quick noodle soup - shanghai style 上海麵

Let the truth be told that many of my meal consists of very quick to make dish. I eat a lot of noodle soup and I have developed a very efficient system to prepare them, all from honest ingredients from scratch.

all honest to goodness ingredients, prepared from scratch (napa cabbage heart, braised pork shoulder, julienned ginger root and sliced scallion

The most critical chain of a good bowl of noodle is good broth. In my weekly grocery shopping I often buy enough bone to prepare a few gallons of finished broth. I keep the broth in the refrigerator and it would last a few days without spoiling. Should I need to keep it longer I just have to remember to re-boil it after a few days to kill off the bacteria (did your mother teach you this trick?).

this batch is beef broth prepared in vietnamese pho style

Similarly to the broth, I also braise enough meat to last many meals. In this meal I use Shanghai style thick noodle. When prepared properly the noodles should be somewhat al dente and absorb right amount of the flavor of the broth. Like making good spaghetti you want to take advantage of the starch the noodles release. It thicken the broth and make the bowl of noodles that much more interesting. You don't do this with Japanese ramen which usually want to keep the broth starch-free.

i boiled the shanghai style thick noodle in the pork borth - easy as ABC

this is what raw shanghai style thick noodle should look like. they use plenty of flour to keep the noodles from sticking. this picture was taken with the 5-lb batch i bought in Oakland Chinatown.

love the hand written label in the bag - in the day and age hardly anyone uses a pen anymore

from start to finish this bowl took under 15 minutes to prepare - i used a dash of dark soy sauce to achieve just the right color for a a bowl of shanghai style noodle 上海麵