Roasting whole lamb is a famous dish! It is found in many parts of the country! Especially in the Northwest Territories is more common and popular!
Wei Ji also ate roast whole lamb in the south, but it was made of goats, and it was skinny, crispy and crispy, and the aroma was not wonderful. However, it is not common, because in the southern diet, roast suckling pig and roast duck, roast goose is more popular. Therefore, roasted whole lamb is only a niche feast dish in the south!
Now when people talk about "roasted whole lamb", many people will first think that it is the chief famous dish in Inner Mongolia, because the grassland is rich in sheep! According to relevant records, the Mongol people had the custom of slaughtering cattle and sheep to entertain distinguished guests very early on. The Secret History of Mongolia provides information on the early Mongols' preference for eating grilled meat.
At the beginning, after the descendants of Genghis Khan entered the Central Plains, they also brought their national cuisine together and integrated them into the diet of the Central Plains. According to Lobsang Chodan's "Mongolian Customs", the most valuable meal in the Mongolian recipe is the whole cow and the whole sheep feast, because the unique conditions of the steppe are rich in cattle, sheep, and horses, horses are military materials, and cattle and sheep are the main source of meat food for the Mongols.
Eating whole cattle and whole sheep is a Mongolian feast tradition, and they are collectively called the Horse Feast. Therefore, the horse feast is also called the first feast of the prairie!
More than 700 years ago, the Mongolian Yuan Empire was established, and the horse banquet became a court banquet during the Yuan Dynasty, which was a celebration activity integrating banquet, song and dance, games and competition, and was the most luxurious and grand banquet at that time.
Kublai Khan, the grandfather of the Yuan Dynasty, visited Shangdu every year and had to set up a feast to entertain clan relatives, ministers, close attendants and other personnel, also known as the "quality sun feast". It was a feast prepared by the Yuan Dynasty for the unity needs of the upper ruling class! There is only one purpose: to have fun.
The arrangement of the banquet program can be felt in the large-scale live-action performance program (Shenyoutong Lake) of the Alxa Tonghu Grassland today! If you have time and the opportunity, you can feel the strong Mongolian style!
The top dish at the banquet is "roasted whole lamb".
This "History of the Yuan" said that "digging the ground for cooking with burning meat" cuisine, in fact, in the more distant "Zhou Dynasty Eight Treasures" has already had a preliminary shape, that is, "cannon mu (zang)", this dish with the same name as the "cannon dolphin", because of Mengyuan's entry into the Central Plains, no one mentioned it in the end!
During the eighty-nine years of the Yuan Dynasty's rule, the barbecue method of the grassland was integrated with the barbecue method of the Central Plains! It is also interesting to say that the original barbecue method in the Central Plains is to use forks and forks to burn raw materials (now commonly known as open stove barbecue), and the color and heat of the raw materials are all controlled by the operator (chef).
Later, the master of the court barbecue moved south due to the chaos of the Song and Yuan wars, and finally went into exile in Guangdong, and because of the fear of revealing his identity, he used a large wine tank to make it (now called stew oven barbecue). This method was soon absorbed by the imperial cooks of the Yuan Dynasty, and they also began to use this kiln roast "roast whole sheep" similar to the cylinder roast when the princes and nobles feasted on "roasted whole sheep" to entertain vips.
As Mongolia retreats into the desert, this way of "roasting whole sheep" is almost all over the steppe! Families make a "roast whole lamb" during the grand festival
During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the first generation of Alxa Banner King Zasak and Luo Li led the troops to move from Xinjiang to Alxa. Later, the third-generation Banner King, Lobzang Dorji, was given the title of Prince of Horse of the Imperial Court for his outstanding military achievements, and the palace was established in Beijing. On the basis of the original process, he also absorbed the characteristics of Beijing roast duck cooking, forming the unique local flavor of the roasted whole lamb in Alxa today, which has a history of nearly 300 years.
Today, Alxa roasted whole sheep has become a project in the national intangible cultural catalog.
Compared with the roasted whole sheep in Yinchuan, the biggest feature of the Alxa roasted whole sheep is that it maintains the natural form of the whole sheep. The lamb's belly is supported by an iron frame, so that the dish looks full and natural.
The sheep sacrifice ceremony also highlights the noble temperament of the whole sheep feast and highlights the Mongolian characteristics.
The first part: the chef pushes the sheep-carrying cart into the door, surrounded by dressed Mongolian girls and boys to the guest table, and then there are Mongolian singers singing eulogies, although Wei Ji can't understand it, but still feel the warmth and solemnity!
In the second link, ask Wang Ye to open the sheep (the superior of the feast), first hold the sheep knife, draw a large cross on the back of the sheep, first horizontal and then vertical, draw a cross to imply that life is perfect, and wish everyone a perfect life, all the best, and everything goes well.
The third link: take the Hongtou Flower, Wang Ye uses his hands to lift the Hongtou Flower high above his head, holding the Hongtou Flower means that the cause is the head of the hongtou, and I wish everyone the cause of the hongtou is the head, the hongyun is high, and the red is red.
The third part: toast a bowl of mellow open sheep wine, Wang Ye holds a cup in his right hand, dips the ring finger of his left hand in the wine glass, and plays up to salute the heavens, (thanks to the heavens for giving life); then dips down to honor the earth, (thanks to the earth for blessings); and finally dips from the forehead to honor the ancestors, (thanks to the ancestors for giving a strong body)
The last drink is a mellow open (sheep) wine. Everyone is starting to enjoy the food!
The reason why Alxa's roasted whole sheep are delicious is that according to the introduction, the sheep here eat white cordyceps and drink mineral water, and the herders choose four to six toothed grassland sheep when selecting sheep. A perfect roasted whole lamb, the production process has as many as eighteen.
When grilling, the use of soy sauce, rock sugar, honey mixed color, so that the sheep not only good-looking, but also the skin is also very crisp, in addition to the mastery of temperature is also the key, according to different climate change, adjust the kiln burning temperature, so that the roasted whole sheep, color and flavor are complete. Peking duck is roasted with fruit wood, while Alxa roasted whole sheep is made of shuttle wood.
In general, roasted whole lamb is the most important meal of the Mongolian people, which was previously only enjoyed by Mongolian princes and nobles, and the average herdsman could not eat it at all. Today, this traditional delicacy has become a popular feast for the public. While going to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to enjoy the beautiful scenery, how can you not eat a roast whole lamb?
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I am Wei Ji! Thanks for reading attention!
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