A richly spiced minced beef and mutton relish from Xinye County, Nanyang, Henan — seasoned with nearly 28 aromatics and slow-fried for two hours until almost all moisture evaporates and the cubes turn deep mahogany. The resulting low-water-activity condiment keeps at room temperature for a year or more, and a single spoonful spooned over Xinye flat noodles constitutes one of Henan's most celebrated street-food signatures.
The dish traces to the Three Kingdoms period, when Liu Bei garrisoned Xinye from roughly 201 CE alongside Guan Yu and Zhang Fei; Zhuge Liang joined the camp from 207 CE after Liu Bei's three visits to his retreat. Local oral tradition holds that a sudden windstorm during camp cooking overturned spice jars and oil into a braising cauldron, producing an unexpectedly fragrant, concentrated meat mass that cooled solid and was easy to carry. Zhuge Liang is said to have systematised the recipe as a shelf-stable military ration. The condiment passed into civilian kitchens and has been refined over roughly 1,800 years into a formula of close to 28 spices unique to Xinye.
Intense waves of warm spice hit first — galangal, cassia, cardamom — then the deep savoury umami of slow-dried beef and mutton floods in, finishing with a gentle numbing warmth from Sichuan pepper. Layers arrive slowly, one after another, long after swallowing.
Two hours of low-heat stir-frying drives off nearly all free moisture from the meat cubes, concentrating proteins and triggering Maillard reactions between amino acids and residual reducing sugars. These produce hundreds of heterocyclic aroma compounds — pyrazines, furans, thiazoles — that give the relish its characteristic roasted-spice depth. The resulting water activity (estimated below 0.85 Aw) inhibits microbial growth, which explains why the finished product keeps for over a year at room temperature without refrigeration.
Variations
Modern producers offer vacuum-sealed packs that ship nationally. Contemporary cooks use the relish as a hot-pot dipping condiment, as a topping for steamed egg custard (臊子蒸蛋), and as a stir-fry flavour base for bean sprouts or cabbage. Some households replace a portion of the beef with pork for a milder, fattier version.
On the Palate
Where Xinye Spiced Minced Meat sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 110 min
Dice fresh beef and mutton (mixed, fat and lean) into grape-sized cubes of about 1.5 cm; blanch briefly in boiling water, then drain.
- 210 min
Heat a generous pour of cooking oil in a large wok until shimmering; add dried red chillies and fry until deep golden, then remove and crush coarsely.
Watch outFry the dried chilies only to deep glossy red, not black — pull them the second they darken and smell toasty; scorched chili turns the whole batch acrid.
- 310 min
Add meat cubes to the hot oil and stir-fry over medium-high heat until each cube firms and turns pale on all surfaces.
Watch outStir-fry the meat cubes till every side firms up and pales and no pink shows — you're driving off surface water first so the long dry-fry can begin.
- 45 min
Combine the spice blend — Sichuan pepper, star anise, galangal, cassia bark, cardamom, amomum, nutmeg, caoguo and remaining aromatics (totalling roughly 28 spices) — and add to the wok along with fine salt.
- 590 min
Reduce heat to very low; continue stirring continuously for 90 minutes, allowing all moisture to evaporate gradually and the meat to colour deep red-brown.
Watch outKeep stirring on the lowest flame for the full hour and a half — the meat slowly darkens to deep red-brown as the last moisture leaves; stop stirring and the bottom scorches.
- 65 min
Remove from heat when the meat cubes are uniformly dark mahogany and the surrounding oil runs clear; stir in the crushed dried chillies.
Watch outIt's done when the whole pan is dark mahogany and the oil runs clear instead of cloudy — cloudy oil means water's still in there and it won't keep.
- 70 min
Cool completely at room temperature before packing into sealed jars; the final yield is roughly 30 percent of the original raw weight.
