Youtiao ~ Where is your favorite?

Any and all of LA/OC area. Please, no alternatives. The youtiao must be top priority, then accompaniments.

TIA

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This is going to be an interesting thread. Iā€™ve only ever had it as a garnish for pork blood and offal congee.

Phnom Penh Noodle Shack in Long Beach!!

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Believe it or not, Li Orient (Downtown)

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i havenā€™t had one in over a decade, except as a filling for chang fun at dim sum.

I tried chang fun with the youtiao as a filling at dim sum once. I was not a fan. But likely becausethe youtiao did not taste fresh. Still not sure if I would like it if it was. Rice noodle and fried dough in the sweetened soy concoction doesnā€™t appeal to me as much. Maybe my brain isnā€™t hardwired for this dish.

I hate to be that guy that answers a seemingly benign question with another question, or in this case a series of questions. But here goes.

  1. What do you plan to do with the you tiao? Eat then straight?

  2. Do want to use them as the ā€œmeatā€ in jian bing or tsao bing?

  3. Are going to use them for filling for things like vegetarian dumplings or baos?

  4. Or perhaps as dunking vessels for soy milk (either salty or sweet)?

  5. Use them as the ā€œpigsā€ in the Taiwanese version of Pigs In A Blanket with rice noodle rolls as the ā€œblanketā€?

Generally, I think if you plan on eating them straight up (not something I would personally do but, hey, people like to eat cheese straight up too so what do I know), I think itā€™s less about where you go then when you go. As it is with things like croissants, you really want a batch thatā€™s fresh out of the fryer, where you can still inhale the vapors of hot oil in the air like the smell of napalm in the morning.

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i wasnā€™t crazy about it either.

Iā€™d grown up eating yt dipped in hot jook and much less often, in cheong fun. Since I married a Taiwanese lady, itā€™s now an accompaniment to salty soy milk as well.

My wife made an unusual (to me) appetizer for a dinner party. You tiao quick stir fried with pey dan. Sounds weird, was one of the hits of the party.

Donā€™t know if itā€™s a recent thing, but weā€™ve been seeing yt as an ingredient on menuā€™s. Sorry for the drift, following from 100 ntd places in Taiwan.
Yt with sliced pork and with oysters.

Although nice to sample these different preps, neither so spectacular as to make either a must have when available.

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Zhaliang!! Canto classic.

I like sweet and salty so itā€™s right up my alley.

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I think it was more the carb-on-carb action that Iā€™m not a fan of. I enjoy the sweetened soy sauceā€¦quite a bit honestly, but thatā€™s not good enough to save this dish to me.

Yi Mei used to be next to Elite back in the day. They had the best youtiao! Eating one is enough with your soy milk, but my Mom always ordered a shao bing youtiao as well. That was overkill. On top of that I also ate a fan tuan too which also had a youtiao. Now that I am older my heart hurts just thinking about eating all that at once!

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Yeah, I canā€™t imagine shao bing + you tiao. Shao bing (in my childhood) was for rou song (sp?) or an omelette-type thing.

I love shao bing you tiao.

Itā€™s like the greasy cousin to potato salad bread.

What is potato salad bread??? A Google search didnā€™t turn up anything/muchā€¦

Trieu Chau, Santa Ana. Will most likely be gone by 10am.

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Itā€™s more of a sandwich. Try googling: 馬鈓č–Æę²™ę‹‰äø‰ę˜Žę²»

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Thanks for the recs! If there are anymore, please share.

Ah, I think Iā€™ve had that b/f (last time mustā€™ve been a few decades agoā€¦). I recall liking the filling, but not the bread (maybe Iā€™d like it better toastedā€¦).

+1 Yi Mei and also China Redā€™s stuffed in pig intestine noodles.

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