Jingbian mutton in northern Shaanxi is a delicacy you have never tasted before.

I’m used to eating local mutton, and I’m used to the rotten mutton meat, the fresh soup, and the fishy taste, so my taste buds and sense of smell have long accepted and enjoyed this delicacy as a matter of course.

I take it for granted that mutton should taste like this no matter where it is, no matter how well it is cooked, it is nothing more than that.

By chance, I tasted Jingbian mutton noodle soup in northern Shaanxi.

After eating several bowls in a row and drinking every drop of the soup, I discovered that a humble, seemingly ordinary bowl of mutton noodle soup had completely overturned all my previous perceptions of mutton and overturned the beliefs about mutton stored in my taste buds.

All memories.

It turns out that mutton can still taste like this?

Please forgive me for sitting in a well and looking at the sky.

The hospitable host first brought up two large pots of saozi, one of which contained a lot of chili oil.

There are diced potatoes, diced carrots and diced mutton cut into small cubes, and a few slices of coriander are sprinkled on the surface.

The soup is not as clear as the delicious water basin mutton soup, but slightly cloudy.

However, the flaws are not concealed. The tangy fragrance and green coriander make people's appetites whet their appetites and move their index fingers.

After eating it, I realized that the slightly turbid appearance of the sauerkraut was due to the presence of diced potato in it, and part of the starch in the potato dissolved into the soup.

However, that was only figured out after finishing the meal.

The simple and honest owner kept rubbing his hands, looking very unaccustomed to having so many people at home at one time.

He greeted us at a loss: We have guests here in northern Shaanxi, and we will serve them with steamed noodles. Try it, try it, and make "please" gestures with your hands while talking... Not good.

The master of the words meant to treat us as distinguished guests and entertain us with the most solemn meals.

We were all flattered.

The noodles are slightly yellow in color and placed in a basin with warm water.

The starch on the surface of the noodles dissolves into the water, thus preventing the noodles from sticking together.

After the owner explained, we learned that the noodles are made from flour and buckwheat mixed together by a machine. No wonder the color is different from what we usually see.

When people in northern Shaanxi eat steamed noodles, they pay special attention to drinking soup.

A few mouthfuls of noodles and a bowl of soup will keep you warm even in the cold weather.

Of course, this was not told to us by the host, but I realized it myself after eating several bowls of it.

The saozi soup is moderately seasoned and delicious. Even after we were full, we still refused to put down our bowls and kept drinking the soup.

I thought the owner would laugh at us after we left.

But I didn't care about it at that time, I just ate the noodles and drank the soup.

Everyone else took the time to eat, and no one spoke.

In order to break the embarrassment and not be too rude, I finally freed my mouth and praised the host: This mutton sesame soup is so delicious. I have never tasted such delicious food... This sentence caused **

*Ming, everyone just remembered to be polite, but their stomachs didn't agree. Who made the mutton soup so delicious?

So everyone just put their mouths on the edge of the bowl, raised their heads to look at me, expressed their agreement, and then continued to eat and drink.

Pick a chopstick head of noodles and pour a few tablespoons of sesame seeds into the bowl. There is more soup but less noodles, and it looks fragrant.

The noodles feel chewy and chewy in your mouth, and have a scent of buckwheat.

The potato chunks melted in your mouth, the carrot dices were crispy, and the mutton dices were the most amazing.

The diced mutton is also cut into small square pieces. Pick up a piece and put it in your mouth. It feels smooth on the tip of your tongue.

When you bite into it, it's soft and chewy, almost like eating beef jerky.

The difference is that it has moderate moisture content and doesn't taste as ugly as beef jerky.

After chewing a few mouthfuls, several people traveling with me felt strange in their hearts. They looked at each other with their eyes, as if asking: "Is this mutton? Impossible! How can mutton be like this?" Mutton is

There is no doubt that it is guaranteed to be real mutton, and it is 100% Jingbian mutton.

The color of the diced mutton looks the same as that of ordinary mutton. When you put it in your mouth and chew it, the taste is very different.

It reminds people of the smooth color of Jinhua ham.

So, I guessed that it was made by cutting the mutton into long strips and drying it.

Otherwise it's not that chewy.

After asking around, it indeed coincided with my inference.

Jingbian's natural environment is very poor, with barren land, drought and little rain.

In addition, there are many mountain plateaus, the loess soil has poor water storage capacity and serious soil erosion, so it is not suitable for large-scale planting of wheat and corn. Only some drought-resistant grains, such as millet and tartary buckwheat, can be grown.

It is difficult for people here to feed their families based on crop harvests.

The so-called backer eats the mountain.

The mountains where crops cannot be grown are lush with vegetation and are excellent natural pastures. Therefore, local people adapt to local conditions and raising sheep has become the main source of income for most families.

Coal, natural gas, and oil were only discovered in recent decades, but sheep farming has existed in the area for hundreds of years.

With the development of the times, sheep farmers have become more professional, and the sheep they raise are also high-quality sheep specially bought from Liaoning.

The sheep eat natural, pollution-free grass all day long, going from one small valley to another, over and over again.