Let's say a family member asked me to try cooking lo mein for dinner, but I don't have time to stop by a big enough grocery store to get Asian noodles. I do, however, have spaghetti in the cupboard.
Are spaghetti noodles a reasonable approximation for lo mein noodles? (As far I understand it, they're both wheat-based.) What textural or flavor differences would I encounter with this substitution?
Round lo mein noodles look veeeeery similar to spaghetti:
Spaghetti
Lo mein
The biggest difference, ingredient-wise is that dried pasta (mostly?) does not contain eggs and lo mein noodles do.
I know that at least once shopping mall food court chinese food place I've eaten from uses spaghetti for their lo mein. It's kind of obvious, but it's not bad. I feel that lo mein typically has a denser, chewier bite than spaghetti. In a pinch, spaghetti will make a tasty noodle dish. It won't quite be lo mein, though.
My advice would be to try it and see what you think. Be careful to not over-cook your spaghetti.
I do it all the time, but I always use whole wheat spaghetti. Regular spaghetti is too mushy for Lo Mein. Also, in a regular grocery store Lo Mein is about $4 for half a pound whereas spaghetti is about $1 for a pound.
While the other answers seem to have focused on the eggs, the biggest difference between Italian noodles and many Asian noodles (especially wheat-based noodles, like lo mein) is that the latter are often treated with alkalies like lye-water or alkali salts (potassium/sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate). This can enhance any preexisting yellow pigments in the noodles (e.g., if egg yolks are used), but more importantly it also significantly affects the texture of the cooked noodles. Whereas Italian noodles are optimized for an al dente texture, alkali noodles have a distinctively springy texture. They are simultaneously soft and doughy, yet springy and resilient. Achieving that texture is nearly impossible from non-alkali noodles. To replicate that texture, one might consider substituting another alkali noodle like lo mein's cousin, ramen, which is more readily available at most supermarkets these days.
Serious Eats has a very good article on the subject.
It is also relatively easy to make your own alkali noodles at home. You probably already have all of the ingredients necessary: baking soda, water, flour, and optionally whole eggs. Here is a good instructional video.
Yes you can! Use thin spaghetti or angel hair. I have made pancit out of spaghetti noodles several times. Where I live yellow Asian noodles are hard to find.
It's almost the same thing.
Dry pasta is eggless
fresh pasta has egg
Dry Egg Noodles have egg.
You can buy egg noodle spagetti.
If you want to be vegan, then stick with regular dried spagetti and your "lo mein" will be egg free. If you want your spagetti to be more "lo mein like", learn to cook the pasta with the dried spagetti being added last and absorbing all the moisture very similarly to cooking rice.
Plenty of Asian restaurants in the US do use spaghetti, cheaper. People don't know, and do not notice.
Fresh pasta vs. dry pasta does not mean it contains egg. Egg is just an option, rare in the US, more frequent in Europe, no matter fresh or dry. I don't know about stores in Asia.
Finding dry or fresh pasta with egg is a real challenge in the US, including in Asian grocery stores. Most contain food coloring Yellow 5 (chemical) or turmeric (natural), rarely egg powder or fresh eggs.
So many people have it wrong here! Besides, you being in South Carolina, as opposed to California or North-East, good luck finding Asian egg noodles containing egg.
Although the Serious Eats article just mentioned previously is good overall, I believe it wrong about sodium carbonate being responsible for the Yellow color or "hue". Among other things like texture which is why it is principally used, it might fix the dye but it is not the dye. The real problem is the very difficult to avoid Yellow 5 (E102) which the article does not mention at all, while Turmeric or Beta Carotene are the natural but rare acceptable substitutes.
Back to the Spaghetti, the best way to me is to first well dry the pasta, including a quick high heat round alone in the pan before tossing with the other ingredients in the end. Lo mein is tossed, chow mein is fried, let's meet half way, while trying to avoid bucatini but try to experiment with thin spaghetti instead of thick for a change. (note: Both Bucatini and Thin spaghetti are tougher to find than thick/regular ones.)
What about the eggs? Forget about it! Keep the concern for the day you'll be making you own fresh pasta while preparing your next Italian dish or German Spaetzle.
Asia invented noodles and everyone has been playing with the recipe for thousands of years. Here in louisiana every region and even every household has a different gumbo recipe... Noodles are kinda the same, all across Asia there are a thousand different recipes with hundreds of different noodle recipes. In short, try it out and see if you like it. Happy cooking!
I am going to use Pappardelle (has egg) because I love the texture. They'll be boiled aldente, drained and then tossed with garlic in olive oil. I'll add some well fried Applewood bacon that has been well drained and cut up into small pieces. I also like a bit of soy sauce. It's sort of my version of an Italian/Chinese version of Lo mien. Add lots of black pepper and parmesan cheese. if you like. Bon Appetite!
Spaghetti can definitely be used when making pan fried noodles, and they are more economical as well. First, boil the spaghetti as you normally would, being careful to not overcook the pasta. Drain and lightly dry the noodles, then fry -- it is as simple as that. Also, you can adjust the cooking time as needed in order to get the results you prefer.
I use thin spaghetti but pan fry to crisp up with possibly some red pepper flakes and garlic. Putting sesame seeds into oil before the noodles seems to reduce sticking.
Or oven crisp with a little oil. Just plain spaghetti doesn't sound very good.
