Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

The common conversion for regular to pressure/instant pot cooking time is usually to reduce by about two thirds. In this case that works out to around 40-50 minutes converted from the 2-2.5 hours mentioned in step 7. Amy+Jacky at pressurecookerecipes use 42 minutes plus 30 minutes natural release for their recipe. I haven't tried their beef noodle recipe yet but have had success with other recipes from their site. Woks of Life had 100 minutes for their's, which I did try but it was way too long.

Gochujang is not a sub for doubanjiang. Gochujang is more pasty and much milder and sweeter, doubanjiang is salty and maybe more akin to doenjang (fermented soybean paste) with spicy chilies.

any idea how long cooking this might take in an instant pot?

I used oxtail and skipped the gelatin since oxtail is fairly gelatinous already. I cooked it in the instant pot - sauté function for searing meat & veg & aromatics, add liquid & set 45min at high pressure and 20minute natural release. I also clean (aka blanch/boil) the bone-in meat and skim off the scum, then rinse in cold water & pat dry before searing. It’s a chinese method for making broth based soups & cleans the bones of impurities for cleaner flavor & a clear broth.

Chinese cooks add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to the pot of boiling water, in order to preserve the bright green color of Chinese broccoli, baby book choi, etc.

I've done this several times only in an IP (8qt DUO) utilizing Amy + Jacky's & Woks of Life recipes. I've used combination of beef shank, oxtail, short rib, and chuck roast in the the IP. High Pressure 35-45 minutes with 30 min Natural Release is all you need for tender meat when submerged in the braising liquid. So if you don't want to think about it, just do HP 40 minutes + 30 minutes Natural Release. It is going to be delicious regardless of meat type from the Doubanjiang + spices!

Unfortunately, I don't think so. Gochujang is spicy and honestly, kind of sweet to my taste buds. It's basically a sweetened, thickened pepper paste. Doubanjiang can be spicy but necessarily so, and adds a fermented, salty funk more than spice, and definitely not sweetness. It gets its funk from fermented black beans, of which gochujang has none. Personally I wouldn't substitute either for the other, but if you absolutely had to, I'd pare down the sugar if you do use gochujang.

"Almost identical ... but without the doubanjiang and multiple asian aromatics or the additional liquid that turns it into a soup." So...not identical at all, yeah?

Not authentic in both spices and cooking technique. Tomatoes are fine in a beef soup but don't belong with the noodles. Bay leaves appear in some regional Chinese cuisines but not Taiwanese. Five spices are used for braised beef served thinly sliced by themselves, but unusual for the noodle soup. Vinegar is a resounding no. Meat is not seared but parboiled and rinsed to get rid of the lumpy scummy protein. One can call this Chinese with an asterisk, but not Taiwanese.

This recipe is a very meat forward recipe. when I learned how to make Taiwanese beef noodle soup, I was amazed to learn that it did not use beef stock but bean paste and aromatics for the main flavor. I think this would be great w mushrooms (maybe try rehydrating dried mushrooms in a soy sauce, vinegar, sugar mix to really add umami meatiness), (fried) tofu, bok choy and tomato. Using agar has not caught on to me yet but I understand how it could add texture to the soup. maybe i will try too

I know this is a super weird idea but could I make this vegetarian with oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and agar-agar? Serve with noodles and tofu? It's a different soup entirely but I love the idea of a vegetarian version and wonder what others think my choices would be.

I made this the day before the recipe was published (a slightly different recipe but not that different) and put in fresh shiitake, which were delicious, as well as bok choy and baby sweet corn. You'd need to make a very sturdy broth, though, as this is the kind you can basically stand a spoon in.

Beef should be blanched and rinsed, but not seared, in Chinese/Taiwanese cooking. Doubanjiang, on the other hand, needs to be cooked briefly over high heat with ginger and scallion before any liquid is added to deepen the flavor. Star anise pods and optionally Sichuan peppercorns are all the spices this soup needs. Five-spice blend is for an entirely different braised beef dish. Adding it to a broth with doubanjiang simply muddles the flavor.

This recipe, quite a project, sounds marvelous. Before we begin, however, the pictured ribs are not English-cut (also called cross-cut and flanken). They are back ribs. Please clarify as they are not necessarily interchangeable.

We cooked the soup in the oven covered in a Dutch oven at 275 for 4 hours as we escaped to a wine bar. All of the meat fell off the bone before serving! Loved this.