三米粉). Rednet traces the business to 1985, when Liu Jinsheng (刘金生), known as Liu San, began supplying hand-made, stone-ground noodles with no additives. In 1993 a rumour that rice noodles were kept fresh with formalin scared Yiyang customers away; the press held Liu up as a positive example, and more than 600 breakfast shops came to sell only his noodles, 80 per cent of the city-centre market. The shop makes its broth from fresh pork leg bones without chicken or duck frames, and hands out longer, slightly heavier chopsticks so the noodles do not slip.