🍽️ Hand-grabbed Mutton

Ningxia Tan mutton is tender and gamy-free.

Hand-grabbed mutton is the flagship dish of Yinchuan, Ningxia, ideally made from Yanchi Tan sheep. Grazed on saline-alkaline grasslands, the Tan sheep yields tender, nearly gameless meat boiled plainly with ginger and Sichuan pepper, then chopped and eaten by hand. The meat is reddish, fat without greasiness, lean without dryness, best dipped in salt-pepper or eaten with raw garlic. Ningxia versions prize clear-braised original flavor, relying on the quality of the sheep itself, fresh broth, soft meat. It is the first-course banquet centerpiece of Ningxia, served hot in autumn and winter, meat in one hand, garlic in the other, bold yet delicate.