Tou Nao (Eight-Treasure Restorative Broth)

Tou Nao, also called Eight-Treasure Broth, is an exclusively Taiyuan traditional health breakfast made from eight ingredients—lamb, lotus root, yam, astragalus, braised flour, lees, lamb-tail fat and pickled chives—slow-simmered in yellow rice wine into a milky white, richly fragrant broth.

Said to have been devised by the late Ming–early Qing physician-scholar Fu Shan (Fu Qingzhu) as a restorative for his mother, first named Eight-Treasure Broth, then popularized by Taiyuan merchants into a winter health food cherished in the city for centuries.

Served hot in the early morning—lotus root and lamb in a rich broth alongside a plate of pickled chives—diners drink the broth and eat the meat to warm the body against the cold; a Taiyuan morning tradition from late autumn through early spring.

Defined by its milky-white nourishing broth, the combination of eight ingredients and the distinctive flavour from yellow rice wine braising, it is a winter dietary treasure unique to Taiyuan's food culture.