Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
Updated Jan. 20, 2023
- Total Time
- 3 hours, plus overnight chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 2cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken broth
- 1cup Shaoxing wine
- 3tablespoons Chinese dark soy sauce or shoyu
- 3tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1tablespoon doubanjiang (Sichuan fermented chile bean paste; see Note)
- 1(¼-ounce) envelope unflavored powdered gelatin (about 2½ teaspoons/7 grams)
- 3pounds meaty, bone-in English-cut short ribs (about 4 large pieces)
- Salt
- 1tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola, rice bran or grapeseed
- 1medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 8 to 10medium garlic cloves, unpeeled, smashed with the side of a cleaver or knife
- 1(2-inch) piece ginger, unpeeled and sliced about ¼-inch thick
- 3scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 3small hot dried chiles, such as Sichuan facing heaven, Thai bird or chiles de árbol, split open
- 1(3-inch) cinnamon stick (optional; see Tips)
- 2whole star anise pods
- 2teaspoons whole fennel seeds (optional; see Tips)
- 2teaspoons whole coriander seeds (optional; see Tips)
- 2teaspoons whole Sichuan peppercorns (optional; see Tips)
- 2teaspoons whole black peppercorns (optional; see Tips)
- 2dried bay leaves
- 2tablespoons Chinese black or balsamic vinegar, plus more for serving
- 1pound baby bok choy, halved lengthwise (or Chinese water spinach, napa cabbage or other tender greens, cut into strips)
- 1pound fresh Chinese egg noodles or wheat noodles
- ¼cup chopped ya cai (preserved Chinese mustard greens), zha cai (mustard root), suan cai (pickled cabbage) or plain old sauerkraut
- ¼cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
For the Braising Liquid
For the Beef
For the Aromatics
For the Spices
For Serving
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the braising liquid: Combine chicken broth, wine, dark soy sauce, sugar and doubanjiang in a medium bowl or large liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle gelatin over the top and set aside.
- Step 2
Sear the beef: Season short ribs lightly with salt on all sides. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high until shimmering. Working in batches if necessary, add short ribs in a single layer and cook, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes, reducing heat if the oil smokes excessively. Transfer short ribs to a large plate and set aside. (Do not wash out the pot.)
- Step 3
Add the aromatics: Add onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, scallions and dried chiles to the pot, season lightly with salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are starting to brown around the edges and the tomatoes are breaking down, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat if the bottom of the pot starts to blacken or smoke excessively.
- Step 4
Bloom the spices: Add cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, Sichuan peppercorns and black peppercorns, and cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic, about 1 minute.
- Step 5
Stir the braising liquid to get the sugar off the bottom. (The hydrated gelatin will have formed a raft that will break up a little when you stir. It’s OK if it’s not dissolved at this point.) Pour the braising liquid into the pot, then scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Step 6
Return the short ribs to the pot and add enough water to barely cover them (1½ to 2 quarts). Add bay leaves, bring the liquid to a boil, adjust heat to maintain a bare simmer, and cover the pot with a lid, leaving it slightly cracked to allow steam to escape.
- Step 7
Cook until short rib shows very little resistance when poked with a toothpick or skewer but isn’t falling apart, 2 to 2½ hours. Using a spatula and tongs, carefully transfer the short ribs to a plate. Strain the braising liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a fresh pot. Discard the solids.
- Step 8
Pick any stray spices or aromatics off the short ribs and discard. Return the short ribs to the braising liquid. For best results, allow short ribs to cool in the liquid on the countertop, then refrigerate overnight. Once liquid has chilled, using a ladle, skim and discard most — but not all — of the fat from the surface.
- Step 9
To serve: If you have the right number of ribs for each guest, you can reheat them on the bone. If not, gently separate the meat from the bone (including the tendons) and break the meat into big chunks with your fingers before reheating. Bring broth and short ribs to a simmer. Add vinegar and season broth to taste with salt. Keep hot.
- Step 10
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add greens and cook until tender-crisp, about 1 minute. Remove greens with a slotted spoon or tongs and set aside. Return water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain noodles and divide among four serving bowls. Top with short ribs, divide the greens evenly among the bowls, and ladle the broth over the top. Place a small pile of chopped Chinese pickled vegetable or sauerkraut on top of each short rib, sprinkle with chopped cilantro, and serve.
- Doubanjiang is a Sichuanese fermented broad bean and chile paste. It can be found in better-stocked supermarkets, most Asian markets or online. The best is from Pidu district in the capital city of Chengdu.
- If you want to omit some of the spices, they are listed in order of importance, from most to least. You could simply use the star anise, along with 2 teaspoons of Chinese five spice in place of the other whole spices, but at the very minimum you should include the star anise.
Private Notes
Comments
The common conversion for regular to pressure/instant pot cooking time is usually to reduce by about two thirds. In this case that works out to around 40-50 minutes converted from the 2-2.5 hours mentioned in step 7. Amy+Jacky at pressurecookerecipes use 42 minutes plus 30 minutes natural release for their recipe. I haven't tried their beef noodle recipe yet but have had success with other recipes from their site. Woks of Life had 100 minutes for their's, which I did try but it was way too long.
Gochujang is not a sub for doubanjiang. Gochujang is more pasty and much milder and sweeter, doubanjiang is salty and maybe more akin to doenjang (fermented soybean paste) with spicy chilies.
any idea how long cooking this might take in an instant pot?
So delicious. This soup is in the regular rotation now. Yes, it is a project, but your house smells amazing as it cooks!
Used cubed chuck roast (2.85lbs) but otherwise followed recipe as written. Chuck needed less water than short-ribs to cover the meat, so only added about 0.5 qts water before braising. Removed meat, strained solids. Divided beef among three 1-qt deli containers, each held about 10oz of cooked beef. Poured stained broth over meat to allow to cool over night but the combo mixture only came to about two-thirds of a quart volume. I topped each container off with a little tap water.
We lived in Taiwan for 2 years and the Beef Noodle Soup is so good. It was served with a side of greens, chilies, and oil. Short ribs are very expensive though, any substitutes?
I find beef neck is a super substitute and far less expensive - choose meaty ones, they take a bit longer to cook but the gnarly collagen in them will enrich any broth - rinse in warm water to rid them of bone chips from the butcher's saw and pat dry. Just pick the meat from the bones when you serve it up.
Advertisement