兰州牛肉面蘭州牛肉麵
Lán zhōu niú ròu miàn laan4 zau1 ngau4 juk6 min6
The hand-pulled noodle soup that fuels a nation’s breakfast: clear beef broth, white radish, red chili oil, green herbs, yellow noodles — the famous “one clear, two white, three red, four green, five yellow.”
The story behind it
Lanzhou’s beef noodles are a Hui (Chinese Muslim) halal tradition, credited to Ma Baozi in the early 1900s. Pulling the noodles is theatre: the dough is stretched and doubled in seconds to any thickness from hair-thin 毛细 to belt-wide 大宽, ordered by name. There are tens of thousands of Lanzhou beef-noodle shops across China — but in Lanzhou itself it is simply 牛肉面, eaten before 10 a.m.
Ingredients
- 500 g beef shank + beef bones
- Spices: star anise, cassia, fennel, ginger, white pepper
- 1 white radish, sliced
- Fresh hand-pulled or fresh-cut wheat noodles
- Chili oil, coriander, garlic sprouts
Steps
- Simmer beef and bones with spices 2–3 hours; keep the broth crystal clear by skimming.
- Cook the radish slices in the broth until translucent.
- Boil the noodles fresh per bowl.
- Assemble: broth, radish, sliced beef, a spoon of chili oil, coriander and garlic sprouts.