Yunyang Sanhe Soup

Yunyang sanhe soup is a traditional noodle-soup snack from Yunyang District of Shiyan, its three main ingredients—sweet-potato vermicelli, sliced braised beef and small beef-filled dumplings—served together in an ox-bone broth with a secret seasoning, fresh and peppery, mellow and soft.

The soup is said to have originated in the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty over five hundred years ago, named "sanhe" (three-in-one) for its three ingredients joined in a single bowl. A local saying holds that to have missed sanhe soup is to have missed Yunyang, marking it as the taste of home for the people of Shiyan.

Best at first light, the hot ox-bone broth is poured over the vermicelli, beef slices and dumplings and scattered with scallion and coriander, eaten piping hot in hearty mouthfuls—warming, peppery and appetite-opening as the everyday breakfast and fortifying soup of Yunyang.

The singular "three-in-one" form of vermicelli, beef slices and dumplings, and the punch of a rich ox-bone broth against a secret heat, set Yunyang sanhe soup apart from other soup bowls.