Thai Beef Noodle Soup Has Been Simmering For 45 Years

There’s food that’s old. There’s food that has gone bad. And then there’s soup that has been simmering for 45 years.

In Bangkok, customers can’t get enough of the latter at Wattana Panich, a noodle soup joint in the trendy Ekkamai neighborhood, where third-generation owner Nattapong Kaweeantawong wants to clear up what he thinks is a popular misconception about his beef soup.

“Lots of people think we never clean the pot,” he says. “But we clean it every evening. We remove the soup from the pot, then keep a little bit simmering overnight.”

It’s that little bit, he says, that forms the stock of the next day’s soup. So, yes, at least a taste of what you put in your mouth is 45 years old and counting.

“Since my grandfather’s time, we’ve never really had a set recipe about how much of each ingredient to put in,” Nattapong says. “So the person making the soup will constantly have to taste it to know what needs to be added.”

Source: npr.org