On the territory of China, Gansu is like a jade inlaid in the land of China. With a span of more than a thousand kilometers from east to west, the scenery in this western land is endlessly changing and charming, and its food is also diverse and unique.

Lanzhou Beef Noodles

If you start from Lanzhou, Lanzhou people’s day starts with a bowl of beef noodles. It is said that Lanzhou Beef Noodles has a history of two hundred years. The founder was Chen Weijing, a student of the Imperial Academy during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. Lanzhou beef noodles pay special attention to "one clear, two white, three red, four green and five yellow". Capillary, three thin, two thin, two pillars, buckwheat ribs, thin wide, large wide. Take the noodles out of the large pot and put them into a large porcelain bowl, pour them with beef soup cooked using a family secret method, and then sprinkle with garlic sprouts and coriander.

Lanzhou Beef Noodles

For many Lanzhou people, eating a bowl of beef noodles early in the morning is an almost unspeakable enjoyment. After a bowl of noodles, you will feel hearty and happy, and every pore will feel comfortable and happy. Compared with those beef noodle restaurants with large facades and high-grade decoration, the beef noodles in some small shops hidden in the streets with simple decoration and small area may taste better. In a busy beef noodle restaurant, you are so crowded that there is no room to turn around. Here, you will fully appreciate the equality between people, whether you are a government official, a street vendor, a university professor, or Men, women, the elderly, and children all came together for the same goal, crowded around a square table, and ate until their faces were red and they were sweating profusely. Not only was the store full of people, but the benches at the door were also full of people. There were even some people squatting at the door of the store with large porcelain bowls, eating without raising their heads.

Mutton is another delicacy in Gansu. Gansu has a long span from east to west, so there are various types of sheep, and there are many ways to prepare mutton, including hand-caught, ice-caught, braised, boiled, barbecue, etc. Among them, Linxia Dongxiang's hand-caught mutton is the most famous.

Hand-caught mutton

Linxia Hezhou sheep, also known as "Zhan Sheep", was once a tribute to the imperial court, and "Zhanhan Red Marrow Mutton" has always been famous. Dongxiang Autonomous County has deep mountains and ravines, drought and little rain, and nutritious pastures. Therefore, Dongxiang mutton is fat and tender, with less fiber and fine meat, and is rich in protein and various trace elements. Hospitable Dongxiang people, hand-caught mutton is indispensable at the banquet during festivals or when guests come. Dongxiang hand-caught is to cook the whole slaughtered lamb, or disassemble the whole lamb into six major parts such as the front blade, hind blade, breast, back, ribs, and tail bones, and put it into a large pot with seasonings. After stewing and cooking, chop the bone-in mutton into long strips or blocks two fingers wide, then put it on a hot plate and bring it to the table. The diners picked up the cooked rib meat, tore it off, dipped it in salt and pepper, chili oil and vinegar, and then added freshly peeled garlic cloves, a bite of meat and a bite of garlic. The meat was tender and soft, fragrant and delicious, without any smell. The taste is so good that it goes down in your stomach immediately after you inhale it. It can be called the best meat.

Jingyuan Lamb

The most delicious and famous Gansu mutton is the Baiyin Jingyuan lamb. Jingyuan County belongs to the alluvial basin of the Yellow River and has a cool climate. Dozens of herbal medicines such as Bupleurum, Ephedra, Motherwort, Dandelion, and Platycodon grow there. The water flows in the mountains and minerals are enriched. Lambs eat herbs every day and drink mineral springs at night. Jingyuan lamb is tender and delicious. Its unique Tan sheep breed, unique growing environment, and unique processing methods make Jingyuan lamb meat unique and outstanding in its delicious flavor and medicinal nutritional value.

Going west from Lanzhou is the prime location of the ancient Silk Road. Walking along the rolling Qilian Mountains, we gradually penetrate into the hinterland of the Hexi Corridor, including Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Jiayuguan, Guazhou, Dunhuang... The sky is blue, the snow-capped mountains are winding, the earth is deep, and there are flocks of cattle and sheep.

Three sets of cars

In Wuwei, the hometown of Tianma, which is China’s tourism icon, also known as Guliangzhou, the most amazing thing is that its breakfast comes standard with “three sets of cars.” For Liangzhou people, "Three Sets of Cars" is equivalent to Guangzhou people's morning tea. It is indispensable and incomplete without one thing: a large bowl of Liangzhou noodles and a plate of bacon made with special cooking techniques. After eating, drink a cup of rich rock sugar, red date and fu tea made from rock sugar, longan, walnut kernels, red dates, wolfberry, fu tea leaves and water. It feels really pleasant.

Zhangye Xiaofan

Jiuquan Chicken Soup Pot

Dunhuang Donkey Meat Yellow Noodles

Start from Liangzhou and follow the ancient Silk Road As the road goes all the way to the west, you can successively eat Jinchang's sizzling mutton, Zhangye rice and fried firecrackers, Jiuquan's chicken soup pot, Jiayuguan's roast mutton, the delicious Qingquan mutton, and Dunhuang donkey meat, which is not as famous as meeting it. Yellow noodles, mutton with sauce... There is a long story behind each snack.

Mutton stuffed rolls

The harmonious combination of noodles and meat is also prominent in Gansu cuisine, and Yongchang mutton stuffed rolls are the representative. There is Dahuang Mountain in Yongchang, and there are hundreds of grasses on the mountain. Yongchang sheep eat Chinese herbal medicine in Dahuang Mountain and drink snow water from Qilian Mountain, so the mutton here does not smell bad. In 119 AD, before the Battle of Mobei by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, this was the territory of the Huns, with beautiful water and fertile grass, and the sheep here had been fat since ancient times. After the "Battle of Mobei", people from the Central Plains migrated here, bringing with them farming culture. However, at the same time, nomadic civilization was inherited and developed here, including the food culture left behind.

Mutton stuffed rolls are made by stir-frying the mutton in advance and adding only three seasonings: ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and green onions to keep the original flavor of the mutton as much as possible. Then use local wheat flour to make dough, roll it into a very thin dough like noodles, apply clear oil on the dough, roll it into rolls, cut them into one-inch square rolls, and then "pad" these rolls in stir-fry and add water Put the mutton on top, cover it, simmer over low heat for half an hour and then take it out of the pot. In this way, the pasta becomes extremely delicious due to the aroma of the meat. The meat also becomes less greasy due to the presence of the pasta, and it tastes very special.

Jiayuguan Barbecue

Jiayuguan’s roast mutton is often joked that you can eat any part of the sheep except the wool. Although Jiayuguan barbecue originated from Xinjiang, it is its own style. Xinjiang barbecue meat is large, so it is mostly cooked with cooked meat. Most people will be full after eating two skewers at most. The Jiayuguan barbecue is directly cut into small pieces of fresh mutton and grilled, which tastes more delicate and delicious. The meat skewers pierced with iron skewers are flipped up and down over the red charcoal fire. The barbecue master is constantly adding various seasonings such as cumin, chili powder, pepper and salt, and is sizzling in the charcoal fire while rising. The fireworks emit an attractive fragrance. Pork belly, lamb belly, lamb chops, lamb hooves, lamb tendons... one skewer, two skewers, one handful, two handfuls... If you are lucky, you can also eat a very small amount of roasted sheep skins that are only obtained by luck. Paired with a glass of ice-cold fruit beer, beer or the locals' special apricot peel water, it tastes really good.

When we arrived in Dunhuang, the roasted mutton was no longer skewered with iron skewers, but with branches of tamarisk growing in the Gobi Desert. When plants and meat met, it created another delicious encounter. .

The Hexi Corridor has a vast sky and high ground, and the geographical environment such as desert and Gobi makes it easier for people to feel heroic and heroic, making people open-minded and open-minded. The people here eat big mouthfuls of meat and drink big glasses of wine. They don't show off or show off. They have a natural simplicity and seriousness. They can be called brothers and talk to each other honestly.

Imagine that on a summer night with twinkling stars, or a quiet winter night with falling snow, or an autumn dusk with falling leaves, gathering together a group of friends to roast lamb somewhere. Sit down in front of the stall, enjoy the roaring fire, listen to the chirping of insects, enjoy the quiet beauty of autumn leaves, or watch the snow fall silently, eat a string of barbecued meats, drink a glass of beer, and share your intimate words. Pouring it out into the night, the fatigue of the day gradually dissipated without realizing it, and the unhappiness and depression in my heart were swept away. It is indescribable how wonderful and comfortable this feeling is!