Yeji Mutton 叶集羊肉
Yeji Mutton is featured among the local specialties of Anhui.
Yeji Mutton (叶集羊肉) is the mutton cooking of Yeji District (叶集区) in Lu'an (六安), Anhui, which the district put forward as the first of its three signature foods, beside hollow dried noodles and Shazhui tribute fish (沙锥贡鱼).
How it is made
The main method is red-braising (红烧), cooking meat down in soy sauce and sugar. Freshly slaughtered local goat is cut into pieces and stir-fried in hot oil, then slow-simmered with spring onion, ginger, spices, soy sauce and sugar until the meat has taken up the savoury sauce. The district's culture, tourism and sports bureau calls red-braised mutton the authentic home-style way of eating it.
How it is eaten
The second form belongs to breakfast. For mutton zahui (羊肉杂烩, a mixed mutton bowl), cooked vermicelli goes into a bowl, scalding mutton stock is poured over it, and a handful of crisp fried dough twists (馓子, sanzi) goes on top with chopped spring onion and coriander. It is eaten with huoshao mo (火烧馍), a bread that is crisp outside and soft inside, broken into pieces and dipped in the broth.
The bureau describes mutton as the leading food in Yeji in autumn and winter.
Where it comes from
The district ties the dish to its land. The Shi River (史河) runs around Yeji, water plants grow thick and the river flats are wide, conditions described as suited to raising sheep and goats, and making mutton into dishes is called a major local tradition.
Questions before you order
Is Yeji Mutton a braise or a soup?
Both forms exist. The red braise of local goat is the home-style way of eating it, while the breakfast version is a bowl of vermicelli in hot mutton stock with fried dough twists, eaten with torn huoshao mo bread.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.