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台式红烧牛肉面- tai shi hong shao niu rou mian
 Ingredients
makes a large pot, about 4 bowls per pound of beef*
2-3 lbs beef shank (add some tendon if you like)
Garlic, 10 garlic cloves
Ginger, 1-2 inch piece
Star anise, 2
Dried red chilies, 5
Scallions, one large bunch (10-15 medium sized stems)**
Cooking wine or liquor, 1 shot
Soy, 1.5 cups***
Water, 3 cups
Oil, 2-4 Tbsp
wide or thick squarish Asian flour noodles
optional vegetables: white radish (daikon), spinach, bok choi and/or fresh shitake mushrooms
optional garnish: scallions, thinly sliced or cilantro, roughly chopped
* In my household, I usually top the noodles with a hefty cupful of stewed beef, so it works out to about 4-5 bowls per pound of uncooked beef. The Chinese enjoy this dish mainly for the broth and each bowl comes with only a few pieces of meat so the beef stretches a lot further. It also freezes well so you can store it in batches.
**I love lots of soft scallions bits stewed down with my beef, but you can also use just 2-3 stems and add them in with the ginger and garlic aromatics
***I generally start with a 2:1 water to light soy sauce ratio. You can easily add more water if the liquid is reduced too much while stewing, and if you are worried about saltiness just use the starchy noodle water to dilute the broth down to taste.
Preparation
 Clean and trim beef shank, slice lengthwise into 1-1.5 inch thick ropes, then cut into pieces about ¾ inch thick (you may also cube the meat but it will take a bit longer to stew down and soften). Smash the garlic. Slice the ginger into thick discs. Cut scallions into 2 inch segments; if the white part is thick, split these by half or quarter.
Divide ingredients into 2 or 3 batches to brown the meat (do not crowd your pot or the meat will cook too slowly and not brown). Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in the bottom of pot large enough to hold all ingredients. In batches: Add garlic, ginger, scallion and chilies (break them into a few pieces) and sauté until fragrant and just starting to show some color. Add beef and sauté until outside is browned a bit. Remove and repeat with next batch.
When your final batch is done, return all of the meat to the pot; add star anise, cooking wine, soy and water. Bring to a boil; skim the foam and then reduce heat to a low simmer and leave cooking uncovered for 2-3 hours. Check about every half hour, skimming as needed. Taste meat for doneness after about 2 hours. The texture should be somewhat tender on the tooth but not completely falling apart; same if you are using beef tendon—it tastes better with a little chewiness.
 To serve, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add noodles. When done, drain and divide noodles among bowls; ladle meat and broth over noodles; if desired, top with blanched or stewed vegetables (see below on vegetable additions). Cut the saltiness of the beef broth to taste by adding as much of the water used to cook the noodles as needed.
For optional vegetable additions: You can stew thick chunks of white radish (daikon) directly in with the beef (add this in the last hour). Daikon can be halved lengthwise (or cut into thirds if very large), or cut into triangles using a rolling diagonal cut. Or, blanch some spinach or bok choi, or sauté some shitake mushrooms to serve on top of the noodles.
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