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Soup with noodles, beef and mushroom

One of the virtues of Hektor Maille's cook, Odette Sissay, was to prepare stocks with her own hands and always keep a supply of them in the secret agent's freezer. Maille, a passionate cook himself, would also dip into this stock when he was home in his kitchen – like, for instance, when he prepared this Japanese-inspired noodle soup from a recipe provided by his Martial Arts teacher, Kyuri. 

When Maille noticed one day that Odette's famous hand-made stocks in the freezer were all actually made from stock cubes, it meant he was in for a certain degree of disillusionment. Be that as it may, it enables us to anticipate the story, because at the time of his Japanese journey, in the context of which we have produced this recipe, Maille's trust in the vaguely greasy goldmine inside his freezer was quite intact.

The future disillusionment of our agent, of course, has no impact on the recipe itself, or on the fact that the soup tastes far better with home-made beef stock – even if only because one has invested more time and effort in it. The exact taste of Noodle Soup «Kyuri» depends also pretty much on the miso you use.

When Maille stopped by at a noodle-bar east of Gaien Higashi Dori  towards the end of his Tokyo mission in Tokyo, he did not eat this soup, but a bowl of the famous Tonkotsu-Ramen – just as it is relished, more than anywhere else, on Japan's southern-most island of Kyūshū. Given that the preparation of Tonkotsu-Ramen takes more than 24 hours, we provide the following recipe here for the ‹impatient› as an alternative that allows for quick preparation.

1. Remove the fat from the sides of the entrecote and slice along the fibres into fine strips (as thin as possible).
2. Mix Mirin, fish sauce, chilli, sesame and garlic into a sauce and marinate the meat in the sauce for at least one hour (it's better to marinate it for a whole day, but in this case it must be kept in the fridge – please note).
3. Bring beef stock, ginger, shallots, chilli and garlic to a boil, reduce heat to minimum and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Strain the stock with a sieve and dispose of the spices.
5. Warm up the stock just before serving and add mushrooms and allow them to soak for about 5 minutes until they are soft.
6. Mix soup with miso, soy sauce and pepper. Add tofu. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt or syo sauce to taste.
7. Cook noodles as per instructions on the packet, drain and keep aside.
8. Get a large soup bowl ready for each person: put some noodles, a few strips of beef along and then some bean sprouts into the bowl. Pour the stock over them and garnish with finely chopped spring onions.

Following this recipe the meat remains almost rare and very tender. If you prefer your meet well done just cook it for a few moments in the soup. As the soup gets very quickly cool you may wish to serve it in pre-heated bowls. – Coriander fans can add a couple of sprigs of their favourite herb at the end to the soup. Garlic freaks can press a «shot» of garlic into it. Or both.  – The accompaniment of vegetables can be varied according to the season: pre-steamed asparagus, beans, peas, crunchy Pak Choi, snow peas etc.

More about the travel adventure of Secret Agent Hektor Maille:

• Episode 10: Cherry Blossom Blues in Tokyo
• Startpage of «Mission Kaki» (with overview map)
• More Recipes of the Secret Agent

Japanese restaurants have a few surprises ready for their guests – some are just a tad bizarre, others are, more than anything else, unaffordable. Those who, like Hektor Maille, have stretched their expense account to the hilt, would do well to eat at sushi or noodle bars. Surprising aromas can be found to waft out of a soup bowl in such eating places too:

• Tonkotsu-Ramen «Bugi» (Milky pork bone broth with noodles)
• Noodle Soup «Kyuri» (Soup with noodles, beef and mushroom)

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