Water Boiled Beef

Water Boiled Beef (Simplified Chinese: 水煮牛肉; Traditional Chinese: 水煮牛肉; Pinyin: Shuǐ zhǔ niú ròu; also Shui Zhu Niu Rou) is a Sichuan dish of thinly sliced beef briefly cooked in a bubbling, chili-heavy broth and oil, usually served over blanched vegetables such as bean sprouts or cabbage and finished with a dramatic pour of hot chili oil and Sichuan pepper. Soft exclusive inventorship claims for a single restaurant are folk. It belongs to the same shui zhu (water-boiled) family as Sichuan Boiled Fish (水煮鱼) but uses beef as the protein; it is not dry stir-fried kung pao beef and not clear-broth boiled beef alone.

Characteristics

Bright red chili oil surface; tender beef slices; mala heat and fragrance; vegetables underneath soak up the broth.

Ingredients (overview)

Beef slices; chili, Sichuan pepper, bean paste, garlic, oil; vegetables such as bean sprouts or greens. Overview only—not a recipe card.

History and culture

Part of modern Sichuan restaurant mala classics alongside water-boiled fish and other shui zhu plates. English menus say "water boiled beef," "boiled beef in chili oil," or "shui zhu niu rou." See Sichuan Food and Sichuan Boiled Fish.

Serving and variations

Shared main with rice. See Sichuan Boiled Fish, Mapo Tofu, and Fuqi Feipian.

See also

• Sichuan Boiled Fish
• Sichuan Food
• Mapo Tofu
• Fuqi Feipian
• List of dishes (A-Z)