Dagupi Beef Hotpot 打鼓皮
Dagupi Beef Hotpot is featured among the local specialties of Hunan.
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Dagupi Beef Hotpot (打鼓皮) is a Tujia (土家) beef hotpot from Zhangjiajie (张家界) in Hunan, made from the muscle between the ribs of Xiangxi yellow cattle (湘西黄牛). Zhangjiajie Radio and Television calls it the city's leading local dish.
The cut
The meat is the muscle that lies between the ribs of Xiangxi yellow cattle. Zhangjiajie Radio and Television describes it as fresh and tender, soft yet crisp to bite, and notes how little of it there is: even a full-grown animal yields only a few dozen jin (a jin is half a kilogram).
How it is made and eaten
The beef is stir-fried over high heat with small red chillies, small green chillies and whole garlic cloves, then stewed slowly over a low flame. The broadcaster calls it a dish to go with drink, and diners drop green vegetables into the pot now and then to cook them.
Zhangjiajie Radio and Television sums up the taste as fragrant and hot without being too much, more savoury the longer you chew, and with a long aftertaste.
Where it comes from
Zhangjiajie Radio and Television presents the dish as a food native to Zhangjiajie, long eaten there and always counted among the best dishes at Tujia banquets. In October 2021 Rednet's "Taste of Hunan" (味道湖南) series featured it as dry-pot Dagupi (干锅打鼓皮).
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Tujia Three-Ingredient Pot 土家三下锅 →
Another Tujia pot dish from western Hunan; Dagupi is built on a single cut, the rib muscle of Xiangxi yellow cattle.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.