P
Chinese
Fuqi Fei Pian (夫妻肺片) — Husband and Wife Beef Slices
Fuqi fei pian (夫妻肺片, literally 'husband and wife lung slices' — despite the name, no lung is used in modern versions) is one of the most famous Sichuan cold dishes: thin slices of beef and beef offal — typically shank, tripe, tendon, and tongue — dressed in a complex sauce of chilli oil, Sichuan peppercorn, sesame paste, soy sauce, and aromatics. The name refers to the Chengdu husband-and-wife street vendors Guo Zhaohua and Zhang Tianzheng who in the 1930s sold offal dishes from baskets on a shoulder pole. The dish exemplifies the Sichuan tradition of transforming cheap, collagen-rich offal cuts into a sophisticated, flavour-complex cold preparation.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
300 g
beef shank
whole piece
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
beef tripe
cleaned
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
beef tendon
whole
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the master stock (卤水 lu shui)
2 litres
water
Your own market
1 tsp
Sichuan peppercorns
whole
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
star anise
Your own market
1
cassia bark
small piece
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3 tbsp
soy sauce
2 tsp
salt
Your own market
For the dressing
3 tbsp
chilli oil
with its sediment
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tbsp
soy sauce
1 tsp
Chinkiang vinegar
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
sugar
Your own market
1 tsp
sesame oil
Your own market
1 tsp
Sichuan peppercorn
ground fresh
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
sesame paste
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
toasted sesame seeds
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tbsp
roasted peanuts
roughly chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To garnish
1 small handful
celery leaves
fresh
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
toasted sesame seeds
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Bring the master stock to the boil. Add the beef tendon and reduce to a steady simmer. Cook for 3–4 hours, topping up with water as needed, until the collagen has fully softened but the tendon holds its shape and does not dissolve. Remove and set aside.
From the canon — Lu shui — master stock or "brine" — is the Chinese preparation of a spiced, soy-based liquid used repeatedly for braising proteins over years, each addition … Master Stock (Lu Shui): The Living Broth →
2
Blanch the tripe in a separate pan of rapidly boiling unsalted water for 10 minutes. Drain, discard the water, then add the tripe to the master stock. Simmer for 45–60 minutes. The dish lives or dies at this point: tripe must reach the precise window of tender yet slightly resistant — a pair of chopsticks should pass through with gentle pressure, but the surface should spring back faintly when pressed; the moment it yields without resistance it has crossed into mush and cannot be recovered.
3
Add the beef shank to the master stock and simmer for 1.5–2 hours until tender but not falling apart. A skewer inserted into the thickest point should slide through with moderate pressure; the meat should hold a clean edge when pressed.
4
Remove all components from the stock. Cool completely at room temperature, then refrigerate until cold throughout — the surface should feel firm to the touch and the tendon should be set and sliceable without compressing.
5
Slice each component to 2–3 mm against the grain. Arrange the slices together on a platter, displaying the distinct textures side by side. The cross-sections should be clean-edged and show the characteristic grain of each cut.
6
Combine all dressing ingredients — chilli oil with its sediment, soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, ground Sichuan peppercorn, sesame paste, sesame seeds, and chopped peanuts — and stir well. Pour generously over the sliced meat, ensuring all surfaces are well coated. The sauce should pool lightly around the base of the platter; every piece must carry flavour.
From the canon — Chinkiang vinegar (镇江醋, Zhenjiang hei cu, Zhenjiang black vinegar) is China's most celebrated vinegar — a dark, complex, aged rice vinegar produced in Zhenji… Chinkiang Vinegar (镇江醋 Zhenjiang Hei Cu) — The Black Vinegar of Jiangsu →
7
Scatter celery leaves and sesame seeds over the dressed platter. Serve cold. The aroma at table should carry both the floral heat of Sichuan peppercorn and the deep richness of chilli oil.
From the canon — Sichuan peppercorn (huā jiāo — flower pepper) — the dried berry of Zanthoxylum simulans or Zanthoxylum bungeanum — is not a pepper (Piper nigrum) but a citru… Sichuan Peppercorn: The Numbing Spice Surveyed →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Grass-fed beef shank with abundant collagen; hand-harvested honeycomb tripe from a specialist butcher; house-made chilli oil from whole dried Sichuan chillies with at least two weeks of infusion; fresh-ground Sichuan peppercorn from the same season's harvest.
02
Estate — Good-quality beef shank and tripe from a butcher who can confirm the breed; commercially produced chilli oil of known provenance (Lao Gan Ma or equivalent with visible sediment); Sichuan peppercorn sourced from a Chinese grocer with high turnover.
03
Market — Supermarket beef shank and cleaned tripe; a reputable bottled chilli oil; pre-ground Sichuan peppercorn used promptly after opening.
04
House — Any accessible combination of the three offal cuts, or beef shank alone if tripe and tendon are unavailable; the dressing proportions remain unchanged — a reduced set of components still produces the dish's signature flavour profile.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Tendon yields completely to a chopstick but holds its shape; it does not dissolve or shred when lifted.
◇Touch. Tripe passes a chopstick with gentle pressure and springs back faintly — it has not gone slack or soft throughout.
◇Touch. Shank is firm enough to slice cleanly at 2–3 mm without compressing or tearing.
◇Sight. Sliced components display clean, distinct cross-sections with no ragged or compressed edges.
◇Sight. Dressing pools lightly at the base of the platter and coats every visible surface of the meat.
◇Where it lives or dies. Tripe must be pulled from the stock at the precise moment it yields to gentle pressure but still carries a faint resistance — once it becomes mushy it cannot be corrected and the textural contrast on which the dish depends is lost.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
A light, dry lager or Tsingtao-style Chinese beer, which tempers the numbing heat of the Sichuan peppercorn without competing with the chilli oil. Alternatively, a young, unoaked, off-dry Riesling from Alsace or the Mosel whose residual sweetness and acidity cut through the sesame fat and balance the vinegar note of the Chinkiang.
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
Sourced through Provenance