It is said that the custom of eating mutton began in the Han Dynasty. According to legend, Han Gaozu Liu Bang brother, in the winter solstice this day ate team Fan Kuai brother cooked dog meat, think the flavor is particularly delicious, slurping, winter solstice to eat dog meat from now on in the folk spread. Later, the folk not only eat dog meat, but also eat mutton and all kinds of tonic to protect the cold. No wonder when I was a child, my hometown and then poor people households, the winter solstice this day also want to go to cut a piece of dog meat or mutton back to eat, adults said to eat the night not to get up at night, children "do not come to urinate" (Chuan dialect bedwetting). Then later, eating dog meat slowly turned into eating mutton, some with Chinese herbs to dispel wind and cold. As a result, the custom of eating mutton and drinking mutton soup on the winter solstice was widely spread. In the north, we eat shabu-shabu, sheep scorpion, and in the south, we eat soup pots, which are similar to each other, and all of them have a heart for the pursuit of health and beauty.
On the winter solstice, the sun shines directly at the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere, the closest point on Earth, and the day in the southern hemisphere is the longest of the year, while the northern hemisphere of the Earth, where China is located, is the shortest day of the year. In winter, the human body's Yang Qi is hidden in the body, so the body is prone to cold hands and feet, poor circulation, and even stagnation.
"Compendium of Materia Medica" said lamb: "tonic and beneficial to the gas, the main treatment of cold, cold, husband, five labor seven injuries," that is, mutton is beneficial to the essence of the gas, the treatment of false labor, tonic lungs and kidneys, nourish the heart and lungs, detoxification, moistening the skin effect. Tang Dynasty Monk's "Herbal Food Therapy" book also recorded: "All flavors and mutton cooked with, all can be complementary." Mutton to help yang and blood: mutton has the effect of tonifying the middle and warming the stomach to help yang. Where due to prolonged illness, postpartum weakness, qi and blood loss or lack of yang and cold, frequent urination and nocturia, impotence and premature ejaculation, menstrual disorders, infertility and coldness can be eaten in all seasons. From this, the ancestors found the cold ingredients - mutton.
Modern medical research shows that lamb has a high nutritional value, compared with pork, whether from fat or cholesterol, are less, but more protein, such as rich in vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, as well as iron, zinc, selenium content is quite rich, eat more lamb, helps to enhance the body's immunity.
There are many ways to eat lamb on the winter solstice, popping, frying, roasting, burning, sauce, shabu-shabu and so on. But because it has an unpleasant stench, and by some people cold. Restaurant chef brother suggests that when cooking lamb, you can add an appropriate amount of wine and ginger, so that you can remove the stink, but also to maintain the original flavor of lamb. A few days ago, we went to jianyang drink "jianyang mutton soup", soup flavor, soup white thick, fragrant, let people forget, can be said to maintain the original flavor of mutton. 2008 jianyang mutton soup in tens of thousands of entries stood out in the country selected 30 "Olympic health cuisine "and became the only lamb as the main ingredient of the soup dishes.
The uniqueness of Jinyang mutton soup is due to the Jinyang goat. Jinyang's earth goat, commonly known as "fire pimple goat", short, but the vitality is extremely vigorous. At the beginning of the last century, Miss Song Meiling introduced from the United States Nuby sheep, because of the milling turn in the war, and then abandoned and banished to the Longquan Mountain Range, crossbreeding with the soil goats in Jianyang, forming a convergence of Chinese and foreign varieties of the advantages of the "Janyang Big Ears Goat". Jianyang goat in addition to the advantages of the seed source, its living environment is also unique to Jianyang. Interesting words: Jianyang goat "eat Chinese herbs (green mountain grass), drink mineral water (Longquan Lake, Sanqiao Lake water)", so the goat meat ingredients are authentic. "Wild Dog Mutton Soup" store store small, unimpressive, in the eyes of the Sichuan people is a fly house. However, it is very popular, and there are often queues for the soup, so business is very good. As the saying goes, a mountain can not have two tigers, a store can not have two masters, so the store brother's wife in the next door next door opened a "Mrs. Dog mutton soup", business is better. Diners rush to the strange store sign also want to squeeze in to drink soup, warm up a little. Of course, they also have to witness the strong woman - Mrs. Wild Dog's style.
In the opinion of health care experts, although lamb is delicious, but it is not a hundred taboos. Where the external sense of evil, acute and chronic upper respiratory tract infections, or within the person with persistent heat is contraindicated. Mutton is warm, so the fire is hot, such as toothache, sore throat, constipation, phlegm, urine pain, or dampness and heat such as diarrhea, dysentery, dysuria and other conditions, should be used with caution, contraindication.
That said, the winter solstice to eat mutton and drink mutton soup is our long history, a dietary culture to protect the health of the generations, the payroll continues to flourish. I'll say it again, the winter solstice, to keep healthy; what to eat, lamb is good.
2018-12-1The Fifth People's Hospital of Chengdu Family Hospital
Author's introduction: Wen Zhidai, surgeon, graduated from the Medical Department of Sichuan Medical College (West China Medical University) in 1970, and was awarded a special government allowance in 1994.