Fuqi feipian — "husband and wife's beef offal" — is a classic Chengdu cold dish: thinly sliced beef (sirloin or brisket) and beef offal (tripe, tendon, heart) combined with a complex sauce of chilli oil, Sichuan peppercorn, sesame paste, and black vinegar, served at room temperature. The technique requires each protein component to be cooked to its specific correct texture before the entire preparation is chilled and dressed.
- **The beef:** Brisket or shank simmered in a master stock or spiced water until just tender, then cooled completely in the liquid. - **The tripe:** Cleaned honeycomb tripe simmered until tender but with a pleasant chew — never soft. Cooled. - **The tendon:** The longest cook — up to 3 hours until completely gelatinous and translucent. The cooled tendon sets to a firm jelly that slices cleanly. - **Thin slicing:** All components sliced against the grain, uniformly thin — 2–3mm. - **The dressing:** The same Sichuan cold kitchen dressing principles as FD-88. - **The celery:** Classic accompaniment — blanched briefly to retain crunch, providing textural contrast to the tender proteins.
Dunlop