According to legend, well-known poet Yuan Zhen is connecting Tang Dynasty city (today Sichuan Da Chuan is taken) minister when, one day shops to a wine small drink. The cutlet of one bull kept for covering in food and drink, colour and lustre is ruddy and sleek, very pleasing to the eye, flavour hemp hot delicacy is sweet, very goluptious, eat entrance crisp to be changed oneself after that without broken bits, the aftertaste after feeding is boundless, make Yuan Zhen praises greatly. More those who make him amazed is, flesh of this ox cutlet is qualitative especially thin, submit translucent form, rise with chopstick nip, grain of silk of the silk on cutlet of gules below lamplight ox pays attention to the gules image that gives clarity in the report on wall to come, very interesting. He remembers immediately at that time of the be current in the capital " lamp shadow makes fun of " (show appellative leather-silhouette show, light is used when its are performed project the character silhouette of hide or chipboard make it to curtain) , how likeness like this, interest place comes, call out at once for " lamp shadow beef " . Then flesh of this bull kept for covering with " lamp shadow beef " the name contains get round, make a kind of of Sichuan famous local speciality.

Lamp shadow beef is not oneself general, its choose makings and do manual work very exquisite. An ox by butcher hind, can take flesh of its leg key, tenderloin flesh only ten, in all just ten kilograms. Cut very thin cutlet with full-length film knife, deserve to go up note caoguo of careless, clove and other more than 10 kinds of flavor, mix cutlet the shop is after divide evenly on bamboo pail dustpan, via insolate purify moisture, in be being put into tailor-made oven, control humidity is roast to ripe, load the bamboo slip that uses oilpaper liner or paper coal tub in, sesame oil of mix into Man Chunxiang, scatter on pink of a few Chinese prickly ash, sealed and into. According to account, between quiet day Guang Xunian, amount to a merchant to be called Liu Guangping's hotel, what produce lamp shadow beef to be in most famous at that time. 1935, the lamp shadow beef that this hotel encloses with bamboo slip sends Chengdu Qing Yang as local special local product beautiful meeting exhibits, be judged to be the food such as armour.

Current, the main source of lamp shadow beef is to amount to county and Chongqing, two ground product develops ceaselessly thereby each has his strong point. An American pasturage expert ever said, since of lamp shadow beef the cate of a kind of have a distinctive flavour, can says is a kind of wonderful handicraft, if can assure to supply, the price on the international market can compare present export price completely to rise 4- - 5 times. However, the production of lamp shadow beef is restricted insufficiently now by raw material.