Among the various snacks in Beijing, compared with the well-known lamb skewers and haggis soup, slightly less well-known, there is also a snack related to mutton, called "white water sheep's head".
This thing, I'm afraid many people have not heard of it, let alone eaten it, it is estimated that there are very few.
So, what is a white water sheep's head? As the name suggests, this thing is made of sheep's head meat. Of course, there is a special production process inside.
To do a good job of white water sheep head, the selection of materials is quite strict, the knife work is very exquisite, and the production is even more delicate in place. First of all, the choice of this sheep's head must be a goat's head from Inner Mongolia, and this goat is preferably just two or three years old, not too tender, not too old. The selected sheep's head needs to be soaked in water for two hours until the sheep's face becomes white. Then boil with water until seven ripe.
The most important thing is to cut the meat with a knife, which also requires superb skill. If you don't have this handle, you want to make this white water sheep's head.
To cut out the delicate sheep's head meat, it is necessary to get off the knife briskly, move quickly, and follow the silk pieces, and the cut out sheep's head meat must be as thin as a piece of paper to pass the pass.
Wait until these "ex-workers" are done, you can eat. Usually, sliced sheep's head meat, white and clean, large and thin slices of meat, and then sprinkled with special pretzels and salt to eat, crisp and sharp, mellow but not greasy, unique flavor, very enjoyable.
Not only that, the meat of this sheep's head meat is tender, and it is very thin, it is easy to digest, high protein, low fat, more phospholipids, less fat content than pork and beef, and the cholesterol content is also very small, which can be used as a delicious snack for cold protection in winter.
There is a poem in the "Yanjing Small Food Miscellaneous" that describes the white water sheep's head in old Beijing:
In October, Yanjing is cold and windy, and the sheep's head is endlessly delicious.
The salt flowers are sprinkled like snow, crisp and not greasy and refreshing.
It can be seen that on the occasion of the winter snow, this white water sheep's head is the best season for listing, and then sprinkled with snowflake-like salt, that warms up, that refreshing, no wonder it has become an authentic snack in old Beijing.
In addition, because the mutton is warm and sweet, it can be used as a food supplement and can be used as a dietary therapy, so it is regarded as a high-quality strong disease-free food, with many effects, which can not only benefit qi and supplement deficiency, warm and warm, but also tonify kidney aphrodisiac, muscle strength, and so on. It seems that this kind of thing is absolutely worth it to eat.
It is said that the white water sheep's head in old Beijing is the loudest today under the name of "bursting belly", which is recognized by everyone. The founder of Wanshengyuan, Wanshengyuan, has been operating halal catering in Beijing for nearly 70 years, which shows that this name has a considerable history.
However, in fact, this bursting belly is not the old name of the white water sheep's head. So, why is this white water sheep's head called "popping belly"?
There's a rather tortuous story here.
It turned out that before the exploding belly of the white water sheep's head, the person who was famous for the white water sheep's head in the Republic of China was Master Ma Yukun, who was known as the "sheep's head horse".
Master Ma Yukun did not have his own storefront restaurant at that time, and only set up a stall in the gallery room Erjo. However, a small stall, because of the production of white water sheep's head is famous, very popular with everyone, so the business is also quite good. After a long time, customers gave him a nickname - "Sheep's Head Horse".
Around the 1930s and 1940s, the white water sheep's head meat of the Lao Ma family was a must in Beijing.
His business stall has always been placed in front of a tavern in the front porch room Nijo, and the style of operation is different. It is said that the old horse people are tall and tall, usually wear blue cloth coats and white shirts, and as Hui people, they must wear that wheat-colored halal hat. When doing business, you must wear an apron, pull up the white cuffs, and push a wheelbarrow every afternoon, surrounded by copper horns. After setting up the stalls, they started in the evening, carrying exclusive homemade peppers and salt, and picking up the lights when night fell.
The old horse stopped in the middle of the car, wielding a bull's ear knife in his hand, brushing the cooked sheep's head meat on the ground, the knife was as fast as flying, and the white piece of meat flew up like a snowflake, which was enough to show that the piece of meat could not be thick.
He then grabs some exclusive homemade pretzels from the horns and sprinkles them on snow-white slices of meat and puts them on turquoise lotus leaves. Let alone those who eat, even those who pass by, every day they will gather around the old horse's car and curiously watch the "stunt" of the old horse's slice of sheep's head meat. Over time, the old horse's lamb stall became a particularly lively scene outside the front door.
However, the old horse sells white water sheep's head, and there is also a very dragging habit. If the pepper and salt in the horn ran out that day, even if there was still a lot of sheep's head meat left, he would immediately close the stall and not sell it. Yes, he had to use homemade pretzels, never the finished pretzels sold in the store.
Because of this feature, gradually everyone became known, and somehow there was such a mantra: "The one who sells sheep's head meat goes home - there is no fine salt (joke)".
It can be seen that to eat delicious white water sheep's head meat, you can't do without the special pepper and salt of the old horse. If you take someone else's general, you will lose its flavor.
In addition, the old horse has a habit of selling sheep's head meat.
This sheephead horse usually sells its own white water sheep's head very easily every day, and the time is still very early, idle, Ma Yukun will go to a place to pass the time. That place is another halal restaurant nearby, the Tongyi Pavilion. Gradually, Ma Yukun formed a habit, every day after selling the white water sheep's head, turning a corner, he would come to the Tongyi Pavilion to drink a few cups, chat with the guys in the store, nag, and then go home to rest.
At that time, the Tongyi Hall was located in the door frame alley outside the front door, and this Tongyi Hall mainly operated a popcorn. Coincidentally, there was a young man in the Tongyi Pavilion, young, only thirteen years old, who was working here as an apprentice and doing a business of exploding stomachs. This young fellow is Wan Shengyuan.
Every time Lao Ma came to the Tongyi Pavilion for a drink, he would always have a chat with this young man, and they got to know each other like this. Because the two can talk very well, they gradually become yearless friends. Wan Shengyuan also often called Ma Yukun Ma Ge.
Wan Shengyuan, a young man, has always been smart and studious, not only can do the belly explosion very authentically, but also often asks Ma Ge for the practice and unique work of sheep's head meat. Lao Ma has always been honest and generous, and the relationship between the two is also iron, there is nothing to talk about, it is not conservative, and as the days go by, this young man actually got the true legend of Lao Ma.
The general practice of this True Transmission Secret Method is mainly based on four major steps.
In the first step, the "four or six mouths" of goat heads from Inner Mongolia are selected and cleaned. What are four or six? It is the castrated male leader, commonly known as the karma sheep. This sheep's head, the meat is tender and not fat, can cut out thin and large pieces of meat. Then soak the packed sheep's head in cold water for about two hours, and then use a plate brush to repeatedly brush the scalp, the whiter the better, but be careful not to break the skin.
Subsequently, the sheep's mouth is brushed and swirled back and forth in the water until the dirt in the mouth, nose, and ears is thoroughly brushed out, and then washed twice with new water. Finally, drain the water and use a knife to cut a long mouth from the middle of the scalp to the nasal bone, so that it is easy to remove the bone after cooking. This is the old horse's soaking method.
Next, the next process - boiling, folding, drying, tableting, each one must have a unique job.
The second step is to cook the meat. First pour cold water into the pot, which should be at least nine centimeters over the sheep's head, and then burn it until the water boils. Then put the washed sheep's head into the pot one by one, cook it for more than an hour, and when the lamb is about seven years old, you can take it out and remove the skull while it is hot.
So, what does seven maturities look like? If you have experience, press the flesh on the sheep's face with your hand, if it becomes slightly elastic, or presses the root of the ear, which has changed from hard to soft, then it is FINE.
As for the removal of the skull, this requires skill. First, from the well-made cut in the middle of the scalp, pull the head meat to the sides. It should be noted that the head meat should be connected to the face flesh and cannot be torn off. When the skull is exposed, pinch the ribs with one hand and lift the skull up from the nasal bone with the other hand to remove it.
Then, you need to take out the sheep's eyes on the skull with your hands, and then cut the skull open to remove the sheep's brain. Then cut the cartilage of the ears and the upper chamber of the mouth from the sheep's head, cut off the hair roots on the forks of the mouth, and slice off the untidy edges of the meat. Then attach the tongue (that is, the mouth of the lamb), with a knife on each side, cut off the mandible, completely remove two pieces of lamb face with lamb, and the whole tongue, soak in cold boiling water for an hour, so that the meat will be more crisp and tender.
In the third step, put the coarse salt in a sand pot, lean against the low heat, and slowly bake it dry. Note that the fire is not too large, you must keep the salt grains white and do not change color, pour on the stone slab to grind into powder, and then finely luo. Peppercorns are also concocted in this way. Then mix salt powder, pepper powder, clove powder, sand kernel powder together and mix into salt and pepper.
The fourth step is the last process. First, drain the soaked cooked sheep's head, when cutting, first put the sheep's face on the board, hold the sheep's face in your left hand, hold the knife in your right hand, the blade is outward, the back of the knife is inward, tilted into a sharp angle of twenty degrees, and every 1.5 mm the distance is sliced into a knife, and the blade is sliced into a thin slope blade. The tongue of the sheep should also be sliced into the same piece. Others, such as sheep eyes, sheep ears, breech cartilage, encounter sheep brain marrow is not cut, are cut into thin slices with a knife. After slicing, place on a plate according to the different parts and sprinkle with pretzel. Note that it should be sprinkled now, otherwise the lamb will be soft and weak. Such a white water sheep's head can be left to your mouth.
Another point is that this white water sheep's head is also exquisite, usually chilled in summer, and iced in winter. Because of this sheep's head meat, the cooler the better.
However, it also needs special attention to the fact that although this white water sheep's head is delicious, it cannot be eaten with pumpkin, watermelon, and catfish, otherwise it will make the popularity stagnate and become ill. In addition, to eat this sheep's head meat, it is best not to eat plum vegetables, buckwheat, nor can you add watercress sauce. In addition, eat white water sheep's head, do not add vinegar, otherwise, it is easy to get on fire, so that the internal fire attacks the heart, it is difficult to clean up.
The ma family's white water sheep head has been passed down to Ma Yukun for the sixth generation. Unfortunately, a few years later, the old horse was caught by the black and white impermanence of Yama, but he was unable to pass on the craft to future generations.
Since then, the craftsmanship of this sheephead horse has almost been cut off.
However, fortunately, that Wan Shengyuan had already received the true legend of the old horse. Although, Mr. Wan has created the name of exploding belly, known as "bursting belly wan". However, in order not to let the old friend Ma Yukun's white water sheep head be lost, he concocted according to the old Ma family's craftsmanship, and finally let the long-lost white water sheep head see the light of day. Blessed are the people of Beijing.
Therefore, although the white water sheep's head in old Beijing is famous for its old shop of "bursting belly", fundamentally speaking, it is still the craftsmanship of the "sheep's head horse" in that year. However, it has now been replaced by a "bursting belly" signboard.