Guinan Tibetan Mutton 贵南藏羊肉
Guinan Tibetan Mutton is featured among the local specialties of Qinghai.
Guinan Tibetan Mutton (贵南藏羊肉) includes dishes made with the black Tibetan sheep raised in Guinan (贵南). The county government describes a whole-sheep feast and a stone-cooked roast in which heated pebbles cook the meat from inside the animal.
How it is made
For the stone-cooked roast, the sheep is gutted and deboned, and the meat is marinated with seasonings. Hard, evenly sized pebbles are heated until red hot, then placed inside the sheep with the prepared meat. The opening is sealed to retain the heat. A blowtorch cooks the outside, and sheep fat may be dripped over the surface during roasting.
After nearly two hours, the roast has a golden, crisp exterior and tender, juicy meat. Guinan County Government associates this dish with festivals, weddings and welcoming guests.
How it is eaten
Hand-grabbed mutton is another preparation. At a Guinan whole-sheep feast described by Guinan News in August 2023, visiting Yangzhou (扬州) chef Chen Zhongming (陈忠明) cooks the black Tibetan sheep meat in mountain spring water with salt, Sichuan pepper and ginger. Two hours of covered simmering produce firm, savoury meat. Chen, an associate professor at Yangzhou University (扬州大学), also recalls eating local black Tibetan sheep hand-grabbed mutton three times during his four-day stay.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.