Xinhua three-flavor soup (新化三合汤, xīn huà sān hé tāng) is a specialty of Xinhua County in central Hunan. The three flavors refer to three main ingredients: beef, tripe, and blood tofu (pig's blood curd), each contributing a distinct texture and taste. These are simmered together in a fiery, tangy broth made with dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and mountain pepper oil (shan jiao you), which gives the soup its characteristic numbing, sour, and spicy profile. The soup is rust-red in color, intensely aromatic, and has a complex flavor that is simultaneously spicy, sour, numbing, and deeply savory. It is the kind of soup that makes you sweat and reach for more, a quintessential Hunan experience that embodies the bold, fearless spirit of the region's cuisine.
Xinhua County, located in Loudi City in central Hunan, is known for its bold and distinctive cuisine. The three-flavor soup (san he tang) is perhaps its most famous export. The name 'three flavors' (san he) refers to the harmonious combination of three main ingredients: beef for its meaty richness, tripe for its chewy texture, and blood tofu for its smooth, iron-rich taste. Each ingredient contributes a different texture and nutritional element, and together they create a complete, balanced dish. The use of mountain pepper oil (shan jiao you) is a hallmark of Xinhua cooking. Mountain pepper (shan jiao) is a relative of the Sichuan peppercorn but with a more intense, citrusy, and numbing quality. It grows wild in the mountains of central Hunan and is harvested by locals. The oil extracted from it is more pungent than regular Sichuan peppercorn oil and gives the soup its distinctive, lip-tingling character. In Xinhua, this soup is served at everything from street stalls to wedding banquets, and it is considered a point of local pride.
In Xinhua Three-Flavor Soup, the wok must be smoking hot so the ingredients sear instantly, locking in moisture while developing the smoky wok hei (breath of the wok) that defines Hunan stir-fry. What sets it apart is the layering of the dark vinegar that provides the sour counterpoint essential to Hunan flavor balance, the dried red chilies that provide a different, deeper heat than fresh ones, and the sour pickled vegetables that represent Hunan's love of tangy flavors. This is Hunan food at its most honest — unapologetically spicy, deeply flavorful, and rooted in centuries of culinary tradition.
Ingredients
Blood tofu and beef tripe are available at Chinese supermarkets. Mountain pepper oil can be found online or at specialty Hunan shops.
- 200 g lean beef, sliced thin
- 150 g beef tripe, cleaned and sliced
- 150 g blood tofu (pig blood curd), cubed
- 15 dried red chilies
- 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 2 tbsp mountain pepper oil (shan jiao you) or Sichuan peppercorn oil
- 6 garlic cloves, minced, and 1 inch ginger, minced
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tbsp pickled mountain peppers (suan jiao), chopped
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 liter beef broth or water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 scallions, chopped for garnish
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step-by-Step Visual Guide
Preparation
Building Flavor
Cooking & Finishing
- Prepare the ingredients. Slice the lean beef against the grain into thin pieces about 3 mm thick. Clean the beef tripe thoroughly by rubbing with salt and cornstarch, then rinsing several times until the water runs clear. Slice the tripe into thin strips. Cut the blood tofu into 2 cm cubes. If the blood tofu is very soft, blanch it in boiling water for 1 minute to firm it up, then drain. Keep the three main ingredients separate, as they have different cooking times. Mince the garlic and ginger, and chop the pickled mountain peppers.
- Make the spicy base. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. Stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant and the chilies darken. Add the minced garlic, ginger, and pickled mountain peppers. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds until very aromatic. The pickled mountain peppers provide the sour note that is essential to this soup. Add 1 tablespoon of the mountain pepper oil at this stage to infuse the oil with its numbing aroma.
- Cook the beef and tripe. Add the sliced beef to the pot and stir-fry for 1 minute until it changes color. Add the tripe and stir-fry for another minute. Add the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar, stirring well to coat the meat. The beef should be lightly browned and the tripe should be coated with the spicy oil. Pour in the beef broth or water and bring to a boil.
- Simmer the soup. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. The tripe needs time to become tender. Skim any foam or impurities that rise to the surface. After 20 minutes, add the blood tofu cubes gently to avoid breaking them. Continue simmering for another 10 minutes. The blood tofu will absorb the spicy broth and become flavorful. Taste the broth and add salt as needed.
- Add the finishing flavors. Add the black vinegar and stir gently. The vinegar adds the sour note that balances the spiciness. Drizzle in the remaining 1 tablespoon of mountain pepper oil. Stir once more. The soup should now have a complex flavor profile: spicy from the chilies, sour from the vinegar and pickled peppers, numbing from the mountain pepper oil, and deeply savory from the beef and tripe. The color should be a deep rust-red.
- Serve. Ladle the soup into bowls, making sure each bowl gets a mix of beef, tripe, and blood tofu. Garnish with chopped scallions. Serve immediately while piping hot. This soup is traditionally eaten as a main dish with rice, or on its own as a warming, invigorating meal. In Xinhua, it is said that eating this soup in summer helps expel dampness from the body, and eating it in winter warms you from the inside out. Either way, it is a soup that wakes up every taste bud and leaves a lasting impression.
- Clean tripe thoroughly. Rub with salt and cornstarch, rinse repeatedly until water is clear.
- Use mountain pepper oil if available. It has a more intense, citrusy numbing quality than regular Sichuan peppercorn oil.
- Add vinegar at the end. Adding it too early will make the meat tough.
- Blanch blood tofu first. This firms it up so it does not break during simmering.
Variations
Every Hunan dish has regional and personal variations. Here are some popular twists on this recipe.
With beef tendon
Replace the tripe with 150 g of beef tendon for an even richer, more gelatinous texture. Beef tendon needs longer cooking, about 90 minutes, so add it earlier and cook the beef separately.
Milder version
Reduce the dried chilies to 5, use only 1 teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns, and skip the mountain pepper oil for a milder but still flavorful soup.
With noodles
Add 100 g of cooked rice noodles to each bowl before ladling in the soup. The noodles soak up the spicy broth and make the soup a more substantial meal.
Nutrition
Estimated values per serving (recipe serves 4). Values are approximate and will vary based on specific ingredients and portion sizes.
| Nutrient | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 280 kcal |
| Protein | 32 g |
| Total fat | 12 g |
| Saturated fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 8 g |
| Sodium | 950 mg |
| Sugar | 3 g |
Values are estimates. This soup is high in protein and iron but also high in sodium.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Wok not hot enough — the oil should be shimmering but not smoking before you add ingredients.
- Overcrowding the wok — cook in batches if needed; too much food at once causes steaming instead of stir-frying.
- Cutting ingredients unevenly — uniform pieces ensure everything cooks at the same rate.
- Adding sauce too early — let the ingredients sear first, then add sauce in the final 30 seconds.
Serve immediately with steamed white rice — the dish should still be sizzling when it reaches the table. A simple soup like egg drop soup or tomato egg soup provides a cooling contrast. For a full Hunan spread, add one cold appetizer and one vegetable dish.
What Makes It Hunan
Xinhua Three-Flavor Soup is a quintessential Hunan dish that showcases the bold, unapologetic flavors of Xiang cuisine. Unlike Sichuan's numbing-spicy heat, Hunan cooking relies on dry, direct spiciness from fresh and dried chilies, complemented by the deep umami of fermented ingredients like duojiao (chopped salted chilies) and douchi (fermented black beans).
The hallmarks of Xiang cuisine — dry chili heat, bright acidic tang, and the deep umami of smoke and fermentation — come together in this dish. There is no numbing distraction of Sichuan peppercorn to mask the ingredients; the spice here is meant to be felt and savored.
Whatever the technique, the goal is the same: clean, layered flavors with a clear throughline of chili heat and the savory depth that only slow building — through fermentation, smoking, or patient braising — can produce.
This recipe represents the Hunan preparation. Many Chinese-American restaurant versions of Hunan dishes add extra sugar, use pre-made sauces, or deep-fry ingredients that are traditionally stir-fried. The key difference is that Hunan cooking uses fresh whole chilies, fermented condiments like duojiao and douchi, and high-heat wok techniques — not thick, sweet sauces.
Related Recipes
If you love bold, spicy soups, these Hunan soup recipes are equally invigorating.