I really like Taiwanese beef noodle soup, but it takes a long time to make the broth. A good broth is the single most important aspect of beef noodle soup, so it has to be done well. I'll show you in this Instructable how I make a simple but super tasty beef noodle soup.

Step 1: Ingredients

Ingredient:

3 lbs Beef Bones
1 lbs Beef Ox Tails, Shank or Brisket
2 Birds Eye Thai Chilli Peppers
1 Slice of Ginger
6 Cloves of Garlic
1 Star Anise
1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorns
1/2 Cup Green Onions Diced
Wheat Noodles
Baby Bok Choy
Salt
Soy Sauce

Step 2: Making the Base Bone Broth

I modified a traditional recipe to speed up the cooking process using a pressure cooker specifically the Instant Pot. However, this it still takes some time to make this soup as it's has a few steps but most of it is waiting for the beef to cook. If you don't have a pressure cooker or Instant pot I will include cook times if cooking using a regular pot.

Start by blanching/boiling some beef bones for 20 minutes, I am using about 3 lbs. This will cook out any blood or impurities that can affect the taste of the broth. Once 20 minutes is up, rinse with cold water and lay the bones out on a baking tray or roasting pan and roast at 400F for 30 minutes.

The roasting of the bones is important as it will bring out the flavors of the bones.

Once the bones are roasted, place them in the Instant Pot and cover them with water. Pressure cook on high pressure for 2 hours. If using a regular pot, simmer for 4-5 hours. Remove and discard the bones from the broth and strain the broth.

At this point I let the broth cool and refrigerated it for use the next day, but this is optional I could just continued on making the soup. This broth will not have a strong beef flavor since it's just the bones but it's the base of a good broth.

Step 3: Building the Soup Base

My bone beef broth when cooled has a jelly like consistency, so a lot of the collagen has cooked out of the beef bones and converted into gelatin (at least to my limited understanding).

Next I sear and brown 1lb of ox tails over high heat, I'm using ox tails but any other beef will work too, such as brisket or beef shank. Just don't use beef that is too lean. Add the browned meat to the bone broth, along with a slice of ginger, 6 cloves of smashed garlic, a few birds eye chilli peppers, one star anise and a few Sichuan peppercorns. Add some water to the pan and de-glaze all the nice brown bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pan, add to the bone broth. Cook for another 2 hours in the Instant Pot on high pressure.

Again if you are cooking it the traditional way in a regular pot, simmer at low heat for 4-5 hours. When the meat becomes fork tender, it's done. Remove the meat and bones and save for later. Skim the broth to remove the fat, or you can let it cool and removed the solidified fat.

If you find your soup doesn't have enough beefy flavor use more meat next time, the more beef you use the stronger and deeper the flavor of the soup will be.

The soup base can be saved until you are ready to make the noodle soup or can be frozen.

Step 4: Making the Beef Noodle Soup

The choice of noodles plays an important part on how good the beef noodle soup comes out. I like using alkaline wheat noodles used for wonton soup, they have a bounciness, toothy-ness to them, when you bite into them. Shrimp noodles or even spaghetti noodles can be used, this is a personal preference but what ever you do don't over cook the noodles, make them al dente.

Timing is very important when making the beef noodle soup, all the parts have to be ready for assembly or else you could have over or under cooked noodles or vegetables.

Start by dicing about 1/2 cup of green onions (only the green stalks), set aside
Heat in a pot about 2 cups of the soup base, adjust depending on how much soup you want, season with salt to taste.
Blanch some baby bok choy for about 1 minute.
At the same time cook your noodles until they are al dente.
Pour the soup base into a large soup bowl.
Add the noodles, baby bok choy and some of the meat that was cooked.
Finally add the 1/2 cup of green onions.
Season with salt and soy sauce to taste
Serve immediately

Hope you enjoyed this recipe!

Check out my video of the whole process: