Shan Noodles

As tradition built it

Following Austin Bush's published method

Serves 4 to 6. About 1 hour.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp oil
• 3½oz shallot, sliced
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp shrimp paste
• ½ can Thai-style canned mackerel in tomato sauce
• 50 to 60 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 9oz pork loin, cubed ¾ inch
• 18oz pork stock bones
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp bouillon powder
• 1⅓lb rice noodles
• for garnish spring onion, crispy garlic and garlic oil, coriander, shredded cabbage, lime, chilli powder, to garnish

Method

1. Fry the shallot and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes.
2. Add the shrimp paste, cook 2 minutes.
3. Add the mackerel, cook 5 minutes until the oil resurfaces.
4. Add the tomatoes and fry roughly 20 minutes, stirring, until reduced and the oil re-emerges a second time. This long tomato reduction, not an added acid, is what sours the broth.
5. Add the pork, fry 10 minutes.
6. Add the bones and 2 quarts water, simmer 20 minutes, then season with the salt and bouillon and simmer a further 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Serve over the rice noodles with the spring onion, crispy garlic and garlic oil, coriander, shredded cabbage, lime and chilli powder on the side.

What a modern chef changes

The tomato reduction treated as the dish's real souring agent, not rushed to save time

No numbered rung, a variant of the same oil-return discipline applied to a tomato base rather than an onion one.

Method

1. Watch for the oil to visibly resurface twice, once after the mackerel, once after the tomato reduction. Both signals matter; stopping the tomato stage early leaves the broth under-soured and thin rather than properly reduced.
2. Use fresh cherry tomatoes at genuine ripeness rather than a shortcut tin of chopped tomato. The dish's whole acid structure comes from that slow reduction, and a watery substitute cannot reach the same concentration in the same time.
3. Keep the garnish tray genuinely separate, the crispy garlic added only at the table, so it stays crisp against the hot broth.