Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
Fall-apart tender chunks of meat and chewy noodles swimming in a rich, incredibly flavorful spicy-and-spiced broth. It is the perfect combination of everything good about soup, meat, and noodles.
Ingredients
- 500 grams beef shank
- 160 grams beef marrow bone
- 2 tomatoes peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 4 servings wheat or egg noodles
Broth
- 3 scallions
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 2 inch ginger sliced
- 1 red chili pepper
- 2 star anise
- ½ cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp black peppercorn
- 1 tsp grated orange peel optional
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp doubanjiang
- 1 tbsp rock sugar
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup Shaoxing rice wine
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp salt
- 5 cups water
Toppings
- boiled eggs optional
- 2 heads bok choy optional
- 2 cups Chinese lettuce optional
Instructions
- Boil enough water in a pot to boil all of your beef. Once the water is boiling, add the tomatoes for a minute or two and then scoop them out – this will make them much easier to peel. Rinse in cold water to cool and then peel the skins.
- Add the beef and bone marrow into the boiling water and parboil for a minute or two. Strain into a colander and rinse with fresh water to get rid of any scum.
- Get everything ready to cook: Chop the green onions. Slice the onion, garlic, ginger, and chili pepper. Chop the beef. Roughly dice the tomatoes.
- Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and 3 of the chopped scallions, ginger slices, the garlic, chili pepper, onion, star anise, cinnamon stick, peppercorn, and grated orange peel.Sauté for a minute and then stir in the doubanjiang, tomato paste, and the rock sugar. Stir to coat thoroughly.
- Add in the beef and tomatoes. Pour in the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rice wine. Let it all simmer and soak up the sauces for around 10 minutes.
- Add in the bone marrow, bay leaves, white pepper and salt. Then pour in enough water to cover the meat and bone (I used 5 cups).
- Cover and simmer for at least 2 hours. The beef is good to go when you can easily break it with a spoon.
- When the beef is tender and ready to go is a good time to pluck out the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and star anise.Now we can get our noodles, greens, and eggs (optional) ready.
- Leafy greens. Boil a pot of salted water and simmer the greens for a minute or two. Add about a tablespoon of oil to the water to help your greens retain that bright green aesthetic.OR you can add the bok choy and other greens directly into the soup broth and simmer for a minute or two.
- Noodles. You can cook the noodles (and egg) in the same boiling water that you used for the leafy greens. I soft boil the eggs for just 6 minutes so I will typically place them in before the noodles.Cook the noodles as per package instructions BUT remove them around a minute or two before the package suggests, when the noodles are al dente. They’ll be hanging out in the hot soup broth and softening up more so taking them out when they’re al dente helps the noodles retain their chewiness while you eat.Drain the noodles.
- In a big bowl, place a serving of drained noodles. Add beef and greens. Ladle the soup broth into the soup. Strain if you want to. Top it off with any toppings you want.
Notes
What cut of beef to use? Beef shin (aka shank) is a cut that’s perfect for slow cooking since it breaks down the connective tissue for optimal flavor and tenderness. You can also use other cuts that are ideal for slow cooking like chuck, rump, and brisket. If you want to get fancy, short ribs (bone in!) are great as well.
Do I have to add bone marrow? No - it's optional but recommended because it adds a rich savory flavor that compensates for the fact that we’re only braising this soup for around 2 hours. The other option is to simmer the beef another hour or two or use beef broth instead of water.
Which noodles to use? Go with wheat or egg noodles - fresh, if you can. You can use thick noodles like Shanghai style thick noodles, knife-cut noodles (Dao Xiao Mian) or even knife-cut Korean noodles (Kal Guksu). Or you can go with thinner noodles like Yangchun noodles.
Those are a lot of spices! The spices definitely contribute to the rich complexity of the soup. BUT if you don't have most of them - or all of them - you can skip or substitute most. For example, black pepper instead of peppercorn. The only spice I absolutely insist you add is star anise. Taiwanese beef noodle soup isn't the same without it.
Are there substitutions? Yes, here's what I recommend:
- Substitute for Doubanjiang? If you don’t have it, I think the best substitute is a 50/50mix of doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) or even miso paste and gochujang (Korean chili paste) or sambal oelek.
- Substitue for dark soy sauce? The best substitute is kecap manis. If you have neither, use light or regular soy sauce instead.
- Substitute for Shaoxing rice wine? If you don’t have it, you can substitute with dry sherry or leave it out.
- Substitute for rock sugar? Use granulated white sugar or brown sugar.