🍽️ Yunyang Three-Mix Soup

Beef, noodles and bread in one bowl.

Yunyang Three-Mix Soup is a warming specialty of Yunyang in Shiyan, northwestern Hubei. Its name refers to three main elements in one bowl: beef, sweet-potato glass noodles, and dumplings or pieces of baked flatbread. The beef is stewed until fork-tender, the sweet-potato noodles are slippery and absorb the broth, and the dumplings or bread soak up the meaty juices, while the soup itself is generously spiked with white pepper for a hot, appetizing kick. In the cool autumn and cold winter of the mountains of northwest Hubei, finishing a bowl of three-mix soup sends warmth through the body and a light sweat to the forehead, driving away the chill. It is both a signature of local small eateries and a common banquet soup. Filling and hearty, it is the most dependable comfort food when cold weather arrives in Yunyang.