This is the time of year when sheep are at their peak of fatness and leanness, and when the meat is at its most flavorful. Lamb is also a good tonic ingredient, so a steaming pot of shabu-shabu on the first day of winter is a good way to prepare for the long winter months.

So what does a pot of Old Beijing shabu-shabu look like?

Copper pot with charcoal

Old Beijing shabu-shabu is made in a copper hot pot with a boiler, a reddish-copper-colored vertical pot, a cone-shaped stove in the middle, and a tall chimney with an iron clamp to control the fire.

The copper pot conducts heat extremely well, and the heat from the charcoal fire is transferred quickly and evenly, so the water next to the stove quickly steams and sizzles, and the soup base tumbles up like a wave. The ingredients are put into the soup and cooked as quickly as possible, so that the effect of "shabu-shabu" can be achieved and the taste of the ingredients is more tender and flavorful.

Clear soup

Unlike other hot pots, which are heavy on oil and spice, Old Beijing Shabu Shabu uses plain water, with a little bit of sliced ginger, scallions, shiitake mushrooms, goji berries, and jujubes, which is all that's left of the base.

It is said that the base was initially made from a high quality broth, but later, as businesses competed with each other, the idea of introducing a clear broth to prove that the lamb was good became popular, and the so-called "good meat with clear broth" became popular.

The better the quality of the lamb, the more simple to the ultimate need for clear soup, can set off the meat itself fresh and delicious. The lightness of the broth and the freshness of the mutton, the harmony of the two without competition, this is a kind of Chinese culinary wisdom.

Meat quality

Not all lamb can stand the test of clear soup.

Beijingers eat mostly lambs and capricorns (gelded rams) from Inner Mongolia. The fat content is moderate, and the meat is tender and non-stinky.

Only 40 percent of a sheep's meat is really suitable for shabu-shabu. "Upper Brain (meat from the back of the neck)," "Three Forks (upper part of the leg)," "Mill Gear (rump-tip meat)," "Ribbon (both sides of the spine) ", "tendon (lower hind leg)," "cucumber strip (inner hind leg)," and "head sinker (outer thigh)." "Mutton tendon meat (loin nest)". These parts of the meat is relatively tender, lean but not firewood, fat but not greasy, and different parts of the meat has a very different and rich taste because of the different fat and texture.

Fresh meat the day before consumption should be acid treatment, the meat will be cut into pieces and pressed with a large stone, placed in a low temperature overnight, let out the blood, so that after treatment, the meat is cleaner and tighter, but also better cut.

Cutting fresh mutton is a technical job, it must be cut in broken filaments, the thickness of each slice is between 0.9~1.2mm, so thin that it is translucent, and a shabu-shabu is cooked. Without a few years of experience, it's impossible for a chef to do this.

The cut meat is then put on a plate and turned upside down so that it doesn't fall off. This is the standard by which diners test the quality of the meat. Eating cheese and drinking noodle tea have similar preoccupations, with their own kind of playfulness.

What sheep to choose, what parts to eat, how to handle and how to cut, everywhere is a matter of taste.

Dipping sauces abound

Shabu-shabu in clear broth is not enough without dipping sauces to enhance the quality of the meat.

Old Beijing Shabu Shabu puts a lot of effort into its dipping sauces. The three main Beijing flavors of sesame sauce, chive blossom and fermented bean curd sauce are paired with shrimp oil, consumed oil, chopped green onion, cilantro, and fried chili peppers. Colorful placed together, feverishly put together an orgy of taste.

People mix and match according to their own tastes, with sesame sauce as the main ingredient, to make a bowl of sticky, tangy and most delicious dipping sauce. It's a satisfying encounter with shabu-shabu-soaked food, and it's satisfying every time you take it into your mouth.

How to eat

With the most sophisticated ingredients, cooking utensils and dipping sauces, you're only halfway there. How to eat is also a big question.

Beijing gourmets tend to shabu-shabu a few slices of lamb's tail to fatten up the pot and make the soup more flavorful. Only then do they start shabu-shabu.