Work in Progress: Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Growing up, I would look forward to my mom making Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup. There's nothing quite like soup and stew to warm the heart and body during the cold winter. Last year, I asked my mom for the recipe so that I could recreate this for myself and Taryn, who thanks to recent visits to Taiwanese restaurants, has also become a big fan of this dish. Unfortunately, she's not always won to remember all the ingredients and neglects to mention measurements, which led to a very tricky first attempt.

Last Thursday night, I enlisted the help of a recipe from epicurious, which vastly improved on the flavors I got out of my soup when we consumed it on Friday night. While I'm still tweaking the recipe, I was able to get a number of taste-testers, including my roommates, and should be able to share a recipe in the near-future. The bowl pictured above includes center-cut beef shank, beef for stewing (cut wasn't listed), carrots, green onions, bok choy, and homemade pickled mustard greens from my mom.

Since a lot of prep went in the night before, I had some extra time on my hands and decided to give scallion pancakes a shot. The texture came out breadier, instead of flakier, however this was a great medium to soak up the delicious broth.

My stomach growls with anticipation for the next trial-run.