Fancheng Beef 繁城牛肉

Fancheng Beef (繁城牛肉) is a five-spice beef that is cured and then cooked, made in Fancheng Hui Town (繁城回族镇) in Linying County (临颍县), Luohe (漯河). It began as the five-spice beef of the Hong family (洪家五香牛肉): the family's ancestor Hong Sanyuan (洪三元) is credited with creating it in the Jiajing reign (嘉靖) of the Ming dynasty, close to 500 years ago, and the beef took the town's name as it became better known.

How it is made

Carefully chosen beef is cured with a mix of spices and then steam-cooked. Luohe Daily describes the Hong family's beef as traditionally made by hand from Central Plains yellow cattle one to three years old, seasoned with more than thirty ingredients, among them fennel seed, star anise, Sichuan pepper, chilli and medicinal herbs. Curing takes two or three days in summer and about a week in winter. One step, 'moving the vats' (挪缸), makes sure the spices reach every piece of meat. One maker, Hong Junjie (洪俊杰), says the secrets lie in the seasoning mix, the length of the cure and control of the heat while the beef cooks.

Flavour and texture

The meat is tender with a clean, pure flavour that lingers after eating. Because curing and cooking leave little water in the meat, it keeps well: a local story tells of a merchant who carried some home towards Shaanxi, reached Xi'an (西安) more than a month later before remembering it, and found it still good, after which traders from Shanxi and Shaanxi took Fancheng Beef home with them.

Where it comes from

Fancheng was a major market town in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Local accounts say that in the Qianlong reign (乾隆) an imperial envoy tasted Hong family beef in the town, and that it was then sent to the court every year as tribute. The Fancheng Hong family halal five-spice beef making technique (繁城洪家清真五香牛肉制作技艺) is on Luohe's municipal intangible cultural heritage list, and in 2004 the beef was named a Henan outstanding food cultural heritage. In 2021 more than ten businesses made it; it is given as a gift, and one maker ships it vacuum-packed across China.