Beef Noodles with Poured Soup 手沖牛肉麵 (shǒu chōng niú ròu miàn) is a fairly new way of preparing Taiwan beef noodle soup. I first tried this dish at a popular Taiwanese restaurant in Vancouver called Red Beef Noodle Kitchen. The beef broth is very flavourful. You could choose between clear 清燉 (qīng dùn) or spicy 紅燒 (hóng shāo) for the broth. It’s quite expensive at over $20 CAD a bowl. You get 6 slices of thin-slice, nicely marbled pieces of short rib. They put hot soup in an insulated jug and the servers pour it onto the pieces of raw beef in front of you. You get to watch the beef turn from red to pink. And while this is happening, you already start to salivate from the very aromatic steam that the soup lets off. Yes, it’s a bit on the pricy side, but worth it!
I haven’t been able to find much history about this kind of beef noodle preparation except that there’s also something like this in Japan. So, it might be a dish that was conceived in Japan and applied to Taiwan beef noodle soup or the other way around. I even had to make up the English name myself to hopefully make it a little self-explanatory. The word 沖 means to flush or an action that combines both pouring and steeping. Literally translated from Chinese would be “hand flushed beef noodle soup”, which doesn’t sound very appetizing! No wonder Red Beef calls it Premium Beef Noodle Soup.
Taiwanese beef noodle soup must be one of my absolute favorite foods in the world! I was born in Taiwan and we immigrated to Canada when I was 5. My fondest food memories were eating beef noodle soup and baked green onion buns. I was never really into eating the chunks of beef although I didn’t mind it. For me, it’s all about the broth, the noodles and the preserved mustard greens. Hence, this new concept is perfect for me because thinly sliced short rib is also one of my favorite things!
In my Beef Noodles with Poured Soup 手沖牛肉麵 recipe, I’ll show you how to make the spicy version of this dish. Next time you’re craving beef noodles, give this easy recipe a try.
For the classic version, check out my recipe here: Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup 紅燒牛肉麵. Or try to make your own Pickled Mustard Greens 酸菜.
Beef Noodles with Poured Soup 手沖牛肉麵
Ingredients
- 300 g Thin sliced beef
I used the ones for making hotpot - 700 g Beef shank
- 1 kg Beef ribs (with bones and meat)
- 400 g White radish (optional)
- 600 g Noodles (Taiwan style or your favorite)
- 200 g Bok choy (optional)
- 100 g Pickled mustard greens (optional)
- 4 slices Ginger
- 2 Shallots , sliced
- 6 cloves Garlic , roughly chopped
- 2 Star anise
- 4 Bay leaves
- 2 tsp Marmite or Vegemite (optional)
- 2 tbsp Chili bean sauce (doubanjiang)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 3.5 L Water or broth or combination
- 2 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- In a large pot, place beef ribs and cover with water. Bring to a boil, drain and rinse beef ribs. Discard water
- Peel and cut white radish to your desired size
I always peel white radish twice to remove the fibrous outer layer - Add 3.5 L of water, broth or combination of the two into a stock pot. Add beef ribs and white radish. Bring to a boil
If you have time and would like the beef to be even more flavourful, put the ribs in the oven at 200˚C or 400˚F for 30 minutes first (before doing step 2) - When the broth starts to boil, add the whole beef shank(s). Reduce heat to low
- Optional: add 2 tsp Marmite
I find that Marmite enhances the beef flavour - Remove the beef shank after 1 hour. The shank can be sliced and eaten on a separate occasion
Make a dipping sauce with minced garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chopped chilis, chopped green onions for thinly sliced beef shank and serve as an appetizer. Slice the beef shank after refrigeration for easier slicing - In a wok or fry pan, add 2 tbsp oil. Add ginger, fry until golden
- Add shallots, garlic, 2 star anise and 4 bay leaves. Fry until aromatic
- Add 2 tbsp chili bean sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Mix well
You may add less or none if you don’t want it spicy but you may need to add more salt or soy sauce to make up the saltiness - Pour the aromatics into the broth and let it simmer on low heat for 4 hours
- After 4 hours, skim the fat, taste the broth and make adjustments to taste and colour by using salt, light soy sauce or dark soy sauce.
I added 1 tsp dark soy sauce and 1 tsp salt. - Cook noodles as per package instructions
- Blanche some vegetables if desired. Set aside
- Use a strainer to extract the broth in another pot. We only want the broth to be poured onto the beef noodles
- Place cooked noodles on the bottom of a bowl, place bok choy and/or the white radish on the side and place your thin sliced beef on top of the noodles you can also place the beef into a rose shape as long as the broth can cover it
thin sliced beef should be at room temperature or else the beef may only be 50% cooked 
- Bring the beef broth to a boil and pour it onto the beef noodles. Alternatively, you can pour the beef broth into an insulated pitcher/jug and pour it at the dinner table
- The beef should be around 70% cooked, or at medium doneness
- Serve with pickled mustard greens and ready to eat
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