Jiayuguan Charcoal-Grilled Mutton 嘉峪关烤肉

How it is made

Li Bo (李波), a practitioner of the heritage grill, says the mutton must come from local Qilian Mountains (祁连山) wethers, castrated male sheep under a year old. The animals drink Qilian snowmelt and graze on herbs used in Chinese medicine, which he credits for meat that is tender with no gamey smell. The carcass is divided finely into ribs, leg, stomach, trotters and skin, in keeping with the saying that everything on the sheep is worth having except the wool, which cannot be grilled.

The fresh meat is cut into bite-sized thin slices or pieces and threaded onto long iron skewers, then cooked over a charcoal grill. While it cooks, the griller keeps turning the skewers and sprinkles on fine salt, ginger powder, chilli powder and Sichuan pepper powder so the meat takes up the seasoning. Boiling mutton fat is then used to seal in the juices quickly, and a little more time on the fire leaves the skewers crisp outside and tender inside.

Flavour and texture

The finished skewers are a deep reddish-brown, numbing, hot and savoury, and rich without being greasy.

Where it comes from

The grill's history is traced back to the Eastern Han dynasty through the painted bricks of the Xincheng Wei and Jin tombs (新城魏晋墓群), where servants are shown roasting sizzling mutton skewers over a fire. Grill shops are found all over Jiayuguan's streets today, and on a summer evening or a cold winter night, two bundles of skewers with a bottle of beer or a pot of yellow rice wine (黄酒) is how people there shake off the day.