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Beef noodle served.

A noodle stand in Taiwan offering several varieties of beef noodle in various portions.

Part of a of articles on Islam in China     Chinese Islamic cuisine

Cuisine

Lamian • Chuanr• Yunnan cheese • Beef noodle soup • Yang rou chuan •

Beef noodle soup is a noodle soup dish composed of stewed beef, beef broth, vegetables and noodles. It exists in various forms throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia. The most common Vietnamese version is called Bo kho. It was created by the Hui people (a Chinese Muslim group) during the Tang Dynasty of China.

In the West, this food may be served in a small portion as a soup. In China, a large bowl of it is often taken as a whole meal with or without any side dish.

In Chinese, "牛肉麵" literally means "cattle-meat-noodles". If one orders "牛肉湯麵" or "cattle-meat-soup-noodles" in a restaurant in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or China, one might be given a very inexpensive bowl of noodles in only beef broth but no beef. Since beef has become much more affordable these days, most restaurants no longer provide these broth-only noodles. If one orders a "牛肉湯" or "cattle-meat-soup", one could be given a more expensive bowl of beef broth with chunks of beef in it but without noodles.

The following is a rough sketch for making beef noodles and should allow the observer to determine if an eatery properly makes the soup. Consult recipe books for more detailed directions. The best choices for stew meat include short ribs, shank, and ox-tails because these are the parts of the meat that have tendons. While the short ribs, shank, and ox-tails already contain bones, consider adding additional bones to create excellent beef stock.

• Place the stew meat and bones into a pot of boiling water for one minute. Then remove the meat and bones from the pot. (This is done to remove the blood and dirt from the meat and bones)
• Empty the pot of water. Refill the pot with water and boil again.
• Once the pot boils again, add spices such as bay leaves, star anise, and ginger. Also add the desired amount of salt or soy sauce into the stew. One could also consider adding cooking wine, sugar, or hot sauce.
• Place the stew meat and bones back into the pot. Cover the pot and simmer for two to three hours or until the meat is thoroughly cooked.
• Remove the meat and bones from the stew. Separate any meat that is attached to the bones. Cut the meat into semi bite-sized cubes. Place the meat back into the stew.
• In another pot, cook the noodles and leafy vegetables. Drain the noodles and the vegetables.
• Serve the noodles and vegetables with the stew. One may add freshly chopped green onions or semi-pickled mustard greens (酸菜, the Chinese equivalent to sauerkraut).

When the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War, refugees from mainland China including Chinese Muslims introduced the beef noodles to the Taiwanese. Despite the traditional Taiwanese aversion to eating beef, the dish enjoys extreme popularity in Taiwan, including the instant noodles, food pouch, and microwave meal versions. Certain sources argue that the modern form of the Chinese beef noodles was actually invented in Gangshan Village, Kaohsiung County by Republic of China airforce personnel who fled to Taiwan from Sichuan. Despite the southern Taiwanese roots of the modern beef noodles, the City of Taipei styles itself as the "World Capital of Beef Noodles" and has recently started to host an annual Taipei Beef Noodles Festival (Taipei Beef Noodle Festival website)

Instant beef noodle soup

The Chinese Muslim version uses halal (清真) meat and contains no spices or soy sauce. Only salt and green onions are used to add flavoring to the soup. The Chinese name for the Muslim version of beef noodles is clear-broth stewed beef noodles (清燉牛肉麵). In Taiwanese halal restaurants, only quality local "Yellow Cattle" beef prepared by the local halal butcher is used for the beef noodles.

When soy sauce is added, the soup is called red roasted or braised beef noodles (紅燒牛肉麵). In this version, the stew meat is sometimes stir fried with hot sauce before being simmered as soup.

Some restaurants cheat in their preparation of the soup by using canned beef stock and thinly sliced beef chuck (roast beef) meat.

• Chinese noodles
• Ramen
• Pho
• Chinese Islamic cuisine

• Taipei Beef Noodle Festival 2006 (in English)
• Taipei Beef Noodle Festival 2005 (in English)
• Robbie's Recipes: Beef noodle soup (Please cook the noodles separately!)
• Oriental Beef Noodle Soup Recipe (This is actually more like a soup.)
• Beef Noodle Soup: A Simple but Widely Loved Dish (This is the real thing.)
• A food stand that offers from left to right, "cattle-meat-soup-noodles", "cattle-meat-soup", "cattle-meat-noodles" and three other cheaper noodles