Skip to main content

Tsao Mi Fun

"My mom's been making me tsao mi fun, in Mandarin, or tsa bi whun, in Taiwanese, since I was a little girl. Tsa bi whun literally translates to 'fried rice noodles'. You'll most likely find all the ingredients at your local supermarket except for the five spice powder, dried Chinese black mushrooms and rice vermicelli which can be found at your local Asian food mart. All the measurements here are pretty much to taste, some people like more pork, some less, some more soy sauce, some less, etc."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 18 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pork and mushroom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,840 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol, which smells allspice, anise. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep35 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, wheat, soy, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Toss the thinly sliced pork with the soy sauce, rice wine, white pepper, five-spice powder and cornstarch. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the rest.

  2. Soak the dried black mushrooms and dried small shrimp in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes until soft. Drain, reserving the mushroom soaking liquid, then thinly slice the mushrooms and chop the shrimp.

  3. Soak the rice vermicelli in cool water until pliable, about 10 minutes, then drain well. Boil a pan of water briefly, drain again and set the noodles aside.

  4. Heat half the vegetable oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Pour in the beaten eggs, scramble until just set, then transfer to a plate.

  5. Add the remaining oil to the wok. Stir-fry the marinated pork until no longer pink and it reaches 145°F (63°C) inside, about 2 minutes. Let it rest 3 minutes, then set aside.

  6. Stir-fry the garlic, dried shrimp, mushrooms, onion and carrots for 2 minutes. Add the napa cabbage and bean sprouts and cook 2 minutes, adding a splash of the mushroom soaking liquid if dry.

  7. Add the drained noodles, pork, eggs and a pinch of salt. Toss over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until heated through and evenly seasoned. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pork + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  2. Mushroom + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together4,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Pork + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,025 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Mushroom + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Pork + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sauce, rice wine, mushroom, rice, egg, garlic):

  1. Gingerbetter flavor fit
  2. Corianderbetter flavor fit
  3. Pepperbetter flavor fit
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sauce, rice wine, mushroom, rice, egg, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).