Shanghai Style Noodles With Spicy Meat Sauce

I feel a bit nervous about giving a bad review for a recipe that is so well-liked, especially as my first review, and especially when it's quite possible that the problem was me. I've been cooking for less than a year and I have had some pretty bad screw-ups before. However, this dish was not very good at all compared to the other recipes I've tried from recipezaar. I'll explain what I did, and you can make your own opinion whether it's me or the recipe. I followed the recipe as closely as I could. I used spaghetti instead of vermicelli, and I forgot to add the sesame oil. Those were the only two changes. It smelled really good while cooking, but the end result was very oily and just tasted like beef fat and hoisin. None of the other ingredients were noticeable. I made myself eat a bowl of it, but when I went to heat up the leftovers later, I just couldn't bear to eat the rest. I had wondered whether I should drain the oil and beef fat from the pan before adding the sauce ingredients, but I decided not to because I thought it might take away the flavor of the spices that had been cooked in it. I used 80% lean ground beef, because 90% and 95% were much more expensive. Maybe the recipe was created with the less fatty kind, and that's why mine was so oily. Although 3 tablespoons of oil does seem a little excessive for cooking that amount of onions and spices, compared to other recipes I've seen. As for the flavor otherwise, I think the problem isn't really "too much hoisin," but actually "not enough of everything else." It was just bland. I don't think adding the sesame oil would have helped; in my experience, sesame oil has a strong smell but not much of a flavor, and in any case, it would have made the food that much oilier. It might have worked better with some modifications, such as using less oil, using leaner beef, and adding more garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and soy sauce. Adding vegetables, like many of the previous reviewers did, might also improve it. However, I probably will not try this recipe again. I would rather look for a different recipe for ground beef and noodles than try to alter this one.

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I used half ground beef/half ground pork and cooked exactly per directions. We loved it! It is 5 stars for ease, frugality, and taste.

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What a great use for ground beef!!!! I tweaked a bit by cutting back to 1/2 T oil, using 1/2 lb lean ground beef, and adding some shredded carrot, sliced bell pepper and broccoli I blanched in the pasta water. I added the veggies at the end with the noodles so they would stay crispy. I only needed 1 T cornstarch to thicken, and 3/4 lb pasta. Was soooo good we can't wait to have it again.

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Fantastic!! I loved the flavours here. I made the recipe as stated but insted of thickening the sauce I added shredded chinese cabbage and a little shredded carrot. YUM!!

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This recipe was delicious. I'm about to make it a second time and when I coulnd't find my printed copy, I panicked and scoured the net trying to find it again. Don`t be fooled by the near identical recipe here called ``szechuan noodles with spicy beef sauce``, the flavor profile wouldn`t be the same without the sherry (I used dry white wine) and the chicken broth and yet that recipe is clearly loved so if you don`t have those on hand, I suppose it doesn`t matter the first time but do try it with them for a really great dish.

Here are my adjustments;
I used thai garlic chili sauce in place of the red pepper flakes and I forgot to coat the noodles in sesame oil even though I had it on hand. Tonight I won`t forget but I will boil the noodles with the sesame oil just because it`s an easy way to get the flavor without all the fat. I also made this as a main course so I would have felt guilty not adding shredded carrot, broccoli stalk when cooking the beef and then bean sprouts at the end. This was a fantastic alternative to going out for Chinese !!

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Unlike Mars.Ombriel, I've been cooking quite some time and actually know how to do so. I think this dish is DELICIOUS and much better than any other asian noodle dish I have tried. I can't imagine anyone thinking differently, and wouldn't alter the recipe a bit. Perhaps that is why the previous reviewer didn't care for it, I can't imagine anyone not liking this wonderful cuisine!

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Excellent. I used ground turkey and angel hair pasta since that were what we had. I also added 3 cups of thinly sliced napa cabbage to the meat mixture and stir fried until wilted. I only used 1/2 cup of stock and didn't use the cornstarch because I didnt think it was necessary. I also used 2 Tablespoons of oyster sauce instead of soy sauce. Great lunch! I could have ate the whole pot myself but I shared :) A KEEPER!!

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Delicious. You can also used egg noodles, ramen or spaghetti if you don't have rice noodles.

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My husband and son really liked this. I cut the red pepper flakes to 1/4 tsp and left the rest of the recipe alone. This was easy to make. Thanks for the recipe.

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As soon as I saw this I knew we'd love this and it is awesome! Tonight it was a last minute decision to make this with a couple of small packets of vermicelli and a couple of small packets of hokkien noodles that needed using up. I prepared the mince mixture (ground meat mixture) ahead of time and then just added the thickening when heating up at night ready for our dinner. You could easily add any veggies to this, zucchinis, corn, really anything if you wanted to. I didn't tonight and enjoyed it exactally as written but possibly next time, and there will definitely be a next time soon, I will.

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Delicious and flavorful! What a nice option for staying home instead of going out on a Friday night! I used ground beef and added sausage, also added green and yellow squash and carrots for a one dish meal. Thanks for sharing!

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Maybe it is the chinese rice wine that I used instead of the sherry that made this dish a little strong tasting. Other than that, flavor was quite delicious. Thank you for posting.

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Add another five stars from me. I did reduce the hoisin sauce for our taste. Besides that, I didn't change anything. We really enjoyed it and I was so happy to have some leftover for my lunch the next day. Thanks for posting.

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I made this for dinner last night, served it with Szechuan Bok Choy #12563, and we all loved it! I used all ground pork and fresh linguine noodles, but otherwise followed the recipe. The sauce is outstanding and it has just the right amount of heat. This would also be good with ground turkey. Thanks for posting this- it's a keeper!

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I am so excited to have a ground beef recipe that's not the same old, same old! Absolutely terrific - we all enjoyed it, which is a major accomplishment! Used red wine for the sherry, and that's the only change I made. Will make this one often.

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This was really great! I used ground pork, red wine instead of sherry, stir fry noodles instead of vermicelli and I added some chopped red bell pepper, sliced water chestnuts which I chopped up a bit (for some crunch) and a couple of handfuls of store-bought coleslaw mix.. because it's just shredded cabbage with some carrots right?! Turned out wonderful. Everyone had seconds and thirds. Oh and I also added some extra soy sauce to moisten the stir fry noodles before tossing everything together (because I used so many!) Delicious!!!

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This was really good and makes a lovely week-night meal. I also added shredded Chinese cabbage and shredded carrot, some sliced portabello mushrooms, and I garnished it with chopped cilantro and cashew nuts. Thanks for posting.

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This was really wonderful! I did make a couple of changes - I added extra chilli and also added stir fried pak choi. I served this topped with the green onions, and also some fresh chilli strips, chopped cashews and lime zest. WONDERFUL!

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