Taiwanese-Style Beef Noodle Soup

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Mid-Autumn Festival 2015

The Mid-Autumn Festival happened again, as it does every year. And every year, it’s an excuse for me to cook dinner for my friends. This year, I decided to tackle Beef Noodle Soup. It’s my mom’s quintessential dish, and even my brother has learned how to make it. So of course I too have to learn how to make it.

Not only that, but I decided to combine French cooking techniques to it. Taiwanese flavors, Taiwanese ingredients, made in the style of beef bourguignon (namely simmering on low heat for a few hours).

Now, I’ve never made beef noodle soup before. I think my mother once told me her recipe, but then I forgot. Luckily, I made soy-braised pork last year, and the flavor profile is really simiar. The only differences are we use beef instead of pork, and the sauce is also a soup.

You know what, enough exposition. I know you want the recipe.

Ingredients

vegetable oil
2 lb beef chuck, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
beef bone (a leg bone you can get from your local butcher, between 1/2 lb and 1 lb)

vegetable oil
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
1-inch piece of ginger, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp black vinegar
5 cup water
80g rock sugar
1 star anise

1 carrot, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
4 leaf napa cabbage, chopped into 2-3 inch pieces
Chinese noodles, cooked

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a frying pan, brown beef and beef bone in vegetable oil on high heat. Remove from pan.
2. Add onions, ginger, and garlic to frying pan. Sprinkle on salt. Saute on medium heat until fragrant (about 3 min).
3. Add soy sauce, black vinegar, water, rock sugar, and star anise to onions, bring to boil, then
   reduce to a low simmer.
4. Add beef, bone, carrots, and cabbage. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until
   the beef is tender and tears easily with a fork, about 3 hours.
5. Let cool for 15-30 minutes, loosely covered, then serve with noodles.

Serves 4.

A few notes:

• I’m still tweaking the ratios. The recipe here is my best guess, but I’m still honing ang tweaking. If you make, let me know how it went.
• I’ve tested that 1 lb of beef cooks in 2 hours (or less), and 3 lbs of beef cooks in 3 hours (or less). I’m not entirely sure how long it takes to cook 2 lbs of beef. But it’s braising, so err on the side of over-cooking it. Because it’s almost impossible to over-cook braised beef.
• If you scale up the recipe, you can scale the beef independently of the soup, if you or your dinner party wants more beef or less beef. Similarly, you can scale up or down the cabbage to your heart’s content. Keep the carrots in ratio with the rest of the soup though. Adding too many carrots will make the soup much sweeter.
• Chinese noodles are preferred, but in a pinch, you can use Italian noodles. The texture won’t be quite right, but it’ll still be Taiwanese-style beef noodle soup.

Other dishes I made for my dinner party: potato salad and steamed broccoli. Not much to talk about here. I made them last year, and I made them again. Tasted good though, although not as popular as the meat.

Bonus: I just need a radish, and then it’s a Saiyan reunion. (Note: The recipe doesn’t actually include radishes.)