Taiwanese Bean Curd Beef Shank Combo
Our house sprung a leak. We don't know when it happened because it's somewhat of a ho-hum leak, but when Jeremy discovered it Friday night in the ceiling of our ground floor, it had soaked 4 shelves' worth of backpacking, ski, and mountaineering gear, as well as drywall. We pitched tents, spread out sleeping numberless, poured h2o from boots, unraveled ropes, removed crampons and bindings from sopping wet boxes. This gear is meant to get wet, after all. Jeremy isolated the crusade of the leak and our plumber is coming on Monday.
I kept thinking I should be actually upset, merely information technology didn't dampen (ha ha! pun!) our spirits one bit. Freaking out adds nothing. Say NO to Drama, folks. Too many people self-destruct under the weight of their own drama. Energies are meliorate spent on positive things similar:
playing with puppies in the snow
baking carrot cake for your neighbors (and some other for yourself)
…or sitting downward to a basin of beefiness noodle soup later on ski touring the backcountry with your sweetheart. I'g not talking about western beefiness noodle soup. That's not even on my radar. No, I am referring to the ultimate beef noodle soup – Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This is the noodle soup of my people.
beef shank, beef marrow bones, green onions, ginger, garlic, thai bird chiles
soy sauce, soy paste, dark soy sauce, chili blackness bean sauce, fermented bean curd, lycopersicon esculentum paste
brownish sugar, star anise, cinnamon sticks, dried orange skin, bay leaves, fennel seeds, cinnamon bark, sichuan peppercorns, blackness peppercorns
I've had a diverseness of homemade and eatery versions of this beloved soup. I've flipped through many recipes and never found i that really called to me, until the other twenty-four hours when Carolyn posted a link to Chef Hou Chun-sheng's winning spicy beefiness noodle soup recipe. Winning, because Chef Hou dusted his competitors at the Taipei International Beefiness Noodle Festival in 2011. I had most of the spices, but for those in brusque supply or those I didn't take, I knew where to go.
got some more fennel seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, and picked up cassia bark
from savory spice shop, of class
chinese herb bags: cinnamon stick, cinnamon bark, orange peel, anise, fennel seeds, sichuan peppercorns
Savory Spice Shop in Boulder always has what I'm looking for. However, there were 2 items that I remember are pretty specific to Chinese herbal medicine stores: the cassia buds and the angelica root. They didn't have them (although they looked them up and told me what they were) and I decided it wasn't worth the scavenger hunt at the Asian markets. My parents hadn't heard of those either and my dad suggested I omit them. I don't know if this is kosher or not, simply I dried my own organic orangish peel. I got beef marrow bones because the butcher said it would lend a deeper flavor to the broth. This soup is ALL near the goop. It costs more than, only I am convinced information technology is worth information technology. Equally for beef shank, I rarely find whole beef shank anywhere but in the Asian markets, and so I picked up a few pounds of the bone-in cut beefiness shank.
make broth from the basic
aromatics: green onions, ginger, garlic, thai bird chiles
calculation soy sauce, brown sugar, and hot edible bean paste to the sautéed aromatics
Now, you tin make this in one longish 24-hour interval or you lot can make this over the course of 2 days. It really depends on a couple of factors: 1) if yous utilize a conventional stock pot or if you use a pressure cooker and ii) if you defat the broth and sauce (at all, the quick way, or the tedious way). Personally, I feel the pressure cooker is the better selection because it is and then much faster, more energy efficient, and achieves a tenderness in the beef that is effortless. Physics. Information technology is totally your BFF.
let the sauce cook for a minute
then pour it into the beef stock
add fermented tofu, tomato paste, herb purse, bay leafage, and black peppercorns to the broth
The stock can either simmer for half-dozen hours in the stock pot, or go 30 minutes in the pressure level cooker (and so some other 30 minutes on natural decompression). Half-dozen hours versus one hour? Did I ever mention how much I dear my force per unit area cooker? Regardless of which method you choose, when you lot starting time eddy the bones in water, you need to skim off the scum that surfaces for the commencement ten or xv minutes. The beef stock is part 1. At present on to part 2, which is the beef sauce.
add plenty water to embrace the beef shanks
cooked through
You will need another pot if your beef stock is cooking on the stove. If you can, use a pressure cooker. I don't take two (yet), only if I did, I would have washed this in my 2d pressure cooker. The beef shanks are boiled in water until they are cooked through. Remove the shanks and strain the beef h2o into some other vessel. Don't throw the beef h2o out – it's got flavor. I think if I had found whole shanks, I might non need to take strained the h2o. Considering I had bone-in shanks, I wanted to remove any potential bone bits and junk from the beef water past straining it through a fine-mesh sieve (you volition utilize the sieve a lot for this recipe). Wipe the pot down and sauté the remaining half of the aromatics just like yous did for the beef broth, then add together the sugar, hot edible bean paste, and soy sauce.
stir in fermented edible bean curd, dark soy sauce, and soy paste
add the blackness peppercorns, bay foliage, herb purse, and the beef
pour in the beef h2o
The recipe calls for adding simply enough beefiness water, but I added all of it. As well, before I started blogging, I never knew there was anything other than soy sauce. Now I know in that location is soy paste, soy sauce, night soy sauce, light soy sauce, thick soy sauce… And they are all in my cupboard and refrigerator. Correct, so y'all permit the beef simmer for 30 minutes or another 2 hours if you want it tender. Take it from me – you lot want it tender. There is something quite magical when meat reaches that "falling off the bone" tenderness stage. Barbecue aficionados know of what I speak. I waited for my force per unit area cooker to finish its commencement job (the broth) before putting information technology to work on the beef. I set up it on loftier for 30 minutes with a natural decompression (another xxx minutes).
broth is done (most make clean bone)
strained broth
removing fat from the chilled broth
I defat all of my homemade broths. My mom always does this and I recall the stop production is healthier. Perchance information technology'south only habit, simply I recollect information technology is a good one. It does requires a few actress steps. The photo above shows how you defat by chilling the goop (I put it on my deck which was reading x°F) and skimming off the solidified fat. Another favorite method which is much faster is the ziploc bag trick where you pour hot broth into a giant ziploc, seal information technology, then pierce a pigsty at the bottom corner and drain the broth into a vessel, pinching the corner close right as the fat layer reaches it. I give more detailed instructions in the recipe beneath.
When the beef is washed, I take the beef out of the sauce and remove any connective or fat tissue from the meat. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve and defat it. At this betoken you lot should have tender beef, beef goop, and beefiness sauce. The soup base is iv parts beef broth to ane part beefiness sauce. Now let's gather the noodles and all of the goodies. Toppings can include lettuce, chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro…
my favorite toppings: black bean hot sauce, chili oil, infant bok choy, light-green onions
cooked noodles, goop, sauce, beef, chili oil, sautéed bok choy, green onions, hot sauce
ladling beefiness goop over the noodles, bok choy, and beef
a drizzle of chili oil
It's expert. It is then good! I made mine spicy, because that's what Chinese people do. Jeremy had his "plain" and gave it a happy nod of approval, his smile barely keeping in the mouthful of noodles. My parents had expressed their doubts over the phone, but they were equally curious every bit to how it would plough out. It'southward rare that I will actually stamp my feet with joy when I sit down to swallow, merely this is one happy-making basin of Taiwanese beefiness noodle soup.
the happy-maker
Taiwanese Beefiness Noodle Soup
[impress recipe]
from Chef Hou via Nutrient Gal with lots of my own notes
ii.v lbs. beefiness basic (mine were beefiness marrow basic)
2.5 lbs. beef shank (mine had bone in the middle)
herb bags
2 1000 whole star anise (about 2)
2 m (1 tsp) fennel seeds
2 k angelica roots (I omitted because I couldn't notice it)
2 grand stale orangish pare (about 4 pieces)
6 g (1 tbsp) Sichuan peppercorns
6 grand cassia buds (I omitted considering I couldn't find information technology)
6 yard (1 tbsp) cinnamon bawl
6 grand cinnamon sticks (two iii-inch sticks)
aromatics and such
iv tbsps vegetable oil
six greenish onions, 4 chopped into 3-inch pieces, 2 finely sliced for topping
12-fourteen garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced lengthwise about ane/8-inch thickness
4 Thai bird chiles, halved and seeded
ane oz rock saccharide or 2 tbsps night brown sugar
3/four cup hot edible bean paste
1 cup soy sauce
i/2 cup spicy fermented bean curd
1/4 cup lycopersicon esculentum paste
1 tbsp black peppercorns
ii large Bay leaves
4 1/2 tbsps soy paste
two ane/ii tbsps nighttime soy sauce
to serve
noodles of your option
baby bok choy for garnish (optional)
chili oil for garnish (optional)
other spicy chili pastes of your liking (optional)
fresh cilantro for garnish (optional – I omitted)
Equipment: Either way, you're going to be washing a lot of dishes. You will need: a large stock pot or pressure cooker – 2 is preferable if you're into multi-tasking (which I am), a medium saucepan, a mesh skimmer, a fine-mesh sieve, and ii cloth spice bags.
Chinese herb bags: [You don't take to use herb bags if you plan on straining your goop and sauce.] Split all of the herb handbag ingredients in half and place the halves in ii split spice bags. Each bag should contain approximately: 1 whole star anise, 1/two teaspoon fennel seeds, 1 gram angelica roots (I omitted because I couldn't find this), 2 pieces of dried orange pare, i/2 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, 3 yard cassia buds (I omitted considering I couldn't find this), 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon bark, and one iii-inch cinnamon stick. Tie the bags off.
Make the beefiness broth: Place the beef bones and a gallon of h2o in a large stock pot or the pot of pressure cooker. Bring the water to a boil and skim off the scum that accumulates on the surface for nearly 10-15 minutes or until the scum production reduces considerably. Let information technology continue to boil gently while yous work on the aromatics. In a medium saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and sauté half of the: green onions, ginger, garlic, and Thai bird chiles until fragrant. And so add half of the: sugar, hot bean paste, and soy sauce. Let information technology all simmer for a minute and and so pour the contents into the beef goop. Stir one-half of the fermented edible bean curd and all of the tomato paste into the goop. Add half of the blackness peppercorns, one bay leaf, and ane bag of Chinese seasonings to the broth. If cooking with a conventional stock pot, simmer the broth for 6 hours. If cooking with a pressure cooker, I permit it melt on high (Fagor setting 2) for 30 minutes and natural decompression. Strain the broth with a sieve. Discard the solids.
Defatting the broth (optional): I like to defat my broth and there are a couple of tricks I utilize. The beginning and fastest is to set a gallon-size ziploc bag in a basin or container with loftier sides. Pour the broth into the bag taking care not to spill. Don't make full it upwardly, leave it a loving cup or 2 shy of capacity. Seal the ziploc and make sure you don't squeeze it from the bottom, busting the seal open and spilling hot goop all over the place. Property the ziploc from 1 of the tiptop corners, yous should accept a lesser corner pointed down toward a big, make clean vessel to capture the goop. Information technology's highly advisable to do this in your sink. By now yous should see the fatty separating into a nice layer on the elevation. Lower the bottom corner of the purse into the vessel (if information technology's too far above the vessel, you will spray broth all over the place) and with the tip of a very sharp knife, poke a little hole just i/viii-inch in a higher place the corner. The broth should spill slowly into the vessel as you lot hold it from the elevation. If you're comfortable with the method, make the pigsty bigger and permit the goop drain faster. Every bit the fatty layer approaches the pigsty, pinch it off with your fingers. Discard the fat and ziploc. If you had more broth than would fit into the first ziploc, repeat with a 2nd handbag until you are done defatting all of the broth. The second method is less wasteful, but takes longer. Essentially, you desire to cool the broth until the fatty (which floats to the pinnacle) solidifies so you tin can skim information technology off. I actually hate putting such a large volume of warm broth in my refrigerator and since I only make these kinds of soups in wintertime, I only cover it with a chapeau or plastic wrap and let it absurd on my deck which ranges anywhere from -25°F to 30°F for a good fraction of the twelvemonth. [Notation: My deck is a 2nd story deck and has no "access" from the footing floor. I would never put it on my forepart doorstep. If you alive in a identify where critters abound, I wouldn't recommend putting it outside unattended where said critters could become into your delicious broth.]
Melt the beef shank and make the beef sauce: Place the beef shank in a pot or saucepan and fill with plenty water to but cover the beefiness. Eddy the beef shank until the meat is cooked through. If using whole shanks, remove the beef from the h2o and slice into disks nearly 1 1/2 inches in thickness (Chef Hou says 1/3-inch thick, but I like the beef thicker). If using beef shank cuts, simply remove from the water and set aside. Save the beef water. In a large saucepan, stock pot, or pressure level cooker pot, heat ii tablespoons of vegetable oil and sauté the remaining green onions, ginger, garlic, and Thai bird chiles until fragrant. Add together the rest of the sugar, hot bean paste, and soy sauce. Allow cook for a infinitesimal. Stir in the remaining fermented bean curd, all of the soy paste, and all of the dark soy sauce. Lastly, add together the rest of the black peppercorns, one bay leaf, and the other Chinese herb bag. Place the beef in the stock pot or pressure cooker containing the sauce. Add all of the beef h2o and stir to make sure it mixes with the sauce. If cooking with a conventional stock pot or saucepan, encompass with chapeau and simmer for at least 30 minutes. If y'all want the meat to be tender, let it cook for another couple of hours, only check on the water levels to make certain they don't get as well low. If cooking with a pressure level cooker, your just option is tender meat. Again, I let mine cook on loftier (Fagor setting 2) for 30 minutes with natural decompression. If using bone-in shank, the meat should fall off the bone when it is washed. While the beef is warm, I similar to discard whatever fatty or connective tissue from the meat, reserving the lean beef in a separate vessel. Strain the sauce through a sieve and discard the solids. Follow the defatting process equally listed higher up for the beef goop if desired.
Assembly: Bring fresh water to a boil and cook your noodles (fresh or dried). Bleed the noodles and allow cool. Blanch or sauté baby bok choy and set bated. Combine 4 parts beefiness broth with one role beef sauce in a saucepan. Add beef to the broth and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Identify noodles in a bowl and elevation with beef shank, bok choy, and chopped green onions. Ladle the broth-sauce over the noodles. Drizzle some hot chili oil over pinnacle (purely optional, but mandatory in my volume) and serve with more than hot chili sauce on the side. Serves 10-12. Makes well-nigh x cups of goop and 8 cups of sauce.
Source: http://userealbutter.com/2012/02/12/taiwanese-beef-noodle-soup-recipe/
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