Beef Offal Noodles 牛杂面

Beef Offal Noodles (牛杂面) in Xiangyang (襄阳) are alkaline noodles in a red, spicy beef-bone soup under a thick layer of beef fat, topped with stewed beef offal, which in Xiangyang mainly means intestines and lung. Xiangyang beef noodles (襄阳牛肉面), the city's best-known food, come in two kinds, beef and beef offal, and this is the second.

How it is made

A noodle shop keeps two pots going. One holds the red soup: large beef bones with red chillies, Sichuan pepper and other spices, simmered over a low fire that is not put out overnight. The other, a clear pot, is for cooking the noodles. The cook drops a handful of alkaline noodles and a handful of crisp mung bean sprouts into a long-handled bamboo strainer, dips it in the boiling water for about half a minute, then turns it over into a large bowl so the sprouts sit underneath and the noodles on top. A ladle of red beef-bone soup goes over them, then a spoon of hot stewed offal or beef and some spring onion, with extra chilli oil for those who like more heat. One Xiangyang cook told China News Service that the bone stock takes more than ten hours each day, and the beef tallow mixed with sauce several hours more. Spices such as star anise, cassia, Sichuan pepper, black cardamom (tsaoko), clove and nutmeg give the noodles their numbing, spicy, savoury character.

Flavour and texture

The soup is red and glossy with a heavy layer of beef fat floating on top. China News Service sums up the flavour as heat first, then numbness, then savouriness. A first-timer feels a sharp, choking heat that soon passes, and the numbing fragrance of Sichuan pepper stands out above the other spices.

How it is eaten

The standard Xiangyang breakfast is a bowl of noodles with a bowl of yellow rice wine (黄酒). Because the soup is oily and hot, locals often cut it with the wine or a few cloves of raw garlic, and diners can add spring onion, coriander or crushed garlic to taste.

Where it comes from

Chinese Wikipedia dates the Xiangyang offal noodle to the late 1970s, when Hui Muslim traders around Youyi Street (友谊街) in Fancheng District (樊城区) sold beef and were left with spare beef tallow. They added spiced tallow to the alkaline noodles local people liked for breakfast, and stewed offal later became the main topping. China News Service says Xiangyang beef noodles as a whole took off in the 1990s, from residents at the north end of the Han River Bridge (汉江大桥) who were known for noodles topped with beef and offal. Xinhua notes that the menu later grew from the original offal and beef noodles to more than ten kinds.