Guizhou Spicy and Sour Noodles (Huaxi Niu Rou Fen) — Cook

Ingredients

400 g thin rice vermicelli, dried; not thick rice noodles
For the broth
1.5 litres beef bone broth, clear, skimmed
250 ml suantang sour soup base, Guizhou fermented sour soup; combined with the bone broth
For the braised beef brisket
600 g beef brisket, braised until tender, sliced
Condiments
4 tbsp chili oil, Guizhou-style, with sediment
2 tbsp fermented black bean, rinsed and roughly chopped
4 tbsp preserved mustard greens (ya cai or suancai), rinsed
60 g crispy soybeans, fried until golden and crunchy
4 stalks spring onion, finely sliced

Method

1
Braise the beef brisket in water with aromatics until fully tender; allow to cool in the liquid, then slice across the grain into pieces suitable for a noodle bowl. The brisket is done when a chopstick passes through without resistance.
2
Combine the clear beef bone broth and the suantang sour soup base in a pot. Bring to a gentle simmer. Taste: the broth should be distinctly sour and savoury in equal measure — without the sour base, the bowl becomes generic beef noodles and the dish is lost.
3
Soak the dried thin rice vermicelli in cold water until pliable. Bring a separate pot of unsalted water to a full boil. Blanch the softened vermicelli for no more than 30 seconds. They are done the instant they turn supple and just translucent — do not hold them in the water.
4
Drain the vermicelli and divide among four warmed bowls. Ladle the hot sour broth over each portion. Layer in order: fermented black bean, preserved mustard greens, and sliced braised brisket.
5
Scatter sliced spring onion over each bowl, then spoon the chili oil directly over the spring onion. The oil should sizzle audibly on contact with the hot bowl, blooming the aromatics in the final seconds before service.
6
Finish with a generous spoonful of crispy soybeans added at the last moment. They must remain audibly crunchy at the table — the crunch is the Guizhou signature and must not be surrendered to the broth.