The making of La Mian is an amazing exercise in the doubling of numbers. By dividing his dough in half twelve times, Chef Kin Jing Mark makes 4096 noodles that are very fine in the video below. The noodles are, as he says, as fine as a human hair.

La Mian is a type of handmade or hand-pulled Chinese noodle. Through a process of stretching and twisting wheat flour, noodle makers can hand pull hundreds, even thousands of beautiful long thin noodles for a variety of dishes. The process is simple enough, but when you see a master noodle maker perform, one truly appreciates the art and beauty of cooking.

Chef Kin Jing Mark shares his wit and expertise.

Seems impossible, doesn’t it? Dividing the dough in half twelve times produces 4,096 noodles? But, grab a calculator and try it or relax and read this:

Chef Mark makes one long noodle and divides it in half, so that’s…

 1)   1 x 2 =2

 2)   2 x 2 = 4

 3)   2 x 4 = 8

 4)   2 x 8 = 16

 5)   2 x 16 = 32

 6)   2 x 32 = 64

 7)   2 x 64 = 128

 8)   2 x 128 = 256

 9)   2 x 256 = 512

10)   2 x 512 = 1024

11)   2 x 1024 = 2048

12)   2 x 2048 = 4096

Ta-Da!