MUZIChinese Matrix
Sichuan Cuisine · FFET10131
Thin marinated beef in numbing chili-bean broth, served over vegetables with 1 spoonful of hot oil.
A deep white porcelain bowl holds a bright red chili broth, with thin light-brown beef slices laid over pale green vegetables, dried chili pieces and peppercorns scattered on top, and wooden chopsticks across the rim.
The regional cooking of Sichuan and Chongqing, known for its wide range of flavour types.
Shui zhu niu rou is a Sichuan dish of thin marinated beef slices cooked in a hot broth with chilies and Sichuan pepper, with 1 spoonful of hot oil poured over dried chilies and peppercorns. This Zigong salt workers' dish originally used meat from old oxen that had hauled brine (December 2022 and March 2026 accounts). It represents Zigong salt-guild cooking (August 2026 account). Other accounts place it in the 1981 cookbook Zhongguo Caipu (April 2021 account) and credit Zigong chef Fan Ji'an with its creation in the 1930s (2019 introduction). Neither the cookbook nor an original text recording the creation date was found; the creation story remains a retelling, not a settled conclusion.
Shui zhu niu rou is a Sichuan dish of thin marinated beef slices cooked in a hot broth with chili bean paste, chilies and Sichuan pepper, served over vegetables in a bowl, with 1 spoonful of hot oil poured over dried chilies and peppercorns.4,8,9
Accounts place Zigong chef Fan Ji'an's creation of the dish in the 1930s (July 2019 introduction), or describe his revision of a thin-broth beef dish in the 1930s. An essay (printed January 2023, reposted January 2026) places the formation of Zigong cooking between the late Qing and the 1940s, including shui zhu niu rou among dishes created then. These are retellings: no original text recording its creation date was found, and the latter essay names no creator.4,5,6
Zigong, Sichuan. Shui zhu niu rou is a local salt workers' dish (December 2022 and March 2026 accounts) and a representative dish of Zigong salt-guild cooking (August 2026 account).1,2,7
The beef is sliced thin and marinated with soy sauce and starch among other ingredients, and the bowl is lined with vegetables such as celery. Chili bean paste is fried until fragrant, water or stock is added and brought to a boil, and the beef is cooked just until done, then poured with the broth into the bowl, topped with dried chilies and peppercorns, and finished with hot oil. The traditional order is to fry the seasonings, then add the vegetables, then the marinated beef (December 2022 account).1,8,9
The beef originally came from old oxen that had hauled brine and no longer worked; salt workers sliced it thin and cooked it in a hot, numbing, spicy broth (December 2022 and March 2026 accounts). The numbing, spicy heat masks the beef's smell, while chili oil and hot oil seal the broth's surface, keeping the dish hot for more than 1 hour (April 2021 account).1,2,3
Shui zhu niu rou represents Zigong salt-guild cooking, and Zigong received the title Hometown of Salt-Guild Cuisine on February 28, 2019 (August 2026 account). An April 2021 account places the dish in the 1981 cookbook Zhongguo Caipu. The title belongs to the city, not a listing for the dish; the cookbook itself was not found.3,7
Legend has it that in Zigong the brine from the deep wells was hauled up by oxen. When an ox grew old and stopped working, its meat went to the salt workers, who sliced it thin and cooked it in a hot, spicy broth as a meal to build their strength.
Told in: A Zigong local account, told in The Paper's article of December 2022 and in a feature of March 2026 from a creator account; neither gives a date.
It is said that in the 1930s the Zigong chef Fan Ji'an, while changing the method of a thin-broth beef dish, cooked the seasonings and the beef slices together in one pot, and other restaurants copied him.
Told in: A Zigong account, told in a China Daily government-channel article of July 2019 and in a user-written encyclopedia entry that cites no source; Chuanguan News of April 2021 does not tie him to this dish, and the Zigong Daily essay names him without saying how he relates to it.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is my simplified home version of the Sichuan dish. I followed two published recipes, leaving out egg white and baking soda in the marinade, and I stir-fry the vegetables before lining the bowl. The amounts and timings are my own choices at home, and I use a moderate amount of chilies and peppercorns, which you can raise if you like more heat and numbing.
Allergens: soy, wheat
