Tieling Dadianzi Mutton Soup 铁岭大甸子羊汤

Tieling Dadianzi Mutton Soup (铁岭大甸子羊汤) is the goat-meat and offal soup of Dadianzi (大甸子), a town of Tieling County (铁岭县) in eastern Tieling, Liaoning. Dadianzi village (大甸子村) is described by the town as the birthplace of Tieling's mutton-soup culture, and the soup is listed as a municipal-level intangible cultural heritage item.

How it is made

According to a 2025 report in the Liaoshen Evening News (辽沈晚报), the soup is made from locally free-range goats slow-stewed with a secret blend of medicinal herbs, which gives a milky-white, rich broth and soft, juicy meat. The Dadianzi town government says the stock is simmered for a long time and smells of mutton even before any seasoning is added, and that stomach, blood and liver all go into the pot. The town ties the flavour to its hill country, summed up locally as 'seven parts hills, half water, half field', which suits goat rearing; its lambs come from an Inner Mongolian breed raised under common management.

How it is eaten

The house-style soup arrives as a pot of broth with a bowl of mixed offal and keeps boiling at the table, with a little mutton fat floating on top. Only a little chopped spring onion, coriander and seasoning is added. The town says that eating mutton and drinking the soup in the dog days (伏天), the hottest weeks of summer, drives out summer heat. It has also developed a whole-mutton banquet served with wild mountain greens.

Where it comes from

Local lore traces the soup to the Zhenguan reign (贞观) of the Tang dynasty: the general Xue Rengui (薛仁贵), falling gravely ill with a cold on his eastern campaign, is said to have been saved by a bowl of mutton soup here. Since 2006 Dadianzi has held twenty mutton-soup culture and tourism festivals, the 20th in 2025; the town has registered 'Dadianzi Mutton Soup' as a trademark and set up a mutton-soup catering association.