Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Taiwanese beef noodle soup slow-braises chunks of beef brisket or shank in a rich bone broth served over noodles, in two main schools—the dark, aromatic, lightly spicy red-braised style and the clear, sweet original-broth stewed style—often finished with pickled mustard greens, scallion and spiced beef chilli oil.

Taiwanese beef noodle soup is generally thought to have taken shape around 1949, as mainland soldiers and their families settling in Taiwan combined home-region methods with local beef, fusing Sichuan-style red-braising with northern clear-stewing to grow into a national dish; Taipei's annual International Beef Noodle Festival attests to its standing.

Served in a deep bowl with soup and noodles together, one first sips the rich broth, lifts a piece of melting brisket, then brightens it with pickled greens and chilli oil, the most common hearty bowl in the noodle shops of Taipei.

The dark red-braised broth with its savoury warmth, the meltingly tender brisket and the springy hand-cut noodles are what set Taiwanese beef noodle soup apart.