Wang Zengqi: Handling mutton

When I arrived in Inner Mongolia, I didn't eat mutton several times, so I went there for nothing.

When you go to the grassland and visit the yurt, the owner usually kills the sheep. Mongolians are very hospitable. Into the yurt, regardless of knowledge or ignorance, you can sit down to eat and drink. Someone was riding a horse roaming the grassland with only one leg of lamb on his back. Arriving at a family, the host untied the leg of lamb. The guest ate and drank all night, and when he went on the road the next day, the host gave the guest a fresh leg of lamb to take with him. Some people just walk through a few dough flags and go home with a leg of lamb. Mongolians are honest and take out everything at home. Only when the guests are drunk will the host be happy. He will get angry if you are not sincere and polite. The formation of this custom is related to the long-term nomadic life. The family lives on the prairie, the sky is gray and the fields are vast, and there are more cattle and sheep than people. They are looking forward to talking with a distant guest. As soon as I sit down, I will drink milk tea and eat milk first. Milk tea is made of brick tea with milk and salt. This salty milk tea may not be used by Hong Kong people, but it is indispensable for Mongolians. Milk food includes milk skin, milk tofu and milk residue. By this time, someone has started to kill sheep outside.

Mongols kill sheep very quickly. You don't need a sharp knife, just a common folding knife. In a short time, a whole sheep was peeled off, the sheepskin was hung on the grass, and the mutton was already in the pot. Kill the sheep, there is not even a drop of blood on the grass. Sheep blood and viscera are fed to dogs. Mongolian dogs are extremely fierce and terrible. When they run, their paws can catch up with the jeep before they touch their front paws!

Hand-grabbed meat is a large piece of boiled mutton with bones. Hold it in one hand and cut it with a Mongolian knife in the other. No seasoning, just a bowl of salt water dipped in it. This way of eating requires a little skill. Mongolians can pick up a piece of meat very cleanly. After eating, there is only one bone left, not even a trace of meat left. When we eat, we always leave some brains behind. The Mongols knew at a glance that this was not a herdsman.

After eating meat, I sometimes cook some dried noodles with mutton soup. Mongolians don't eat much. They eat a handful of fried rice when they drink milk tea in the morning and afternoon. Yellow rice is cooked, and sometimes they eat dried noodles for dinner. Mongolians buy dried noodles not by weight, but by car. When Mongolians move houses and pastures, there are always several Che Le ox carts. Some ox carts are full of blankets and bedding, and one ox cart is full of dried noodles. Mongolians sometimes eat pancakes, milk rice and a little baking powder, which are very fragrant and soft.

We ate sheep and shellfish once in Damaoqi, which means whole sheep. This is only for entertaining VIPs. The whole sheep was boiled in water for 45 minutes and then came up. There is a set of rules for eating sheep and shellfish. The whole sheep was lying on a big plate, its hoof was chopped off, and its head was cut off and put on its neck. First of all, the most distinguished guest should cut two pieces of meat at a certain position with a knife and put them diagonally on the back of the sheep. Then, remove the sheep's head, and other guests can pick up their knives and choose their favorite parts to cut and eat. Some people who go with us are afraid to learn from sheepskin. Because the whole lamb has only been cooked for 45 minutes, it will bleed in some places if it is across the board. On the other hand, I can eat whatever I like. Does it taste good? Delicious! Fresh and tender, delicious on earth. Mongolians think that mutton is not delicious when cooked, and it is easy to digest. It's okay to bring something raw.

I have eaten Kazakh hand-grabbed meat in Xinjiang. Cut the meat into small pieces and cook it with noodles. When eating, grab mutton and noodles with your right hand and eat at the same time. The taste is different from that in Inner Mongolia.