Today, when you are in ambush, you can feel the rolling heat wave on the road. Each place will have its own customs to greet Futian, but many people can't imagine that the custom in Shanghai is to "eat lamb and drink shochu".
In Shanghai, Zhenru, Qibao, Chongming, Zhoupu, Jiangqiao, Songyin, Zhangqiao, Zhangze and other places have mutton, and many places are not even known to me as a local. Almost every district has its own lamb anyway.
The so-called "mutton shochu" is to use mutton as a appetizer, and it must be morning wine, so it can also be called "mutton morning wine".
Shanghai's uncles (Shanghainese call uncles) like to drink lamb shochu in the morning, especially Futian to drink, sweat to cool off.
Similar customs exist in many places in Jiangnan, but they vary in terms of whether to drink morning wine, whether to only serve lamb, and whether to rest in the summer (shops close in summer).
Lamb is generally divided into two types: braised and white cut. In terms of the Huangpu River, it is said that the Huangpu River is divided into "north red, south and white", but in fact, most mutton restaurants have both. And there will be noodles, so it is also possible to call it a lamb noodle restaurant.
Regarding lamb, diners who know a little bit can talk to you a lot about the doorway. Zhang Ze's rotten mutton is soft and rotten with boy goats, Jiangqiao mutton is made of lake sheep so the sheep is light in taste, Chongming uses white goats with full muscle, and so on. But no one would say they only eat so-and-so lamb.
The reason may be because the taste has long been engraved into the genes of locals, such as Braised Noodles in Henan, Niuda in Lanzhou, and Lamb Steamed Buns in Shaanxi.
This hidden corner of the lamb house serves more as a "social occasion". So, "the best on your doorstep".
It is okay to say that it is "shochu", and it is okay to get some rice wine, even beer. Old diners like to bring their own, and even store sake in the shop, and the store of course accepts it, which is a bit of a Japanese izakaya.
Image source @ Dianping user Alex.Lam
Lamb restaurants generally open at five o'clock in the morning, and some even open at three or four o'clock in the morning, but diners wait at the door early.
Lamb is expensive, thirty or forty yuan if you order braised, it is only about one or two pieces. And point white cut, cut into pieces or strips, look at more points can eat more.
White-cut lamb is not like braised lamb and can be covered with spices, so the smell is definitely more pronounced. But people who love to eat lamb always love a little bit of smell, not at all greasy and not interesting.
In addition to the white cut lamb, lamb tripe, sheep lung, sheep liver, sheep crutches, etc., are abundant and frugal.
When a person comes, he will eat silently, occasionally toasting with acquaintances.
Most of the people who come together with a partner come late, eat late, push the cup to change the cup, and chat about home. Like Cantonese people drinking morning tea, direct breakfast lunch and solve in one meal.
The wine was almost drunk, and the sky began to light up. Cooked shops don't even need their uncles to open their mouths, they just serve the steaming lamb soup noodles.
The uncles will definitely keep a little lamb or haggis, and then eat the noodles. Drink and eat, wipe your mouth and wipe your sweat, go home to sleep in the cage or go to the flower and bird market.
I still have to recommend a few Lamb Restaurants in Shanghai, and if you have the opportunity, you can also experience this hidden local culture.
01| is really like a lamb restaurant
Zhenru Mutton is the most famous lamb in Shanghai, with a history of more than 200 years. As early as the Qianlong period, there were more than 30 mutton restaurants on Zhenru Old Street.
After Zhenru was transferred to Putuo District in 1958, the 6 mutton restaurants in the town were merged into Zhenru Mutton Restaurant. Zhenru mutton was also included in the first batch of Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2007.
The most precious thing about the mutton restaurant is one of the pots of "old soup", which is about 100 years old. This pot of old soup, except for the chef, the average chef can't even see it.
Shen Jianzhong, the first non-hereditary heir of Zhenru mutton, was the master of his white-cut mutton (Agui mutton) craftsman Chengzhenru's famous "Agui Mutton Restaurant", while braised lamb (raw stove mutton) was the successor of another famous "Yuqingxiang Mutton Restaurant". Therefore, this unique old soup and the skills of the two veins of the master have made Zhenru lamb famous.
The first choice for lamb restaurants is naturally to eat white-cut lamb, and the white-cut lamb stewed in the old soup will be slightly saltier than other places in Shanghai, and it will taste without any sauce. The high-quality goat meat provided by Shandong Contract Farm is selected, the meat is lean, and there will be a very attractive layer of meat jelly under the skin.
Another recommended one is the original haggis soup, which is very rich in all kinds of haggis, and the blood of the sheep is not fishy at all. Although it is a haggis soup, it gives people a "refreshing" feeling.
02| Dongming Lamb Restaurant
Zhenru and Jiangqiao both belonged to Jiading, and the lamb cooking techniques of the two were close. Therefore, in addition to zhenru mutton, which is included in the intangible cultural heritage list, there is also Jiangqiao mutton. This Dongming mutton restaurant in Jiangqiao is an old shop that has been eaten by nearby residents for decades.
Dongming Lamb Shop I recommend braised lamb, because the characteristic of Jiangqiao lamb is to choose lake sheep.
Lake sheep belong to sheep, many people think that sheep are fat, so the smell is heavy, but it is not. The taste of lamb is greatly influenced by the variety, age and feeding style. In Guizhou's free-range black goats, the smell substance is several times higher than most sheep. The lake sheep is a kind of high-quality meat sheep with a very light taste.
Braised lamb is the traditional Shanghai method of roasting, fat and lean suitable lamb, salty with sweet. The lake sheep is still a little fatter than the goat, don't look at only one piece, the reader who eats the fat sheep is enough to be satisfied.
If it is really not enough, it does not matter, Dongming Mutton Restaurant also has all kinds of small stir-fry, pots, love to eat on a lamb pot, more affordable.
03| Long-legged lamb
Long-legged lamb in Zhoupu is far from being described as "hot". This 38-year-old shop is open "fake". Many people drive tens of kilometers to visit, but find that the doors have long been closed.
The reason is that ZhouPu people love it too much. On holidays, long-legged lamb often opens at 3 a.m., and many diners are already waiting at the door.
The long-legged lamb is made of small goats, also on the grounds that lambs have a lighter taste and tenderer meat than adult lambs. The white-cut lamb is stewed crisp but not rotten, and after a minute of heat, the lamb will not form. The sheepskin has a rich gum and jelly-like taste.
We arrived at the shop at noon on weekdays, and there was only the last small piece of lamb left. The boss and his wife said that on holidays, eighty or ninety pounds of sheep, they would kill thirty a day. Often sold out before 9 a.m., it shows the zhoupu people's love for lamb.
04| Lee Kee Lamb Restaurant
In the Shanghai Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage, there are two related to mutton, in addition to the mutton technique of Zhenru/Jiangqiao, which is the mutton shochu food custom of Zhuangxing. Fengxian has been hosting the Zhuangxing Fuyang Festival since 2008 and has become an important local festival.
Li Ji's craft of cooking lamb has been passed to the boss Li Yingchun, which has reached the third generation. His father, Li Jinlong, was a non-hereditary heir to the mutton shochu diet.
Li Ji mutton is made of "hot lamb", and put into the refrigerator to freeze into a similar dish of the practice, "hot lamb" pays attention to fresh cooking and eating, it is best to sit down at the same time, the lamb is just out of the pot.
This way of eating lamb may also be more acceptable for diners from out of town, after all, if the cold white cut lamb is some small shop that does not do well, it is easy to paste a mouthful of mutton oil, making people have no appetite. The hot lamb naturally does not have this problem, and the taste is more soft and rotten.
The raw materials for Li Ji lamb are very simple, except for lamb and water without any condiments. But because of this, there are high requirements for a series of processes from slaughter to cooking, in order to ensure that a crisp but not collapsed shape, meat aroma but not obvious taste of lamb.
For a long time after liberation, There was no custom of drinking "mutton shochu" in Shanghai, and it is said that it should be cut off. But in the past two decades, it has somehow revived, and I have to say that the inheritance of culture is really interesting. Even if you have been lost, you will still come back after going around.
What is the hidden culture of your hometown? Welcome to leave a message and share it with Taiwan.
Text | taro
Figure | Zhong Heng