"This year, mutton is cheaper, the whole leg of lamb is 35 yuan a catty, compared to 38-40 yuan a catty in previous years. In a village in Chongmingbao Town, farmer Zhao Xiaodong raised hundreds of sheep, and when the Spring Festival approached, many people came to consult and buy. Chongming large-scale white goat breeding base - Guzong White Goat Professional Cooperative also introduced that this year due to a variety of factors, the price of mutton has been adjusted, "we have reduced the supply price of several platforms such as Hema and Dingdong this year, and the platform has also benefited consumers, and there are more promotions than in previous years." Guo Xuchen, the head of sales of the cooperative, said that among all kinds of mutton products, prefabricated dishes such as white-cut mutton and mutton scorpion hot pot are now very popular with some consumers.
Lamb is cheaper this year
Zhao Xiaodong has been raising sheep in the countryside of Chongming for many years, and familiar old customers will go directly to his farm to buy sheep, and he also goes to the Baozhen farmers' market every day to sell. "This year's market is average, the price has dropped, the leg of mutton is 35 yuan a catty, and I sold it for 38-40 yuan a catty when the market was good in previous years. Zhao Xiaodong said that now Chongming encourages qualified farmers to raise more Chongming goats, and he feels that there are more sheep, so the price has dropped, of course, there are other reasons.
It is an old rule to go to the countryside of Chongming or the farmers' market to buy a leg of mutton, and it is an old rule to sell sheep's head on the front leg and mutton fat on the hind leg. In the eyes of those who understand the scriptures, the front legs of sheep are of better quality than the hind legs, so most people are willing to buy the front legs, although the weight of the tied sheep's head is not light.
The Chongming Farmers' Market generally sells whole leg of lamb
In the large-scale Chongqing goat breeding base, there will be more options for buying mutton. Several large-scale breeding bases supply Hema and Dingdong as well as major supermarkets and restaurants, so they subdivide the front leg meat with skin, hind leg meat with skin, lamb belly, sheep scorpion, lamb chops and other parts, and the amount is also hundreds of grams to a few catties of different specifications to choose from, and there is no need to buy the whole leg of lamb.
Prices have also dropped this year at several large bases. "Originally, we supplied to the supermarket, and the price of the supermarket's lamb leg was equivalent to 80 yuan a catty, but now we have adjusted the supply price, and the seller has also made a profit, and the price is 70-75 yuan a catty. Guo Xuchen introduced that the current price of mutton has not only decreased, but also has more promotional activities on the platform than in previous years, hoping to drive more sales.
Another large-scale white goat breeding base in Chongming - Xiaoyao White Goat Professional Cooperative in Shanghai Agricultural Products Public Service Platform "Fish and Rice Township" The price is 680 yuan for the whole leg of mutton leg 10 catties.
A few sheep farmers in the countryside of Chongming are not worried about sales, "I only have three or five sheep, and I sell them to those old customers every year." Mr. Mao, a farmer, said, however, affected by the overall market situation, his sheep are also slightly cheaper this year, "There were new customers who came to 'trench' to fight a sheep before, and there were very few in the past two years." ”
Lamb pre-made dishes are popular
The craze for pre-made dishes has also swept through the lamb. In the past two years, Guzong White Goat Professional Cooperative has gradually begun to use Chongming goat to develop and cook prefabricated dishes such as white-cut mutton, braised mutton, lamb scorpion hot pot, spicy sheep's trotters, etc., Guo Xuchen introduced that these prefabricated dishes are currently welcomed by certain consumer groups.
Sheep scorpion hot pot pre-made dishes
"Frankly speaking, like some other pre-made dishes, there is definitely a difference in the taste of mutton pre-made dishes and those cooked at home, but some groups, especially young people who don't fire at home, like it very much, and when they come home from work, they can be eaten after opening the package and heating it, which are all easy-to-operate fast dishes. In addition, there are some people who can cook vegetables at a certain age, but they don't feel very good at cooking white cut mutton, which is a time-consuming and laborious food to make at home, so they prefer to buy ready-made. Guo Xuchen also introduced that with the rise of outdoor sports such as camping, sheep scorpion hot pot is also popular with young people, and you can taste steaming hot pot when you set up a stove.
In the "Land of Fish and Rice", the price of Guzong white-cut mutton is 200 grams per bag, and 2 bags are 103.8 yuan. 500 grams of braised mutton from Wanhe Agricultural Company sold for 88 yuan.
Braised lamb is the most common way to make mutton in Chongming
How to buy lamb
Some people don't like to eat mutton, the main reason is that they feel that it has a strong smell. Guo Xuchen introduced that Chongming goats have a low smell, which is related to many factors such as breeding environment, feed, and slaughtering technology.
From the perspective of breeding environment, Chongming Linjiang is close to the sea, the water and soil are weakly alkaline, and the mutton itself is acidic, so it is just neutralized.
In terms of feed, if you eat pellet feed instead of crop by-products such as corn leaves, the meat will be looser and the smell will be heavier.
The slaughtering process also has an impact on the quality of the lamb. After the sheep is killed, it should be hung in the cold storage of about 0-4 degrees to further neutralize the pH, so that the taste of the meat will be firmer and the taste will be smaller.
In addition, castrated sheep will taste better. This is the precautions that the old farmers in Chongming will tell you, and it is best to buy castrated sheep when buying sheep.
Of course, the cooking method of mutton is also exquisite, it is well cooked, the smell is light, and the taste is delicious.
Another difference between Chongming mutton and mutton in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and other places is that the northwest is usually sold without skin, while Chongming mutton is sold with skin, and people who like to eat will feel that mutton with skin has a special taste.
For the public, in addition to identifying the brand when buying mutton, there is usually no way to understand the specific feeding process and slaughtering process, so how to choose mutton? Guo Xuchen introduced, can be selected from three aspects: vision, touch and smell, "from the naked eye, fresh mutton color bright red, and fresh mutton black, dark; press mutton, fresh immediately rebound, not sticky, not fresh after pressing slow rebound or not rebound; smell with the nose, fresh mutton has a faint milky fragrance, slight smell, stale mutton sour and smelly. ”