Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe

For years, I’ve wanted to learn to cook Chinese food, but I always gave up after looking at a couple recipes because I didn’t have the right ingredients in my pantry. This year I made it my New Year’s Resolution and scheduled a trip to the Chinese grocery store. I knew the first recipe I wanted to attempt was some sort of noodle soup, because that’s what Jon misses most from NYC. I found this recipe on Epicurious but adapted it a bit.

I used short ribs, but you could use another cut of meat that’s good for slow-cooking. Make sure it’s bone-in so it makes a delicious broth. Next time, I may try the recipe with chicken thighs.

One note: the soup was good the first night, but it was AMAZING on day two. So I recommend making it a day in advance.

First, the ingredients:

• 2.5 to 3 pounds beef short ribs, or another cut of meat that’s good for slow cooking
• 7 cups water
• 1/3 plus 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Scotch or medium-dry Sherry
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• juice of one-half lime
• six 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices fresh ginger
• 8 scallions
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• noodles (you can use regular egg noodles but I got some amazing fresh wonton noodles at the Chinese grocery store)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• optional veggies to throw in at the end: mushrooms, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots

Heat a little oil in a dutch oven or soup pot on medium-high heat, and brown the short ribs on all sides. Keep the short ribs in the pot and add the water, soy sauce, scotch, and sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Add lime, ginger, the white parts of the scallion (flattened with the side of a knife), garlic, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and pepper.

Simmer, covered, until the meat easily falls off the bone — about 3 hours. Let the soup cool for a half hour, then remove the meat from the pot, trim the fat, and take the meat off the bone. Strain the broth and remove the fat (I use a fat-removing pitcher).  Then put it back in the dutch oven and add back the meat.

At this point, I would let the broth cool completely and put it in the fridge until the next day. But if you need to serve it right away, add the mushrooms and cook them until they are tender. Add bamboo shoots or any other vegetables you’d like to add (making sure to cook them if they need to be cooked, of course). At the last minute, add the green parts of the scallion, finely chopped.

Then cook the noodles in a separate pot, and add them only to the portions you’re serving right away (i.e., put noodles into a bowl, and then pour the soup over it). If you’re going to save any of the soup for the next day, ideally you should make fresh noodles.

 

Advertisement