The savory, spicy beef noodle soup is the national dish of Taiwan and the source of immense pride for the locals. The dish is an ideal winter comfort food, typically consisting of beef, broth, vegetables, noodles, and spices. Beef noodle soup has a great Sichuan influence dating back to the 1940s, when China was in civil war and many Chinese people moved to Taiwan, creating this cross-provincial dish and incorporating chili bean sauce and Sichuan peppercorns into it along the way.
Variations are endless when making this long-simmering stew, and in Taiwan, there are numerous side dishes to accompany it, such as seaweed and braised dried tofu. Today, there is even an annual Beef Noodle Festival held in Taipei, where various restaurants and cooks compete for the prestigious title of Best Beef Noodle.
MOST ICONIC Beef Noodle Soup
MAIN INGREDIENTS
An authentic Taiwanese noodle dish called ô-á mī-sòa combines thin misua noodles with oysters in a thickened, savory soup. This noodle specialty typically consists of red misua noodles cooked in a broth, seasoned with minced garlic, bonito flakes, ginger, rice wine, oyster sauce, basil leaves, and cornstarch for thickening.
It is usually consumed hot, accompanied by blanched oysters and (optionally) braised pork intestines. Packed with flavors and garnished with chopped spring onions or fresh cilantro leaves, this noodle dish is usually laced with black rice vinegar, soy sauce, and chili sauce.
The primary ingredients of the soupy snack known as tà-á-mī noodles or danzi noodles are thick Chinese wheat noodles, shrimp-flavored broth, minced pork, pork sauce, and a single cooked shrimp that sits on the top. A few spices and the amount of ingredients added are kept a secret by vendors and restaurants, creating an air of mystery around the classic snack.
Created in 1895 by a local fisherman as a means to earn a living in the off-season, the noodles were carried on shoulder poles on the streets of a small Taiwanese town, giving them the name tà-á-mī or shoulder pole noodles.
MOST ICONIC Tà-á-mī
Siān-hî ì-mī is a Tainanese specialty consisting of crispy eel noodles combined with chewy egg noodles and served in a type of brown sauce or a thick soup. A classic street snack, this dish is usually prepared with stir-fried swamp eels or rice-field eels, seasoned with black rice vinegar and soy sauce before being added to a thick broth alongside egg noodles.
Sweet and sour in flavor, the noodle broth is typically enhanced with wood ear mushrooms. In Taiwan, plates of eel noodles are a common sight at numerous Taiwanese night markets, local eateries, and high-end restaurants. Although the dish can be found throughout the country, it is most popular in the southern part of Taiwan.
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