Cold Noodles with Mayonnaise 凉面加美乃滋

Cold Noodles with Mayonnaise (凉面加美乃滋) is the Chiayi City (嘉义市) way of serving cold noodles: wide, flat noodles dressed with sesame paste and mayonnaise, which people in Chiayi call "white vinegar" (白醋). SETN describes mayonnaise on cold noodles as the traditional local way of eating them in Chiayi, while people in northern Taiwan prefer a sesame-paste dressing with garlic juice.

Ingredients

Chiayi cold noodles use wide, flat noodles. The dressing starts with sesame paste, to which mayonnaise is added, and the bowl is topped with cold vegetables such as cucumber, purple cabbage, corn and carrot. A noodle-shop owner interviewed by SETN described the shop's mayonnaise as specially made to its own recipe.

Flavour and texture

The mayonnaise gives the noodles a smooth texture, which SETN reports is what many Chiayi regulars like about the dish. The same report contrasts it with the saltier sesame-and-garlic dressing of northern cold noodles.

Where it comes from

The Chiayi City government's tourism site names Xiaowumei Spicy Cold Noodles (小伍妹麻辣凉面) as the shop that first served cold noodles with mayonnaise in the city. The shop was originally in the air force's Jianguo Second Village (建国二村), and its waisheng flavour, the cooking of families who came from mainland China, has been handed down to the third generation.