（Beef Stew from Quanzhou)
Stew is a soup dish with a concoction of meat and vegetables cooked over long hours. Stewing was one of the most popular ways of food preparation during Han China which engaged the use of both Chopsticks and Spoons (bizhu) as the use of bizhu became more rampant that it eventually replaced the use of hands when eating.
The history of Beef stew dates back to the Han dynasty and has been one of the most popular dishes back then. Stews were well-liked by both peasants and the elites.
During the early Tang dynasty, according to《临海县志》, Linhai (in Zhejiang Province) was often under attack by the pirates, so one of the governors send troops to fortify the area to prevent pirate attacks. On the day they were supposed to start is was the 14th day of the first month of the lunar year, and the next day was the 15th, so people wanted to celebrate the lantern festival (元宵). However, there were pirates who snuck in, so the troops that were supposed to build the walls also had to fight off the pirates. This, coupled with the cold weather, delayed the fortification. After this, the people of Linhai started to use a wine called 槽新酒 (cao xin jiu) as water to cook soup with vegetables, meat, seafood, and flour to thank the troops building the city walls. The troops were able to work faster after drinking the soup, especially because they enjoyed it since it was consumed during cold weather. So then there began this culture of drinking this soup every 14th day of the first month of the lunar year.
The beef stew, a variant of stews, is and was commonly consumed during autumn as it transitions from the summer to winter, where people’s immune system was believed to be at their weakest as the beef in beef stew replenishes energy, nourishes the spleen and stomach, and strengthens the bones. It is also usually consumed during cold weather. The beef stew is popular in places such as Jiangnan (Hangzhou) and Quanzhou (Fujian)
However, there is a disparity between traditional and modern recipes. In the past, stews were cooked with a minimal number of steps and only a few ingredients. The stew-making process since then has evolved into a long and elaborated one today. The reason for this disparity was due to the need to keep food preparations materially efficient in the past because they could not afford to waste ingredients (especially for the peasants).
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