I’m always a little surprised when I hear the words “beef noodle soup” come out of a white person’s mouth. For me, the words conjure deep and complex feelings of nostalgia. They remind me of childhood lunches on Sundays, much needed nourishment after suffering through a violin lesson in the morning and before being dragged off to Chinese school in the afternoon. I used to watch my mother blanch vast pots of meat and rinse each piece by hand, completely un-phased by the boiling hot water. A colleague from Minnesota once asked me if I’d “heard of it.”
– jeffrey
“Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch! I was there when it was written.”
Why yes, I have heard of it, because beef noodle soup’s meteoric rise toward trendiness means it’s everywhere now: Instagram posts, TikTok videos, gracing the cover of British AND American Vogue… But a “good” rendition is still somewhat hard to find. The versions that are sold to the masses are overly simplistic — watery broths that taste mostly of soy sauce and leave out key ingredients like star anise, shao xing wine, and generational trauma. Meanwhile, many online recipes showcase absolutely psychotic interpretations like Bon Appetit’s “French onion Taiwanese beef soup with ramen noodles” — everybody’s so creative!
But I shouldn’t be so dismissive of versions that aren’t my own or aren’t “authentic” enough. It’s exciting that people are willing to try something new and, in some cases, create something unique. The proliferation of beef noodle soup is a valuable lesson that things can belong to you and belong to the world at the same time.
Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 120 minutes | Total cook time: 130 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 beef shanks or 牛腱 (1.5-2 lbs)
- 2 beef tendons (optional)
- 1 medium white onion
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 2 green onions
- 3 pieces of ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 3 tablespoons spicy bean sauce (dou ban jiang)
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 pieces of star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon sichuan peppercorns
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup shao xing wine
- 1 tablespoon sugar (or 1 large piece of rock sugar)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Cut the beef shanks and tendons into ~1 inch pieces (may seem large, but they’ll shrink as they cook). Blanch everything in boiling water for ~5 minutes to remove the impurities. Doing this now means you won’t have to skim the top of the broth constantly as it cooks. Pour the used water out, rinse everything, and set aside.
In a dutch oven or large pot, heat up the oil and sauté the star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, and bay leaves briefly to bring out the aroma. If you don’t have all these spices handy (or don’t want to acquire them just for this recipe), you can substitute with a “spice packet” like this one. Add the garlic, ginger, and green onions and sauté for another minute. Finally, add the white onion and tomatoes (both roughly chopped) and the spicy bean paste. Cook everything for a few minutes, until the bean paste has dispersed and is evenly coating all the aromatics. Then add the soy sauce, shao xing wine, sugar, and all the meats/tendons that were set aside. Add water until everything is comfortably submerged.
Braise on medium heat. After 1.5 hours, the beef shank should be tender and you can take those pieces out. After another 30 minutes, the tendon should be tender as well so remove those pieces. Strain all of the broth to remove the spices and chunky solids. Serve with your favorite wheat flour-based noodle (no egg!). Traditionally, it’s topped with chopped pickled mustard greens “suan cai” to add some acidity, cilantro, and thinly sliced scallions.