An Eat'n Man: Stir Fried Noodles with Pork

Ingredients

16 oz pork loin
1 cup bean sprouts
2 scallions
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon red vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
8 ozs Hong Kong Style Egg Noodles
3 tablespoons peanut oil

This is a little dish we sometimes get at a Chinese BBQ place we like to go to from time to time. At the restaurant, it is vegetarian, but I've meated it up a bit with the addition of marinated pork. The most awesome part of the dish though is the noodles--these thin Hong Kong style noodles will really crisp up nicely in the hot wok, and that crispness is what makes the dish.

Make sure you get these noodles:

You should be able to find them at any decent Asian grocery. They are Hong Kong style, whatever that means. They are very thin, and that is the key to getting them to crisp up--you don't want the thicker lo mein or chow mein noodles.

Boil the noodles in two quarts water for 2-3 minutes.

These soften fast as they are so thin.

Next, heat a skillet with a little peanut oil. Drain the noodles in a colander and get them as dry as you can. Now place them in the skillet over medium heat and let them dry out a bit.

Flip them occasionally. You can also do this in your wok, but I use a skillet as I'm just drying the noodles here and not crisping them yet. Turn off heat when dry.

Meanwhile, cube your pork loin.

And mix up a marinade of 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon red vinegar, 1 tablespoon mirin.

Place the pork in the marinade and let sit in your fridge for 30 minutes.

Slice the scallions into thin, bite-size strips.

Mince your ginger,

then the garlic cloves, and mix them together. Set aside.

Make your stir fry sauce:

Mix a tablespoon of soy sauce with a teaspoon dark soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/4 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper. Reserve.

We'll be using my well-seasoned 14 inch carbon steel wok for this operation.

With it's flat bottom, it works well on the stove top. Place wok on burner and get it scalding hot. That's the key to good stir fry--a really hot wok. It may smoke a bit, but just turn on your vent fan, as that heat gives your dish that amazing flavor known in stir fry circles as 'Wok Hei.'

Add a tablespoon of peanut oil to your hot wok and swirl it around. Add the pork and stir fry until pork is browned but not overcooked.

Remove from wok and reserve.

Add another tablespoon of peanut oil to the wok. Add the scallions and stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add the ginger/garlic mixture and repeat.

Now, add the noodles.

Stir things up a bit to get the ginger/garlic/scallions mixed in so they don't burn. Then let the noodles sit for a minute or two. Then flip over the whole mess of noodles. They should have begun to crisp up nicely on the bottom. Add the stir fry sauce you made