Hui people like to eat mutton in dishes and are particularly interested in mutton. Mutton dishes occupy a very important position in the whole dish. It is said that the Hui people in China have 1000 kinds of recipes for matching sheep. There are many reasons: First, influenced by Islam, people avoid eating meat such as pigs, donkeys, mules, horses and dogs, and mainly eat meat such as cattle, sheep, chickens and fish. Herry Liu, a religious scholar of the Hui nationality in Qing Dynasty, discussed the practice of Islamic etiquette system with the living customs of the Hui people in his Selected Interpretation of Arabic Etiquette, and clearly put forward that "diet is the principle of nourishing nature" and "all birds that eat grain and animals that eat straw are essentially kind." It is also said that "only camels, cattle and sheep are pure natural, and they can be used as food." Second, the Hui people have been engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, drinking and food industry since the Yuan Dynasty, and like to raise, sell and eat cattle and sheep. Cattle and sheep should be raised separately by thousands of households. Third, mutton not only has edible value and economic value, but also has dietotherapy effect, which is beneficial to the body. Mutton contains protein, fat, sugar, inorganic salts and vitamins. Often eat mutton, appetizing and strengthening the body, dispelling cold and helping yang, benefiting kidney and tonifying deficiency. It has been recommended as a good food therapy since ancient times. "Herbal Supplement" said: "Tonifying energy and weakening, ginseng and mutton belong to the same family." Fourthly, Islam stipulates that Muslims should eat "good food". Sheep are clean and kind-natured. The word sheep represents beauty in ancient China. Such as beauty, freshness, goodness and auspiciousness. Therefore, the Hui people's love of mutton is the embodiment of the original meaning of the word beauty. In Notes on Shuowen Jiezi, Shuowen Jiezi and Kao Gong Ji, sheep, beauty and goodness are consistent. Hui people love mutton, which is not only delicious, but also a symbol of good luck.

In the long-term life practice, the Hui people can make a wide variety of mutton dishes with sheep's head, mutton, sheep's belly and sheep's lungs. As early as the Qing Dynasty, whole lamb dishes were popular, also called "whole lamb mats". At that time, in order to take care of the habit of Hui officials not eating pork, the Qing court added a real dining hall (that is, a Muslim restaurant), and slaughtered cattle and sheep to celebrate every festive ceremony. The "whole sheep mat" is the banquet with the highest specification. When eating a whole sheep mat, a blue tablecloth is placed on the table, which symbolizes Islam. "Whole sheep mat" can be used to cook all kinds of dishes with different colors, flavors and shapes with mutton. There are 44 hot and cold dishes in folk seats, 66 in officialdom and 72 to 76 in emperors.

Since the late Qing Dynasty, with the continuous enrichment and development of the Hui nationality, the production methods of whole sheep tartars have become more and more elaborate, and there are more and more types of tartars. Now, Wang Zizhong, a Hui chef in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, can cook more than 260 kinds of halal whole sheep, such as sliced pork liver with chopped green onion, fried pork liver with flowers, fried pork belly, sliced pork belly and cold mixed pork belly. There are 190 kinds of mutton that can be cooked, such as crispy mutton chain, steamed mutton, sliding pavilion fillet, Huang Jiong mutton and Korean pine mutton. Five or six kinds of sheep bones can be made. There are six or seven kinds of sheep's hoofs and sheep's tails. There are six or seven species in local snacks, Ningxia, more than twenty species, and so on. His whole sheep and Hui dishes are rich in raw materials. Mainly vegetables, fruits, fish, egg emulsifiable concentrate, condiments and so on. Among them, the seasoning of vegetables is basically the same as that of Han nationality and other nationalities. Is in the use of meat and eggs have their own habits and pay attention to. Hui people only eat meat and eggs such as camel, cattle, sheep, deer, chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, fish and shrimp. These raw materials can be used to make nearly 2000 kinds of dishes, including thousands of beef and mutton dishes mainly fried, roasted, rinsed, roasted, sauced, roasted, fried and steamed. Compared with Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong and other cuisines, Anhui cuisine is a famous dish with different characteristics and different flavors due to different regions. In terms of meat and fish, Ma Qi, stewed snacks, stewed noodle soup with mutton, steamed mutton, fried mutton and miscellaneous mutton in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; Xi 'an Huimin mutton and bread pieces in soup; Muslims in Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang grab mutton by hand; Kunming Muslims steamed casserole chicken; Mutton snacks of Hui people in Hebei, Heilongjiang and other places; Guangdong Hui crispy roast goose and hanging duck; Fried mutton, roasted mutton, roast duck, instant-boiled mutton, braised beef and sauced beef of the Hui people in Beijing. It is famous all over the country, and there are some big dishes, such as instant-boiled mutton, mutton bread in soup, roast duck and so on. , has become famous at home and abroad.

Meat dishes, fresh but not greasy, tender but not fishy, are welcomed by brothers such as Hui people.