Today’s recipe is for every diehard Sichuan food fan out there. Fuqi feipian (夫妻肺片; fūqī fèipiàn) is about as Sichuan as it gets. It’s a dish of sliced beef and tripe, swimming in chili oil with that signature combination of fiery spice and mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns that keeps you reaching your chopsticks back into the plate for more!
What Is Fuqi Feipian?
Fuqi feipian is Sichuan appetizer dish usually served at room temperature. It consists of thinly sliced beef (most often heart and tongue) and tripe, tossed in a spicy numbing sauce made with chili oil, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, sesame, vinegar, and a little sugar. The addition of aromatic Chinese celery, cilantro, and crunchy peanuts rounds out the flavors.
It also has an interesting history behind it. In the 1930s, the dish was already widely available from street vendors in Chengdu, and popular due to its inexpensive ingredients. However, it was not yet known as “fuqi feipian,” which translates roughly—and perhaps unflatteringly—to “husband and wife lung slices.”
It eventually got this name because there was one particular married couple in Chengdu who became famous for their version of the dish. And so, “fuqi feipian” was born (or at least, renamed!).
While the dish does use beef offal, such as honeycomb tripe, heart, and tongue, I have never seen a version of the dish that includes lung—despite the fact that it’s in the name! Sources (um, Wikipedia) tell me that the character for “fei” (廢) initially used in the name means “waste parts” or offal, but that it was changed to the character for “lung” (肺 – also pronounced “fei”) to make the dish sound a bit more palatable.
I’m really selling you on this right now, aren’t I?
Our Version
Okay, so if tripe isn’t your thing, you can feel free to stop here and skip over this post. However, documenting a recipe for fuqi feipian has been on our to-do list for YEARS.
Whenever our family goes to a Sichuan restaurant, we order this as an appetizer. It’s a must. (Another must have? Dan Dan Noodles.)
You just can’t beat the flavor and texture party this dish offers. The tripe is snappy and not the least bit chewy, and the honeycomb texture clings to the sauce beautifully.
The flavor of the thinly sliced tongue and heart is robustly beefy and delicious as well. (Though, to make things easier for the home cook, we used beef shank in our recipe.)
It has also become a favorite of Justin, my friend-turned-partner-in-crime. While Justin didn’t grow up eating tripe, or much authentic Chinese cuisine in general, we have a feeling he was Chinese in a past life, because he’ll eat it all! Bitter melon, grass jelly, and fuqi feipian can all be counted among his favorite foods.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll give this recipe a try, and it’ll become one of your favorites too!
Ok, on to the recipe.
Fuqi Feipian Recipe Instructions
Note that this recipe makes enough fuqi feipian to serve across 2 meals (about 6 servings each, 12 servings total). The recipe for the sauce is enough to dress half the meat/tripe. If you would rather make a smaller amount, you can cut the beef/tripe braising ingredients in half.
Add beef shank and tripe to a large pot, and add fresh water to cover, along with the ginger.
Bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Drain and rinse the beef shank, tripe, and ginger thoroughly in cold water.
Rinse the pot, and add the meat, tripe, and ginger back to the pot. Cover with fresh water, and add the scallions, along with the rest of the aromatic ingredients (the Sichuan peppercorns through the rock sugar). The braising liquid should taste seasoned, but not briny/overly salty. You have the option to add dark soy sauce, if you would like the meat to have a darker color, but it’s optional.
Bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow the meat to cool completely in the braising liquid before taking it out to cut (about 4 hours). The beef will continue to cook as it cools; it will fall apart if you try to cut it while it’s still hot.
Make the dressing/sauce while you wait. Combine the braising liquid, chili oil, garlic, Sichuan peppercorn powder, sesame seeds, Chinese black vinegar, light soy sauce, sugar, and salt.
Once the beef and tripe are fully cooled, you can remove them from the pot.
Slice the beef and tripe very thinly on an angle (to get wider slices). For the beef shank, it can help to cut it in half lengthwise before slicing.
Toss half of the sliced beef and tripe with the Chinese celery and the sauce.
Top with the peanuts and cilantro, and serve!
Fuqi Feipian (夫妻肺片)
Ingredients
To Braise the Meat:
- 2 pounds beef shank (900g)
- 1 1/2 pounds honeycomb beef tripe (680g)
- 5 slices ginger
- 3 scallions
- 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (3g)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (2g)
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds (2g)
- 1 teaspoon black or white peppercorns (or a mix of both, 3g)
- 3 cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 dried tangerine peel
- 2 star anise
- 1 black cardamom pod (optional)
- 2 white cardamom pods (optional
- 1/3 cup Shaoxing wine
- 1/3 cup light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (optional)
- 70 g rock sugar
To Make the Sauce:
- 1/4 cup braising liquid
- 1/4 cup chili oil (preferably homemade; can add more or less to taste)
- 2 cloves garlic (smashed and finely minced)
- 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn powder
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 2 teaspoons Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
To Serve:
- 1/3 cup Chinese celery (finely chopped)
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (chopped)
Instructions
- Add beef shank and tripe to a large pot, and add fresh water to cover, along with the ginger. Bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Drain and rinse the beef shank, tripe, and ginger thoroughly in cold water.
- Rinse the pot, and add the meat, tripe, and ginger back to the pot. Cover with fresh water, and add the scallions, along with the rest of the aromatic ingredients (the Sichuan peppercorns through the rock sugar). The braising liquid should taste seasoned, but not briny/overly salty. You have the option to add dark soy sauce, if you would like the meat to have a darker color, but it’s optional.
- Bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and allow the meat to cool completely in the braising liquid before taking it out to cut (about 4 hours). The beef will continue to cook as it cools; it will fall apart if you try to cut it while it’s still hot.
- Make the dressing/sauce while you wait. Combine the braising liquid, chili oil, garlic, Sichuan peppercorn powder, sesame seeds, Chinese black vinegar, light soy sauce, sugar, and salt.
- Slice the beef and tripe very thinly on an angle (to get wider slices), and toss with the Chinese celery and the sauce. Top with the peanuts and cilantro.
I attempted to make this in an Instant Pot, but I wasn’t able to make clean slices without shredding the meat. I did a High Pressure cook for 45 min and Natural Release and full cool down; placed into refrigerator for 2 hours and meat was completely cold. I then took the meat out and attempted to cut it on a bias, but as I was slicing, the strands of meat pulled away from one another. Flavors were amazing though! :D
Any advice as to what I can attempt next time to keep the structural integrity of the meat?
Hi Sanjay, the pressure cooker cooked the meat down too much, I think. I would just try the recipe as written, to keep the meat firm!
Can this be made in the instant pot? How long should it cook on high pressure? 2 hours? Thanks!
Hi Chris, I have not tried this in the Instant Pot, but it would definitely be much less than 2 hours!
How should I cook this dish if I want to use beef tongue?
Hi Gabriel, you pretty much follow the same cooking instructions!
I am obsessed with this dish. I have been since the first time I tried it almost 18 years ago when one of my Chinese colleagues introduced me to the “two menus” found in Sichuan restaurants. I was in Minneapolis at the time, but found it true in other cities. We did not order from the western menu. I had this, dan dan mian, and shuizhu niurou. I have never been the same. I buy this once a week in a china town grocery market in Adelaide. (I live across the street, how lucky). By the way this is awesome on a Bahn Mi sammich. I have no reason to make it myself except its $28/Kilo from their deli and I have never done so. You have inspired me. Thank you
You’re welcome, Steve! I hope you enjoy making it at home—will have to try on banh mi!
Hi! I was wondering if this would be okay to prepare the night before and if you had any tips for that. Should I sauce the meat overnight or wait until before serving?
Hi Victoria, I would prepare the meat the night before and then refrigerate it. The next day, slice it, make the sauce, and toss it together!
This is my favorite Sichuan dish, so happy to have a good recipe for it now! Making it as I type this.
Am I just missing the mention of how many scallions to put in the braising liquid, though? The pictures make it look like 2-3 so that’s probably what I’ll go with. Just wanted to make sure you see that it’s maybe missing from the ingredient list!
Agh, you’re right Mike! Forgot to include the scallions in the recipe card. I’ve just fixed it. It’s 3 scallions. :)
Happy to report that I used 3 and it was perfect! Just as good as the restaurants by me!
So glad to hear that, Mike!
Please publish how you would make this with beef tongue and tripe as well. I want to make this dish both ways.
Hi Carol, you would just use tongue and braise it according to the recipe (in the same way you would with shank). Just replace the beef shank with cleaned/peeled beef tongue.
Can I use cumin and coriander powder instead of seed?
Hi Olivia, I haven’t tried it with powder, but my feeling is probably that it’s best to use the seeds rather than powders.