Are you always on the lookout for the latest food trends? Look no further than Cow Dung Hot Pot in Guizhou, China AKA Chinese poop soup.🤷♂️
This unique and savory dish has been rising in popularity, especially on Chinese TikTok.
Don’t miss out on the chance to try this local delicacy and be ahead of the trend!
（China is a land with more variety of unconventional items such as “virgin boy eggs” and a culture that includes the consumption of dog meat.)
What is Cow Dung Hot Pot?
Cow Dung Hot Pot, or “Niubie Huoguo” in Chinese, is a unique and popular dish in the southeastern region of Guizhou.
Some people may refer to it as “dark cuisine,” but for locals, it is a heavenly delicacy that is only available during the Lunar New Year festivities.
The key ingredient is the undigested contents from the cow’s stomach and intestines, which are extracted and boiled to create a savory broth.
Although it may sound unusual, this broth is known for its stomach-healing and digestive benefits.
If you’re feeling adventurous, be sure to try this one-of-a-kind hot pot on your next visit to Guizhou!
How To Make Cow Dung Hot Pot?
Making a bowl of authentic Dong minority beef tripe soup is not an easy task, and the process is quite elaborate.
The first step is to feed the cow with medicinal herbs such as fleeceflower root, kudzu root, ginseng, angelica, and bupleurum half a day before slaughtering it.
After the cow is slaughtered, the small intestine is quickly removed, and the undigested grass and grass juice are squeezed out, boiled in water for about 30 minutes, filtered repeatedly with watermelon rind to remove impurities, and then mixed with some cow bile to become the “hundred-herb soup.”
However, at this point, the soup is bitter and fishy and has an unpleasant odor, so it cannot be eaten yet.
The second step is to cut fresh beef into shreds and use a camphor wood chopping board, which gives the stir-fried beef a fragrant taste. Mix the beef with chili pepper and ginger slices, add oil and salt, and stir-fry in a pan.
After cooking, pour in the beef tripe soup and sprinkle with spices such as calamus, kudzu root, patchouli, Sichuan peppercorns, tangerine peel, and ginger. After cooking for a while, the hot and steamy beef tripe soup will be ready, and the room will be filled with a mix of light grassy and herbal aromas.
The beef tripe soup is yellow-green in color and has a unique taste. It has a slightly pungent smell and a bitter taste at first, followed by a sweet and muddy flavor with hints of soil and grass.
The ingredients cooked in the beef tripe soup, when dipped in a special sauce, are slightly bitter at first but become increasingly fragrant as you chew, leaving a lasting aftertaste.
What are the Benefits of Eating Cow Dung Soup?
- According to the Dong Minority, who have been consuming cow dung hot pot for generations, the soup is believed to be beneficial for preventing and treating various ailments.
- The herbs and grasses that the cows eat are broken down by their digestive system and then cooked in the soup, which can have medicinal properties for humans.
- When prepared correctly, the soup is not contaminated with harmful bacteria and is safe for consumption.
- The herb, earthy flavor of the soup comes from ingredients like soil ginseng, which is believed to have lung-moistening and cough-relieving properties, stone calamus, which is believed to improve brain function, and bupleurum, which can help clear heat and relieve stagnation.
Until here, you can't help but wonder why Chinese eat everything? Find out here 😜FAQs:
When prepared properly, cow dung hot pot is safe to eat.
The cow dung used to make the broth is usually collected from healthy cows that have been raised on organic diets.
The dung is sterilized through a process of boiling and filtering, which removes any harmful bacteria or toxins.
Cow dung hot pot is a popular dish in certain regions of China, particularly in areas with large populations of Dong ethnic people.
Some restaurants in these areas specialize in cow dung hot pot, and it can also be found in some home kitchens.
