Linxia Lamb and Flour Sausages 临夏发子面肠
Linxia Lamb and Flour Sausages is featured among the local specialties of Gansu.
Linxia Lamb and Flour Sausages (临夏发子面肠) is a halal snack from the Linxia (临夏) area of Gansu that puts two steamed sausages on one plate: fazi (发子), a stuffing of chopped lamb and offal, and mianchang (面肠), a flour paste in sheep casing.
How it is made
For the fazi, fresh lamb heart, lung and meat are chopped and mixed with spring onion, oil and seasonings, then sprinkled with a measured amount of flour. The stuffing goes into a fat sheep intestine, which is steamed and cut into sections.
The mianchang is mostly flour. Flour and water are stirred into a batter, starch is worked in, and it is seasoned with salt, ground Sichuan pepper and MSG. The batter is funnelled into cleaned sheep small intestine, the ends are tied with thread or hemp, and the sausages steam for about 15 minutes. Partway through, the casings are pricked with a needle to let the air out so they do not burst. Once cooked, they are cut into sections as well.
The Linxia city government lists the full dish as also taking other lamb offal: head meat, trotters, tripe and heart.
How it is eaten
The plate is built in a set order: mianchang on the bottom, fazi on top, then chilli oil, crushed garlic and vinegar. The fazi is dark red and the mianchang pure white, and the bright red chilli oil completes the look that the Linxia city government singles out as the dish's signature.
Where it comes from
The Linxia city government describes Linxia Lamb and Flour Sausages as a halal snack particular to the Linxia area and popular with both residents and visitors. The craft of making it was entered on the Linxia prefecture intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.
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.