Guilin mifen, Guilin rice noodles

As tradition built it

Serves 4. Lu shui: 7 hours to build, longer once established as a running master stock, then assembly: 10 minutes.

Ingredients

• 500 g pig head bone or pork bone
• 500 g beef bone
• 4 litres water
• 2 star anise
• 1 cassia bark stick
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp small fennel or cumin
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves
• 1 black cardamom pod (cao guo)
• 2 dried tangerine peel pieces
• 1 small piece liquorice root
• 1 tbsp fermented black bean
• to taste salt and light soy
• 400 g fresh or dried thin rice noodles
• to taste braised pork or beef, chopped peanuts, pickled vegetable, spring onion, to finish

Method

1. Blanch the bones, then simmer in the water at a rolling boil, reducing to a bare simmer for 5 hours. Strain.
2. Toast the star anise, cassia bark, fennel seed, small fennel or cumin, bay leaves, cloves, black cardamom, tangerine peel and liquorice root in a dry pan for around 15 minutes until fragrant, then tie into a muslin bag.
3. Simmer the spice bag in the strained stock for a further 2 hours, then season with salt, light soy and fermented black bean.
4. Scald the rice noodles and drain into bowls.
5. Ladle over a little of the lu shui, less a soup than a seasoning liquid, and top with braised meat, peanuts, pickled vegetable and spring onion.

What a modern chef changes

A Cantonese-style master stock, tightened and clarified.

Rung 1

Method

1. Keep the lu shui as a genuine running master stock, straining and refreshing it after each use rather than making it fresh each time, the same discipline this atlas's Jiangnan volume (AS-29) already applies to its own braising liquids.
2. Sous vide the braised meat topping at a controlled low temperature in a portion of the lu shui itself, for an evenly tender result without the risk of overcooking a large cut on the stovetop.
3. Strain the finished lu shui through a chinois before serving, for a completely clear, glossy seasoning liquid rather than one clouded by spice sediment.