Two years ago, I ate a bowl of mutton noodles in Guizhou, which has completely changed the stereotype that "sheep have to eat in the north". Strange to say, there are not a few large provinces in the south, and any time you mention "where rice noodles are best to eat", it can lead to a war of words; and although eating sheep is a minority behavior in the south, Hainan, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other places are not unsaid. However, the combination of mutton and rice noodles seemed to be cautious, and only under the mediation of this matchmaker in Guizhou did they finally get together.
▲ A bowl of authentic Zunyi lamb powder, focusing on the original taste. Photography / Sauce
The North favors sheep, while the South favors goats. Compared to the delicate flesh of sheep, the meat of goats is tight and heavy, and if grilled or stewed like in the north, it is a test for both nose and teeth. Fortunately, guizhou people know how to fire according to their aptitudes, and they have their own set of methods to deal with the "stubbornness" of goats. The skin goat is stewed with more than a dozen spices and cut into thin slices, which can avoid the minefield of the smell and solve the problem of elastic texture. If you compete on the same stage with the lamb soup that the north is proud of, the winner or loser will be really difficult to determine for a while.
▲ Neatly sized lamb slices. Photography / Sauce
Looking at the whole country, there is probably no lamb powder that can be compared with Guizhou, and it is the first to take the lead in terms of position alone. Led by Zunyi, an arc was drawn along the southwest direction, and the western regions, including Bijie, Liupanshui and Xingyi, together constituted the "Four Gate Sect" of Guizhou mutton powder.
Original Zunyi lamb powder
Outsiders in the province understand Guizhou mutton powder, probably starting from Zunyi. In terms of fame, Zunyi shrimp and mutton powder can be called the "leading big brother" in this field. "Shrimp" is a town below Zunyi, and the peppers produced are very famous. Essential in lamb meal is a spoonful of red oil made from this chili pepper.
▲ Eat a bowl of lamb powder, it will not be cold all winter. Photography / Zhu Rui
Compared with several other places, the most prominent thing about Zunyi lamb powder is the "original taste". In the usual impression, Zunyi's lamb powder always has a layer of red oil and spicy seeds, but in fact, this is completely the result of personal choice. The confidence of the original soup that has been boiled for a long time makes The Zunyi people very restrained in the ingredients, in addition to the ingredients such as green onions, there may not even be salt, and the oil spicy seeds are also an additional option. So many diners who eat Zunyi mutton powder for the first time will be surprised to see such a bowl of rice noodles on the table in the spicy southwest region.
▲ The best lamb powder is the rough "sour powder". Photography / Sauce
If you think that Zunyi people are afraid of spicy, it is too arbitrary. Zunyi is adjacent to the southeast of Sichuan, and Sichuan is especially in Luzhou and Yibin as the spicy areas, as a neighbor, Zunyi people's ability to eat spicy is naturally not to be underestimated. It's just that the more exquisite the diet, the less likely it is to "kidnap" the taste buds of diners, heavy or light, and individuals have the right to choose. The rows of salt pots, soy sauce and vinegar bottles and paste peppers lined up at the table are proof of this.
▲ Zunyi small peppers that go abroad. Figure/VCG
The mutton powder in these places in Guizhou does not obey each other, and my good feelings for Zunyi mutton powder are largely due to their pursuit of the original taste and respect for seasoning. In fact, where is the perfect food in the world, the so-called perfect, is not the store to offer a bowl of eight points of good lamb powder, the remaining two points of seasoning power to the hands of diners. So people like me, who are not too good at eating spicy, can also calmly eat enough powder, drink good soup, and add some chili peppers to change the taste. It is undeniable that the aroma of red oil is undeniable, but what is more appealing than this is the choice left by the store.
Water City Lamb Powder: Heavy taste lovers, choose me!
In Guizhou, Zunyi mutton powder is not a monopoly, and among the opponents, no one can shake Zunyi's position as the leader more than Shuicheng. Shuicheng, the abbreviation of Liupanshui, may not be as well-known as Zunyi outside the province, but people in Guizhou Province who like Shuicheng mutton powder even have a tendency to catch up with Zunyi.
The taste buds conquered by the water city mutton powder have two main objections to Zunyi. One is the powder, Zunyi mutton powder is coarse, according to Guiyang called "sour powder", that is, after slight fermentation, the texture is relatively soft and smooth, there is no fine powder of the water city to hang the taste; the other is in the form of paste pepper. Zunyi's paste pepper is relatively fine, close to chili noodles, and Shuicheng is supplemented with large grains of coarse pepper, when eating, it is also flavored with pepper powder, red oil, etc., and then two cloves of raw garlic, spicy and thick oil aroma, which is the best interpretation of this jianghu immigrant city.
▲Water city lamb powder, coarse pepper with fine powder. Source/MarketMap
Who is the "boss" of Guizhou mutton powder? In fact, there is no need to tangle this problem, like the original taste or light mouth, choose Zunyi mutton powder, water city mutton powder is more suitable for heavy taste lovers.
▲Jinsha mutton powder is closer to Zunyi mutton powder. Photo/Western Xia
The people of Shuicheng don't have to feel condescending, and if you want to say that you are not convinced, the Jinsha mutton powder of Bijie is more depressed than you. Geographically, Jinsha County is in the middle of Bijie and Zunyi, rounded closer to Zunyi, and the shape of mutton powder is similar, but in terms of fame, it is almost only the bottom of the bottom.
A friend who had been separated from the "Four Gate Sect" threw the most suitable bowl of powder to Jinsha. I am not surprised by this, I have been foraging outside for many years, and I have long been not superstitious about fame. The head thinks, the tongue votes, just like the bridge rice line in Yunnan, it is not yet hidden in the folk master Jianshui, better than the official Mengzi. Perhaps, Jinsha is the building water of the mutton powder world.
Xingyi lamb powder: a tangling of sauce flavor and hemp flavor
There is also an inconspicuous corner of this half of the Mutton Powder in Guizhou, that is, Xingyi, which is located at the junction of The three provinces of Yunnan, Qian, and Guizhou. As the capital of southwestern Qianxi, Xingyi seems to be somewhat "out of place". Because surrounded by mountains, the traffic in and out of this place is extremely inconvenient, and if you want to take a train to Guiyang, you must first take a detour through Qujing, Yunnan - which is almost doomed to Xingyi's diet with distinct Yunnan characteristics.
▲Authentic Xingyi lamb powder. Photography / Wu Xuewen
Other food first press not the table, just say this bowl of lamb powder, the biggest special thing is to add a sauce to the soup base before serving, how the taste of lamb powder depends largely on the taste of the sauce. Different from the thick taste of Zunyi, the fiery heat of Water City, Xingyi lamb powder is eaten in the mouth, which is a entanglement of sauce flavor and hemp taste. For me personally, the combination of lamb and soybean sauce is really strange, a bowl of belly, at most can only be considered a habit, far from liking.
▲ Come, take a bite of powder first! Source/Network
However, this way of eating with sauce and soup base has formed a certain echo with Yunnan. In the soup noodles such as Kunming small pot rice noodles, Yuxi eel rice noodles and large crispy beef rice noodles, tangchi sauce or Zhaotong sauce play an important role, and there is no shortage of inheritors of the Sichuan people's "good spicy" and habits of using pepper noodles. The so-called Yun Guichuan does not separate the family, from a bowl of lamb powder can see some clues.
▲ Lamb powder eaten in Guizhou that year, add haggis. Photo/Western Xia
Guizhou mutton powder is actually not stuck to this "four gate sect", which is common in the entire western region, but the city is convenient for traffic, and the degree of spread is much higher than that of townships. Sometimes I think that to understand the face of Chinese food, you need to go deep into the capillary townships. To some extent, backwardness and isolation make food more simple and promote people's confidence in experience. There are many tastes in small towns, and this is probably the same reason.