Chinesetaiwanese Beef Soup Food

BRAISED BEEF NOODLE SOUP (红烧牛肉面)

Steps:

• First place the aromatics in a piece of cheesecloth tied tightly with kitchen string or disposable/fillable tea filter bags. That's the cinnamon, black cardamom, fennel seeds, star anise, cloves, tangerine peel, bay leaves, white peppercorns, licorice slices, sand ginger, and amomum white cardamon. Phew. It'll be worth it. Trust me.
• Next, rinse off the beef under cold running water. In a soup pot, add 16 cups of water, the ginger, and beef. Bring to a boil and cook for a few more minutes until you see some foam floating on the top of the water. Skim the foam off. You don't want these impurities from the beef making your soup cloudy. Turn off the heat, fish out the pieces of beef, and strain the resulting broth through a fine-meshed strainer, into a heatproof bowl or other pot. Set aside, along with the ginger pieces.
• In another large, thick-bottomed soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the rock sugar, the white parts of the scallion, and the garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the scallions are lightly seared. Add the beef, turn up the heat, and mix everything well.
• Cook for about 5 minutes, and stir once or twice in between. Now add the Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce, and stir everything together well so that the beef is coated in the soy sauce.
• Now add the aromatics, plus the daikon, and the broth and ginger pieces that you boiled the beef in. Bring everything to a boil and immediately turn the heat down to medium. Simmer for 90 minutes. The broth should be steadily simmering where you can see water moving in the pot, but not at a rolling boil.
• After 90 minutes, turn off the heat and let it stand (with the lid on) for another hour. Now your soup base is ready. Reheat, remove the aromatics, and add salt to taste before serving. Just remember, adding salt too early will dry out the beef.
• Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, strain, and transfer to a large serving bowl. Blanch a handful of your leafy greens of choice in the noodle water, and add it to the noodles. Then, ladle in the beef and the soup. Top with the chopped green parts of the scallions you set aside earlier and some chopped cilantro (optional). And if you really can't resist a bit of spice, add a spoonful of chili oil. Wink! Wink!
• Enjoy!

ASIAN VEGETABLE-BEEF SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, brown meat in oil on all sides; drain. Add the water, broth, sherry, soy sauce, onions, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour., Stir in the mushrooms, carrots and bok choy; cover and simmer 20-30 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, cook rice according to package directions. , Divide rice among 6 soup bowls, 3/4 cup in each; top each with 1 cup soup. Garnish with chive blossoms if desired.

TAIWANESE BEEF NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• Make the braising liquid: Combine chicken broth, wine, dark soy sauce, sugar and doubanjiang in a medium bowl or large liquid measure. Sprinkle gelatin over the top and set aside.
• 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 necessary if the oil smokes excessively. Transfer short ribs to a large plate and set aside. (Do not wash out the pot.)
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Return the short ribs to the pot and add enough water to barely cover them (1 1/2 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.
• Cook until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the meaty part of the largest short rib shows very little resistance but isn't falling apart, 2 to 2 1/2 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.
• 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, skin and discard most - but not all - of the fat from the surface.
• 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.
• 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.

CHINESE/TAIWANESE BEEF SOUP

Steps:

• While you are cutting vegetables, bring a pot of water to boil. Add the beef shank to the boiling water and simmer for about 10 minutes to remove any impurities.
• Remove beef shank from the boiling water and cut into desired size.
• In a stock pot (if you don't have a rice/slow cooker to use) or a wok (if you plan to transition to a rice/slow cooker), heat up the oil on medium-high heat.
• Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until the garlic is fragrant.
• Add the sliced onions to the pan and sauté until the onions are transparent.
• Add the black bean sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine and stir fry over medium heat for 1 minute. You can add the tomato at this point (optional).
• Add the beef back into the pot with the stir-fried ingredients.
• If you plan to use the stock pot, add the star anise, green onions, and ginger (ideally in a spice sachet so you can remove easily later) and ~10 cups of water to the pot, bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for at least an hour.
• If you are using a rice or slow cooker, transfer the contents to the rice/slow cooker container and add the star anise, green onions, and ginger (ideally in a spice sachet so you can remove easily later) and ~10 cups of water to the container. Cook on low heat for at least an hour.
• After broth is complete, let cool and store, or eat with noodles immediately. You can add additional water to taste. Tip: Cook noodles in a separate pot of water, then combine with the broth for best results.