MUZIChinese Matrix
Rice Noodles · FFET10117
Guilin's rice noodles: round noodles dipped in hot water, served with braising broth, braised meat, sour bamboo shoots, pickled beans and fried soybeans.
A white porcelain bowl holds white round rice noodles topped with a few slices of braised beef, fried soybeans, pickled long beans, sour bamboo shoots and scallion, with a little red chili oil drizzled over.
Strand-shaped foods made of rice, either round strands pressed out or flat ones cut from a steamed rice sheet.
Guilin rice noodles are the rice noodles of Guilin, Guangxi. Rice is ground to pulp and drained, pressed into round noodles or cut flat, dipped briefly in hot water and served with braising broth, braised meat, and toppings such as fried soybeans or peanuts, pickled beans and chili. The craft began in Guilin's old urban district and is now found across 6 urban districts and 11 counties and county-level cities. It was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage item in 2021. No dated written source for its origins was found: claims of a history exceeding 2,000 years and ties to Qin soldiers who built a canal cite no historical record; a 2021 article dates horse-meat noodles to the Daoguang era, but this is a single local account.
Guilin rice noodles are the rice noodles of Guilin, Guangxi: round noodles served with a house braising broth and braised meats, topped with fried soybeans or peanuts, pickled beans, sour bamboo shoots and chili.1,2,3,4,7,8
No dated written source for its origins was found. Claims of a history exceeding 2,000 years and ties to Qin soldiers who built a canal cite no historical record; a 2021 article dates Guilin horse-meat noodles to the Daoguang era, but this is a single local account. The national heritage listing was announced in 2021, in batch 5.1,2,5,6
Guilin, Guangxi. The craft began in Guilin's old urban district and is now found across 6 urban districts and 11 counties and county-level cities.1,2
The preparation described in 2023 involves draining ground rice pulp, pressing it into round noodles or cutting it into flat ones; the soup base varies by household. The noodles are dipped briefly in hot water and served with braised beef, tripe and crispy pork, with braising broth poured over and toppings added. Milling the rice and making the broth are the 2 key steps.1,2,4
Merchants valued noodles that were quick and cheap. The braising broth is a house secret, and the soup base varies by household.3,4,5
In 2021 the Guilin rice noodle craft was listed among the national representative intangible cultural heritage items (batch 5), item 1523.1,2
Legend has it that when Qin Shi Huang sent his armies south to build the canal joining north and south, rice noodles were the soldiers' staple food.
Told in: Told in Guilin and found in a travel article that cites no historical record; no record supports it.
A Guilin telling says horse-meat noodles go back to the Daoguang era and boomed before 1949, when refugees and passing troops filled the city. The noodles came in small saucers about the size of a palm, and diners ate 20 to 30 of them.
Told in: Told in Guilin and found in a 2021 article in The Paper, a single local account.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
In Guilin shops the braising broth is each house's own secret. My home version is much simpler: I braise one piece of beef and use the braising liquid as the broth, with fried soybeans, pickled beans, sour bamboo shoots and a leaf of lettuce. The amounts and timings below are my own choices at home, drawn from two recipes. The beef must be cooked through; cut a piece open, and it is ready when there is no pink inside.
Allergens: soy, wheat
