A deep white porcelain bowl holds chili broth under red oil with duck blood curd, beef tripe, ham, squid and leek, plus dried red chilies, Sichuan peppercorns and ginger slices, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
The regional cooking of Sichuan and Chongqing, known for its wide range of flavour types.
Mao xue wang is a dish of the Sichuan-Chongqing region in which duck blood curd (pig blood is also used) is cooked with tripe, ham and other items in a red broth of chili and Sichuan pepper and finished with hot oil. An origin legend set in Ciqikou, Chongqing, in the 1940s tells of a butcher’s wife who sold leftover offal as soup and added blood curd, creating the dish. The story appears in a March 2020 article and other accounts, but their details differ and no dated record was found, so the year of origin remains uncertain.
What
Mao xue wang is a dish of the Sichuan-Chongqing region in which blood curd (mainly duck blood, sometimes pig blood) is cooked with tripe, ham, tofu and other items in a red broth of chili and Sichuan pepper. The ingredients are cooked together in a communal bowl, unlike hot pot.1,2,5
When
Origin accounts place the story in Ciqikou in the 1940s, including a 2020 article and another account based solely on a 2026 newspaper article. Some explicitly present it as a legend, the details differ, and no dated record was found, so the year of origin remains uncertain.1,2,3
Where
The origin story is set in Ciqikou ancient town in Shapingba District, Chongqing.1,2,3
How
One method boils blood curd, ham and squid with ginger and leek for about 1 minute, then drains them. Hot pot base and Pixian bean paste are fried in oil; water and yellow rice wine are added, followed by blood curd, ham and squid for about 4 minutes, then tripe for about 1 minute. Everything goes into a bowl, topped with chili and Sichuan pepper fried in oil, then cilantro. Another method blanches bean sprouts, celery and tofu skin, then blood curd, luncheon meat, tripe and squid; fries Sichuan pepper and chilies; adds garlic, ginger, bean paste, hot pot base, seasonings and water; boils the broth for 3 minutes; and tops the bowl with garlic, chili, scallion and hot oil. The first recipe names its author; the second is unsigned, gives no amounts and specifies only the broth’s cooking time.3,4
Why
In the origin story, the dish began as a way for a butcher’s household to sell leftover offal; the available material gives no other reason.1,2,3
Impact and influence
Duck blood is now more common than pig blood. A September 2026 guide to traditional Chongqing foods includes this Sichuan-Chongqing dish of duck blood, tripe, ham and tofu cooked in a spicy broth; the guide does not discuss its origin.3,5
Legend has it that in the 1940s a butcher’s wife at Ciqikou in Chongqing did not want to waste the leftover offal from her husband’s shop and sold it as a soup. One day she added blood curd to the broth, and that is how the dish began.
Told in: A folk tale told in a March 2020 article in an English-language magazine and retold in English Wikipedia. Chinese Wikipedia says the wife sold offal soup from a stall, while English Wikipedia says a woman at a malatang booth dropped blood curd into the soup, so the details differ.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the mao xue wang I make at home. The amounts and times follow one recipe by a named author, printed in an English-language magazine, and I have just smoothed the wording of the steps. The second is a recipe on a language school’s blog; it names no author, gives no amounts and has just one time, 3 minutes for the broth, so I used it just for the order of the steps and mention its extra vegetables in the tips. Like the magazine recipe, I use a ready-made hot pot base and bought blood curd, which makes this a simplified home version.
Ingredients
Duck blood curd 500 g, cut into 3 cm cubes
Beef tripe 100 g, torn into pieces
Ham 100 g, cut into 3 cm cubes
Squid 10 g, scored (the recipe’s amount)
Leek 15 g, chopped
Dried red chilies 10 g, chopped
Sichuan peppercorns 10 g
Ginger 10 g, sliced
Coriander (cilantro) 10 g, chopped
Chongqing hot pot base 60 g
Pixian bean paste 2 teaspoons
Yellow rice wine 1 teaspoon
Vegetable oil 5 teaspoons in all: 2 for the base, 3 for the chilies and peppercorns
Salt 3 g
Water 1 liter (for blanching) and 500 ml (for the broth)
Steps
Cut the blood curd and ham into 3 cm cubes, tear the tripe into pieces, and score the squid.
Chop the chilies, leek and coriander, and slice the ginger.
Bring 1 liter of water to a boil with the ginger and leek, add the blood curd, ham and squid, boil about 1 minute and drain.
Fry the hot pot base and bean paste in 2 teaspoons of oil, then add 500 ml of water and the teaspoon of rice wine.
Add the blood curd, ham and squid and simmer about 4 minutes, stir in the salt, then add the tripe for about 1 minute and move everything to a large bowl. I take out a piece of squid to check that it is cooked through and opaque before serving.
In a clean pan, fry the chilies and peppercorns in 3 teaspoons of oil, pour them over the bowl while hot, and scatter the coriander on top.
Tips
When I pour the hot oil I keep my distance and set the bowl on a steady surface so it does not splash; this is my own habit.
The language school’s blog version also blanches bean sprouts, celery and tofu skin and combines them with the rest; my version uses just the magazine recipe’s ingredients.
