Mutton can promote digestion, protect the stomach wall, and repair gastric mucosa, making it an excellent tonic for winter. However, mutton is warm in nature and can easily lead to "heatiness" if consumed frequently. Therefore, when eating mutton, it can be paired with cooling vegetables such as winter melon, loofah, rapeseed, spinach, Chinese cabbage, enoki mushrooms, lotus root, water bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots, and bok choy. These can provide a cooling, detoxifying, and heat-reducing effect, allowing you to benefit from the nourishing properties of mutton while counteracting its warming nature. If possible, adding some lotus seed hearts can also help clear the heart and reduce fire.
Dr. Zhang Suge from the Nutrition Department of the Third People's Hospital of Zhengzhou suggests that many people who love spicy food add chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel when cooking mutton. These strong seasonings help remove the gamey taste of mutton, but these pungent and warming ingredients can exacerbate the "heatiness" caused by mutton and may also irritate the gastrointestinal tract.
In fact, to prevent the gamey taste, you can add unpeeled ginger and cumin. The ginger skin is pungent and cooling, with effects of dispelling fire, removing heat, relieving pain, and expelling wind. Cooking it with mutton not only removes the gamey taste but also helps to counteract the warming nature of mutton. Cumin, also known as anise, has a strong and fragrant aroma, making it suitable for cooking with mutton. It not only helps remove the gamey taste but also promotes qi circulation, stimulates the appetite, expels wind, and relieves pain.
If possible, you can also boil 1000 grams of mutton with 10 grams of licorice, an appropriate amount of cooking wine, and ginger. The gamey taste will be eliminated.