Yanji Cold Noodles (Naengmyeon)

Yanji cold noodles are fine strands of buckwheat (or a buckwheat-starch blend) bathed in an iced sweet-sour beef broth, garnished with spicy cabbage, beef slices, boiled egg, cucumber and apple-pear, the broth clear and the noodles springy, with a sour-sweet finish, the most representative noodle dish of the Korean ethnicity.

Cold noodles descend from the food traditions of the Korean ethnicity, and Yanji, the largest Korean-ethnic city in China, developed the distinctive sweet-sour iced-broth style. The Korean cold-noodle making craft entered the Jilin provincial intangible heritage list in 2007, and Yanji cold noodles have become a culinary emblem of the Yanbian prefecture.

Cold noodles are most often eaten at lunch or in high summer, usually ordered alongside sweet-sour pork and kimchi; one first sips the icy broth then slurps the noodles, snipping the strands with scissors and stirring in chilli sauce, the everyday and guest-welcoming dish of Yanji.

The sweet-sour iced beef broth, the springy chew of buckwheat strands, the abundant crisp garnishes and its role as a summer-cooling dish are what set Yanji cold noodles apart.