Autumn and winter are the best times for nourishing the body. As a light and nourishing food, mutton is highly favored. "Sui Xi Ju Yin Shi Pu" states: "Mutton warms the middle, replenishes Qi, nourishes the ying, resists wind and cold, promotes muscle growth, and strengthens strength."
Mutton is divided into two types: sheep mutton and goat mutton. Sheep mutton has a milder gamey flavor, while goat mutton has a stronger one. Besides the smell, sheep mutton is dark red in color, firm in texture, with fine and soft muscle fibers, and contains a small amount of fat interspersed between muscles, creating a marbled pattern. Goat mutton is redder in color, softer in texture, with coarser muscle fibers, and no fat between muscles, appearing similar to common livestock meat.
In general, compared to pork, mutton has more protein and less fat. It is also rich in vitamins B1, B2, B6, as well as iron, zinc, and selenium. Furthermore, mutton is tender and easily digested and absorbed. Eating more mutton can help improve the body's immunity. The saying, "To live a long life, eat mutton often," has a certain scientific basis.
Mutton has higher calories than beef and has long been considered an important food for warding off cold and nourishing the body in autumn and winter. Eating mutton often in the cold winter can tonify Qi and supplement deficiency, promote blood circulation, and enhance cold resistance. Mutton can also increase digestive enzymes, stimulate the appetite, strengthen the spleen, and aid digestion. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that mutton also has the effect of benefiting the kidneys and nourishing the liver, making it especially suitable for the elderly or weak middle-aged and young people.
2. Exquisitely Prepared by a Private Chef, Rich in Flavor
There are many ways to cook mutton, including stir-frying, pan-frying, roasting, braising, stewing in soy sauce, and hot pot, with endless variations. Below, I'll introduce a few ways to prepare mutton. You can replicate these methods at home to not only enjoy delicious mutton but also experience the fun of cooking.
For White-Cut Goat, the best choice is Changyang goat from Hubei, followed by Dongshan goat from Hainan. Cut the goat meat into long blocks about 20 cm long, 13 cm wide, and 5 cm thick, then rinse them clean. Heat water in a wok, add a spice pouch made of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, and dried tangerine peel. Then add smashed ginger, knotted scallions, fine salt, soy sauce, yellow wine, sugar, and the rinsed mutton to the pot. After bringing to a boil, simmer over low heat for about 40 minutes. Remove the mutton, drain the water, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. Take the chilled mutton and cut it into thin slices about 5 cm long, 3 cm wide, and 0.3 cm thick. Arrange them on a flat plate and drizzle with sesame oil. White-Cut Goat is fresh in color and mellow in flavor, with a firm texture and a rich soy sauce aroma. Even those with a weak spleen and stomach or poor digestion can enjoy it without worry.
For the mutton hot pot, it's best to choose goat meat with skin, tendons, and bones. Place the mutton in a pot of water, bring to a boil over medium heat, then remove and rinse clean. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok, stir-fry the garlic greens, ginger slices, and mutton over high heat until fragrant. Then add cinnamon, dried chili peppers, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, rock sugar, fine salt, and MSG. After bringing to a boil, simmer over medium heat. At the same time, add carrot chunks and simmer until tender, then reduce the liquid until it's thick and ready to serve. The braised mutton is nutritious; the various seasonings remove the gamey flavor and preserve the delicious taste. You can also add nourishing Chinese herbs like goji berries. For women with cold hands and feet in winter who are afraid of the cold, a mutton hot pot is a good choice for nourishing the body.
The first two dishes used goat meat, but for the mutton hot pot, sheep mutton is more suitable, with the small-tailed sheep from Inner Mongolia being the best. Only the tenderest parts of the mutton (the upper brain, large fork, small fork, grinding crotch, and cucumber strip) are sliced thinly. When eating, you pick up the meat yourself, dip it briefly in the boiling broth, and then it's ready to be eaten with a dipping sauce. The dipping sauce can be made from sesame paste, soy sauce, cooking wine, fermented bean curd juice, pickled chive flowers, and chili oil.
The Cantonese, who are very knowledgeable about health preservation, are very particular about the broth for the mutton hot pot. The broth is often added with angelica and ginger. The blood-warming and Qi-tonifying mutton, combined with angelica which nourishes blood and relieves pain, enhances the effects of tonifying deficiency, dispelling cold, and relieving pain, and is particularly beneficial for those who are weak, anemic, or emaciated. Additionally, adding ginseng to the broth and simmering it for 10 minutes over low heat before adding the mutton not only makes the broth fresh and the flavor rich, but also has the effects of greatly replenishing vital energy, tonifying the spleen and lungs, calming the mind and improving intelligence, and promoting the production of body fluids to quench thirst.
3. Nourishing Yin and Moistening Dryness is Essential
It is worth noting that mutton is considered "dry" or "heating" in nature. Eating mutton hot pot or braised mutton often can easily lead to "internal heat" (shang huo). Therefore, after eating these dishes, you can have some foods that nourish yin, produce fluids, and moisten dryness, such as tremella, lily, or pear. Alternatively, you can drink a cooling herbal tea containing chrysanthemum and honeysuckle to "clear the fire." Furthermore, people with an external cold or internal excess heat should not eat mutton.