Here's a nice bowl of Niu Rou Mein(Chinese Beef Noodle Soup) I had on Saturday:
Guess which restaurant I got it from? It's from restaurant Mi Casa. Actually, Dylan from Eat, drink & be merry, and I decided to do a joint cooking post. In which we'll both make a dish and post. Today, it's Niu Rou Mein. Initially, I had intended to make my usual version, which used a prepared "base" to which I added flavorings to create my soup. But Howie from A Foodie's-Eye View provided his Grandmother's recipe, and even more graciously, gave me permission to reprint here! Thanks Howie!!!!
Niu Rou Mein (Chinese Beef Noodle Soup)
Ingredients
—————-
3 lbs. beef shank, cut into 1 1/2" cubes
(Wrap the following 5 in cheesecloth and tie it up)
4 star anise
1 T peppercorn (they used regular, not szechuan at the
time, but you could try it, and maybe
reduce the amount)
10 cloves garlic smashed
6 slices of ginger
5 dried red chili peppers chopped
3 T chili paste with garlic
2 T rice wine
1 1/2 T salt
2 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
Instructions
—————–
1. Get a large, heavy skillet very, very hot, add 1 T oil and enough
beef to not crowd the pan. Repeat until all beef is browned.
The pan should be pretty dry, if not, it probably means the
pan isn't hot enough or isn't retaining heat enough.
2. Remove beef from pan, add 1 T oil to pan, and add chili
paste. Add the beef to pan and coat with chili paste & oil.
Add rice wine, and deglaze pan.
3. Pour contents of pan into a soup pot. Deglaze pan with water
if there's more good stuff left in there. Add the cheesecloth,
cover with water (about 6-7 cups). Add salt, soy sauce, and sugar
to taste. Bring to boil, and simmer for 3 hours.
You probably know the rest of the drill, make some noodles and 
serve with broth and meat, and cilantro and green onion garnish.
This is a great recipe; but having made Niu Rou Mein from a base over the last few years; and knowing I'd want to eat it right away, not letting it "cure" over-night I made some adjustments. So here's what "shook out".
I used a combination of Beef Shank w/bone 2lbs & regular Stew Meat 2 lbs.
(Wrap the following 3 in cheesecloth and tie it up)
4 star anise
1 T peppercorn
2 Slices of ginger smashed
15Cloves of Garlic Chopped
4 Green Onions – Whites Only
8 Dried Chilies – seeds and all, torn
8 T Chili Paste
1/4 cup Shao Tsing
1/3 Cup Light Soy Sauce
2 T Dark Soy Sauce
2 T Sugar
4 Cups Beef Broth
6 Cups Water
2 T Ice Water
4 T Corn Starch
3 T Vegetable/Canola Oil
White and Black Pepper to taste
Spinach
Cilantro
Green Onions
1 – Chop beef shank into approx 1×1 cubes. Mix beef with corn starch and ice water – an old 
Chinese restaurant trick to help tenderize. And let sit for 15 minutes.
2 – While waiting, place pot on high heat.
3 – Add 1T Oil to Pot and start to brown meat over high heat – brown shank first as it;s more tender and doesn't need as much time to tenderize. Add 1T Chili paste for every 2 pounds of meat while browning. Brown in batches and remove meat once done
4 – Add 2 T oil to pot and add torn dried peppers and brown. Once oil and peppers are browned, add the rest of the chili paste and garlic and fry, add shank bones. Deglaze with Shao Tsing, scrapping "fond" off of the bottom of the pot.
5 – Add Beef Broth and seasonings in cheesecloth. Add beef. Bring to a boil and add 6 cups water. Bring to an active boil and lower heat to mild simmer.
6 – Simmer for 2 hours, and taste. Add additional seasoning as necessary and 2T Dark Soy for color.
7 – Slow simmer for another 2 hours, until beef is tender. You can tell by "fork-checking" stew meat.
8 – Garnish with Spinach, Green Onion, and Cilantro.
So what to do while waiting? Maybe try your hand at "modern art?"
So what's the verdict? Well after 6 hours, I liked the spice, and liked the taste, nice, rich, and beefy. But the Missus had Her own opinion. First, the Bad:
1 – Too much anise, she thought it over-powered everything.
2 – Too sweet, didn't like the sugar
3 – She needed salt, too mild
4 – She hated the noodles. I bought some great looking "Hand-made" Shanghai style noodles 
from 99 Ranch. But in spite of the way they looked they were brittle and didn't have the right pull and resistance.
What she liked:
1 – The beef was not only fork tender, it was "plastic-fork" tender.
2 – The broth was rich and "hearty"
3 -Spice level was perfect.
4 – Perfect ginger flavor.
As a whole better than most restaurants, but not "perfect".
The next day, we had the Niu Rou Mein, as well as the leftover dumplings.
By the next day, all the "edges" had been taken care of. And we had a smooth, beefy, spicy, rich, broth. Though the noodles still sucked……but still delici-yoso!!! The Missus finished up the rest of the meat and soup. The key is the addition of Beef Broth. Unless you have alot of bones and other "savory" parts, making a true stock will be difficult.
Some notes; I don't worry about the chopped garlic and green onion stalks because after 6 hours they start to disintegrate. The cornstarch/ice water mix creates very tender meat – if you want to keep the "soup" longer than 2 days, remove the meat and store separately. Because I used beef broth, I didn't add any salt.
Make sure you check out Dylan's version Here.
