Time has entered the late autumn, a round of cooling down nationwide, heralding that winter is coming soon.
At this time, the leaves were red, the fruit was ripe, and everyone's sweaters and coats were slowly put on.
As a gourmet country that pays attention to "not eating from time to time", of course, the dishes served on the table at this time have changed. Whether it is pasting autumn fat or replenishing qi and blood, the table Chinese is always inseparable from lamb.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > sheep, how to conquer the stomach of the Chinese people</h1>
Admitting that you love lamb actually requires a little courage.
After all, it is too fragrant, too fresh, with a fishy body from the grassland, the entrance from the touch of the breath, are vividly and openly reminding you: I am meat, lamb!
In China a long time ago, mutton was not so popular with the Han Chinese, and it belonged to the grasslands with long winds and fierce winds. Wang Su of the Southern Dynasty defected to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and at first did not eat mutton or drink goat milk, but still followed the southern customs, eating fish soup and drinking tea, and stayed for several years before entering the countryside.
In the Tang Dynasty, "Hu Feng gradually flourished", and mutton became popular.
According to the "Tang Yulin" record, at that time, the rich people drank and feasted, to eat a dish called "Gulouzi", a pound of lamb was chopped into a filling, sandwiched between the pepper cakes, seasoned with peppercorns and tempeh, baked into the fire to squeak oil - the exquisite combination of carbohydrates and animal fats, the ancients tasted it very early.
Ancient buildings made according to "Tang Yulin" Figure: Lower kitchen @ Jing Cooking Yu Bao
In the Song Dynasty, mutton became the "special meat" of the royal family, after all, cultivating cattle are precious, beef can not be easily eaten, and pork is not on the table "civilian food", so the royal family eats and eats every day, almost all mutton.
The emperor who liked to eat mutton the most should be Song Renzong.
During his reign, the palace slaughtered 280 sheep a day, more than 100,000 a year, which was an astonishing number.
It is said that he once wanted to eat roast lamb one night, but he was afraid that once this case was opened, he would have to kill a sheep in the palace every night in the future to prepare for supply, so he endured all night and did not sleep well.
The mutton that the royal family ate every day could only be tasted occasionally by the common people.
When Su Shi was demoted to Huizhou, the local market only killed one sheep a day, and the mutton was supplied to the official family, so he had to buy some sheep backbones (which is what we now often call "sheep scorpions") to relieve his hunger.
Take the lamb backbone home, cook it first, drain it, soak it in some rice wine, sprinkle it with some salt, roast it until it is slightly charred, slowly remove the meat, and chew it in a wisp.
He described the experience as "like a crab-eating cheetizer", which is also fascinating to think about.
According to legend, shabu mutton was invented by Kublai Khan, and the Yuan Dynasty was also a "sheep-eating boom", Kublai Khan's men were able to eat shabu-shabu lamb, and the common people, the worst of all, also had haggis to eat.
Another mutton boom is the Qing Dynasty. From Kangxi and Qianlong to Empress Dowager Cixi, they are all loyal lovers of lamb hot pot.
Entertaining distinguished guests, there is also a "whole sheep table" that is second only in scale to the full table of The Manchu Han Dynasty. In ancient times, the "whole sheep seat" required thirteen parts such as the head, neck, neck, upper brain, ribs, grinding gear, three forks, inner tendons, waist socket, tendons, chest, tail and other thirteen parts of the sheep body, neck, tail, etc., and cooked in various ways, and must "go nowhere and do not see the sheep".
And also to "taste different", with sheep and each dish does not see the sheep, and the name of the dish is not allowed to show the sheep, such as the ear of the sheep ear called "downwind flag", the sheep's eye is called "phoenix eye pearl", and the ribs are called "Wenchen Tiger Board".
As Yuan Ming wrote in the "Suiyuan Food List": "A plate and a bowl, although it is all lamb, but the taste is different." "Only Chinese can eat lamb so finely."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="151" > eat sheep, we are professional</h1>
From the Pamir Plateau in the west to the Changbai Mountains in the northeast, from west to east, different species of sheep are different in different water and soil, and the flavors cooked are also unique.
In the vast grasslands of northern Xinjiang, the sheep drink the water of the Tianshan Glacier, eat The Herbs of The Taste, and sleep with the wildflower Simmons.
Legend has it that there are no lamb kebabs in Xinjiang, and Xinjiang people only know grilled meat.
After roasting the buns, the embers in the pit can be used to make the pit meat; the large pieces of lamb are fat and lean, which is what we know as red willow meat skewers.
In addition to the huge meat pieces and heroic taste of the red willow kebabs, with the blessing of red willow, Xinjiang people can even use cumin and chili noodles to strengthen their guts, only use a little salt to roast, roasted mutton oil and lamb mixed with a fresh and sweet taste, with red willow branches to the lamb to bring a nut-like smoky aroma.
In addition to grilling, there is also stewing.
The trick to lamb stew is to quickly cover the thin sheets of paper when the lamb is almost cooked and simmer until the dough is tendoned. After the pot, the lamb is strong and flavorful, not greasy, the upper layer of the cake is soft and not sticky, and the lower layer of the cake absorbs the soup of the lamb... Sigh.
Xinjiang's Ili sheep and Hasa sheep are certainly fat, but when it comes to the best lamb in China, nine of the ten gourmets may give a common answer - Ningxia beach sheep.
"Tan sheep" is a branch of the Mongolian sheep, in the back of the Helan Mountains, east of the Yellow River, in the words of the local people, the beach sheep live a life is: "eat Chinese herbal medicine, drink is the ditch spring water." "
For such lamb, the easiest thing to do is the best thing to do.
"China on the Tip of the Tongue" mentions the local practice: no salt is the key to stewing, salt as a strong electrolyte, will destroy the cell membrane of lamb, so that the water in the meat oozes out, losing elasticity.
After cooking for two hours, the muscle fibers soften, plump and delicious, and sprinkle with salt before serving. It not only increases the taste without affecting the texture of the cooked meat, doubling the freshness.
This pot of stewed lamb, taste a bite, who can not boast a sentence: "Beautiful drops are very much!" Beauty drops very much! ”
In people's hearts, tied to mutton, there is also the vast Inner Mongolian steppe.
Legend has it that Uzumuqin sheep only pick fresh grass on the grassland, and when there is a flower, they eat flowers first, then eat shallots, eat mushrooms, eat bracken, and even drink water only live water. This makes the lamb in Inner Mongolia tender, fat and not greasy.
The Mongolians have a "hand-grilled meat", called "Ulan-ed" in Mongolian, only boiling lamb in water, without adding any seasoning, dipping in some condiments when eating, to maximize the preservation of the original taste of lamb.
It is also stewed in water, and the shabu lamb shows a different flavor.
The extremely thinly sliced fresh lamb brain meat is cooked in a pot of water for a few seconds, dipped in the adjusted sesame sauce, the tender texture of the lamb, the deliciousness of the lamb, and the salty flavor of the sesame sauce, melt together in the mouth.
Coming to Beijing, in addition to the copper pot shabu-shabu, the sheep scorpion hot pot also occupies half of Beijing's autumn and winter cuisine.
A pot of old soup, which "grunts" with a pot full of sheep scorpions, while talking with friends in the north and south, while breaking the sheep scorpion with two hands, fat, tender, smooth, fragrant, evocative.
And a plate of exquisite it is like honey (according to the old Beijing dialect, to be pronounced "TASS (soft) honey"), the lamb tenderloin is cut into thin slices, sizing and sliding with sweet noodle sauce and sugar stir-fried, fried meat slices tender brown red, sweet and slightly sour, is a rare sweet lamb dish in other places.
If you walk further into the Central Plains, where staple food dominates, you will find that when lamb encounters carbohydrates, it will collide with different sparks.
Lamb steamed buns, lamb braised noodles, lamb dumplings... Whether it is a thick soup with a heavy hemp color or a clear and pure soup, in autumn and winter, a bowl of steaming lamb soup with a staple food is the best delicacy to soothe the stomach.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="152" > the freshness of the southern sheep, the northern sheep will not understand</h1>
In the impression of many people, delicious lamb is still exclusive to northerners.
What may surprise many friends is that southerners are also good at eating sheep, and there are many tricks.
Compared with the sheep in the north, the lamb in the south is more compact and has a much greater taste, so the southerners eat sheep better than the meticulous approach.
There is a traditional chinese dish "Sheep Fang Tibetan Fish", this dish comes from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, the sheep side refers to the lamb ribs or lamb brisket meat that is repaired into a square, the marinated mandarin fish slices are put into the lamb from the side, simmered in broth until soft and rotten, and then the soup base is boiled and poured on the sheep side.
Isn't this the "freshness" of fish and sheep!
The ritual of Suzhou people entering the late autumn comes from a collection of books and lamb on the side of the road. The phrase "the west wind rises, the crab feet itch" in Suzhou, often add a sentence of "mutton".
The local goat meat in Zoshu Town is tender and tender, and it is stewed with Taihu Lake water in a local fir barrel, which is a bowl of soup color milky white, lamb crisp but not rotten, fresh but not greasy sheep soup. It is said that when it is stewed again, the bottom of the barrel is placed with lamb, the middle part is placed with lamb tripe, and the top is placed with lamb liver, so that the different parts will be cooked just right.
The stewed leg of lamb, removing the bones, and then pouring the lamb soup boiled with the pig skin, after a night of cooling, it condensed into a sheep cake full of collagen, standing on a plate of balsamic vinegar, QQ bomb, is an excellent appetizer.
The same is the package mail area, Zhejiang Jiaxing lake lamb, it is best to accompany the strip. Locals use su grass to tie large pieces of lamb into bundles, add unpeeled sugar cane, and simmer them in a clay pot with soy sauce, sugar, monosodium glutamate and deodorant ingredients.
The noodles and lamb are served separately in two bowls, and when they are eaten, the lamb is sandwiched into the noodles with chopsticks and eaten.
There is also a "sheep pot village" in Zhejiang, there is a famous "sheep pot", which literally means to take out the lamb from the pot to eat, and what to eat.
A group of people gathered around to eat "sheep pot", which was very lively.
If you continue all the way south to Guizhou, the famous Guizhou rice noodles are also an excellent partner for lamb.
The sheep in Guizhou are called Guizhou white goats, and since they are goats, they are also not exempt from the problem of tight meat and heavy taste. In order to solve this problem, Guizhou people will stew the goat with skin and more than a dozen spices and cut it into thin slices, which can avoid the minefield of the smell and solve the problem of elastic taste.
In the end, the thin layer of lamb slices on the rice noodles becomes a delicacy that can compete with the northern mutton soup.
In Hainan, there is a kind of black and shiny Dongshan goat, the best way is to stew it, with a plate of Dongshan flaky cakes, eat a bite of soft lamb, and then bite on the outer crispy and soft Inside Dongshan flapjacks, the fresh wheat aroma can instantly dissolve the current grease.
Counting the Chinese mutton rivers and lakes, whether it is goats or sheep, whether it is stewed or braised, there is always a place and a way to eat, so that people can feel the warmth that flows from the throat to the stomach in the gradually cooling autumn mood.
Perhaps, this is the greatest meaning of food.