The New Orleans street bowl: spaghetti and chopped stewed beef under a dark, salty broth seasoned with soy, Worcestershire and hot sauce, finished with half a boiled egg and green onions.
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 boneless chuck or eye of round roast, 2½ to 3 pounds (1.1 to 1.4 kg)
- 8 to 9 cups (1.9 to 2.1 L) water
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, such as Tony Chachere’s
- ½ to ⅔ cup soy sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon ketchup, plus more for topping if desired
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ tablespoons hot sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 pound (450 g) spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
- 1 bunch scallions, trimmed and sliced
- 5 hard-boiled eggs, halved
Directions
Key ingredients
Soy Sauce · Worcestershire Sauce
- Put the beef in a large stockpot, cover it with the water and add the Creole seasoning. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then turn the heat to low and simmer 3 to 4 hours, until tender.
- Lift the beef into a bowl and let it cool 20 to 30 minutes. Shred or chop it, discarding chunks of fat.
- Skim the fat from the stock. Stir in the soy sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire and hot sauce and adjust the seasoning to taste. Reheat the stock to a simmer when ready to serve.
- Divide the spaghetti and beef among 10 bowls, top each with scallions and half an egg, and ladle the hot stock over. Pass hot sauce and ketchup at the table.
Notes
Source Adapted from Garden & Gun’s “How to Make Yakamein,” which credits the recipe to Linda Green, the Ya-Ka-Mein Lady, who learned the dish from her mother and grandmother. Unlike her published card (the collection’s Ms. Linda’s Original Ya-Ka-Mein), every seasoning is specified, which makes this the easier version to cook from.
Where the soy goes Here half a cup or more of soy sauce goes into the broth, which is what makes it dark and salty; in Ms. Green’s own account the soy is “the twist”, cooked into the broth as well as shaken on top. TODAY’s 2024 recipe by Toya Boudy follows these quantities closely.
Seasoning Any Creole seasoning works; the collection has Creole Seasoning Blend (Jeff’s) and Emeril’s Essence (Creole Seasoning).
The dish The Yakamein section (/yakamein/) covers the dish’s history, its name and how the recipes differ.
The photo The photograph shows a bowl of yakamein with chopped beef and green onion, not this exact recipe.