Gong'an Beef Hotpot 公安牛肉
Gong'an Beef Hotpot is featured among the local specialties of Hubei.
Image notes
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Gong'an Beef Hotpot (公安牛肉) is known locally as niurou luzi (牛肉炉子), a beef pot served in Gong'an (公安). One established version, niu sanxian (牛三鲜), combines beef tenderloin, tripe and tendon, each prepared separately to suit its texture.
Ingredients
The Gong’an culture and tourism bureau describes the three-ingredient version as using local free-range yellow cattle. The tenderloin is tender, the tripe resilient and the tendon chewy. The bureau records this version’s inclusion in Jingzhou’s (荆州) municipal intangible heritage list in 2018.
Flavour and texture
In a 2024 Changjiang Daily (长江日报) essay, writer Chen Yingsong (陈应松) identifies local broad-bean chilli paste as the defining seasoning of the hotpot. His description of the paste includes broad beans, salt, ginger, red chillies and garlic, developed through fermentation and sunning. He also describes thin tofu sheets laid in the base of the pot.
Where it comes from
Chen connects the dish’s spread with local Hui (回族) cooks and their restaurants, particularly families from Huangjinkou (黄金口). Alongside the three-ingredient version, he lists pots based on mixed offal, beef alone or tendon.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.