At this time of the year, the sheep are clearly arranged.
Roast whole sheep, braised pork, fried mutton with onions ... Many times, mutton is always a "hard dish".
In contrast, mutton soup is not so hard-core in many mutton dishes.
However, what is easily overlooked is often a good thing.
China people are particularly good at turning leftovers into irreplaceable delicacies.
This is the case with mutton soup, which has become a symbolic diet in winter.
0 1 When did China people lay hands on sheep?
People in China eat sheep can be traced back to more than two thousand years ago.
In the pre-Qin period, in the era of paying attention to etiquette, sheep was second only to cattle. It is recorded in the Book of Rites, Wang Zhi:
"Governors don't kill cows for no reason, doctors don't kill sheep for no reason, scholars don't kill dogs for no reason, and Shu Ren doesn't eat treasures for no reason."
Cattle, sheep, tapirs (pigs), which also shows the level of animals at that time.
Qu Yuan also mentioned "canned mutton" and "mutton soup" and other delicacies in the Songs of the South.
During the Han and Tang dynasties, mutton became the main dish for banquets and receptions.
In the barbecue in the Tang Dynasty, mutton food has an important row of noodles.
There is no doubt that the highest brightness of mutton was in the Song Dynasty.
In the Song Dynasty, the royal family attached importance to sheep. In Song Zhenzong, chefs slaughter 350 sheep every day, while in Song Renzong, there are 280 sheep.
The royal family loves to eat mutton, which also drives mutton to become the dietary trend of literati and even the people.
Su Dongpo, who was full of food and had a bumpy career, could not eat good mutton in the days when he was demoted many times.
In addition to stew, he also found delicious food such as sheep scorpion and mutton soup.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the status of mutton was gradually inferior to that of pork.
Pork occupies a major space in the history of the Ming Palace Museum and the menu with gardens.
Mutton is just a part of many meats.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the regionality of mutton became more and more obvious.
This mutton mutton soup became one of the iconic diets in Beijing at that time.
In the book Eat in China, Tang devoted a chapter to the memory of "the mutton shop in the old capital":
"All customers who go to the mutton bed to buy roast mutton, most of them will bring a small pot, in order to bring some broth back, just like buying roast mutton without ordering soup. Obviously, you are safe in the casserole-afraid of spooning. Put some flowers and pepper in the mutton soup and mix it with noodles. Sweet and fragrant, clear and fragrant. It is a wonderful work in summer recipes. " Meat is naturally good, but this soup is also great with barbecue.
Today, mutton soup has long stood on its own feet and has become a force that cannot be ignored in the mutton food industry.
From Saibei to Southwest, from Pamirs to Changjiang Estuary, mutton soup is not weak at all in China.
The territory is vast, both in the north and the south, and the practice of mutton soup is also varied.
In the provinces that pay attention to drinking mutton soup, the competition of tastes can even be subdivided into counties.
But generally speaking, it can be divided into northern mutton soup and southern mutton soup.
Mutton soup and sesame seed cake, northern life.
In many northern cities, mutton soup kitchens can be seen everywhere in the streets.
Even far away, you can smell mutton.
This mutton soup kitchen, like ramen restaurant and Shaxian snack, has a small area and no environment.
The dishes are mainly mutton soup, with some snacks or mutton stir-fry at most.
Although mutton belongs to autumn and winter, mutton soup is spread all over the four seasons.
A bowl of mutton soup with sesame cakes, baked buns, steamed buns and even steamed dumplings is a warm meal.
There are many mutton soups in the north, and there are many famous ones. Many places are proud of their mutton soup.
Let's start with Beijing. There are many kinds of mutton soup in Beijing.
Beijingers love to eat sheep, and mainlanders who come to Beijing for business have also brought their hometown's way of eating.
Writer Bai Zeng wrote in "Old Classics of Old Peiping":
"We eat mutton offal soup at home, Muslim restaurant is called mutton offal soup, Shanxi restaurant is called mutton soup, and the stall is called mutton soup."
Like braised pork, the focus of Beijing mutton soup is to enter the water, not the mutton offal.
Wash the belly, heart and lungs of sheep and stew them with spices.
Cooked mutton soup with onion, coriander, vinegar, pepper, pepper and sesame sauce is indispensable for Beijingers.
Two more baked sesame cakes, just two words-comfortable.
Shandong is a big mutton soup province, and Shanxian mutton soup, Tengzhou whole mutton soup and Juxian mutton soup are all famous.
Most mutton soup in Shandong pursues milky soup color and rich aroma.
Inviting people to dinner, many places in Shandong that like to drink mutton soup have also become "go, invite you to drink mutton soup".
Cooked mutton soup can be added with mutton offal and mutton according to personal preference, and then served with full-fledged steamed bread.
In many places in Henan, mutton soup has become a kind of breakfast.
In Kaifeng, many mutton soup kitchens began to cook soup at two or three in the morning, in order to open the door at five or six.
Mutton soup, mutton offal soup, mutton sausage soup ... and a hemp helmet, and a hot breakfast will be served.
In Luoyang, there are more kinds of soups, and mutton soup is also essential.
The mutton soup in Luoyang has a stronger Chili flavor.
The spicy taste of pepper is hidden under the milky mutton soup, and it is more intense when soaked in the soup with the local special shredded pork cake.
In Inner Mongolia grassland, mutton soup is somewhat inconspicuous compared with big dishes such as roast whole sheep and braised pork.
But it is also the daily life of Inner Mongolia people.
In Hohhot, a bowl of haggis and a baked jiaozi are delicious breakfasts.
In addition, there is the whole sheep soup in Inner Mongolia, which is extremely exquisite.
After cutting the sheep, drain the blood, simmer slowly and skim off a little foam.
Just put some salt on it until it comes out.
This kind of mutton soup, different from the milk soup in the north, is completely clear soup, retaining the original flavor and delicious taste of mutton.
Compared with mutton soup in other places, the presence of mutton soup in Inner Mongolia seems to be not so strong.
Shanxi, Shanxi, Liaoning and other northern provinces also have their own unique flavor of mutton soup and collocation.
Not eating from time to time is the greatest respect for mutton soup in the south.
Compared with the daily life of the northern mutton soup kitchen, the southern mutton soup is much more grand in form.
In the south, mutton soup can be a simple meal for one person or a carnival for one table.
In special seasons, it is a symbolic seasonal diet.
Let's start with Anhui, which is located at the junction of north and south.
In northern Anhui, many mutton soups will be named "Xiaoxian Mutton Soup".
Chen Xiaoqing, the food director, wrote when describing Xiaoxian mutton soup:
"A big bowl of five-dollar mutton soup is solemnly placed in front of you. Mix sheep oil, Chili powder and balsamic vinegar, and then take a deep bite ... Oh! At the same time as the Adam's apple peristalsis, the blocked qi and blood began to melt and flow. "
Xiaoxian mutton soup is closer to the northern mutton soup. The soup is milky white and mellow, and it is also a classic of one person.
Every dog days, diners from surrounding counties and cities come to Xiaoxian to drink mutton soup.
Speaking of eating sheep in dog days, it seems that this custom has been practiced from northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu to southern Jiangsu.
Unlike eating sheep in autumn and winter in the north, many southerners firmly believe that "drinking a bowl of soup for a sheep does not require a doctor to prescribe a prescription."
The concept of "raising sheep" is very popular in many areas of Jiangsu and Anhui.
Xuzhou, Jiangsu and Xiaoxian, Anhui even spared no effort to declare the intangible cultural heritage of Fuyang.
When we arrived in Jiangnan, the first one was mutton with books.
Collection of books is a place name, located in the west of Suzhou.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, collectors raised, slaughtered and sold sheep for a living, and many mutton restaurants were born here.
Boiled, cold-cut, braised and stewed soup, there are countless ways to cook mutton, and the most classic is mutton soup.
The soup is milky white and the mutton is crisp and rotten. There is no shortcut to make this soup, only the temperature and time.
The traditional collection of mutton is cooked in wooden barrels, and the locals call it "basin hall".
The material for making wooden barrels is taken from Chinese fir in the vault hill of the library.
It is said that this kind of wood can give off fragrance in the process of stewing mutton and remove the smell of mutton.
In addition to eating meat and soup, you can also add a handful of Soviet-style fine noodles to make a bowl of white soup mutton noodles.
In the cold and humid winter in the south, a bowl of mutton noodles with white soup was served and the whole body warmed up immediately.
In Sichuan, Jianyang mutton soup is the C position of mutton industry.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, mutton soup has been a landmark food in Jianyang area.
Different from mutton soup in other places, Jianyang mutton soup not only uses mutton, sheep bones and mutton offal.
Add pig bones and even crucian carp when cooking soup, and concentrate all the umami flavor in this pot of soup.
In order to preserve the freshness of mutton soup, Sichuanese also gave up the seasoning that Sichuan cuisine is good at and kept the original flavor.
However, when eating mutton, you can still have a dry dish or dip in water for a spicy addiction.
With the increasing number of mutton soup kitchens in Jianyang, drinking mutton soup in winter solstice seems to have become a standardized custom.
In fact, in Jianyang, there is not so much pressure. How can you eat such delicious food once a year?
Mutton powder in Guizhou, mutton soup pot in Yunnan, mutton pot in Wenzhou and mutton pot in Hangzhou. ...
Although southern mutton is not famous, it does not hinder southerners' love for mutton at all.
Where do you like mutton soup?