Sichuan spiced rabbit head 兔头
Sichuan spiced rabbit head is featured among the local specialties of Chengdu and Sichuan.
Sichuan spiced rabbit head (兔头) is exactly what the name says: a whole rabbit's head, cooked and eaten as a snack. Chinese Wikipedia lists it as a traditional snack of Chengdu (成都), also called "tu naoke" (兔脑壳, a colloquial word for a rabbit's head), and notes that it is eaten in Datong (大同) in Shanxi and Quzhou (衢州) in Zhejiang as well. China National Radio compares Chengdu and Zigong (自贡) to the Shaolin and Wudang schools of rabbit eating: Zigong cooks the rabbit in many ways, while Chengdu has put its whole attention on the head.
How it is eaten
Chengdu eaters have a set routine, which China National Radio describes step by step. First suck the juices off the head. Then hold the rabbit's four teeth between thumb and index finger and gently prise the upper and lower jaws apart, splitting the head in two. The lower half carries most of the meat: suck off the red, glossy chilli oil and gnaw the small scraps of meat clean. The upper half is eaten for the brain, which is sucked out, and eaters push an index finger up into the eye socket from below to pop out the eye and soft tissue.
Where it comes from
The best-known name is Shuangliu Laoma Tutou (双流老妈兔头, "Shuangliu mum's rabbit heads"), named after Shuangliu (双流) in Chengdu. In 2020 its braising technique (双流老妈兔头卤制技艺) was put on the recommended list for Chengdu's seventh batch of municipal intangible-heritage items, published for public comment by the Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Centre, as an extension of the item for traditional curing and braising techniques. Sichuan Daily reports that the Shuangliu Laoma Tutou technique has been brought into markets at Shuangliu's scenic areas, and that Shuangliu rabbit heads are among the intangible-heritage foods at a display-and-sales area in Terminal 2 of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
The appetite is large. Chinese Wikipedia cites a February 2018 report by Beiqing Net (北青网) that China eats nearly 500 million rabbit heads a year, of which at least 200 to 300 million are eaten in Sichuan.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.