Wonton Noodles with Braised Beef Tendon - 牛筋馄饨面

Whenever I order wonton noodle soup, I always order the one with beef tendon. It's my favorite! The beef tendon is so tender and flavorful. Unfortunately, my current location doesn't have restaurants that make beef tendon wonton noodle soup :(. So I decided to make it myself, or at least attempt to. Here's a recipe and the results of my attempt!

By the way, because I am Chinese and learned a bit of my grandma's style of cooking, measurements in my recipes are not exact. (I usually have a test taste before I finish cooking the dish)

Braising the Beef Tendon - 炖牛筋
Ingredients - 佐料

1-2 Lb of beef tendon (non-asian supermarkets may have this, but if not, you can find it at an Asian market) - 1-2 磅牛筋
A large piece of ginger (1 inch cube) - 一块姜
1-2 pieces of dried orange peel - 1-2 片橘皮干
A small handful (about 20) Sichuan (wild) pepper balls - 花椒少许
3-4.5 aniseeds - 大料3-4粒
Light Soy Sauce - 生抽
Dark Soy Sauce - 老抽
2 Large chunks of rock sugar a.k.a rock candy (if you have a bag of small rock sugar cubes, use about 6) - 冰糖少许
2 stalks of green onions (chopped) - 葱两根
Chinese cooking wine or sherry - 料酒少许
Water - 水

Clockwise from upper left of plate:

orange peels, large tea ball used as a spice ball, rock candy cubes,

small handful of Sichuan pepper balls, aniseeds

Wonton noodle in plastic container

Steps
1. Blanch the beef tendon (if you're a non-chef like me, blanching means briefly putting food in boiling water, usually 1 minute or less, and then take it out. This is usually done to let out the fat)
2. Here is where the guestimating comes in:
-Place the blanched beef tendon a separate pot and pour in water until the tendon is almost all covered by the water
-Add dark soy sauce - about 2/3 cup or so
-Add light soy sauce - about 1/3 cup or so
-Add Sichuan pepper balls and aniseeds to a spice ball and place into the pot (if you don't have a spice ball, just dump them in)
-Add orange peel(s) and rock sugar
-Add a dash of chinese cooking wine - no more than a one or 2 tablespoons
-Add green onions
3. Bring it to a boil and then reduce heat to a medium - you want it to simmer for at least 4 hours*
*Do a taste test after about 2 hours or so, if it's too sweet or salty for your tastebuds, add some water
*After about 4 hours, you want to poke the tendon with a chopstick or knife - the tendon is ready when the chopstick pokes in without any effort - if you have to force your chopstick in, then I would say cook it for another 1-2 hours.
4. Once the tendon is done it's ready to be eaten with your wonton noodles! Just cut it up and put it in with the noodles. OR you can refrigerate the beef tendon, then thinly slice it and eat it as a cold dish.

Wonton noodle soup
Ingredients

1 or more Hong Kong style wonton noodles
1 stalk of green onion
2-3 Teaspoons of wonton soup base
1 pot of water


Steps
1. Boil the water, add soup base, noodles and green onions
2. Boil until noodles are separated and soft (approx 2-3 mins) - cooking the noodles too long will make them mushy!
*For the soup base you can make your own broth or add the beef tendon sauce to the water

Outcome of my efforts!

Random bits of information:

Besides being delicious, beef tendon can also be good for you - maybe.
-It's a tendon and therefore is made up of collagen, a type of protein
-Collagen is used for multiple purposes- the main ones being skin and joint related


Now it's time for a Fortune Cookie: Learn Mandarin

I = 我 = wǒ
Chinese = 华人 = huá rén
Beef Tendon = 牛筋 = níu jīn
Water = 水 = shuǐ
Add = 加 = jiā

And, tonight's movie to accompany the noodle: 饮食男女 Eat Drink Man Woman