Hearty beef soup in a spiced broth is one of my favorite things in life, and I can’t pick a single favorite. Bò kho, bún bò Huế, boat noodles, pho, and this Taiwanese beef noodle soup. If there’s a meat ball or a piece of tendon floating in there, the better. For the fleshier ,braised cuts, there’s really nothing better than beef drop flank, which is almost never available outside of Asian grocery stores. Maybe it’s a good thing more Americans haven’t caught on, because the cut can still be purchased for around 5 to 6 dollars a pound.
For the spices, I used licorice, fennel, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, sand ginger, dried citrus peel, and Sichuan pepper.
