牛肉与牛排Beef & Steak in Chinese
Steak isn’t Chinese food — but hotpot is, and knowing your cuts matters at the beef counter too. Work through ten cuts of beef, doneness, sauces, sides, and everyday dishes below.
Ten Cuts of Beef
Taiwan and mainland China often use entirely different names for the same cut — the Text Display switch on your site will flip the terms here too. Click a number on the diagram to bring up its flashcard.
| # | Chinese | English | Korean | Japanese |
|---|
How Would You Like Your Steak?
Note the pronunciation split: Taiwan keeps shóu across the board, while mainland China switches to shú for everything except 七分七分 — one of the small but real Taiwan/China differences worth knowing before you order.
Sauces for Your Steak
Accompaniments
Everyday Beef Dishes
Beyond the steakhouse — the beef dishes you’ll actually meet on a night-market menu or a home dinner table.
Ordering at the Table
Swap in any cut, sauce, or side from above into these patterns and you can order the whole meal.
Why Some Elders Still Skip the Beef
From plow animal to national dish
For generations, water buffalo and oxen were the family’s field labor in Taiwan, which is part of why many older Taiwanese — especially those with farming roots or a Buddhist or Taoist household — grew up avoiding beef out of respect, treating it almost like eating a co-worker.
That history sits right alongside 牛肉麵牛肉面 (beef noodle soup) becoming one of Taiwan’s most iconic comfort foods today — a reminder that food taboos and food pride can come from the very same animal, just a generation apart.
