Dough cut, pulled, pressed or shaved into strands — a category defined by shape rather than by any one grain, and invented separately in more than one place.
Where it comes from
Wheat noodles are old in China and the archaeological record for grain noodles there is the earliest anywhere. Pasta developed in the Mediterranean around durum wheat, whose hardness suits extrusion and drying. Rice, buckwheat, mung bean and sweet potato starch noodles all developed where those crops grew.
The techniques are genuinely different, not variations: Italian pasta is rolled or extruded, Chinese lamian is pulled from a single lump, Japanese soba is rolled and cut, and glass noodles are made by setting a starch gel and cutting it.
Varieties
- Durum pasta — Extruded or rolled from semolina and water, dried hard. Holds bite because durum protein is strong and the drying is slow.
- Egg pasta and egg noodles — Softer, richer, rolled thin. Fresh rather than dried in most traditions.
- Wheat-alkaline noodles — Ramen, lye-water noodles. Alkaline salts make them yellow, springy and slippery.
- Soba — Buckwheat, sometimes cut with wheat for strength. Nutty, and served hot or cold.
- Rice noodles — From flat wide sheets to fine vermicelli. Soften in hot water rather than boiling hard.
- Glass / cellophane noodles — Mung bean or sweet potato starch. Turn transparent, stay slippery, absorb whatever they are cooked in.
In the kitchen
Dried durum pasta wants a lot of hard-boiling water and salt; rice noodles want a soak or a brief dip and will turn to paste if boiled like pasta. Treating one like the other is the commonest noodle failure.
Starchy pasta water is an ingredient, not waste — it is what lets a sauce cling instead of sliding off.
Dishes with noodles
Kuy TeavPork-bone noodle soup with beansprouts, lime and fried garlicSingaporeMee SiamThin rice noodles in a sweet-sour tamarind and fermented bean gravy
Baked macaroni and cheeseFirm sliceable baked mac with cheddar and pepper
Soup joumouPumpkin soup eaten January 1 to celebrate independenceSpainFideuàpaella-like dish of short noodles cooked in fish stock with seafood
Mee GorengFried yellow noodles with soy, egg and vegetablesMalaysiaCurry LaksaCoconut curry noodle soup with tofu puffs and cocklesMyanmarRakhine Mont DiRice noodles with fiery fish broth and lemongrass from the western coastNoodles is tagged on 143 dishes from 65 countries in the atlas. These notes are written from general knowledge and carry no per-fact citation — see About.