牛肉面
My dad would always make some kind of noodle dish on the weekends for lunch: sometimes it would be 炸酱面, and other times 牛肉面. I have fond memories of those dishes, and this is my current best attempt to replicate the latter.
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 5 hr
Ingredients
> 牛腩 (beef brisket)
> Ginger, garlic, green onion, cilantro
> Soy sauce, cooking wine, oil, chili oil, water, (vinegar)
> Star anise, peppercorns, bay leaf, dried chili peppers
Instructions
1. Prep: Peel and smash garlic. Chop green onions into 4cm pieces. Chop a few slices of ginger. Cut the beef into small-ish cubes.
2. Boil some water, and boil the cubed beef for around 5-10 minutes to remove any impurities. Remove the beef from the water and lightly rinse. Dump the water.
3. Heat oil in a pot. Try to dry the beef as best as possible and lightly brown the cubes for a few minutes. Add aromatics (ginger, garlic, green onion, star anise, peppercorns, bay leaf, dried chili peppers). Stir for a few seconds. Then add soy sauce, cooking wine, and water.
4. Bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat down to a simmer and cover. Cook for at least a couple of hours, the longer the better.
5. Once the beef is tender, remove any spices and aromatics from the liquid. Skim off any remaining fat off the top. Alternatively, refrigerate all of the braising liquid - the fat will solidify and be relatively easy to remove.
6. Combine the noodles, beef soup, and some pieces of beef. Top with green onions, cilantro, chili oil, and (optional) vinegar. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> Beef brisket has a lot of connective tissue. In Chinese supermarkets where I typically buy it, it also comes with a lot of fatty tissue and tendon. I personally really like a mix of tendon and meat - don't trim off any of the beef! But this also means that you really must slow-cook this for a very long time. At a minimum, four or five hours.
> Beef stock and beef keeps well in the fridge. This works well prepared the night before, refrigerated, and used the next day. You can also prepare a lot of braised beef at once, and use it in various dishes (e.g. as a main dish, in noodles, in curry, etc) in the future.
> Traditionally, I think there are actually a lot more different spices and ingredients that go into the soup base, such as sugar, fivespice, orange peel, cinnamon, etc. Also, as you can see the color of my soup is a bit light; this can probably be improved by using Shaoxing wine and dark soy sauce over typical rice wine and light soy sauce.