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Many versions of beef noodle soup exist, all delicious in their own right, though the bowl that stole my heart over a decade ago was Lanzhou-style. Located in the Gansu province of Northwest China, Lanzhou is a city famous for its hand-pulled noodles. Its bowls of beef noodle soup tout five characteristic colors: clear broth, white radish, red chili oil, green herbs, yellow noodles.

Because I am not a noodle master, we will be using store-bought noodles in our soup. I recommend Asian-style wheat flour-based dried noodles that look like ghostly white spaghetti in the package. Cook them for as little time as it takes to get to al dente, because they will bloat further as they sit in the hot beef broth.

The star of this recipe is the bone broth. It contains beef bones as well as daikon radish, a whole piece of beef shank, and a handful of spices. Time is the star ingredient: You must set aside 4 hours for the broth to work its magic, or you’ll risk not extracting all of the delicious flavor hiding inside the marrow. At the very end, we’ll add some water back in to dilute the broth and cool it down slightly for serving. MSG is optional but highly recommended!

It’s very important to let your shank chill in the fridge before attempting to slice. Resting and chilling the beef will allow the protein structure to set up and gel, so that when you go to cut it, you will yield clean, thin slices. Be patient!

Hard-boiled egg (optional), chili oil, sliced scallions, and chopped fresh cilantro (for serving)