Rice Wine Vermicelli Soup 老酒面线

Rice Wine Vermicelli Soup (老酒面线) is a bowl of thin wheat noodles finished with Matsu (马祖) lao jiu (老酒), the local aged wine. ETtoday counts it among the foods no account of Matsu specialities leaves out, and calls the aged local wine the soul of the dish.

How it is made

At Jingwo Snack Shop (镜沃小吃部) in Qinbi (芹壁) village on Beigan (北竿), where the owner learned the dish from her mother, the shredded pork is first simmered in lao jiu and an egg is fried until golden. Neither is cooked with the noodles. The noodles are boiled with wood-ear fungus and shredded carrot; once they are lifted out, the pork and egg go on top, and the last step is a ladle of aged lao jiu poured over the bowl.

Flavour and texture

ETtoday describes the noodles as soft without turning mushy and the broth as fragrant with wine without being too strong. The salty shredded pork carries the wine's aroma as well, and ETtoday notes that the same wine gives off different aromas in one simple bowl.

Where it comes from

Brewing lao jiu also leaves red wine lees (红糟), the residue left once red-yeast rice wine, made from red yeast rice and glutinous rice, has been pressed and strained off. Matsu residents cook with the lees from brewing lao jiu, in dishes such as red-lees chicken soup, red-lees eel, red-lees pork and red-lees fried rice, and red lees are a seasoning in Fujian (福建) and Guangdong (广东).