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lanzhou beef noodles
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Lanzhou Beef Noodles Recipe

Lanzhou Beef Noodles, also known as Lanzhou Beef Broth Noodles, is one of China’s top ten noodle dishes, originating from the Gansu Province region.
Course Snack
Cuisine Chinese

Ingredients

  • 2 kg beef bones preferably shin bones
  • 0.5 kg chicken bones
  • beef bone soup
  • stewed beef
  • chili oil
  • ginger garlic water
  • noodles

Stewed Beef Ingredients (12 serves ):

  • 1.2 kg tender beef steak
  • 2 teaspoon  fennel seeds (1 teaspoon = 5 ml)
  • 1 teaspoon white peppercorns
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried coriander
  • 10 g ginger, sliced
  • 800 ml water
  • 4 teaspoons  salt (20 g)

Ingredients for Lanzhou Beef Noodles (1 person):

  • 200 g concentrated beef stock
  • 300 ml water
  • 2 teaspoons  ginger garlic water
  • 3 g salt
  • 4 slices white radish
  • 1 portion alkaline noodles
  • 50 g diced stewed beef
  • 50 g chopped fresh coriander
  • 1 garlic leaf or green onion, chopped
  • 4 teaspoons Spicy Oil

Instructions

  • Beef limb, shin or ankle bones are the most suitable for making beef bone stock due to the rich tendons, cartilage and ligaments, and bone marrow close to the surface of the meat. Have your butcher cut the bone down the middle lengthwise.
  • Take a sharp pointed knife and cut the joint capsule.
  • You need to expose the ankle cartilage to release the most of the collagen as you can from the bone. If you buy a whole long bone, you will need to ask your butcher to chop it into smaller pieces of about 6-7 cm2. If you want to do it yourself, use a hacksaw blade with either 18 or 24 teeth.A commercial grade bone knife can only be used to chop the chicken bones and pork ribs, but is not safe for cutting beef leg bones.
  • Chicken bones add excellent flavor to the stock. The general rule is to use 0.5 kg chicken bones for every 2 kg other bones.
  • The hemoglobin and myoglobin in the bones and muscles are the main reason for the loss of clarity in beef broth and produce reddish brown broth. These two iron-rich proteins turn brown when heated. Soaking the bones in water for 4 hours removes some of the proteins.
  • Chicken bones should also be soaked.
  • Choose a soup pot bigger than 5 liters capacity, place the pre-soaked bones in the pot and add enough water to immerse the bones. Cover and heat on high until it comes to the boil.Remove the lid and continue cooking for 10 minutes.At this point, there will be quite a lot of foam on the surface of the water.
  • Remove the bones and rinse thoroughly, removing any dark pieces. Discard the water in the pot and wash it out.
  • Put the bones back into the clean pot and fill with water, completely submerging the bones to a depth of 2cm from the rim of the pot. Heat on high until the water temperature reaches to 90 degrees Celsius, then turn to low.
  • When cooking the stock, the water temperature should be maintained at about 90 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is too low, the collagen precipitation rate is too slow and does not produce enough flavor. If the temperature is too high and the stock boils too rapidly, the liquid will be muddy.
  • Use a thermometer to monitor the water temperature accurately.
  • It takes eight hours for collagen to precipitate fully from meat bones. If this is not convenient, you can divide this into two or three cooking times without affecting the result.
  • Filter the beef stock before use. This quite simple to do by lining a sieve with coffee filter paper. Filter the stock while it is still hot otherwise the collagen will form a greasy residue on the paper inhibiting the straining process.
  • Cooking at a lower temperature of 90 degrees Celsius means that there will not be as much fat released into the stock, which is the main source of the ‘mutton’ smell.

Method for Stewed Beef:

  • Cut the beef into large pieces of about 300-500 grams and rinse any residual blood from the surface to avoid the muscle fibers cracking. Soak the beef in water for four hours, changing the water every hour turning the meat each time.
  • Soaked beef should be pale pink. Place the beef on a rack over a dish to drain for one hour.
  • Take a deep pot 24 ml in diameter, add the beef and 800 ml of water. Cook, and as the temperature rises, the water will discolor as blood emerges from the meat. This needs to be filtered out using a small fine sieve.
  • Add the fennel, white peppercorns, bay leaves, coriander, ginger and salt.
  • Cover and cook on low 2-3 hours. Pay close attention to avoid the water boiling. 20 grams of salt will make the soup very salty, which is fine as beef is difficult to flavor and needs heavy seasoning.
  • After two hours check if the beef is cooked. If the blunt end of a chopstick inserts easily into the thickest part of the beef, it is ready. Cover and turn off the stove, leaving it to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to penetrate fully.
  • Dice the cooked beef into 1 cm cubes, which will be added directly to the beef noodles.

Lanzhou Beef Noodles Assembly Method:

  • Put the concentrated beef stock and water in a small pot and bring to the boil. Add the ginger and garlic water and salt to seasoning the stock.Blanch the white radish into the pot for 30 seconds, remove and put aside. Add two liters of water to a 20 cm diameter soup pot and add the alkaline noodles. Cook for 1 minute.
  • Remove the noodles with chopsticks, gently shake a few times to get rid of excess water and then put them into the serving bowl. Place the hot white radish, stewed beef, chopped fresh parsley or coriander, chopped green onion in with the noodles and pour over spicy oil.