Xinhuang Yellow Cattle Beef 新晃黄牛肉

Xinhuang Yellow Cattle Beef (新晃黄牛肉) is beef from the Xinhuang yellow cattle (新晃黄牛) of Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County (新晃侗族自治县) in Huaihua (怀化), in the far west of Hunan. It is a national geographical-indication product. With huangjing (黄精, Solomon's seal root) and longnao (龙脑, borneol), it is one of the county's 'three treasures'.

Ingredients

The Xinhuang yellow cattle is described as one of the best yellow-cattle breeds of southern China. It is sturdy, quick on its feet, docile and well suited to mountain farming, and it is on the national list of protected livestock genetic resources. A local cattle farmer told the Hunan party organisation department's news site that every Dong (侗族) household in the county keeps and grazes cattle, and never pens them when they can be let out to roam. The Hunan provincial government portal reports 1.2 million mu of natural pasture in the county and 326 kinds of medicinal herbs, and says the cattle eat the herbs and drink mountain spring water.

Flavour and texture

The Xinhuang county culture and tourism bureau describes the meat as fine-grained and tender, with a rich aroma and a distinctive flavour. Visitors drive to the county in summer to taste 'mountain-running yellow cattle' (高山跑黄牛, gaoshan pao huangniu).

How it is eaten

The same bureau names the quanniu yan (全牛宴), a banquet of dishes made from the whole animal, as the dish to try for tasting Xinhuang beef. The beef also leaves the county as fresh meat, snack beef, cured beef and ready-made dishes: one processor in the county's yellow-cattle industrial park makes more than 100 beef products in these lines.