A restaurant reinterpretation: a clear seafood or beef stock perfumed with star anise, cloves and fennel, poured over noodles and boiled egg with cooked fish, chili oil and green onion.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Yakamein pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 1 gallon (3.8 L) seafood or beef stock
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ¼ cup chopped garlic
- 3 star anise
- 5 whole cloves
- 1 tablespoon fennel seed
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 pound (450 g) noodles, cooked, about (see Notes)
- 4 boiled eggs, halved, about
- 1½ pounds (680 g) cooked fish of your choice, about
- 2 tablespoons chili oil, for garnish
- 1 bunch green onions, cut on the bias
Directions
- Simmer the stock with the onion, garlic, star anise, cloves and fennel seed for 20 to 30 minutes, then strain it and season with salt.
- Divide the noodles and eggs among 8 bowls, ladle the broth over, and lay the fish on top.
- Finish each bowl with a little chili oil and green onion.
Notes
Source Adapted from “Seafood Yakamein,” story and recipe by Chef John D. Folse, Louisiana Cookin’ (2025). Folse writes that he had never heard of yakamein until Christopher Anderson, chef de cuisine at his Restaurant R’evolution in the French Quarter, served it “gussied up with the addition of sautéed sea bass”.
What is missing from the source The recipe lists “accompaniments such as noodles, boiled eggs, etc.” and “cooked fish of your choice” with no amounts, so its yield of 8 is not anchored; the noodle, egg and fish quantities above are this collection’s estimates. It uses no soy sauce at all, which every street-style recipe does: this is a restaurant consommé built on the idea of the dish, not the second-line bowl. The headnote repeats the railroad and Korean War origin stories; the Yakamein pages explain why neither holds up.
The dish The Yakamein section (/yakamein/) covers the dish’s history, its name and how the recipes differ.
The photo The photograph is a stand-in: a Taiwanese seafood noodle soup with glass noodles, not yakamein. No open-licensed photograph of a seafood yakamein was found.