If you ever find yourself at a Sichuan restaurant, you might notice a dish on the menu with a puzzling name: Fuqi Feipian (夫妻肺片). A direct translation would be “husband-and-wife lung slices” – which sounds alarming, misleading, or both. In fact, the dish contains no lung at all. And while the “husband and wife” part does have a story behind it, the name itself is a tale of ingenuity, thrift, and a touch of linguistic mischief.
What’s in the Dish?
Fuqi feipian is a cold appetizer made from beef offal – typically sliced beef, beef tongue, beef heart, beef tripe, and beef scalp. These ingredients are braised in a fragrant broth with over twenty spices, including star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chillies, and ginger. After cooling, they are sliced paper-thin – so thin that they are said to be “as delicate as a cicada’s wing” – and tossed in a glossy, aromatic chilli oil made from erjingtiao (二荆条) chillies and dahongpao (大红袍) Sichuan peppercorns. The dish is finished with a sprinkling of crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and fresh celery. The result is a symphony of textures and flavours: spicy, numbing, savoury, and slightly sweet, with a rich, layered aroma that lingers on the palate.
The Origin Story: From “Waste” to Fame
The story begins in 1930s Chengdu, in a neighbourhood where many Hui Muslims lived. Since Hui Muslims traditionally eat only halal meat and do not consume pork, beef was a staple. But beef offal – organs and trimmings – were considered waste and were simply discarded.
A poor couple, Guo Zhaohua (郭朝华) and Zhang Tianzheng (张田政), saw an opportunity where others saw rubbish. They collected the discarded offal, cleaned it thoroughly, cooked it with care, and seasoned it with chilli oil, Sichuan peppercorns, and other spices to mask the strong odour. The result was surprisingly delicious. They began selling their creation from a carrying pole, walking the streets of Chengdu. The dish was cheap, flavourful, and quickly became popular among rickshaw pullers, labourers, and poor students who could not afford proper meat.
Because the ingredients were discarded scraps, people called it “Feipian” (废片) – “waste slices.” But the characters were later changed to the homophone “Feipian” (肺片), meaning “lung slices”. It was a more palatable name, even if it was not technically accurate. In fact, the dish originally did include beef lung, but it was eventually removed because the texture was not pleasant.
The “Husband and Wife” Part
The couple’s dedication to quality and their harmonious partnership earned them a loyal following. Customers began calling their product “Fuqi Feipian” – “husband-and-wife lung slices” – to distinguish it from other vendors’ offerings. According to one account, a merchant was so impressed by the dish that he presented the couple with a plaque bearing the name “Fuqi Feipian”.
In 1933, the Guo family opened a small shop on Banbianqiao Street (半边桥) in Chengdu (near what is now the back gate of People’s Park) and officially named it “Fuqi Feipian” (夫妻肺片). The brand grew over the decades. In 1958, during the public-private partnership movement, the Guos transferred their recipes and techniques to the state-run Chengdu Catering Company, and the dish was formally renamed “Fuqi Feipian”.
A Dish That Conquered the World
Today, Fuqi Feipian is one of China’s most celebrated dishes. It has been recognised as a “China Time-Honoured Brand” (1995), listed on the Sichuan Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage register (2011), and named one of the “Top Ten Classic Sichuan Dishes” in the national “Chinese Cuisine” selection (2018).
In 2017, the dish achieved an unexpected international milestone. The American magazine GQ named Fuqi Feipian “Appetizer of the Year” in its “Best Eats in America” ranking. The winning version was served at Pepper Twins, a Sichuan restaurant in Houston, Texas. The restaurant had given the dish an English name that was both clever and playful: “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” – a reference to the 2005 Hollywood film. As one culinary critic put it, the dish “woke up her taste buds”.
A Taste of History
Fuqi Feipian is more than just an appetiser. It is a story of resilience, creativity, and the transformative power of good cooking. What began as a resourceful couple’s attempt to turn discarded scraps into a livelihood became a dish that now graces tables around the world – from humble street stalls in Chengdu to Michelin-worthy restaurants in Houston. As the old saying goes: “There is no lung in the dish, but there is flavour within flavour”. And that, perhaps, is the most delicious irony of all.
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