#我来唠家常#
▲ Sheep soup shabu-shabu in Inner Mongolia. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
-The Legend of the Gentleman of Things-
Soup pots from the north and south
No sheep will be spared
With the advent of the winter solstice, the temperature hovers around zero degrees Celsius plummets, and the significance of mutton soup for winter is like a quick way to get the temperature. The mutton soup is in the stomach, and the winter has become lighter.
In many people's minds, mutton soup seems to be the patent of the north. In fact, there is not only mutton soup in the south, but also a variety of styles, and even on the day of the winter solstice, the appearance of mutton soup will make the festival more ritualistic.
▲ Shandong Wulian whole sheep soup. Photo by Wang Yunfei
The Qinling-Huai River not only separates the southern rice from the north, dumplings and glutinous rice balls, sweet zongzi and salty zongzi, but also makes the sheep soup have a northern and southern style.
Northern Pie: Boiled out of the avenue to simplicity
The northerners are good at raising sheep, from the perspective of the distribution of vegetation species, the pastoral area of the mainland from the Daxing'an Mountains in the north of Inner Mongolia to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, occupying the vast majority of the northwest area of China's territory.
The most original taste of Saibei Kanto丨
When I arrived in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, I found that compared with roasted whole sheep and hand-handled meat, sheep soup is the protagonist of Inner Mongolian people's lives. On the streets, at the station, you can see shops selling mutton soup everywhere, a bowl of hot mutton soup, plus salty puff pastry baked cakes, the special smell of sesame oil and mutton soup are intertwined in the mouth.
▲ Photography/HT160413233227495, Picture/Huitu.com
Sheep soup on the grassland has always attached importance to the abundance of materials, pay attention to the "whole sheep", to three ingredients, three soups, three flavors, of which the three ingredients are divided into main and secondary, the main material is red - heart, liver, lung, and the auxiliary material is white - intestines, belly, head. The process of boiling mutton soup looks bold, to cut the dehaired sheep's head into mahjong pieces, pick out the various parts of the sheep's face, and then blanch the water and skim the blood...... The man who is bold and skillful in his movements and can slaughter sheep is the most charming.
Ningxia's Tan mutton is tender and tender, and it is a good dish to stew with white radish. The locals make mutton soup in a simple way. And the local specialty wolfberry, red dates, codonopsis composed of a nourishing three-piece set boiled with water, only add salt to maintain the original taste, no superfluous seasoning and techniques, all rely on the gift of nature.
▲ Ningxia shabu mutton. Photo by Ethan
The atmosphere of mutton soup in Northeast China seems to be more prosperous than that of Inner Mongolia, and when it comes to Benxi City in Liaoning Province, the small city of mutton soup can make the big brother of the surrounding cities drive hundreds of kilometers to arrive, and the barbecue here has to be "a little later".
When I went to the Northeast, I drank mutton soup and used a bowl to see the outside, and the waiter firmly put the iron basin full of mutton on the table, and instructed: "The soup is gone, and then call it, don't need money, manage enough!" "It's a scene that anyone who experiences it for the first time will be thrilled.
▲ Liaoning Benxi mutton soup. Photo/Visual China
North China Coast丨Sheep soup is thicker
The small-tailed Han sheep is a subspecies of Mongolian sheep after entering the mainland, covering most of the mutton market in the north, it is more suitable for captivity, and it is not demanding natural forage and is not so wild. Therefore, the trick of making mutton soup in the central region is less of that natural power, like a mediocre little person, it needs more time to catch up, and the spinal cord in the sheep bone bursts out a little primitive, like a hard work to make up for the clumsiness.
▲ Oily spicy + haggis soup. Photography / Lushena's smile, photo/Huitu.com
The essence of Tianjin's diet is inseparable from the small ingredient "fermented bean curd", such as the famous pancake fruit and gaba dish, and the finishing touch is in the pale pink fermented bean curd juice. Due to the existence of fermented bean curd, mutton soup in Tianjin is like an experimental cuisine, the step of adding haggis after boiling the soup with stick bones is just the stage has just been built, in addition to the milk curd is also accompanied by sesame sauce, leeks, and finally ends with a large handful of green chopped coriander. It's really a colorful triple experience of "color and fragrance".
▲ Shanxian mutton soup. Figure/Marketchart.com
Looking for sheep soup in the "inland" is not so pure. Wheat is abundant near the Central Plains, carbohydrates almost dominate people's tables, and the mutton soup here is more like a seasoning agent in the food, and how to match the staple food with local characteristics seems to be the primary task of the mutton soup.
The land of the Central Plains丨When sheep soup meets staple food
The sheep soup in the Central Plains has to mention Henan. Kaifeng special snack sheep double intestine method is simple, with the sheep's large and small intestines filled with starch and blood water, cooked and sliced to eat. Although it is essentially no different from blood sausage, the mutton soup with the addition of the sheep's double intestines as the base is only available in Kaifeng in the world. Henan's traditional food, braised noodles, is famous in China, and this is indispensable for the lamb soup as a foil to the green leaves.
▲ Shaanxi noodles fish and mutton soup. Photography/zxmxy, picture/huitu.com
At the junction of Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, there is Lingbao County, where the local terroir combines all the love of the Central Plains people for staple food. can count these leading facades, mutton shaved noodles, mutton steamed buns, mutton paste, and mutton puffs with old baked cakes, which one can be separated from the "freshness" of a bowl of mutton soup?
Looking to the west again, Shaanxi people's love for sheep soup is unusually "primitive". The name of the mutton in the water basin is simple and crude, and the origin is only because of the large water basin used in the production, and the locals prefer to call it "mutton bubble". The straightforward and crisp character of Shaanxi people cannot be hidden in the naming of sheep soup.
▲ Lamb stewed noodles. Figure/Marketchart.com
Shaanxi people eat mutton soup with a distinction in the color of the soup, Dali, Heyang, Hancheng and other places are popular in two kinds - clear soup and thick soup. For example, Pucheng is accustomed to eating the heavy hemp flavor of Sichuan pepper, and the soup is dark red and deep, while the mutton in Chengcheng's water basin pays attention to the use of cumin, which is much brighter. The soft stewed pure meat with crescent moon cakes, sprinkled with garlic sprouts, green onions, and coriander before serving, not only adds flavor and color, but also looks like a century-old ritual.
▲Shaanxi Jingbian mutton noodles. Photography/nele, Picture/Picture Worm Creative
Shandong's Shandong cuisine represents the north in the eight major cuisines to show its strengths, and the reputation of eating mutton is also not small, the chili paste boiled in mutton fat is not greasy to eat, it is the secret of every diner, take a spoonful of hot soup, sheep's tail oil slowly dissolves in the mutton soup, and you are hungry when you smell it. The local "Peony Evening News" once reported the good news of the Beijing-Kowloon high-speed railway passing through Heze with the title of "Taste mutton soup in the morning and visit Hong Kong in the afternoon".
▲ Shandong Wulian whole sheep soup. Photo by Wang Yunfei
Nanpai: Boiled out of the multi-flavored carnival
Drinking mutton soup in the south seems to have a special festive color.
▲ Guangxi Dahua leek fresh soup, "fish and sheep in one". Photography / Taozi
Huaihai area丨Fuyang soup "hot to heat"
"A bowl of soup for sheep, no need for a doctor to prescribe medicine", this is the Huaihai region's unique experience in drinking sheep soup. Xiao County, Anhui Province and Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province are approaching, the customs and folk customs of the two places are not the same, the local Fu Sheep Festival has a long history, from the "Book of Han" recorded "Fu Ri, the edict gives official meat (mutton)" to "the year of Fu La, cooking sheep and lamb", the sheep festival shared by the monarch and ministers is a lively and extraordinary sheep eating event every year. The Sheep Festival often lasts for a whole month, from the beginning of the lunar calendar to the end of the lunar calendar, with heat to heat, sweat and detoxification, so that people can't tell whether it is sweat or rain.
Xuzhou "Yangfang Tibetan Fish" soup. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
In Sichuan and Chongqing, mutton soup has become a must-eat solar term diet during the winter solstice.
Jianyang in the Sichuan Basin also has a mutton festival, and it can be said that the city was born for mutton soup. Sheep soup has changed a unique pattern in Jianyang, and the local big-eared sheep is a combination of Chinese and Western breeds, and the practice also pursues mixing; Boiling, stir-frying, boiling, and stewing, each step injects a new soul into the mutton soup. Before the mutton is stir-fried, the oil is fried with carp to bring out the aroma, and the stew soup is made with pork bones and mutton bones for a long time in order to set off the freshness. The rumor that the fish and sheep are fresh in a pot has been realized in Jianyang.
▲ A group of diners who are drinking Jianyang mutton soup. Every year on the winter solstice, the "mutton soup street" in Chengdu Xiaoguanmiao will be crowded with people who come to drink soup. Photo/Visual China
Unlike most cities in the north that prepare dumplings on the winter solstice, or the Liangguang region is keen on glutinous rice balls, the winter solstice festival in the Bashu Basin requires eating mutton and drinking mutton soup. There are some shops in Sichuan and Chongqing, no matter what you usually do, beer halls or breakfast shops, and you always have to tacitly spend a big pot to cook mutton soup when the winter solstice is approaching. You see, in the hot city with little snow, a bowl of mutton soup is still so enthusiastic.
Guizhou Plateau丨Sheep soup is also colorful
Further southwest, Guizhou mutton noodles are famous throughout the country. Guizhou's "spicy" is unique, it is not the spicy, nor the most fragrant, but the absolute most complete kind, people who love spicy food, come to Guizhou is not wrong.
▲ Guizhou mutton powder. Photography / Zhu Rui
The soul of mutton flour is in the lamb soup base. Guizhou has a lot of mountainous land, which is a paradise of precious herbs, so that the free-range goats are "greatly supplemented" all year round, and the meat is firm and chewy. To make "powder", you need to use indica rice in the next year, and after blister fermentation, you will be beaten and steamed until half-cooked, which is similar to the "river drain" in Shanxi, Shandong and other places, and the taste is soft and glutinous. The first choice for boiling mutton soup is bantam black goat, fat and thin breast meat is the best, seasoned ginger shreds, tangerine peel and a handful of peppercorns, I found that cities that are good at drinking mutton soup are chasing the word simple. Finally, the mutton soup is boiled in the pot, and don't forget the soul of Guizhou people - add a handful of dried sea peppers.
▲ Dai's mutton noodle shop is lined up one after another with people eating noodles. Photography / Zhu Rui
Jiangnan Water Town丨Boil the umami out
There are many famous mutton soups in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, such as the Tibetan mutton in Suzhou, which is traditionally burned in the cedar barrel of Qionglong Mountain, called "Basin"; Put the meat at the bottom, put the belly in the middle, and finally fill the lamb liver cap, saying that this will make the different parts of the meat stew at the same time. I wonder if there will be a fragrance of cedar.
There is also the crisp sheep noodles in Tongxiang in northern Zhejiang, in winter, half of the street is "Tongxiang pot", half is mutton noodles. Any soup, as long as you put in the effort to make the soup, it is basically half successful. Tongxiang often uses the lake sheep with a great smell, but it is also rich in rice wine by the Taihu Lake, and the soup is mellow after the two are stewed, and they are perfectly combined. Therefore, the relationship between food and the city is very delicate, and its shortcomings can often be overcome in the surrounding area.
▲ Hangzhou's "sheep pot". Photo by Zhou Ming
The mutton soup further south has basically changed its appearance. Hainan's specialties are not only Wenchang chicken and Jiaji duck, but also sheep, and the Dongshan suckling sheep of Wanning Dongshan Ridge is a tribute in the Song Dynasty. Southern cities love stew, of course, lamb bone pot, which is eaten in a similar way to Yunnan's hot pot, and in the words of northern chefs, their essence lies in boiling broth.
Sheep soup in the south may not be so common, but it is an important diet that cannot be ignored during the winter solstice, and it is present in every southerner's sense of ritual.
▲ Suzhou Tibetan mutton soup. Photography / Xiaojun _Joanne, Picture / Picture Worm Creative Photography / Xiaojun _Joanne
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Text | Uncle
Cover Photography | Huitu.com
Is your hometown in the South or in the North?
Is there a habit of drinking mutton soup on the winter solstice?