Yunnan Style Beef Soup: A Traditional Chinese Recipe
As we begin our recipe today, I want to share with you why Yunnan is my favorite province in China. The cuisine here is unique and rustic, offering a blend of flavors that are both familiar and exotic. One of the best soups you should try making is the Yunnan Style beef soup, which is incredibly easy to prepare and packed with flavor.
The name of this soup is called Niu Pahu (牛扒烀) in the Yunnan dialect. The word "Niu" means beef, while "Pahu" refers to braising until tender. This dish is perfect for those who love a hearty, comforting meal that's also rich in nutrients.
When it comes to choosing the right cuts of beef, you can use any type as long as it's good for braising. I've got some pieces of beef meat here, which includes the end part of the sirloin tip with plenty of silver skin and connective tissues – perfect for slow-cooking. You'll also need beef ribs, which have a great balance between bones and meat. Additionally, we'll be using a beef femur bone, whose marrow will add a rich, creamy texture to the soup.
The Yunnan Style beef soup is loaded with a multitude of herbs, which may seem overwhelming at first but trust me, they're essential to creating a dish that's both fragrant and flavorful. You'll need garlic, ginger, scallions, shallots, celery stalks, Thai bird's eye chili, mint, culantro, and cilantro – all finely diced and added to the pot. Don't worry if you can't collect all these herbs; feel free to skip one or two and use other types that you love.
To start making this delicious soup, we'll begin by blanching the beef in hot water. Fill a large pot with plenty of water, add the beef, partially cover the pot, and turn the heat to high. Once it comes to a boil, skim off all the scum using a fine sieve. Blanching is optional, but it does help remove any gamey flavors from the meat.
After blanching the beef, we'll transfer it to a clay pot filled with 2-3 liters of water and turn the heat to high again. This step helps tenderize the meat even further. Now, let's check on the tenderness by poking the meat with chopsticks – if it goes through easily, it's ready.
Once the beef is cooked, we'll remove it from the pot and leave the broth behind. Remove all the spice bag as well, and discard any bones or cartilage that come off the femur bone. Then, cut the beef into bite-sized pieces – be careful, as they will still be very hot!
Now it's time to add the aromatics back into the pot, along with some Sichuan peppercorn powder and salt to taste. Bring everything to a boil again, then add the lime juice gradually while adjusting the seasoning until it's perfect.
To complete our recipe, we'll use traditional Chinese clay pot cookware – a must-have for any serious food enthusiast. This type of cookware retains heat well, allowing you to maintain a low-and-slow temperature on the stovetop or in the oven. The heavy-duty wall also enables better browning and caramelization.
As I finish this recipe, I want to share with you how much I love cooking with clay pots – they're not only functional but also beautiful serving pieces that keep food warm for hours. The blue top and hammer design of mine are particularly charming, don't you agree?
Thank you for joining me today as we explore the world of traditional Chinese recipes. Until next time, happy cooking!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHi everyone, welcome to Souped Up Recipes.I am Mandy.Today we are making a Yunnan Style beef soup.It is very easy to make and it is one of the best soups you should try.Yunnan is my favorite province because the cuisine is unique and rustic.You can use any cuts of the beef as long as it is good for braising.I have got some a piece of beef meat.This is the end part of the sirloin tip so it has quite a lot of silver skin and connective tissues - great for braising.This is beef ribs.I like to use it because it has a perfect ratio between the bones and meat.This beef femur bone.The marrow inside will make your soup rice and creamy texture.I know you are probably wondering what is this.It is a honeycomb trip.If you don’t like to eat animal organs, you don’t have to use this but do your best to collect different cuts of beef so you can have different textures and flavors in one pot.Next, we are going to blanch the beef.Fill a big pot with lots of water. Add all the beef.Partially cover the pot.Turn the heat to high and bring this to a boil.Once it comes to a boil, skim off all the scum by using a fine sieve.Blanching is completely optional.I am doing this just to get rid of the gamey beefy flavor so my soup will come out with a clean look and taste.You don’t have to if you like the strong beefy flavor.Transfer the beef into a clay pot.Fill the clay pot with 2-3 liters of water.Turn the heat to high.Don’t put on the lid otherwise, it will overflow when it comes to a boil.While waiting, we can gather the aromatics and spices. You will needtwo inches of ginger, I sliced it thinlytwo scallions, I cut into stalksPut them into a spicy bag along with one cinnamon stickone star anise four bay leaves, andtwo tsp of white peppercornsThe pot is nice and bubbling now.If there is more scum floating on the top, you can fish that out by using a fine sieve.The name of this soup is called Niu Pahu (牛扒烀) in the Yunnan dialect.Niu is beef.Pahu means braised until tender.So it is pretty straightforward.Add the spice bag and switch the heat to the lowest.Simmer this for 1.5 hours.Another spirit of this soup is that it is loaded with a method amount of herbs.I have got here: garlic, ginger, scallion, shallot, celery stalks, Thai birds eye chili, mint, culantro, and cilantro.All these ingredients need to be finely diced.Yunnan is a special province, it has the largest number of ethnic minorities so there are lots of different cultures here.It borders Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos;It is connected with Thailand and Cambodia through the Lancang Mekong River.With lots of catering collisions, Yunnan developed a complex, tropical, and interesting cuisine.If you can not collect all these herbs, it is ok to skip one or 2.Or you can use other kinds of herbs that you love.Shallot looks like a mini red onion.If you don’t have it, you can use red onion;Thai birds eye chili is very spicy, you can adjust the amount base on your tolerance.I was going to use Chinese celery but I couldn’t find it today so I am using regular celery.The mint is very important, it makes the soup refreshing.Culantro smells and tastes like cilantro but is 10 times stronger.I am using both because I have both.You can use one of them, if you don’t like cilantro, you can use basil or other herbs.Cut a few large size limes and squeeze the juice out of them.There are no exact measurements.Everything is based on taste because it is a rustic dish that comes from the countryside.If you want to know my preference, I will write down the amount in the descriptions. You can check it out if you want.The soup has been simmered for 2 hours now, the broth became slightly milky white, which is the way how I like.You could use an instant pot or a pressure cooker but then the broth will come out clear instead of creamy.It is your choice.Let’s check the tenderness.Just poke the meat with chopsticks, it should go through easily.Ok, let’s turn off the heat for now. Remove all the beef and leave the broth behind.Take the meat off the bones, which is really easy as it is so tender.The femur bone usually has some cartilage at the end of the joint, I like to eat those too.Discard the bones and the spice bag.Cut all the beef into bite-size pieces. Be careful. It is very hot.I should have waited until the meat cools down.Put all the beef meat back into the clay pot.Bring it to a boil again.Add all the aromatics, along with some Sichuan peppercorn powder and some salt to taste.The lime juice should be the last.Add it in gradually and you should turn off the heat right after.Not all the limes are equally sour so you should taste and adjust them until it is perfect.I can’t wait to enjoy this soup.It is so good. What surprises me is that although we use so many herbs, they mainly tropicalized the broth.There are lots of fragrances going on - very garlicky, spicy, and refreshing but it doesn’t overpower the natural taste of the beef.You know what, if you cook some noodles in this soup, em, it will be amazing.This video is sponsored by Souped Up Recipes Clay Pot.I know clay pot may sound new to you but it is traditional cookware in Chinese cuisine.It has a high heat capacity. The material retains the heat and then distributes it to the food slowly and evenly.The heavy-duty wall allows for better browning and caramelization.Then you can maintain a low-and-slow temperature on the stovetop or in the oven - perfect for making soup, stew, and congee.It can also handle simpler tasks like boiling dumplings, noodles, and wontons.I love the blue top and the hammer design.It functions as a beautiful serving piece that keeps the food warm on the table.Again for watching and I'll see you next time bye\n"
