How to (easily) Noodle Soup at Home

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Might get back to pen some notes in a bit, but if you're looking for more detail/more information, definitely check out the full written guide here: chinesecookingdemystified.substack.com/p/noodle-soup-101 (free post as always, if it had to be said) There's a plethora of information inside... discussing everything from milky fish or fried egg bases, alternative soup bases for the jiaotou-based soup noodles, how to use rice noodles, how to adjust (practically) any stir fry to work as a soup noodle, a recipe for simple Chinese stock if you need one, etc. It gets a little long (sorry), but I hope it can be a good resource that you can refer to in the future, if you need. In the meantime, we're flying out in a few hours - spending a couple weeks in China (Hong Kong, Shunde, and then doing a little 'research' in Guangxi haha). We'll be off during that time, but once we're back we've got three videos that we're really excited for. We also may or may not put out a little update video around then chit chatting about some of our long term interests/plans - for the minority of y'all that might be interesting in that :). If you're curious at all, we'll be sure to be good about updating the Instagram with some good food pictures while we're away: instagram.com/chinesecookingdemystified/

[@artistlovepeace]

Wonton Mein, my favorite of all time. Momma Wong's wontons. Pork and shrimp wontons. My favorite.

[@artistlovepeace]

Have you heard of purim?

[@metalhead635098]

Hey, could I use Lao Gan Ma oil for Qiangguomian instead of infusing aromatics into oil like you did? Or will that be too different?

[@winniekhongkp]

Chop stick etiquettes please... 5.35 minutes... All others r great. Thx.

[@zalibecquerel3463]

Two tips I've found: 1) You can get quite some way with LKK chicken powder and whole garlic cloves. As in, 6-8 whole garlic cloves. How did I find this out? I went to my favourite noodle soup place (it only does noodle soup) at about 3 PM one day when there were no customers. The lady was watching Chinese soap operas and peeling bag after bag of garlic heads. Massive amounts. There were no dishes on the menu (or sambals) that used anywhere that amount of garlic. I figured it out. IT WAS GOING INTO THE SOUP. 2) Keeping little zip-lock bags of 3-4 slices of BBQ Pork in your freezer is a fine thing to do. You can go further and portion out some pre-made IQF wontons, prawns, pre-soaked mushrooms. Thaw them in water in the sink. Whipping up a char-siu wonton min after coming home drunk on a cold winter's night is godly. Also, thank you so much for your tip on "wok soup" in your "whole meal" video. I made one by accident when blanching vegetables and some pork belly for a stir-fry. I ended up with about 500mL of fatty, cloudy blanching liquid in my wok. Out of curiosity, I added chicken powder, salt, MSG, red vinegar, and tasted it. DAMN! I gave up on my stir-fry, and threw all the meat, vegetables and some rice noodles back in, and had noodle soup for dinner. It was DAMN fine!

[@n0etic_f0x]

One thing I like about this is that you guys are honest about how hard food can be to make. So many channels will have something I fail several times at and are like _"Oh this is dead simple"_. like why you gonna lie about that? People are just going to be annoyed and stop making things you suggest. Not here though I can just be told I need a day off to try making something for the first time, cool now I will not be annoyed when stuff comes out wrong the first time.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ha, we're just lucky that we won y'all over at first with stuff like "Jianbing that you need to purchase specialty equipment for" or "Lamian made by mixing up your own dough conditioners (purchasing large quantities of Sodium Metabisulfite won't get you on a list, promise)" or "Flaky Fluffy Baozi that you never knew exists, but requires fermenting sourdough activated by separately-fermented rice" Everyone else need to compete in that quick-and-easy/30-minutes-or-less game ;)

[@brandon3872]

​@@ChineseCookingDemystifiedTrue, while some quick, easy foods can be genuinely delicious, most of the tastiest dishes take a lot of time and effort, it's just reality.

[@jor9463]

To me the real og guys of cooking channels would probably be those who take a fancy healthy dish (mostly asian kitchen, because they use a lot of fresh vegetables, herbs and good proteins in their recipes) and cut down the difficult/ complicated part with some substitute that wether tastes almost the same or has the same function in the cooking process in order to cut down production time to under 30mins.. so it is really accessible for those who work long hours and still want to eat something good

[@eddiemurphy5566]

These are some great ideas! I usually take the super easy route, if I'm being lazy. I'll start boiling some decent frozen dumplings with Better than Bullion, add in garlic and ginger, some shiaoshing, light soy, white pepper, five spice, and then throw in some bean thread or some. After simmering for a bit, I'll bowl it up, and eat the dumplings with black vinegar and ginger while slurping up the soup noods and broth.

[@empatheticrambo4890]

I basically do the same thing but even lazier with a ramen packet - and I crack an egg into it while boiling the noodles. Pour it back over the dumplings, and then while eating spread that nice yolk around for flavor

[@a_trauma_llama2991]

Gonna try this thanks!

[@a_trauma_llama2991]

​@@empatheticrambo4890this is a staple for me too

[@eddiemurphy5566]

If I'm feeling motivated and fancy-schmancy, I'll start by boiling a couple of fridge cold eggs for 6.5 mins, drop em in cold water and tap the shells, and let em rest while I prepare the soup noods. When the dumpling soup noods are done, split the jammy eggs, lay them on top, and sprinkle with kosher salt and a few drops of soy sauce.

[@MyChilepepper]

Thank you guys for sharing. I’ll try all without the dumplings but some slivers of rotisserie chicken for extra protein.

[@cd-zw2tt]

MAN you guys don't miss. The focus on technique is always much appreciated -- these are the techniques that I and many others will carry forward with us through my life in cooking.

[@samneibauer4241]

You mean to tell me I've been using a Chinese method to make soup noodles in order to spice up my instant ramen for years and I didn't know it until now? Sweet. I usually make vegetable stir fries and then add water, sauces, and spices, boil the noodles, remove the noodles, and then poach a couple eggs. For the toppings, I usually just thrown on peanuts, cashews, scallion greens, and/or sesame seeds. It's just so natural!

[@TheMovingEye]

I learned from the Korean Jigae soups to not overthink asian soups, a good soup base will get you a long way (basically approach 1 from the video, only in lazy). Thanks for giving me some strats for Chinese soups.

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

Thank you for making sure we still get our cute dog content

[@arushigupta4235]

It is crazy that this has been uploaded. I've been scanning your channel over the course of this week for noodle soup recipes. Seeing this video pop up is a delightful serendipity!

[@pmchamlee]

I spent several years in the 'far East" and loved it! You folks always take me back. Thank you!

[@cileft011]

gotta show this to my mom, her go-to "technique" is boiling some fresh wonton noodles for a criminally long time and then adding oyster sauce to the noodle water 😭

[@philip-edwardphillis4313]

I recently made pho at home and it tasted excellent. I had all the condiments and the time (it took an entire day) but it wasn't difficult or too expensive, probably cause I made one stock pot worth of it and not a huge vat. I also used just one top side piece of beef and one kilo worth of bones and not the amount you see in restaurants.

[@marijkeschellenbach2680]

Noodle soup is my go to comfort food and this video is so much appreciated for giving it more depth of flavor. Thank you, thank you.

[@lowintellecttrash6737]

I made qiangguomian for my family tonight (mostly because it was snowing and i was craving something soupy) but I was worried that it wasn't going to be liked very much because of how different it is from what we usually eat. Fortunately I was just anxious as everyone enjoyed the meal and we finished the pot pretty quickly

[@Skypad00]

Thank you, I was scouring your channel and youtube for proper Chinese noodle, especially soup noodle ideas and now you upload the perfect video.

[@stevenjacobs2750]

Yall are next level amazing and you have made my life so much better. Thank you for all youve done for my mouth and belly.

[@erikaa.3030]

This video is GOLD! Truly demystified! Now I don't have to rely on the regular cheapo ramen that is loaded with salt, thank you!

[@JNF590]

My understanding of Noodle soup is pretty much to extract the flavor of the protein and using that brought to extend/ expand the dish for the whole family to eat. ( instead of just boiled pork/beef/chicken now you have the same but much more because of the noodles) Us Asians (on what I experience) have very powerful spiced food to complement the Bland rice ( rice is the staple everything else is to complement the rice or noodles)

[@rayliam80]

Reminds me of when I cook Bola-Bola/Almondigas (Meatballs) with Patola (Luffa - Chinese Okra) and Misua noodles. Frying up some tasty stuff then making a quick stock and finishing it off with some noodles and quick-cook veggies!

[@a_pet_rock]

I really like these homestyle cooking videos. As cool as it is to make some stuff from scratch, realistically I'm only going to do it once and call it good.

[@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger]

Make it a few times per year as a treat around holidays c: That way you can always look forward to it and appreciate the effort you put into it

[@GerryIsNear]

Ngl this video changed my life. I used to always strain noodles and wash them with water, but now I just cook noodles together with my broth and ingredients and save so much time. It’s under the guise of the starch thickening the broth. (Will still wash rice noodles though, they are very starchy

[@uS0ra]

thank you for making something from the jiang nan region! :D another way we make noodles in nanjing that i do a lot a home is 小煮面, mostly just all the ingredients boiled in a wok and from stalls and noodle places its some how even better than xuecai rousi mian, would love if you did a recipe for that!

[@bibidibabidiboo]

I replaced the pork in the Qiangguomian with chicken breast and the cabbage with green beans and carrots. It was delicious. ❤❤

[@frankwu4747]

This video shows a stir fry dish that was immediately converted into a soup base for the noodles. However, you can also utilize leftover stir fried dishes to build the soup, too. My dad likes to make noodles this way, so he can utilize the leftovers.

[@pianissimomilano]

My soup noodle expertise involves adding hot water to Maruchan instant noodles 😂. But I really enjoy your videos showing the amount of knowledge experienced cooks have.

[@otterspotter]

I just ordered some xuecai. I've eaten it at dishes at restaurants, but never cooked with them myself. Going to have to review recipes you two have used it in.

[@alexorobas267]

Some cheat cope from experience: 1. You can marinate pork or any protein with soy source with pepper, and add salt at last stage to adjust seasoning. 2. You can use the leftover water from boiling noodle as base for the soup, add or subtract starch water for soup consistency.

[@MrMaxKeane]

I saw you two yesterday walking through the market streets of Central. I wanted to come over and say Hi, but didn't want to bother you, so I just bought my sweet potatoes and went home.

[@trodgertrodgerstein6119]

I eat noodles pretty similar to this style almost every day. Definitely gonna try to source some of the xuecai for approach 2 soon!

[@ofravensandashes]

One we do a lot at home! A typical Canto soup base (pork bones and lotus root or pork and watercress), the thick, round rice noodles, and a topping of ground pork "jiaotou" with pickled veg and/or frozen mixed veg (never heard it called that before but I guess that's rhat it is!) and a drizzle of watered down 紅腐乳

[@Kniightisa]

Very cool to see different philosophies on how to make a soup.

[@Ifoundnohappinesshere]

Literally grew up with this dish

[@dEarMrGeNesiS]

was waiting for a video of this sort... thank you so much!

[@tktyga77]

With the noodle soup strategies in mind & the dal strategies in mind, it got me thinking of all the possibilities in both. What if the noodle soup ways were to be combined with those of dals/lentils (such as dal bhat form, grinding & toasting then to use as spices, & lentil filled wontons or wonton pakora/pakoda, to name but a few)?

[@WalyB01]

Tried your Qiangguomian and Loved It. Great recipy

[@kaisenji]

Im going to master soup as im having bariatric surgery next year and liquid will be my food for a few weeks. I choose asian style for all the fresh ingredients.

[@PhuongNguyen-bu5dg]

Thanks for sharing ! ❤

[@III-vg4dp]

Great video, I look forward to trying these methods.

[@JohnnyCarvin]

Your videos are always inspiring thank you!

[@TheCelestialhealer]

Exactly what I needed, thank you🙏

[@robertlee5456]

Home cooks can make practical those complex, vendor soups by use of a time-controlled pressure cooker, such as an Instant Pot. I make pho and ramen broths routinely this way. Do some prep the night before; start the instant pot in the morning before leaving for work, and come home to a family-ready broth in the evening. We almost never dine out for Ramen or Pho any more.

[@Khellendros_]

I will happily borrow the term "Soupify" and use it as often as I can

[@TomBalazs]

Great video, delicious food.

[@killercaos123]

They make it look so easy and simple

[@cookingwithmimmo]

Wow look so good

[@marcandrelegermusic]

Thank you for these recipes, great video as always! In the recipe for QIANGGUOMIAN is it 1 or 2 cloves of garlic? In the description and on Substack it says 2 but you say 1 in the video at 3:57 Thanks again for your work!

[@QuillTail]

Awesome, soup noodles are my favourite kind of food!

[@clovisthegreat7078]

Exactly the video I needed!

[@JosVanTongeren]

Thanks again for the awesome content!

[@AntoniusTyas]

I think that qiangguomian is actually quite interesting...? Wonder if using dried shiitake and toss in the soaking liquid would work too. Definitely gonna buy some noodles to make one after I got home from Jakarta next week, our local supermarkets here sold lots of great fresh noodles from our local noodle industries.

[@Phoca_Vitulina]

Ahh your dog is so cute! loved the shot of him at the groomer's

[@BriarLeaf00]

Soup is good food.

[@xiancaiqiu]

Your voice are really like OTR food guy! 😄

[@DVLtrigger]

Id love to see a video on duo jiao

[@drewdallas808]

💧looks amazing 💧

[@saurabhshri]

Do you have a video on how you did those eggs?

[@angelad.8944]

Question, noodles.....I have seen a wet dough where a knife scrapes the edge of a bowl to make a noodle that goes right into the hot soup. 🤔Could that noodle work with these methods? I am really interested in trying it out.

[@archiekleung]

Tks

[@ioannispaxinos5171]

To be fair though, Pho is much easier to make than Tonkotsu ramen. It's basically just a beef broth, the only difference being you can't use it for anything other than Pho. I tried a version using premade beef stock (premade by me I mean) but it just wasn't the same as making the stock specifically for Pho. In any case though, it's definitely worth making Pho at home. It only takes 4-5 hours and it's the most comforting dish ever made.

[@alexs5394]

I was literally just wishing for a new chinese noodle soup recipe to make this weekend. How are you guys reading my mind? Please don't do that again

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Yeah we got a notification from google that you were thinking about it, figured we could squeeze in quick video before the weekend If you don't want that service you can go into your google profile and untick the box "please track my thoughts and innermost desires in order to deliver relevant content and advertisements". It's ticked by default right next to the "please, definitely listen to all of my conversations and sell the data to the highest bidder" box, not sure why. Feels like it'd be better to be opt-in

[@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified Opt-in?! Don't you care that Google CEOs only make $4.98E9 annually? They _NEED_ that data or they'll starve! For someone who makes such high-quality, heart-warming, delicious food-based content: you could learn a thing about "sharing" from Google.

[@angelad.8944]

Oh my gosh, 😂 this made me laugh for awhile. I had to come back and leave a comment and of course took the opportunity to watch the video again. @@ChineseCookingDemystified

[@EmmieMaria265]

What kind of noodles would you recommend? I don’t have that much variety in our supermarket but will try!

[@triggerfish9967]

I just realised this guy sounds like a chill Ben Shapiro

[@hugotendam5349]

One question about the recipes. It seems like they are for single servings, correct? Do you think it would be unwise to double these recipes?

[@typeviic1]

Is the fried egg yolk always hard cooked?

[@yuvx8516]

I would like to add that the chicken bowl is important to the taste, especially in jiatou methods

[@spicycucumber2806]

How do you make your noodles?

[@TheDreamLovers1]

What type of noodles are they?

[@wendyward2585]

- Is that a shiny stainless steel wok? Also, what is the diameter? Make a stir fry, cook rice on top - What is the diameter of the wok? In some videos where both wok are used, the "silver" wok's diameter looks larger

[@nilsnieuwejaar3769]

When Steph mentioned using fresh noodles, she explicitly said to use non-alkaline. Is there any reason for that? Your related substack post includes a long list of noodle choices, which suggests that it's not just because you're trying to stay true to the style.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Oh, simply because those would be the traditional choices for those specific dishes. You could obviously use alkaline noodles in either and they would taste good. Apologies, I know that came out a little ambiguous.

[@ClarionMumbler]

I noticed you used what looked like a stainless steel wok in the first recipe. If so, was that an intentional choice to not use carbon steel based on the ingredients or am i reading to much into it?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Yeah stainless steel woks are good for soups/braises/steaming. But any material is fine

[@kungfudunk94]

I know it's quite random and complicated, but can you try to make peking duck

[@jerrybot3000]

MSG is the key.

[@eanfran]

Theres no way you dont have a spot on ben shapiro impression

[@grannath]

Shoutout to Korean Dashida powder. Best instant bouillon, and a great base for quick noodle soups.

[@maipensapparot]

Hey guys, a video idea for you: confinement/postpartum warming foods

[@Phoenixx713]

holy fuck this is everything I need in life hitting the store in a couple days and deffffffff re'ing up on some must have ingredients that I either used up or dumped before my recent move quick(ish) noodle soups are my fucking LIFEBLOOD, especially now that it's getting to fall weather (in Florida, re: it's low 80's, not low 90's)

[@katekramer7679]

🤯 This video is a great example of whatever that saying about "Most times getting to 80% with 20% of the effort required is better than getting to 100% with 100% of the effort". Which, in this case, isn't even possible for most home cooks, as you mentioned. More like "Getting to 80% with 120% of the effort required" LOL

[@Corum001]

👍❤

[@LERobbo]

I was not aware of noodle being a verb these days 😛

[@langustajableczna]

Are you also not aware that people can be flexible or playful with language and create neologisms?

[@isabellamorris7902]

Noodle's been a verb in music for decades at least!

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Actually Noodle is the adverb there, it’s soup that’s the verb.

[@セツノナナシ]

as a chinese, the easiest route for soup is lard, soysauce, and scallion, toss some boil noodles in with those and call it a day

[@debsctn]

are you on billi billi?

[@Marss13z]

I do a quick soup stock with red miso and dashi. Easy as pie.

[@gaudetjaja]

Can you make indo chinese babi pangang? It's our favourite in the Netherlands. It's just like roast pork or char siu with a sweet sauce.

[@kazukiseno1681]

Later version looks like ma-po tofu ramen available in Chinese restaurants in Japan.

[@Your-Least-Favorite-Stranger]

I'm definitely a stirfry then soup type of person when cooking for myself.

[@Earthling3996]

LOL @ dog at the groomers. 😂 👍👍👍 💕 I guess I'm a weird one, but I hate the taste and texture of fresh noodles or fresh pasta. Bleh

[@jiahangwu2975]

I dont see why people kept saying pho is difficult to make?

[@Bird_Meat]

Noodle soup is probably the most offensive phrase for Ramen noodles

[@elchicharron9503]

Easily isn't a verb. How to.... ruin? noodle soup?

[@sebastiangluck7793]

It's a bit sad that those are so unhealthy because they are delicious.

[@billzigrang7005]

?Except for the sodium content, what's the problem??

[@sebastiangluck7793]

The main ingredients are salts. Since it geht's cooked in boiling water, most of the more complex nutrients are destroyed. The little meat, greens, mushrooms or beans you suffer from this.

[@poom323]

Maybe just parboiled or add fresh veggie instead of full cook with boiling water.

[@merbertancriwalli8622]

Napa = wombok. Scallions are Spring onions. Bouillon powder is either stock cubes or powder (or actual bought stock). Is your dark chinese vinegar Chinkiang. Unfortunately an americanism that floating into Australian English is flavourful. It should be Flavoursome.

[@reyznbran9586]

1:28 man how would someone eat in a dirty kitchen like that ???

[@sweatygoblin2335]

Laughing as you explain how much of a pain in the ass 'famous' soups are, as I just spent the better part of an hour and a half putting together a big stockpot full of Taiwanese niu rou mian broth. Yeah that's extremely real. But definitely worth it once you figure out the recipe and learn to tweak it to your personal taste.