Made this mistake many times myself - Chow mein is nasty...if you want noodles, as for Lo Mein.
The way you described the meat and vegetables swimming in soup is reminiscent of one of the several ways that the Vietnamese serve dog.
The “mein” in “chow mein” is supposed to be “lo mein” noodles.
It was probably the family’s pet “yardbird.”
I studied Mandarin in Taiwan for 4 years. Chow means ‘stir fried’ and mian means ‘noodles’. No broth, mainly fried soft noodles with some vegetables and meat.
Chicken Chow mein.
Typicall Lo Mein is soft noodles, Chow Mein is fried noodles, Chop Suey and Sub Gum are with rice and not noodles.
It’s chicken chow mein. The noodles are dry and in a separate packet. Pour them into the chicken mixture. Some soy sauce helps zip it up a bit too. It’s a pretty Americanized dish, but what you had sounds like it was as authentic as chicken chow mein gets.
It could be...
Pu Chi
Bow Wow Gai Pan
Tastes just like chicken wing
Chow down
Lin tin tin
Leg of mutt ton
Chomp leg foon?
A lot of explainatory answers here. Those dried fried noodles of my childhood were the Americanized Chow Mein of the time. When our tastes were finally being taught by newer chefs from China, they started using the real noodle in the dish — a wheat based noodle sometimes made with just wheat flour and water and sometimes with egg.
Here is an explanation I give to my classes:
“””””Lo Mein translates as ‘tossed noodles’. Cooked wheat noodles are mixed in with a meat/vegetable mix and heated through.
Chow Mein means ‘fried noodles’. Cooked noodles are stir/fried briefly in hot oil till some of the noodles take on crispy brown edges. They are them combined with a meat/vegetable mix.
Noodle Pancake –Sometimes seen on menus as “Two-side-yellow”. Cooked noodles are placed in a well oiled pan and fried until the bottom is browned, flipped and the other side is browned. They are not stir/fried. The pancake is placed on a plate, and the meat/vegetable mix is spread on top.”””””
As with any dish, whomever is in the kitchen, at the stove, depends on how how they make the dish. One restaurant’s version of any dish can be different from the restaurant down the street. (Your meat loaf and my meat loaf difference) And it could be that the kitchen just botched up for some reason.
Why not go back and order it again and check it out before you leave the store. And ask for an explanation if the same thing happens.
My dear husband LOVES that old stuff with the dried noodles.(((sigh))) That, and canned chop suey has him in heaven. Me? Give me the thick ‘stick to your ribs’ Shanghai Noodles with Chinese sausage. Yum!
I LOVE threads on Chinese food!
How did I miss your post!!!!! ????? All I feel is gloom and doom which (amazing coincidence) is the latest tune from the geriatric Rolling Stones
I have to disagree. That is a broiled yak leg in Obama’s mouth