Is this narcissism? Actually a little, but the mutton in the northwest is delicious. This is by no means the blind praise of the northwest people, but it has a historical basis. Next, let's analyze why the mutton in the northwest is so delicious.
What's the difference between meat and meat? It is also meat. Why do chicken, pork and mutton taste different?
The taste difference of meat is mainly reflected in fat. That is, we gnash our teeth and stop us from losing weight, but we can't help but want to eat "fat". If muscle is a collection of nutrition and fiber, then fat is a warehouse for storing taste. If all the fat in the meat is removed and only the muscle is left, there is not much difference in the taste of these meats except the slightly different taste. Just like the butter chafing dish in Chongqing, only butter can cook a pot of beef-rich chafing dish.
In our daily mutton evaluation, the smell of mutton is the biggest feature of mutton. Don't eat mutton if it tastes too strong, and it will spit out when you put it in your mouth. If the smell of mutton is too small, it will have no taste and lose a large part of its flavor. The odor source of sheep is the adipose tissue of mutton. To put it mildly, the smell of sheep comes from short-chain fatty acids and stearic acid in sheep fat.
These two substances are the direct factors that affect the smell of mutton. The amount of these two substances has a great relationship with the breed, feed, feeding environment and even the sex and age of the sheep.
After understanding this, let's discuss why northwest sheep is more delicious.
First of all, the sheep breeds in northwest China are different from those in other regions. In Ningxia alone, the famous Yanchitan sheep is also a "famous brand" in the mutton industry. In 2000, Yanchitan sheep was listed as a national second-class protected breed by the Ministry of Agriculture, that is, you can eat it, but you can't eat wild breeds, and the breeding of this breed of sheep with other breeds must be strictly controlled. Similarly, the big-tailed sheep in Altay, Xinjiang is also the star of the mutton industry.
Then the question is, since mutton varieties are so important, why don't other regions introduce excellent sheep varieties? In fact, there have been such introductions in other regions, but the final result is that mutton is no longer as delicious as before. Why?
As mentioned above, besides the variety, there are other external factors that affect the quality of mutton. A piece of delicious and juicy mutton is influenced by many factors. A study shows that if the feed contains sulfur, it can reduce the smell of mutton.
Northwest China has a unique climate, facing the loess and facing the sky, with little rain and dryness, not to mention strong winds. These factors lead to the formation of a large number of saline-alkali land, which contains a large number of sulfide salts and sulfide bases. Plants growing in this land, such as Allium mongolicum Regel and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch, are rich in sulfur. After sheep eat these salty and alkaline feeds, they will neutralize the fat with the fishy smell of sheep, so that mutton tastes delicious and has a moderate smell.
In addition to these factors, another reason why northwest mutton is delicious is that northwest people are good at cooking mutton. Mutton is the most delicious, and Lanzhou's hand-grabbed mutton highlights the delicacy of mutton. There is no extra seasoning, just boiled mutton is delicious. There are also fragrant halal kebabs, steamed mutton, cumin mutton, iron plate mutton and mutton noodles, all of which are worthy of praise after the northwest people go out.