Yǐn yán: Huáng shā huǒ guō, niú zá wèi dǐ; xiān sǔn yí xià, sì jì rú chūn. — Huangsha hotpot, tripe on the base; one shoot of fresh bamboo, and all four seasons turn to spring.
Huangsha hotpot (黄沙火锅) is the county’s winter pot, and a different animal from the Chongqing mainstream: the base is a beef-tripe stew (牛杂锅底) into which the fresh spring bamboo shoots of the season are dropped as they come. It is the hill-country version of the red-broth hotpot — less numb, more aromatic, built around the tripe’s chew and the bamboo’s clean bite, and designed for the cold months when the county’s slopes are under cloud.
This is a cold-weather pot and a group one — order the tripe base first and let it come to the boil before the bamboo goes in, because the shoots cook in minutes and overcook to rags. The pot is milder than the city’s; locals compensate with a chilli dip rather than a fiercer base. Season matters: the bamboo is best in its own weeks, and the pots that advertise it year-round are using preserved shoots.
flowcloud would say that the county’s hotpot answers the fog — tripe for the body, bamboo for the season, and a base that lets both speak.
Where to find it: the county’s cold-weather tables, when the fresh bamboo shoots are in season — the pots that advertise it year-round are using preserved shoots. All checked October 2026.
Words and Names
黄沙火锅 Huángshā Huǒguō — Huangsha hotpot · 牛杂 niúzá — beef tripe and offal, the pot’s base · 鲜竹笋 xiān zhúsǔn — fresh bamboo shoots, the seasonal counterpoint · 锅底 guōdǐ — the pot base