Nantong Bamboo-Pole Noodles 南通跳面

Nantong Bamboo-Pole Noodles (南通跳面) are hand-made wheat noodles from Nantong (南通), Jiangsu, whose dough is pressed with a rolling pin tied into a rope loop while the cook bounces with its swing; tiaomian means "jumping noodles". They look much like ordinary cut noodles. Some noodle shops call them Cao Ding noodles (曹顶面) or Cao Gong noodles (曹公面), after the Ming-dynasty hero Cao Ding (曹顶).

How it is made

The wheat is milled and sieved and the dough kneaded and rested, then pressed on a special low table with several rolling pins as thick as bamboo tubes. The pin is tied into a strong loop of hemp rope fixed to the table, so the cook rides the swing of the rope and bounces while working the dough. Jianghai Evening News (江海晚报) calls this pressing the essence of tiaomian: the leverage presses the dough more thoroughly and makes the noodles firmer. People's Daily Online, republishing a Xinmin Evening News (新民晚报) piece, says the pressed dough gives noodles that are very springy, do not break and have more bite.

Where it comes from

Nantong ties the noodle to Cao Ding, who fought Japanese pirates (倭寇) in the Jiajing reign (嘉靖) of the Ming dynasty. The story runs that he answered the call to fight the pirates in the 32nd year of Jiajing and once led 500 marines against 3,000 raiders attacking Tongzhou (通州, today's Nantong). Afterwards he refused the court's reward and opened a noodle shop on the road south of the town towards Langshan (狼山), where pilgrims crowded to Guangjiao Temple (广教寺). Unable to keep up by hand, he rigged the rope-and-pin press after watching a villager chop straw for his ox, and a visitor who saw him bouncing named the noodles tiaomian. Jianghai Evening News calls the noodle a traditional Nantong snack, and in October 2024 reported a group of children making it under a professional cook's guidance at the Cao Ding cultural centre in Nantong (南通市义勇曹顶文化中心).

How it is eaten

At Nantong street stalls and noodle shops, tiaomian comes in soup, stir-fried with oil, in a thick sauce or tossed dry. The base broth is simmered slowly from pork-bone stock, chicken stock, dried shrimp and clams (文蛤). A serving is usually about three liang (三两) of noodles in a large bowl with plenty of broth, which gourmets sum up as "frightening bowl, drowning soup, tempting noodles".