Lianshi Braised Mutton 练市羊肉
Lianshi Braised Mutton is featured among the local specialties of Zhejiang.
Lianshi Braised Mutton (练市羊肉) is made with adult Hu sheep (湖羊) in Lianshi (练市), Huzhou (湖州). Shangguan News (上观新闻) describes the braise as red-bright, tender, slightly sweet and slightly spicy, and associates it with autumn and winter meals.
How it is made
A February 2019 feature follows cook Wang Cailin (王财林). He trims excess fat and cuts the mutton into even blocks about four centimetres square. The meat goes into an iron pot, covered with cold water, over a mulberry-wood fire. Wang boils it uncovered and skims off the foam.
He then adds soy sauce, salt, rock sugar, yellow rice wine, ginger, garlic, red dates, dried chilli, cassia and fennel. The uncovered pot continues cooking over medium heat for forty to fifty minutes, with occasional turning. The fuel comes from mulberry branches pruned in winter.
How it is eaten
Wang lifts out the cooked meat and arranges intact pieces in clay pots or enamel bowls. Chopped ginger, garlic leaves and chilli go on top, followed by cooking broth. Shangguan News also describes a local combination of wood-fired mutton noodles and warmed yellow rice wine.
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.