TAINAN BEEF SOUP
Tainan beef soup, a local delicacy popular with Taiwanese visitors, is one of Tainan’s must-tries. As opposed to using the dry aged beef that is popular in Western culture, Tainan local beef soup’s succulent melt-in-your-mouth chunks of beef are made from the freshest cuts available.
The beef is sourced from up to 19 different cuts of beef, with beef chuck and flank cuts being the most expensive, and beef brisket coming in a close third. The dish is always made to order, and the process is deceptively simple. Rich and fragrant bone broth is poured over delicately cut pieces of beef, cooking them for mere seconds. Ideally, the beef should be pinked and about the same degree as a medium rare steak. The soup is served with ginger slices and soy paste for sweetness.
Because of the demand for freshness, nearly all of the beef used in local beef soups is sourced from local ranches. Every morning, fresh beef is rushed directly from local slaughterhouses to restaurants without any refrigeration. The resulting meat has evenly distributed fat, and possesses a tender and juicy texture. To ensure freshness, the beef is to be consumed within 6-8 hours after leaving the slaughterhouse.
A piece of cooked melt-in-your-mouth beef. (right)
Soup is an essential part of Taiwan’s food culture; depending on the dish, soup can be enjoyed as a dessert, a snack, or a main course. In Tainan, soup can even be had for breakfast. There is no set time for one to enjoy Tainan beef soup; in fact, some popular beef soup restaurants will see groups of early birds lined up before dawn, competing to order a particularly hard-to-order cut in limited supply.
Several of the more well-known eateries offering delicious broth of beef soup include Six Thousand Beef Soup, Win Chang Beef Soup, Yi Fe Beef Soup, and A-Yu Beef Shabu Shabu. However, it’s more than likely that any soup you order from any of the hundreds of eateries offering beef soup will be delectable. If you’re particularly hungry, you will appreciate the tradition most eateries have of offering all-you-can-eat braised beef rice.
For another Tainan classic dish, head over to Du Hsiao Yueh in the West District to try their famous slack season noodles.
