中文挑战

@jkhsu: I'm at a loss to see how a non-expert like myself can solve this without the aid of search engines. I can get two (I think), and that's pretty much it. The pictures by themselves don't lend enough context for me to guess the rest. Could you give me a hint? Otherwise it's off to the search engines I go.

So far, I have:

捞面混沌

荠菜混沌

@feihong: Thanks for user-testing this! Try these hints out and see what you get. I'll give you more then.

Tips:

1. The term for wonton may be different depending on region.

2. The character for "fresh" combined with a "meat" is typically put together to describe a filling.

3. Have you tried the wonton noodles in the USA? There's an ingredient in those wontons that are different from the ones in Shanghai.

4. The Shanghainese distinguish small and large wontons.

I've updated the challenge with the exact number of characters for the answers in order.

@feihong: I made a mistake on my hint #1. I've made the change.

@jkhsu: Thanks for hints. But... it still seems impossible.

There's no way for me to know which wonton dish corresponds to which region, so I don't know whether to use 云吞 or 混沌. Hints #3 and #4 didn't mean anything to me (I don't think I've ever had Shanghai wontons).

I guess I'll just use a search engine, but I'll wait before I submit an answer in case a wonton expert comes along.

@feihong: I was afraid this was going to be like the Toy Story one where you can't figure it out unless you've watched the movie. I'd like to make it more accessible without giving away the entire answer. I've added a hint section to the 挑战 that should help. Let me know if you think those are enough hints for someone to reasonably come up with some answers through process of elimination.

I tried doing it using just your hints, but I only got sorta close with 3. Even after I started googling the names, it still took me a long time.

1. 上海 鲜肉小馄饨 (5)

2. 成都 红油抄手 (4)

3. 香港 鲜虾云吞面 (5)

4. 上海 油煎馄饨 (4)

5. 香港 鲜虾云吞捞面 (6)

6. 香港 炸云吞 (3)

7. 上海 荠菜鲜肉大馄饨 (7)

@feihong:

Getting closer. Try these additional tips:

1. You used one of the characters twice.

2. Two of your answers are incorrect.

My answers. I know a couple are wrong, especially after looking at feihong's. I just think this is too hard to get everyone correct by guessing. [i used your hint, but only to get the geography of each.]

1.(5) wonton in soup -- 小馄饨

2.(4) wonton in red sauce -- 辣酱馄饨

3.(5) shrimp wonton noodles -- 鲜虾云吞面

4.(4) pan fried wontons -- 煎肉抄手

5.(6) shrimp wonton with dry noodles -- 鲜虾云吞捞面

6.(3) deep fried wontons -- 炸云吞

7.(7) some veg in won ton -- 油菜鲜肉大馄饨

BTW, is there a typo in the question?

Do you mean 芥 instead of 荠

@jbradfor: Thanks for trying this out. I'll remember to give appropriate clues in future quizes. Also, there's no typo in the question.

Some tips for each of the items:

1. Technically this is correct but since I asked for 5 characters total, see if you can find two more to add.

2. There is actually a dish called 辣酱馄饨 but it's not the one in the picture.

3. Correct

4. Your english definition, "pan fried wontons," is correct but the Chinese is wrong.

5. Correct

6. Correct

7. I guess you can put 油菜 in wontons (though I haven't seen it in restaurants) but there's a more popular vegetable they use in Shanghai (and it's not Mustard Greens)

@jkhsu: Last attempt. I updated my answer.

@feihong: You got it! If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know all this stuff until I did some research on it for this quiz. It wasn't until I tried out #2 (for the first time) in a restaurant just last week that I thought it would be a good idea to do a wonton quiz.

Now that you know the answers, do you feel the clues I added were enough? What would you have done to make this quiz better? The 红油抄手 was what I thought would throw most people off especially when I added 辣酱馄饨 as the final left over characters.

With the exception of maybe 红油抄手, I tried to avoid any proper names such as General Tso's Chicken, etc.

I had no idea wontons had so many names in different regions. Pretty interesting. I've actually started paying attention to the names of things when I go to restaurants because of these quizzes.

Since we're on the topic on won tons.....

Back when I lived in the Bay Area we often went to this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the Sunset district called Won Ton House. Small, greasy, questionable sanitation, but man did they have the best 鲜虾云吞面 I‘ve had outside Hong Kong. I see they're still in business, no idea if they are any good, but @jkhsu since I believe you said you're in SF, if you're in the area give them a try and let me know if they are still any good.

@Gleaves: Yeah, there are even more ways to say wontons like 扁食/扁肉 in Fujian. This link below has a good description if you care to read more:

http://baike.baidu.com/view/11089.htm

@jbradfor: Thanks for the rec on the restaurant. Next time I'm in that part of town, I'll try it out and let you know. Though I have to admit, 鲜虾云吞面 is so common here that I am not sure I can spot the difference between a good one and a really good one (but I'll give it a shot). The bad ones can't survive here. BTW, I just gave you a point for trying out the quiz. It's interesting to see how you thought about 油菜 and 芥菜 from your knowledge of Cantonese cuisine I presume.

Though I have to admit, 鲜虾云吞面 is so common here that I am not sure I can spot the difference between a good one and a really good one (but I'll give it a shot).

A lot of it, for me at least, is the noodles. Good 云吞 are not that hard to make (the skin can be tricky, but it seems a lot of people have that figured out), but to me the noodles left a lot to be desired at most places.

I really enjoyed this quiz. The Chengdu wonton was quite obvious and after not being able to wait longer checked the answers and agreed in my mind that the OP got all the regions correct. lol