IP Taiwanese beef brisket and tendon soup noodles

Because I love beef soup so much, I just had to try a different style. After the pho attempt which essentially took the whole day to make, I didn't think it was sustainable. So again I tried with brisket and tendon as the cooking times are similar. I also cheated by using Korean beef dashima of adding in bones. I did taste the soup after cooking and it was hardly tasty enough but with a tsp of dashima, wow, what a difference!

My soup is adapted from Red House Spice and SaltnPepperHere which essentially show that spicy doubanjiang and tomato paste, along with various herbs and spice give Taiwanese beef soup its distinctive slightly spicy flavour that differentiates it from pho.

Ingredients

250g brisket

250g tendon

1 tbsp doubanjiang (2 tbsp if wanting a saltier soup because the noodle tends to 'suck' up the salt)

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 medium onion, halved

1 small thumb sized nob of ginger, roughly sliced

6 crushed garlic cloves

1 spring onion, white part, chopped

2 tbsp shaoxing wine or mijiu

3 tbsp dark soya sauce

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp rock sugar, yellow sugar or regular sugar

1 tsp beef dashima

Water to cover

Pepper to taste

Noodles - either bee hoon or authentic Taiwanese noodles

Spice pack comprising

½ cinnamon sticl

1 tsp cardommon powder

1 star anise

3 cloves

1 tsp sichuan peppercorns

1 tsp white peppercorns (optional)

1 tsp coriander powder

2 bay leaves

1 cut tomatoes

To serve with (optional)

1 preserved mustard green, sliced

1 bunch Mustard greens (fresh) or beanspouts

Green part of spring onion, sliced

Method

1. Soak the brisket and tendon in water with a splash of cooking wine. Then, bring to boil and cook for around 5 minutes until the foam surfaces. Drain the brisket and tendon and throw out the water.

2. Prepare the spice pack. If time permits, lightly toast the spices in a dry pan to bring out the flavour but avoid scorching the spices.

3. Lightly saute the doubanjiang and tomato paste in the IP with the onions, ginger, scallions and ginger.

4. Place everything in the IP except the sugar and light soya sauce. Cover with enough water. If using the IP, the water should not exceed ⅔ of the pot.

5. Cook on Soup mode for 1 hr, then 25 to 30 min natural release to avoid splattering when releasing.

6. While the beef soup is cooking, prepare the noodles and veg eg if using fresh veg, blanch them.

7. Skim off any oil. Remove the brisket and tendon to cool down. Taste the soup and add the light soya and sugar.

8. Assemble the dish. In a bowl with the noodles, placed sliced tendon and brisket, preserved veg and fresh veg. Ladle on the soup. Serve with the green part of spring onion.

Tangzong after-yeasted mantou

Based on my previous bao/mantou post, this video recipe by BaoBiZhen uses tangzhong and after-yeasted method to make mantou that are fluffy and soft yet have a shiny white skin. The whiteness is contributed by the lard, the moistness and bounce is a result of tangzhong and the after-yeasted method means that the gluten can develop before it's made to ferment so it stays soft for longer. There is only one fermentation so it's quicker to make.

Ingredients (makes 10 to 14)

100g flour

100g boiling water

400g flour

150g water

1 tbsp lard (or replace with corn oil)

5g yeast

1 tbsp water

Method

1. Make the tangzhong by combining the 100g each of flour and boiling water. Mix with chopsticks until no dry flour remains.

2. Once the is cool enough to handle, add the remaining 400g flour and another 150g water (room temp in summer or warm water in winter). Mix with chopsticks until a shaggy dough forms.

3. Add the lard. Knead till combined and then cover and allow to rest for 5 to 10 mins.

4. Knead for about 3 minutes and it's smooth. Mix 5g of yeast into 1 tbsp of water and then use a rubbing motion to knead into the dough. Takes about 3 minutes.

5. Once incorporated, roll the dough into a long log and cut into portions. Knead by folding and rolling (see the video) around 20 to 30 times per portion. Then roll into a ball before kneading it into a cylinder.

6. Place directly on parchment in the steaming basket. Either leave it to proof at room temp in summer, or over a wok of hot water in winter. (A trick - fill a bottle cap to the brim with leftover dough. Once the dough rises above the cap by about half the height of the cap, it's ready.

7. Place on the wok and switch on the heat. From the time the steam starts, steam on high heat: 18 mins (for 8 XL buns), 15 mins (for 10 L buns),  12 mins (for 12 M buns) and 10 mins (for 14 S buns). Once time's up, switch off the fire and allow to steam further for 3 minutes.

Thin crust pizza

I just discovered the last pizza dough recipe I used was 10 years ago and I haven't made pizza from scratch since! I decided to try this recipe by Kitchn which looked easy enough. The draw was using regular flour rather than bread flour and had minimal proofing. What you really want in terms of prep work on a weekday evening! I doubled the recipe to make 4 pizzas, so the dough can be made once and then eaten over 2 nights depending on the size of the eaters.

Ingredients (makes four 10 to 12 inch pizzas)

4C flour

1½C lukewarm water 

2 tsp yeast

2 pinches of salt

Ingredients for pizza (eg tomato paste, salami, ham, pineapple, olives, pizza, etc).

Around 1 tbsp oil

Chirizo and salami pizza

Method

1. Mix the flour with the water, yeast and salt.

2. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes. Ball up the dough, then cover and proof for around 10 to 15 minutes while prepping the pizza topping. At this point, I saved half the dough for the next night in the fridge and proofed the rest.

3. At this point, the recipe recommends putting an upturned pan in the oven preheated to 220 deg C, and place the pizza on top. Afraid of dropping the pizza when placing it on an upturned pan either putting in or taking it out of the oven, I didn't bother. However it would probably have helped to either do this or bake the pizza base blind to avoid the ingredients making the base soggy.

4. Stretch out the dough as thin as possible, using a rolling pin to help. If the dough keeps shrinking, leave to rest covered for a further 10 minutes. I roll it out as thin as I could then placed it on in the pizza pan. I then used my fingers to push it outwards to the pan's edges so it made a tiny lip at the pan's edge.

5. Brush on a thin layer of oil on the base. Spread on the tomato paste then place the toppings. Try not to stack toppings on top of each other. I did lay a thin layer of cheese on top on tomato paste before my other ingredients, then finished off with another thin layer of cheese on top of the toppings. For wet ingredients like olives and pineapple, it's best to drain as dry as possible and even use a paper towel to blot dry. 

6. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, checking frequently after the 8 minute mark. 

Feedback

- The dough is fine and easy enough to make. The issue perhaps is with the process. I removed the pizza from the oven once the cheese was nicely browned but just before it burnt, around 10 minutes. However because the pizza base wasn't pre-baked, 10 minutes only just cooked the dough but it was slightly soggy whereas the cheese has already melted almost to the point of burning. So especially after I used more soggy ingredients (olive and pineapples) on my second attempt, the base was more soggy compared to just chirizo, cheese and salami. I was afraid the oil from these meat products would make the pizza soggy but they didn't.

Hawaiian pizza

Tangzong dumpling-inspired tall mantou and bao

I tried 5 different bao recipes in 2025, probably my most prolific trial of bao methods. I shall exclude the 5 Black grain mantou attempt which is not directly comparable because cooked blended grain mixture was integrated into the bao dough itself rather than the filling. Otherwise it's a standard mix and one-proof receipt. I'm also excluding the Custard recipe which I didn't try but noted it down because of the filling, where oil is added in 3 stages like brioche. 

The next three are all hand kneading. There is the summer yeasted mantou which adds the yeast water in after the dough has been kneaded. It has a shorter proofing time due to summer and will apparently make taller beautiful buns. The last 2 trials are by the same blogger which focuses on the fillings. First is black sesame filling which has a milk bun with very short proofing time. The second focuses on the custard filling using the same method and a short proofing time.

This latest mantou recipe ZhenMaDaiWaJi uses the scalded flour method often used with making the stretchy skin associated with dumplings. Basically tangzhong. This is also hand kneading with minimal proofing time. This method is similar to Little Goose Food mantou recipe who also uses scalded flour. Goose explains that adding just boiled water introduces a fragrance to the scalded flour and cooks the gluten. However, Goose kneads the dough and rests it for 10 mins, then kneads to smooth surface. Then she separately kneads in yeasted water and knead for 2 mins to incorporate. This 'later yeasted method', she explains, results in a smoother skin.

Both videos describes a better method of making tall beautiful buns.

Ingredients (makes 14)

30g flour

250g just boiled water

500g flour

3g instant yeast

Method

1. Mix the 30g flour with just boiled water. 

2. Once dissolved, add in 500g flour. Use chopsticks to stir and make a claggy dough.

3. When the dough is warm to the touch (ie not scalingly hot still), prepare the yeast. Add the yeast to 1 tbsp of water and stir to dissolve. Add the yeast mixture to the dough and mix to form a claggy dough.

4. Knead on a benchtop until the skin is smooth. Better yet, let it relax for 10 minutes after kneading.

5. Without needing to proof, go ahead and form the balls. Roll and knead each and tuck into a ball so that it forms a smooth skin. Here's the main tip - form tall cylinders using the cupping action. (see the videos, Little Goose gives a better step-by-step tutorial. Form a ball first then put on the surface and roll between the palms to form tall cylinders.)

6. Place each on parchment. Put in a steamer, on top of a wok filled with warm water. Let it proof until 1.5x the size. The bao would have grown without flattening and expanding sideways. When you lightly indent the side with a finger, it will spring back out.

7. The water should have returned to room temp by now. Turn on the heat and steam for 15 mins counting from once the water boils. 

Pretty pleats and the inside is moist and even has 'gravy'!

If using filling, a very similar method by QiaoXieXXiaoYu with different proportions.

Bao ingredients

50g flour 

250g boiling water (slightly more if flour is too dry)

450g flour

3-5g instant yeast

Filling ingredients

500g minced pork

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp bullion powder

Pinch of salt

Dash of white pepper

30g lard, liquid

50g spring onion, chopped

100g infused water (ginger, spring onion infusion, sichuan peppercorn)

Method

1. Add the just off the boil water to the 50g flour and mix.

2. Add in the 450g flour and mix. Add in the yeast (she didn't let it cool down!). Knead for about 10 minutes (far from windowpane and smooth). Depressing the finger indentations into the dough doesn't cause the indentations to spring back up. Cover and proof until 2x the size, approx 70mins.

3. Meanwhile prepare the filling. Mix all the ingredients except the water. Mix the meat with chopsticks in one direction until sticky.

4. Add in the water a bit at a time and continue stirring in 1 direction.

5. Add in the liquid lard and chopped spring onions. Refrigerate.

6. The bao sld have proofed sufficiently. Knead to degas on the benchtop surface. The surface should be very smooth now and a depressed indentation springs back. 

7. Roll into a long log. Cut into chunks. Roll each chunk flat to degas then roll into a ball. (See the video).

8. Roll each wrapper flat with a chinese rolling pin. I used this method by Ah Cheen to make dumpling skins which involves applying pressure on alternating sides to automatically produce a very round-shaped dumpling skin. This only works if you don't need a skin with a slightly thicker centre and thin edges.

9. When adding filling, I used this very detailed bao wrapping method by LiFenFen to produce many uniform crimps. Cup to smoothen the surface and then roll between both palms to form a tall cylinder.

Documenting my attempts over the years (not exhaustive), where I nearly gave up around 2023-2024 and just didn't bother pleating anymore. I finally did it thanks to this video!

10. Place in a steamer on parchment. Place steamer over a wok with hot water to proof for 10 to 15 mins. Once a finger indentation springs back, it's time for steaming. (basically I just waited until I finished wrapping all the remaining bao).

11. Once the water has boiled, steam for 12 mins. Turn off the heat and allow to rest for further 3 minutes before opening the cover. Skin will be super elastic and bouncy (like dumpling skin).

Recipe feedback

- Definitely a keeper as far as ease of handling the dough, keeping the pleats distinct, and minimal proofing time required! As far as a hand kneading recipe goes, this is pretty close to prefect. Sure the bao isn't as bouncey and fluffy as with longer proofing but frankly, this is pretty close!

- Because the dough is more elastic than fluffy, it more closely resembles dumpling dough. This bao would make a great bao jian fried and steamed on the pan, with crispy bottom.

- Update: There's a recipe that combines both the scalded flour AND post-yeasted method. The scalded flour traps the moisture whereas adding the yeast afterwards is supposed to make the dough more easy to knead and thus produce a smoother (less dimplied) shinier skin.