As the saying goes, "Eating mutton in winter is better than taking ginseng." With its properties of warming and nourishing qi and blood, warming the middle jiao, and dispelling cold, mutton has always been a popular warming food in winter. In this issue, the "Life Times" has invited He Geng, an assistant researcher at the Animal Husbandry Research Institute of the Xinjiang Academy of Animal Sciences, Zhang Dequan, chief scientist of the Meat Processing Innovation Team at the Institute of Agro-products Processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yu Renwen, a nutritionist at the General Hospital of the Beijing Military Region, and Professor Yang Li from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences to jointly interpret the great knowledge of selecting, cooking, and eating mutton.
Sticky-fresh for a whole piece, fine-boned for tenderness
Although consumers are not professionals, He Geng suggests that people can select mutton based on color, texture, and feel.
Feel a whole piece of mutton. Fresh mutton feels a bit sticky and can easily stick to a small piece of paper. Mutton that has been injected with water or is not fresh will not have this sticky feel. In addition, fresh mutton has a firm and elastic muscle structure. When buying, you can observe the muscle fibers of the mutton; the finer and denser they are, the better.
Look at the bones for bone-in mutton. When buying fresh bone-in mutton, you can compare the thickness of the bones. Generally, the finer the bones, the younger the sheep, and the more tender and fresh the meat.
Observe the color for sliced mutton. Sliced mutton comes in fresh and frozen varieties. Fresh sliced mutton, due to its dense muscle fibers, can stand up if the slices are thick enough, whereas non-fresh slices will be limp. Frozen mutton can be identified by its color; fresh frozen mutton should be bright and fresh red. Mutton that has been frozen for a long time will turn white, and repeatedly thawed mutton is also not fresh, often appearing dark red. Additionally, mutton is a mix of lean and fat; the fat part should be white and fine. If it turns yellow, it means it has been frozen for too long.
Regarding the "fake mutton" appearing on the market, Zhang Dequan pointed out that it can be distinguished from real mutton in three ways. First, look at the color: mutton is bright red but slightly lighter than beef, while pork is pink and duck meat is dark red. Second, look at the texture: the grain of mutton is finer and arranged in stripes. Finally, look at the fat distribution: a major feature that distinguishes beef and mutton from other meats is the marbling, where lean meat is interspersed with fat.
Clever tips to remove the gamey flavor and enhance freshness
There are many ways to cook mutton, among which hot pot, stewing, stir-frying, and grilling are the most common. Yu Renwen explains that the methods for removing the gamey flavor vary with different cooking techniques.
1. Hot pot. Because this method has a short heating time, nutrients are relatively well-preserved. There are two ways to remove the gamey flavor: one is to pair it with small condiments, such as chive flower paste, fermented bean curd, and sesame sauce; the other is to add green onions, ginger, or red dates to the broth.
2. Stewing. Cooking mutton by stewing preserves the original broth, but due to the longer cooking time, some B vitamins are lost. Stewing mutton with winter melon or radish helps to remove the gamey flavor. Additionally, stewing with red dates or dried tangerine peel is a simple and nutritious method to eliminate the gamey taste.
3. Stir-frying. Stir-frying mutton will lose some nutrients, but because it's cooked over high heat for a relatively short time, the loss is not significant. When stir-frying, the best partner for mutton is fresh green onion. To remove the gamey flavor, you can first marinate the mutton with soy sauce, salt, pepper, and starch water.
4. Grilling. Grilling items like lamb chops and lamb skewers uses very high temperatures, causing the most severe nutrient loss and producing harmful substances. The best way to remove the gamey flavor when grilling mutton is to sprinkle it with cumin and chili flakes. However, this combination can easily cause internal heat, so it's best to pair it with "heat-clearing" fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and kiwis. Because they are cooling ingredients and rich in vitamin C and various antioxidants, they can effectively reduce the health damage caused by harmful substances in grilled mutton.
For those with constipation or acne, eat less mutton
Although mutton is nourishing, it is not suitable for everyone. Yang Li points out that the following groups should eat less mutton: First, people who are sensitive to heat but not to cold, are full of energy and tireless, and often have dry stools and are prone to "internal heat." Second, those with wind-heat colds, coughs with yellow phlegm, lung heat with toothaches, or mouth sores should also avoid it. Third, people with skin diseases such as eczema, urticaria, or acne, because from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, mutton is a "trigger food" that can induce certain conditions, worsen allergic skin reactions, and cause symptoms to recur. Fourth, people who usually eat too much rich food, as their blood lipids are generally high, and their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels may also be excessive. It is best to eat less high-cholesterol mutton, especially the fatty lamb slices commonly used in hot pots, which have a higher fat content.
3 Nourishing Mutton Dishes
Yang Li points out that in the "Compendium of Materia Medica," mutton is regarded as an excellent tonic that "supplements the original yang and benefits qi and blood." When paired with a perfect complement, it becomes a top recommended health dish for winter.
Mutton Stewed with White Radish. The effect of mutton lies in "supplementing, warming, and raising," while white radish is the opposite—its function is "purging, clearing, and lowering." With its sweet and cool nature, it can cool, detoxify, and reduce "internal heat." Moreover, white radish aids digestion and lowers blood lipids, compensating for mutton's shortcomings and making it a perfect match. The ratio of radish to mutton is about 2:1. When the mutton is about 60% cooked, add the radish to the pot, along with green onions, ginger, salt, and other seasonings.
Black Bean Stewed Mutton. From a TCM perspective, black beans enter the kidney meridian, and mutton warms and tonifies the kidney. When stewed together, their effect on nourishing the kidney and warming the body is enhanced. Additionally, mutton contains relatively high saturated fat and cholesterol, while the phytosterols in black beans can inhibit the human body's absorption of "bad cholesterol." For this dish, the ratio of mutton to black beans is about 10:1. Add water and simmer slowly in a clay pot until the meat is tender and the beans are soft. Finally, add salt, green onions, and other seasonings to taste.
Dang Gui (Angelica) Ginger Mutton Soup. Dang Gui is warm in nature and has the effect of nourishing blood and activating blood circulation; ginger warms the middle jiao to dispel cold and induces sweating; and mutton is warm and can warm the middle jiao and tonify deficiency. The combination of the three has the effect of warming the middle jiao, nourishing blood, dispelling cold, and relieving pain. You can use 3-5 grams of Dang Gui, 30 grams of ginger, and 500 grams of mutton to make the soup.