"Smack!" half of the mutton was heavily placed on the board by Liu Mang. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

This piece of mutton lean meat is pink, and the fat is milky white, and when you get closer, there is no particularly strong smell of mutton, but a faint aroma of mutton.

Kebabs, known as "kawafu" in Uyghur. In Turpan is the most famous ethnic snack.

This practice of mutton can be said to have swept the country in recent years, and can be seen everywhere in urban and rural areas, streets and markets, and is favored by the public.

Many people think that kebabs are a unique snack in northern Xinjiang, but they are not. Because from the archaeological data, as early as 1800 years ago, there were kebabs in Chinese mainland.

Not only that, there are stone carvings of kebabs in the whole collection of "Portraits of the Han Dynasty", and a fan for barbecue has also been unearthed in the No. 1 Han Tomb of Mawangdui.

The lamb used in Turpan's kebabs must be slaughtered on the same day, and it must also be a native sheep produced in southern Xinjiang.

Because the grassland ecology in southern Xinjiang is much worse than that in northern Xinjiang, sheep in southern Xinjiang have to walk more than ten kilometers on the grassland every day to be full, so they are also called sports sheep.

The meat of this lamb is delicate, and the fat layer is thin and evenly distributed, making it a good ingredient for grilled lamb skewers.

But the fly in the ointment is that the fishy taste of this mutton is still a little strong, and for people who like to eat mutton, of course, it is nothing.

But for some people who don't eat mutton regularly, especially some southerners, it is very unaccustomed.

In order to take care of the public's taste, so today Liu Mang deliberately chose another kind of mutton, goat meat from the Yulin area of northern Shaanxi.

Northern Shaanxi is located on the Loess Plateau, with high altitude, scarce rainfall all year round, strong sunlight, and large temperature difference between day and night, resulting in a long growth cycle of surface plants, cold and drought resistance, and strong adaptability.

The goats that grow up between the ravines of the Loess Plateau are active by nature, have a large amount of activity, and the weeds they eat are all pollution-free and pollution-free natural forage grasses.

But the most special thing is that they especially like to eat a kind of ground pepper herb commonly known as "thyme".

This grass is found everywhere and is particularly nutritious. Moreover, because of the effect of removing the fishy smell, the goat meat produced in this place is extremely delicious, and the fishy smell is much lighter than that of sheep in other regions.

Liu Mang placed the mutton on a cutting board, then took out a boning knife, separated the fat and lean mutton, and cut it into pieces the size of red dates.

After the meat was cut, Liu Mang brought out a bucket with shaved wooden skewers.

The skewers used for roasting sheep in Turpan are not the bamboo and iron skewers commonly used by ordinary vendors, but the fresh red willow branches produced locally.

This is because during the roasting process, the fresh red willow branches will secrete a little sticky red willow juice after peeling, and wearing the mutton under the edification of charcoal fire can not only decompose the smell of the mutton, but also emit the unique fragrance of the red willow tree into the heart of the meat.

Liu Mang also borrowed this method, but instead of a red willow branch, he used a branch of another plant, dogwood.

This plant has been used many times, but in the past it has been harvested with its dark red fruit, which has a spicy juice in it.

And this time Liu Mang is using its branches, after removing the spikes and purple-red skin on the branches, and then slightly modifying it with a knife, you can start roasting.

The dogwood branches can play the same role as the red willow branches. After charcoal roasting, the remaining juice on the branches will penetrate into the lamb, adding to its natural flavor and fragrance.

Not only the tools and ingredients, but also the meat skewers, two lean meat and one fatty meat, skewered at intervals.

In this case, the fat of the fat will seep out as soon as it is heated over a charcoal fire, and there is no need to grease it again.

After skewering a large pot of mutton skewers, Liu Mang took a grill and prepared to start charcoal grilling.

"Am I not mistaken? This Liu Mang didn't marinate the meat skewers beforehand?" said a chubby young audience member in the auditorium.

"I think you've eaten too much garbage skewers, right?" Hearing his words, the companion sitting next to him immediately sneered: "If the mutton is particularly fresh and tender, it does not need to be marinated, so as to maintain its original flavor!"

This audience is right, in Liu Mang's eyes, only those black-hearted vendors who are shoddy and indiscriminate will marinate the meat skewers in advance.

Because only after using a large number of condiments and spices can the unfreshness and fishy smell of the meat be masked.

Not to mention the last time Liu Mang and Li Ruonan went to the pedestrian street to play, the vendor owner smeared duck meat with mutton fat and pretended to be a mutton skewer.

Liu Mang was busy skewering skewers here, and Lin Xiao's 'fish head tofu soup' was also being made intensely.

Unlike usually, people fry fish heads to make soup and then put tofu, Lin Xiao found a big bucket and boiled the soup directly.

Bighead carp, also known as silver carp and fathead fish. It is an aquatic fish endemic to China.

This kind of fish head is big and small, and the fish gelatin contained in the head is also very much, and it can be used to boil the soup to make the soup delicious and give people a sense of sweetness.

Lin Xiao took five fresh bighead carp heads weighing three or four catties, and lowered them into the water a little to remove the bloody qi inside. Then wrap it in gauze and throw it into a vat.

"Huh, Lin Xiao's approach is very special, this is no longer the home-cooked version of 'fish head tofu soup', is it!" Seeing Lin Xiao's approach, Ouyang was surprised.

"Well, just take the taste of fish and discard the fish bones, Lin Xiao's approach is very good! Tan Shi nodded again and again.

After the wrapped fish head was put into the bucket, Lin Xiao threw in a few pork bone sticks, threw in a few pieces of ginger, and finally added a bucket of water.

Then suddenly turn on the switch of the stove and boil it over a fierce fire.

Lin Xiao's practice is different from simmering soup on low heat in a clay pot, he borrowed the practice of 'old fire and beautiful soup' in Cantonese cuisine.

This soup requires a particularly high heat to allow the ingredients to cook quickly and force out the essence inside.

The fish head soup stewed in this way is as white as milk, with a sweet taste and no trace of fishy smell.

Lin Xiao stewed the fish soup on the stove, then took the tofu and began to cook it.

First, remove the old skin of the tofu on several sides, and then change the knife into small squares of four by four.

After the cube was cut, Lin Xiao took a breath, and the fast knife in his hand quickly fell towards the tofu.

"What is this for? I'm not mistaken, Lin Xiao seems to be cutting tofu?" Ouyang exclaimed.

"Isn't the fish head tofu cut into small cubes and put in the fish soup?

"I don't know about this, is it borrowed from Huaiyang cuisine, the practice of 'Wensi Tofu'?"

Lin Xiao cut the tofu, and the charcoal stove on Liu Mang's side also rose.

At this time, the fruit charcoal that I bought from Song Yong last time can come in handy.

As the name suggests, fruit charcoal is charcoal made by firing the branches of fruit trees such as pear trees and hawthorns in a special way.

Grilling ingredients over such charcoal gives the ingredients a smoky flavor that resembles nuts and fruity wood.

It can add a hint of a very unique and attractive aroma to the unspiced lamb. (To be continued.) )