Bao du, or fried beef tripe, has been a famous Beijing snack since the time of Emperor Qianlong (r. 1735-1795) of the Qing Dynasty. The snack is mostly made and sold by the Hui. After being cleaned and cut into slices, fresh beef tripe or lamb tripe is cooked in boiling water. It is often served with oil, sesame sauce, vinegar, chili oil, soy sauce, fermented tofu juice, coriander, spring onion and other seasonings. It is tender and crispy, and people often eat it with beer or other alcohol.

this dish is probably one of the toughest things to make only because tripe is involved and there is so much detail in the timing of tripe to not make it overcooked or chewy especially when pan frying it. you can say my mom and i have been experimenting this dish a few times now and this was finally a successful effort. the beef tripe was perfectly cooked without being chewy and the spicy garlicky black bean sauce was so tasty over the pan fried noodles.

the sauce is of course made from a mixture of black beans, garlic, hardcore chilis and cornstarch slurry. the bell peppers and onions only added to the yummy aromatics.