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Yakamein
New Orleans beef noodle soup: spaghetti, stewed beef, half a boiled egg and green onion in a dark, salty broth, sold at second lines, bars and corner stores and known as “Old Sober”. Where it really came from — the chop suey houses, a 1904 menu and the Chinese American cookbooks of 1911–1932, not the Korean War — what the name means, Ms. Linda Green in her own words, its cousins in Virginia and Maryland, what the hangover research says, and five recipes to cook from.
What Yakamein Is Spaghetti, chopped stewed beef, half a boiled egg and green onion in a dark, soy-salted broth, with ketchup and hot sauce at the table. Almost every part of the bowl is older than its New Orleans fame. Explore →
Where It Came From Three origin stories and the evidence for each. Only one has documents: a 1904 New York menu, a 1918 New Orleans photograph and Chinese American cookbooks from 1911 on. The Korean War story fails on dates. Explore →
Chinese New Orleans and the Chop Suey Houses Plantation labour contracts from 1867, laundries counted by the hundred, the Tulane Avenue Chinatown and its 1937 demolition, and the restaurants where the noodle soup was first written down. Explore →
The Name Yakamein, yock, yat gaw mein and a dozen other spellings. A 1917 cookbook prints the characters 一個麵 above “YAT KOI MIN” — the best evidence yet for “one order of noodles”, and what it does not prove. Explore →
Ms. Linda Green, the Ya-Ka-Mein Lady The cook most identified with the dish, in her own words from a 2013 oral history: her mother’s pork-chop version, the switch to beef, soy sauce as “the twist”, and selling it at second lines. Explore →
“Old Sober” and the Hangover Question The nickname cannot be found in print before 2006, and the dish’s best-known maker did not know it growing up. What the hangover research says about salty broth, eggs and cures. Explore →
The Cousins: Yock, Yat Gaw Mein and Dirty Yak The same Chinese American noodle soup drifting on its own in Tidewater Virginia, Baltimore, Washington and Cambridge, Maryland — and the soups it is often linked to but is not related to. Explore →
Making It Which cut and how long, where the soy goes, MSG, spaghetti cooked soft, the half egg and the table condiments; the five recipes side by side; and where it is sold now, with dates. Explore →
What the Popular Story Gets Wrong Twelve confident claims checked: the Korean War, “invented in New Orleans”, the hangover “study”, the award that cannot be found, a 15-minute chuck roast and more. Explore →
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