There are many knacks and stories about the making of Guilin rice noodles. There is also much knowledge in eating methods of Guilin rice noodles. Even there are knacks in finding a rice noodle shop to eat Guilin rice noodles.

There are at lease 3000 rice noodle shops, if not 4000, scattered on the streets of Guilin.   Most of them hang a signboard of "Guilin rice noodles", so you can not tell the good from the not good. If you eat a bowl of genuine Guilin rice noodles, you will feel refreshing and full of vigor for a half day. If you are unlucky to eat rice noodles of inferior and counterfeit quality, it is just like swallowing a fly, and makes your stomach upset and uncomfortable for all day. Therefore, the most important thing is to find a good shop to eat rice noodles. Then, what kind of rice noodle shop is considered a good shop? Guilin has not yet developed a specific uniform standard. So, I merely make some judgments based on my own personal feelings and experiences.

In the past, there had been a lot of rice noodle shops with distinguished reputation, such as ¡°Wei Xiang Guan¡±, ¡°Yan Xiang Ju¡±, ¡°You Yi Xuan¡±, etc. Among them, some old and famous signboards and their exponents still exist, which continue to pass down and carry forward the genuine Guilin rice noodles. It is worth mentioning that the ¡°Shoulder pole rice noodles¡± in the street in Guilin in the past were all traditional and genuine, otherwise the vendors absolutely dared not to sell them in the street. The ¡°Shoulder pole rice noodles¡± was not only an old street art, but also a bright humanistic scene of Guilin, the famous city with the most beautiful landscape in the world.

Now in Guilin there are no ¡°Shoulder pole rice noodles¡± on the street any more. The first reason is that the small businesses do not conform to time and trend; The second reason is that the health and environment problems are not easy to be solved; The third reason is that it will occupy the roads for management, which shall not be allowed by the urban management department. Today the rice noodles vendors with craft and capital all have a shop for their business. And many of the shops are exquisitely decorated. It is clean and neat, the tables and chairs are tidy, the staffs wear uniforms, and their licenses and certificates are complete. This kind of shops are not grudging in hardware and software investment, which indicates that they assume a serious attitude towards "selling rice noodles". It creates a sense of trust among the customers. Though its price is slightly higher than other stores, there are considerably many repeated customers. This kind of rice noodle shops is not grudging in investment and decoration, dare to put up the signboard of "genuine Guilin rice noodles" or "Shoulder pole rice noodles", and even the signboard of "XX old store". Their tastes are genuine and they are our first choice to eat rice noodles.

   The second kind of the shops, although there is not very good decoration, there are crowds of customers. Some customers even come a long way to eat the rice noodles specially. Guilinese all are experts in eating rice noodles. If one rice noodles shop has crowds of customers, that indicates that the price of the shop is not high and its taste is not bad.

The third kind of shops is small and dirty. Money collection, boiling rice noodles and meat cutting are completed by the same person, who blow his nose and then touch the meat, completely with no health awareness. To this kind of shop, Guilinese are for fear that they can¡¯t shun it, who dares to eat rice noodles in it? Even if the shop put up a good name, you¡¯d better not be taken in, especially people who just come from other places.

There is a fourth kind of shops. This kind of shops is a restaurant of multi-operation which not only sells rice noodles, but also sells cooked dishes, fast food, casserole rice and steamed buns. The owners of this kind of shop only think of how to make more money. They have not thought hard how to do well the Guilin rice noodles industry. Their rice noodles tastes are definitely not good. The principle is very simple. If the rice noodles taste good, the business will boom and money will be easily made. Why bother with a variety of business for that hard earned money?

There is still another kind of "rice noodle shop". You¡¯d rather call it restaurants for eating Guilin rice noodles in methods of other places than call it Guilin rice noodle shop. A few years ago, I found this kind of shop at the end of the Flower Bridge. At that time, I saw the signboard of   "Henan stewed noodles" and stopped. Maybe because I had not eaten Henan stewed noodles for more than a decade, so I asked for a bowl of it. Although the taste was nowhere near Zhengzhou lamb noodles, it still had some characteristics of being sweet and refreshing. Half month later when I went there for the stewed noodles again, the signboard of the shop had been surprisingly changed from ¡°Henan stewed noodles" to "Guilin rice noodles". A few Henan folks sat there chatting. Seeing me coming in, they hailed me to sit down enthusiastically, as if they hadn¡¯t had guests for long time. Since I had entered the shop, on one hand, I should spare their feeling; on the other hand, I would also like to experience the Henan style "Guilin rice noodles", so I asked the Henan buddy for two liangs(100g). After the rice noodles was served, ho! Celery, kelp and noodles • • • Want to know the taste? A few days later, these Henan folks packed up and left. You can see plainly from it.

In this small place of Guilin where rice noodles are firmly rooted, except Western fast food like McDonald's and KFC, and Northeast dumplings can have a foothold, other snacks such as Henan stewed noodles and beef stretched noodles or Guoqiao Rice Noodles of Yunnan can hardly have dietary habit environment or development of space for existence, not to mention the rice noodle shops opened by people speaking a different accent.

After selecting the rice noodle shop, the next "procedure" is how to eat rice noodles. Some people will say, even a three-year-old child knows it, why do we need you to teach us? It is not "teaching" but mutual learning and exchange of experience. Different persons have different tastes, and different ways of eating rice noodles. For the same rice noodles from the same shop, some can  experience the true charm of Guilin rice noodles, and hit chopsticks to applause it; while some people gave the sign after eating "Guilin rice noodles are just so so." People who gave such signs  mostly eat rice noodles in a wrong way and are outsiders. To explain this issue clearly, a few words are not enough. And we must start with the varieties of rice noodles and their preparing methods.

Guilin rice noodles are rich and diversified in varieties. By shape, there are belt shaped (flat noodles), thick round lines (called round rice noodles in Guilin), and thin round lines (Quanzhou Red Oil Rice Noodles and the category of Guoqiao Rice Noodles of Yunnan); By processing methods, there are pressed (round rice noodles), steamed and cut noodles (flat noodles). Here we will mainly give a brief account of the flat noodles. The raw materials for making the flat noodles (including the round rice noodles) are rice. Select high-grade rice and soak it with water to make it fully swollen up, and then clean it and grind it into pulp. Steam the pulp in a metal plate on the steamer and steam it into 3 mm thick sheet jelly. After it is cooled, fold the jelly into rectangles of the size of a magazine, and then cut it into strips of the width of a finger with a knife. The flat noodles are to be eaten in the method of boiling or frying. It is pure hand-made flat noodles. Its color is white and bright, with good elasticity and tenacity. It is not easy to break and is smooth and refreshing in taste. This kind of hand-made flat noodles can only be found in some suburbs, towns and townships. In nowadays Guilin city proper, it almost becomes a luxury. The flat noodles sold on Guilin market today are all produced by machine with one end feeding the pulp and the other producing noodles. The noodles produced by the machine are thin and breakable. And a layer of colza oil is brushed on the top to prevent sticking, which results in a thick layer of yellow oil floating on the surface of the boiling water used to boil the noodles. This produces a strange swill-like smell on the rice noodles. For this problem relates to the life of the people and the reputation of Guilin rice noodles, the government and relevant departments should attach great importance to it and solve it.

Besides the above two division methods, Guilin rice noodle still have the following division methods. By the eating methods, it divides into Rice Noodles in Raw Soup (fresh pressed and fresh taken), Instant Boiled Rice Noodles, Rice Noodles Poured with Soup, Rice Noodles Stewed in Pot, Stir-fried Rice Noodles, Cold Rice Noodles Dressed with Sauces, Rice Noodles Eaten in Several Ways etc; by preparing ingredients, it is divided into tens of rice noodles such as Spiced Rice Noodles, Horsemeat Rice Noodles, Fresh Pork Rice Noodles in Soup, Lettuce Rice Noodles (main ingredients: pig liver, small intestines, lettuce leaves), Sirloin Rice Noodles, Hot and Sour Rice Noodles, Snail Rice Noodles, Pig Feet Rice Noodles, etc. The traditional genuine "Guilin rice noodles" in the past included Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles, Lettuce Rice Noodles with Pig Liver and Small Intestines, and Horsemeat Rice Noodles. For the main materials of Horsemeat Rice Noodles is horsemeat, and the horsemeat is scarce and expensive; besides, its process is very complicated, therefore, Horsemeat Rice Noodles can be rarely seen on today¡¯s market. As the technological content of Lettuce Rice Noodles with Pig Liver and Small Intestines are not high , it is easy to learn and develop, now it has derived dozens of varieties such as Sirloin Rice Noodles, Hot And Sour Rice Noodles, Snail Rice Noodles, etc. It is not important as to which is traditional or which is genuine. The point is that delicious flavors meet different tastes of the customers. Strictly speaking, the so-called famous "Guilin rice noodles" are actually now only one kind of rice noodles i.e Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles. If you want to eat genuine and traditional Guilin rice noodles, you must choose the Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles. Other varieties can only be called "rice noodles", and can not ¨C are also not qualified to be called "Guilin rice noodles".

With a unique production method and the cream of great taste, the Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles can be said to be the best rice noodles among all the rice noodles in the world. Out of Guilin, it is difficult to find this rice noodles and it makes you dream of it even you are in a foreign country. It is said that in 1949 during his period as acting president of KMT government, to entertain his friends, Li Zongren specially sent an aircraft to Guilin to transport Guilin rice noodles to Nanjing. It can be seen from it, how Guilin rice noodles enjoys a great reputation and how strong a complex Guilin people have for the rice noodles.

The Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles not only are unique in preparing approach, but also demanding about process. And there is a lot of learning in the preparing methods of its main ingredients Saozi (meat and entrails) and brine. Saozi mainly includes spiced beef (pork), spiced schweinemagen, spiced honeycomp tripe, spiced liver, spiced spleen, Guoshao (deep-fired fat pork). The material of spiced beef is the shank of the leg of the ox. The Guoshao uses the part of pig from jaw to throat and neck; after it is fired by oil, the color is golden bright and glistening, and it tastes crisp and refreshing, fat while not greasy. It is not like those fried and sent by some people to the rice noodle shops nowadays which is dark yellow in color, and tastes old and hard, with greasy smell. This kind of Guoshao mostly are of dubious origin, many of them use the meat of ill or dead pigs or " breast-feeding pig"; Besides, the oil used is also doubtable!

   The brine is made from more than a dozen or 20 kinds of spices herbs as raw materials, mainly including: aniseed, sand ginger, fennel, cloves, tsaoko amomum fruit, Mangosteen... stewed with pig ndokdoengz, Saozi (meat and entrails). When the Saozi is done, put it into the hot oil boiler ¡°to go oil¡± and eventually original Saozi is done. The brine becomes sweeter and tastier for the adding of Saozi in the stewed process. It is said in the old times in order to keep the brine fresh, some stores added legless skink. Now, with refrigerator, the problem of brine becoming rancid is easily solved.

Other ingredients of Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles are: boiled oil, sesame oil, shallot, coriander (in the spring in March toon also used), garlic, fried peanuts or soybeans, green (red) fresh pepper. In winter when there is no fresh pepper, dry chili powder is used. Now many shops like to offer soy sauce or brine blended with a bowl of chili powder for diners to add, this is not good. Because the brine is just right in taste, neither too salty nor too light, when people who like to eat hot peppers add the pepper, it is bound to make the noodles too salty and lose its original flavor. Talking about this problem, I would like to tell about another phenomenon: now many operators of noodle shops, to improve services and attract customers, specifically offer customers the complements like sour beans, sour rice pepper, salty vegetable, etc. Some people who prefer acid food also don¡¯t know that the noodles will lose the original Guilin flavor due to those extra complements which make the noodles sour and salty. I never add sour complement when eating instant boiled noodles, not because I dislike sour food, but it is a psychological taboo. As the rice noodles have the characteristics of being fragile and sour after it spoils, therefore, upon smelling a sour odor, I would have a psychological response and thought the rice noodles deteriorates, and this spoils my appetite. On the contrary, when I eat cold rice noodles, I will add some vinegar, as cold rice noodles have three indispensable elements of being sour, cold, and spicy. These two ways of eating rice noodles seem a bit like those between the milk and yogurt.

   Guilin rice noodles are a kind of food culture. The ¡°preparation of the rice noodles" can be said a street art of Guilin in the past, and watching the process of ¡°preparation of the rice noodles¡± by the vendors was a visual feast. In the past, on the streets and alleys of Guilin, there rested were shoulder pole rice noodle stalls. If you wanted to eat rice noodles, just say: Boss, one bowl of boiled rice noodles. The vendor would answer you quickly. You would see his hands deftly grabbed a block of rice and put it in a bamboo basket, poked the basket into the pot with boiling water and dipped and raised it repeatedly, grasped a chopstick with the other hand to stir the rice noodles quickly. Then he put the basket out of the boiling water and filtered the water. After the water was filtered, he poured the hot and loose noodles into a bowl and started with the board operation. The deep-fried spiced beef, spiced liver, and deep-fried fat pork with hard skins quickly became regular slices under his extremely thin and sharp knife to cut Saozi. He then spread the slices evenly on the noodles which gave off steam. When cutting the meat, the customer could choose these they liked. And the vendors would do what they were told. There were seldom unpleasant altercations. Eating rice noodles also demands a good state of mind and harmonious atmosphere, otherwise, no matter how good the taste is, it will become insipid.

    By the way, in the past the Saozi for the Instant Boiled Rice Noodles were cut when eating, so it was fresh and clean, and comfortable to be seen and eaten. But now, some rice noodles shop, to save trouble, firstly cut the Saozi and set aside for use, just like the dish matching master, and take the ready pieces cleanly at the time. This is contrary to the traditional practice, and not as it should be ! You know, the Saozi cut will be easily dehydrated after long time, will taste dry and astringent, having a lot of difference compared with the original flavor.

After the Saozi was laid well, the next step is to pour brine and cooked oil, sprinkle a few fired  beans (or fried peanuts), put a pinch of chopped green shallot and coriander, and smash garlic and red peppers and put on them the top of rice noodles and Saozi, and finally give a few drops of sesame oil. A bowl of tasty Instant Boiled Spiced Rice Noodles with red, green, yellow, white and brown colors is ready. The whole process of "preparation of rice noodles" operation made the diners and onlookers standing beside not only with gleaming and penetrating eyes, but also with watering mouths. Their throats seemed to stretch out a hand!

In eating the Instant Boiled Rice Noodles, you must use chopsticks to blend the noodles and the ingredients evenly and make every piece of noodles absorb the taste of the brine. It would be better that after you eat up the rice noodles, there are still a little brine left. Some elderly Guilin people like to drink some wine for one cup or two. At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, they would bring 2 liang of "Three Dimple Spirit "in their waists, and strolled to rice noodle shop and asked for a bowl of boiled rice noodles, and pay a little more for some more Saozi as the snacks for drinking. They enjoyed themselves so much and said: ¡°Drink wine with rice noodles, enjoy more and gain more.

Some tourists and people just coming from other parts of the country are green hands who don't¡¯ know how to eat rice noodles. They do not know that there is a blending procedure before eating the rice noodles, they eat it as they eat fast food ; some people even eat it in the way they eat the soup noodles of the north, they add a large ladle of soup in it and after they eat up the rice noodles, there is still half bowl of soup left in the bowl. By these strange ways of eating rice noodles, one can¡¯t experience the true charm of rice noodles. No wonder these ¡°laicals" gave the sign of "Guilin rice noodles is just so so"?