Making Authentic Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup: A Recipe and Guide

As I began to make my authentic Lanzhou beef noodle soup, I started by sautering some onions in a pan until they were soft and lightly browned. This step is crucial in bringing out the natural sweetness of the onions, which will add depth to our broth later on. Next, I added four slices of ginger, one piece of cinnamon, four pieces of star anise, 1.5 tsp of citron peppercorn, 1.5 tsp of black peppercorn, and two tsp of cumin seed to the pan. The aroma of these spices wafted through the air, teasing my senses and building anticipation for the meal to come.

I then added two medium-sized onions, cut in half, to the pot along with the ginger spice mixture. I just threw them in, as I don't have a spice bag, which would make it more convenient but also annoying when using the broth. The onions will cook down and add a rich flavor to our soup. I covered the pot and brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat to its lowest setting and simmered it for at least three hours. This slow cooking process was essential in extracting the natural flavors from the ingredients.

After three hours of simmering, I removed the onions and spice mixture from the pot and added sliced beef to the broth. The reason I didn't add the beef initially was that after three hours, the broth had become quite rich, and if I cooked the beef in it, it would be overpowered by its own flavor. Instead, I continued to simmer the broth for another four hours, which allowed me to get a deeper, more complex flavor out of it. Once the beef was cooked, I cooled it down in the fridge, making it easier to slice thinly.

To finish our soup, I added some oil to the pot using an oil strainer, a tool that helps separate the oil from the water. The broth was now ready for serving, with its rich flavor and aroma wafting up from the pot. To add an extra layer of fragrance to our soup, I toasted cumin seeds in a pan and crushed them to release their aroma. This step added a nice warmth and depth to our broth.

To serve, I took out sliced beef, some chili oil (which I made myself, but you can use store-bought), diced green onions, cilantro, and fresh noodles – which are always freshly made in front of you at Lanzhou noodle shops. The noodles have a great texture and are extremely fresh, making them the perfect accompaniment to our soup.

To cook the noodles, I boiled some water and added fresh new dough that cooks really fast – it takes about 2-4 minutes to cook. If you're unsure, you can always take a bite to see if they're done. Once cooked, I removed the noodles from the pot with a slotted spoon and transferred them to a serving bowl.

Next, I poured the hot broth over the noodles, adding some salt and black pepper to taste. I didn't use a spice pack this time, as I prefer to get rid of those annoying spices that can overpower my dishes. Finally, I added sliced beef, green onions, cilantro, and chili oil on top of the soup, finishing it off with a sprinkle of scallion.

The result was incredible – a deliciously rich broth, tender beef, and fresh noodles all coming together in perfect harmony. Lanzhou beef noodle soup is one of my favorite comfort foods, and I never waste a drop of that precious broth. It's not a complicated recipe, just time and patience. If you try this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know how it turned out.

One final note on the broth: after we're done making it, we can save it by straining it into bottles or containers to prevent small particles from getting in. The broth will last for about one and a half months in the freezer and two days in the fridge. Just be sure to leave some space at the top of each container to allow for expansion – if you fill them all the way, they might crack when they freeze.

As always, I'd love to know more about you! Do you have any favorite Chinese dishes or films? Let me know in the comments below. And don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel for new recipe videos and behind-the-scenes peeks into my kitchen. You can also support me on Patreon – just click the link in the description box to learn more. See you next time, bye!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi everyone welcome to souped-up recipes today we're making lamb Joe beef noodle soup londo is the city where this is originally comes from and now it becomes the most popular noodles in all over China I used to live in Guangzhou almost every Street has a noodle restaurant like this and it has so good the noodle is fresh the broth is fragrance I can't eat this every single day now that finally I developed this recipe and it tastes just as good as the restaurant so let's get started first you need 4 pounds of beef bones it is best to do a mix of all different cuts of bones this is backbone I like the way how it is so meaty and some leg bones it has a lot of marrow in the middle that will give you a nice rich stock we're gonna clean it carefully make sure you remove all the bone dust after you clean it then wash the pot and we are going to soak the bones with cold water the bones are for making the broth I also have a piece of beef here I'm not sure what color it is because it's all in Spanish and I can read it but basically you can use any cut you can even use a tough cut like shank the beef is for making the beef slices to serve on top of the noodles you just soak that as well let us sit in the fridge overnight this is the next day let me show you how it looks like you see the water becomes red and the meat has less color now put the meat in the container and keep soaking it in the fridge all that red color is what we are trying to get rid off if you don't have the soaking process or the blood will affect the taste of your broth pour that out and wash the bones again put it in your cream pot and fill it up with water we're going to blanch the bones cover this and bring the water to a boil once it comes to a boil you will see a lot of impurities floating on the top those are the things that will affect the flavor and the texture of the broth that is why we're going to get rid of this whole batch of water you don't need to worry about wasting all the flavors the good stuff won't come out in the first 10 minutes of boiling wash the bows again important note here if you see any bloody parts like that make sure you squeeze it well and rinse it with water also you want to wash the pot because the pot will have a lot of crab attached to it okay the pot is nice and clean let's put the bones back and fill it up with water you don't need to count exactly how much water you are adding in normally I will just fill it up all the way to this level it is about probably four liters water evaporates anyway so you might need to add more during the simmering cover it and bring this to a boil there still is something floating on the top those are and some small particles we will deal with that at the end I am moving the pot from a big stove to a smaller stove trying to get the lowest flame possible simmer this for at least three hours if you want to do it overnight you can but you want to put the lid slightly open like this you don't want it to be fully covered this is three hours later and I'm going to add the beef the reason I didn't add the beef in the beginning is because after three hours simmering the broth is pretty rich now and if you cook the beef in the broth it will taste better keep simmering this for another four hours then take out the beef cool it down in the fridge so it would be easier to slice it now you can check out the broth normally there will be some oil floating on the top you can take that out the tool I'm using is called oil strainer it is like a super fine sieve and it is great for separating the oil from the water the broth is very rich now but for making Lanzhou lamian the broth needs some aroma you want to add the spices one hour before serving in this way you can get a maximum fragrance out of it I will add 2 medium sized onions cut them in half you just throw the aim then four slices of ginger one piece of cinnamon four pieces of star anise 1.5 tsp of citron peppercorn 1.5 tsp of black peppercorn 2 tsp of cumin seed I toasted in a pan and slightly crushed it to release the aroma after and as well give this a stir we will keep simmering this for another 1 hour if you have a spice bag that would be nice but I don't so I just dump everything in like that it would be a bit annoying when you want to use the broth take the beef out of the fridge and slice it thinly to make an authentic lanzhou beef noodle soup you have the beef slices then chili oil this is homemade not that much left I'll make more soon you can check the description for the recipe link if you want some diced green onion cilantro and some noodles for the traditional enjoy beef noodle soup the noodles are always freshly made in front of you and it helped old noodles but I don't know how to make helpful noodles so I'll just use these handmade noodles they also have great texture and extremely fresh if you want to know how to make these I have a video I'll put a link in the description you can check that out I have another pot of boiling water here we'll cook the noodles in this pot fresh new dough cooks really fast it will take about 2 to 4 minutes if you're not sure you can take a bite and see if it's ready take out a noodles and put it in a serving bowl add some salt because we didn't add any salt into the broth sprinkle some black pepper to taste pour the broth into the bowl remember that I didn't use a spice pack this is how I get rid of those annoying spices place some beef slices on the top some scallion and cilantro I like it a lot so I put a lot of scallion and cilantro if you like spicy food you can add some chili oil there you have it your authentic lanzhou beef noodle soup this is not a complicated recipe it just takes a long time but the result you get is incredible the new dough is extremely fresh the broth has deep natural flavor and the beef is so tender seriously this is my number one comfort food and I will never waste a drop of that wrath sometimes good food doesn't take that much skills all you need just time and patience by the way I want to show you how to save that broth because you know you spend a lot of time to make it and you don't want to waste it usually our drain it to get rid of any small particles and put it in your container it will last about one and a half month in the freezer and it will last two days in the fridge one important note is do not fill the bottles all the way for be sure to leave some space like that or else it will crack when it gets frozen anyway I hope you give this a try see if you did leave me a comment and let me know how it went as always you can check the description for the written down recipe and please give me a thumbs up if you like Chinese food please subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell so you don't miss any episode if you want to know more about me or support me check out my patreon link it's right there and I'll see you next time bye with the paint do you like films okay you really like anything you want to talk to me right nowhi everyone welcome to souped-up recipes today we're making lamb Joe beef noodle soup londo is the city where this is originally comes from and now it becomes the most popular noodles in all over China I used to live in Guangzhou almost every Street has a noodle restaurant like this and it has so good the noodle is fresh the broth is fragrance I can't eat this every single day now that finally I developed this recipe and it tastes just as good as the restaurant so let's get started first you need 4 pounds of beef bones it is best to do a mix of all different cuts of bones this is backbone I like the way how it is so meaty and some leg bones it has a lot of marrow in the middle that will give you a nice rich stock we're gonna clean it carefully make sure you remove all the bone dust after you clean it then wash the pot and we are going to soak the bones with cold water the bones are for making the broth I also have a piece of beef here I'm not sure what color it is because it's all in Spanish and I can read it but basically you can use any cut you can even use a tough cut like shank the beef is for making the beef slices to serve on top of the noodles you just soak that as well let us sit in the fridge overnight this is the next day let me show you how it looks like you see the water becomes red and the meat has less color now put the meat in the container and keep soaking it in the fridge all that red color is what we are trying to get rid off if you don't have the soaking process or the blood will affect the taste of your broth pour that out and wash the bones again put it in your cream pot and fill it up with water we're going to blanch the bones cover this and bring the water to a boil once it comes to a boil you will see a lot of impurities floating on the top those are the things that will affect the flavor and the texture of the broth that is why we're going to get rid of this whole batch of water you don't need to worry about wasting all the flavors the good stuff won't come out in the first 10 minutes of boiling wash the bows again important note here if you see any bloody parts like that make sure you squeeze it well and rinse it with water also you want to wash the pot because the pot will have a lot of crab attached to it okay the pot is nice and clean let's put the bones back and fill it up with water you don't need to count exactly how much water you are adding in normally I will just fill it up all the way to this level it is about probably four liters water evaporates anyway so you might need to add more during the simmering cover it and bring this to a boil there still is something floating on the top those are and some small particles we will deal with that at the end I am moving the pot from a big stove to a smaller stove trying to get the lowest flame possible simmer this for at least three hours if you want to do it overnight you can but you want to put the lid slightly open like this you don't want it to be fully covered this is three hours later and I'm going to add the beef the reason I didn't add the beef in the beginning is because after three hours simmering the broth is pretty rich now and if you cook the beef in the broth it will taste better keep simmering this for another four hours then take out the beef cool it down in the fridge so it would be easier to slice it now you can check out the broth normally there will be some oil floating on the top you can take that out the tool I'm using is called oil strainer it is like a super fine sieve and it is great for separating the oil from the water the broth is very rich now but for making Lanzhou lamian the broth needs some aroma you want to add the spices one hour before serving in this way you can get a maximum fragrance out of it I will add 2 medium sized onions cut them in half you just throw the aim then four slices of ginger one piece of cinnamon four pieces of star anise 1.5 tsp of citron peppercorn 1.5 tsp of black peppercorn 2 tsp of cumin seed I toasted in a pan and slightly crushed it to release the aroma after and as well give this a stir we will keep simmering this for another 1 hour if you have a spice bag that would be nice but I don't so I just dump everything in like that it would be a bit annoying when you want to use the broth take the beef out of the fridge and slice it thinly to make an authentic lanzhou beef noodle soup you have the beef slices then chili oil this is homemade not that much left I'll make more soon you can check the description for the recipe link if you want some diced green onion cilantro and some noodles for the traditional enjoy beef noodle soup the noodles are always freshly made in front of you and it helped old noodles but I don't know how to make helpful noodles so I'll just use these handmade noodles they also have great texture and extremely fresh if you want to know how to make these I have a video I'll put a link in the description you can check that out I have another pot of boiling water here we'll cook the noodles in this pot fresh new dough cooks really fast it will take about 2 to 4 minutes if you're not sure you can take a bite and see if it's ready take out a noodles and put it in a serving bowl add some salt because we didn't add any salt into the broth sprinkle some black pepper to taste pour the broth into the bowl remember that I didn't use a spice pack this is how I get rid of those annoying spices place some beef slices on the top some scallion and cilantro I like it a lot so I put a lot of scallion and cilantro if you like spicy food you can add some chili oil there you have it your authentic lanzhou beef noodle soup this is not a complicated recipe it just takes a long time but the result you get is incredible the new dough is extremely fresh the broth has deep natural flavor and the beef is so tender seriously this is my number one comfort food and I will never waste a drop of that wrath sometimes good food doesn't take that much skills all you need just time and patience by the way I want to show you how to save that broth because you know you spend a lot of time to make it and you don't want to waste it usually our drain it to get rid of any small particles and put it in your container it will last about one and a half month in the freezer and it will last two days in the fridge one important note is do not fill the bottles all the way for be sure to leave some space like that or else it will crack when it gets frozen anyway I hope you give this a try see if you did leave me a comment and let me know how it went as always you can check the description for the written down recipe and please give me a thumbs up if you like Chinese food please subscribe to my channel and hit the notification bell so you don't miss any episode if you want to know more about me or support me check out my patreon link it's right there and I'll see you next time bye with the paint do you like films okay you really like anything you want to talk to me right now\n"