What’s the difference between chow mein and lo mein?

Lo mein and chow mein are each staples of Chinese language meals takeout menus. However what is the distinction between them? 

Whereas the dishes could seem comparable — and there are regional variations of each all through the USA — they’re truly fairly completely different in kind, construction and methodology. 

The names of the dishes supply the primary clue about their variations. 

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In Chinese language, the phrase “mein” interprets to “noodles.” 

“Chow” means “fried” and “lo” means “tossed.” The dishes each have the identical egg noodle base, though the noodles themselves are minimize otherwise. 

The noodles in chow mein dishes are fried alongside greens and proteins — whereas the noodles in lo mein dishes are tossed with different substances and added towards the tip of the cooking course of. 

Chow mein and lo mein are each Chinese language meals staples in the USA. However there are key variations between the 2 noodle dishes. (iStock)

“Chow mein is stir-fried – often with bean sprouts, some type of protein,” Jimmy Liang, a Boston-based chef and restaurateur, informed Fox Information Digital in a cellphone interview. 

“The noodle itself is crispy,” he stated.

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Conversely, lo mein is “simply fundamental egg noodles,” Liang stated. 

They’re sometimes parboiled and added to the pan after the greens and proteins have cooked. 

The noodles in lo mein are sometimes parboiled earlier than being tossed within the sauce, greens and proteins simply previous to serving.  (Fuji)

The noodles utilized in lo mein are “just a little bit thicker” than their chow mein counterparts, Mark Morales, culinary director of Sunda New Asian, informed Fox Information Digital in a Zoom interview. (See the video on the prime of this text.) 

These noodles are “about the identical dimension of buactini,” stated Morales, who relies in Nashville. “And the [noodles used in] chow mein are actually skinny.” 

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Chow mein is usually served with a “gravy-type sauce” on prime of it. 

Lo mein, nonetheless, “is extra your conventional noodle dish that soaks up all of the sauces.” 

Typically, chow mein is served with a “gravy-type sauce,” Mark Morales of Sunda New Asian stated. (iStock)

In contrast to Italian delicacies, the place it is “actually saucy” when making lo mein or chow mein, “you attempt to make it as dry as potential,” Morales stated, utilizing the excessive warmth of a wok to make sure the noodles are in a position to take in the sauce. 

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As for what Morales prefers to eat, that will depend on who’s cooking, he stated.

Chow mein, left, has fried noodles — whereas lo mein, proper, is tossed. (iStock; Fuji)

“At residence, I like cooking with lo mein. I sub out [egg noodles] in your conventional pastas,” he stated. 

“I like ordering chow mein.”

“However at eating places, I like ordering chow mein as a result of, clearly, you want sure issues to make it actually good, like a very scorching wok or deep fryer,” he stated — gadgets that aren’t usually present in residence kitchens. 

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Chow mein “wants just a little bit extra substances than you’d historically use at your private home,” Morales stated.