Zhangbei Whole Roast Lamb 张北烤全羊

Where it comes from

The county government presents the dish as the most honoured food of Mongolian cuisine, known in Mongolian as zhaomu (昭木). It cites historical records calling it a favourite court dish of Genghis Khan and an indispensable course at the Zhama banquet (诈马宴), the imperial feast of the Yuan dynasty. In the past it was reserved for the Mongol nobility and ordinary herders did not get to eat it.

How it is made

In its original form, a sheep that had been opened and skinned was set on a frame over a strong, smokeless fire of apricot-wood knots and turned from side to side until the surface was glossy golden red and crisp over tender meat. It was then cut with a knife and eaten without oil, salt or any other seasoning.

The Zhangbei government describes the modern method as used by restaurants and tourist sites in Inner Mongolia, each with its own small variations. A fat three-year-old sheep is chosen, scalded with water at 80 degrees and plucked of its wool while hot, then gutted and washed inside, with the skin washed in alkaline water. Small cuts are made in the belly cavity, the hind legs and other thick-fleshed parts and filled with seasonings to marinate, and the skin is rubbed with sesame oil and liquor.

The sheep is secured on an iron spit, hung by chains from its four legs and lowered back-down through the roof opening of a dome-shaped brick oven that has been heated red with saxaul brushwood (梭梭) and then cleared of fuel. When the meat is half cooked, the cook opens the oven door and roasts the body with burning saxaul embers held in a long-handled ladle until the whole animal is a deep golden brown.

Flavour and serving

Roasted slowly this way, the skin comes out crisp and glossy golden red while the meat beneath stays tender and rich without being greasy. The seasonings from the cavity and the cuts are discarded, and the lamb is set in a kneeling pose on a platter about one metre across, with a red silk ribbon tied round its neck. It is first placed on the table for the guests to admire, and then a carver cuts it into small pieces in front of them.