Chinese beef and noodles

My husband’s cousin is married to a woman who was born and raised in Taiwan. Parents of middle’s best friend from college were also born and raised in Taiwan. We love their cooking.

The cousin’s wife makes fabulous Chinese Beef and Noodle Soup. With her version, there is about six hours of effort. I wanted a simpler method. 

My goal was to get the flavor of the broth correct, add a lot more broth volume and more veggies, reduce the size of the meat to bite size, and simplify the process.

I started following the online directions at 8pm one night, thinking I was crazy for starting so late, that lead to the crock pot. And I would do it the exact same way again, overnight.

Middle found a recipe online -

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/chinese-beef-noodle-soup/

I used that recipe as my starting point and modified. The smell was correct as it was cooking. The broth seems right too. 

Note - Chinese grocery needed for whole peppercorns (which I did not have at 8pm that night) and the noodles. 

Prepped the night before, in water over night, ready to add in the morning -

My Chinese beef and noodle soup

Ingredients/directions 

• 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes 
• 3 pounds stew meat, cut tiny

Brown on stove

• 8-10 cups water
• 4 tablespoons apple juice
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 heaping tsp chili bean paste 

Bottom of large crock pot

• 8 star anise pods
• 5 peeled slices ginger
• 5 bay leaves

Spices in strainer in broth, top of meat in crock pot, on low, over night 

• 8 chopped carrots 
• 1 peeled/chopped daikon radish 
• 2 chopped baby bok choy

Next morning, remove/discard spices

Move broth/meat to large pan on stove 

Add vegetables, lid, low heat for an hour 

• Cook Shanxi Noodles separately at mealtime 

“Shanxi noodles are a type of Chinese noodle that is popular in the Shanxi province. They are made from wheat flour, and have a chewy texture. Shanxi noodles are often served with a beef or pork broth, and can also be stir-fried or boiled. Cooking shanxi noodles is not as difficult as it may seem.”

It looks like a little crock pot, it is actually a rice steamer

Between March of 2019 and August of 2021, we ordered three small rice cookers (below). These have stainless steel liners. 

I am not sure of the order, but those three belong to myself, middle and youngest. 

I mentioned we have been using a meal service for several months -

https://baby-steps-v.blogspot.com/2023/01/green-chef.html?m=1

I now use my little 6 cup rice cooker almost every day. I use to only cook plain rice, now I also use it for a variety of grains. And now I add multiple ingredients to the pot, like spices and vegetables. 

The rice cooker advertises that bonus -

I ordered a back up rice cooker recently. 

Mine gets so much use, that I was in fear of it dying. It is my most valuable kitchen appliance. If I could only have one appliance, this would be it. If I could only have two appliances, my second choice would be my big crock pot.

Plus, I wanted a second liner for the days that I use the cooker twice. 

Instead of ordering an exact duplicate, I got the one with the steamer insert. 

The cookers, liners and lids are identical. The upgraded version simply adds the steamer tray. I use this for spinach and kale and chard. 

The birds - part two

So that same night in January, after the bird went out the door, under his own wing power, my husband blocked the hole where the bird  had (apparently) gotten in through the outside vent. 

Those (above) are two 1’ lengths of 2x4’s blocking the hole.

We very tired of birds at this point and did nothing more. 

Friday morning, as soon as the middle dropped off the pups, they went right to the fireplace. And following them, I could hear a bird in the fireplace. 

Big sigh. 

I went and got heavy brown paper from another room, scissors and tape. With my back to the fireplace, I started to cut the paper to cover the light coming in the big living room window, so we could release the bird, and have it go out the front door toward daylight. 

Chaos ensued behind me. I turned around to see a bird loose in the room with the dogs jumping and snapping at it. All three went toward the front door with me hot on their trail to open the door. 

I turned around, after propping the glass security door open, to see two quiet dogs and no bird. My husband hunted all over the house, and could not find a bird, so we assume it went out over my head the minute I opened the door, and I just did not see it.

It was definitely not the same bird as last night. It was much smaller. 

We looked outside and the boards were still on top the vent. So we think this second bird was already in the vent. And we blocked this second bird in when we put the boards on the vent and reclosed the fireplace. 

And I think the dogs actually let the bird out of the fireplace by nosing the panel on the bottom which opens to the controls. 

We removed the boards from the vent outside, took the glass off the fireplace and my husband blew air up the vent to encourage any other birds to flee. I was watching outside, no birds flew out of the vent. 

We put a wooden box in front of the control panel. I stuffed bags in the vent. The dogs are keeping watch.

That was the end of birds in the house, two was definitely enough for a lifetime. 

We borrowed a shop vac and middle and my husband cleaned out the chimney vent from the outside of the house. 

They replaced the screen on the outside vent. They added a second screen inside the outside vent, directly over the pipe opening. So there is now an original screen on the bottom, a new screen on the top and a new screen on the inside. And my husband is adding this outside vent to his mental check list. 

We did not use the fireplace until the fireplace guy was able to come clean/check. It was more than a month wait, they are very busy. The inside logs have to be in very precise locations for the fireplace to work correctly. Ours were all over the place/askew.

The birds - part one

On a Thursday in January, just after 11am when I had finished putting away the Christmas decorations, the puppies and I sat down in the living room and I heard a noise. 

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and realized a large black bird was in our gas fireplace. This is a sealed gas fireplace, so the bird was behind the glass. The bird had clearly come down the vent. 

I called my husband and told him to come home very quickly. 

He said he would, but commented that he had no idea WHAT exactly he was going to be able to do, so I needed to figure out a plan/think. 

Next I called our neighbor who is a retired engineer, woodworker and very practical guy. He said he would be over in about a half hour. But he also said he had no idea WHAT he was going to do. He also said I needed a plan. 

I was freaking out this whole time, with the bird flapping and pecking, trying to get out. 

I called the local company who installed our fireplace. He said one service man was on vacation and the other was working out of town and there was no one to help. However, over the phone, he told me how to get the front off the fireplace to get to the bird. I listened very carefully. 

I called two critter control places. The first was on vacation, out of town. The second said he had a busy day scheduled, but could come in the evening if needed. And he told me an important thing, he said if we could get everything dark, and the open front door was the only “light” thing, a released bird would simply fly right out the door. 

Our problem - the living room window is huge, does not open, is very “light” all day. 

This is what we tried - 

The front is off the fireplace. That is a huge plastic bag taped to the fireplace and to a chair. There is a wooded box under the bag.  Inside the bag, on top the box, are several pieces of wood for the bird to land. There is a light for encouragement. 

Two puppies and I were on the loveseat, my husband and neighbor were on the couch, we were on bird watch all afternoon. 

The bird would fly into the bag, but would not stay in the bag long enough for the guys to grab it. 

Periodically they would send me up to the attic with a roll of wrapping paper to beat on the fireplace vent pipe. That would stir up the bird, but it never stayed in the bag long enough to get it. 

All this took the entire afternoon. And then at some point the bird made its way behind part of the fireplace and was quiet. We thought it was stuck, dying. We disassembled our trap and the guys put the front back on the fireplace. Our neighbor went home. 

Later, as dusk was falling, suddenly we heard a lot of activity and the bird reappeared behind the glass. Clearly the bird had been taking a nap.

I put the puppies in their crate, we turned off every light in the house, closed every door, lowered the living room shades. I turned on all the porch lights.  

My husband took the fireplace front off, again. And we simply let the bird out/loose. And it went right out the front door. The relief was immense.  

This whole process took about six hours. Little did we know, there was part two, the next morning. 

Risotto

I make a very good risotto. I have several different recipe I use. I add lots of roasted/cooked veggies and shredded chicken.

Every time, I think of the Top Chef judges who (I think) did not like any risotto any chef contestant ever made. 

My secret? I start in my rice cooker. I “cook” the rice and the spices. I start with boiling hot water/broth. 

When the cooker switches to “warm”, I add the rest of the smaller ingredients, the move to a bigger bowl to add the chicken and vegetables.

My forced tulips bloomed in February and were gorgeous.

My island cook station is working very well for me.