Taiwanese Food: Hong Shao Niu Rou Mian (Braised Beef Noodle Soup)
[JP] |Hong Shao Niu Rou Mian
[TC] Hong Shao Niu Rou Mian
A spicy, soy sauce-based (Hong Shao style) Taiwanese beef noodle soup. It is one of Taiwan's national dishes.
According to the late renowned Taiwanese food historian Professor Lu Yaodong, it is highly likely that beef noodle soup originated in the military dependents' villages (communities of mainlanders who moved to Taiwan, consisting of Kuomintang civil servants, military personnel, and their families) in Gangshan Township, Kaohsiung County (now Gangshan District, Kaohsiung City).
Although there was no tradition of eating beef in Taiwan, it is said that Sichuanese mainlanders used flour and canned beef provided by American aid to create a Sichuan-style beef noodle soup, which then spread and developed into Taiwan's unique Hong Shao beef noodle soup.
Incidentally, Master Kong (Kang Shi Fu), a Taiwanese-owned company that is said to hold a 50% share of the current Chinese instant noodle market, launched Taiwanese Hong Shao beef noodle soup in China in 1992, and it has since become the representative flavor of instant noodles in China. I remember the phrase "Hao Chi Kan De Jian" (Delicious and you can see it) being printed on the packaging at the time of its release.
