In the past, when eating mutton boiled in charcoal pot, you could stick mutton slices on the copper wall and bake them to make oil flowers. The mutton in this hot pot soup is very fragrant. However, nowadays, we pay attention to environmental protection. In many places, induction cookers are used instead of charcoal fire. The old-fashioned copper chafing dish has also been improved. The bottom base is filled with water, heated by induction cookers, and then the pot is boiled by water heat conduction. This not only protects the environment, but also maintains the shape of the copper pot, giving modern people the feeling of eating the traditional authentic old Beijing copper chafing dish.
Like the famous beef hotpot in Chaoshan, the mutton used for instant-boiled mutton in old Beijing is also very particular. Mutton generally chooses sheep from Inner Mongolia, and grassland sheep are cooked as soon as they are rinsed, but they are not old for a long time. To cut by hand, when cutting, remove the fascia, fat and thin evenly, pay attention to clear texture, neat, natural stretch, red and beautiful. Spread in a blue and white plate, you can see the pattern of the plate through the pieces of meat. The plate must be dry and can't get out of the water. It must stand upright and cannot be turned over. You can't have foam when you rinse meat, the more you rinse soup, the clearer it will be. Mutton that can meet the above requirements is the top grade.
Old Beijing instant-boiled mutton is generally rinsed in eight parts, namely, the upper brain of the sheep, the fork of the sheep, the tenderloin of the sheep, the grinding crotch of the sheep, the sinking head, the cucumber strips, the tendon of the sheep and the tendon of the sheep.
Sheep upper brain: located behind the neck, on both sides of the spine and in front of the ribs, it is called "upper brain" because it is close to the head. The fat in the meat is evenly mixed and distributed like marble spots, and the texture is tender.
Sheep trident: the meat in the leg of a sheep. The whole meat forms a "Y" shape, so it is called trident, which is divided into big trident and small trident. The big trident is the hind leg of the sheep, which is fat but not greasy, very tender and smooth, and melts at the entrance; The small fork is the part of the sheep's front leg, and the meat quality is relatively thin. When you rinse it, you don't have to wait until it is completely discolored, and the taste will be more tender.
Lamb tenderloin: A small strip of meat on both sides of the sheep's spine, close to the back of the spine, with slender fibers. This part of the meat is thin and tender, which is not suitable for long-term rinsing.
Sheep grinding crotch: the buttocks are pointed, the texture is soft and thin, and the muscles are connected. Because of the part near the sheep's tail, it is the freshest and easiest to get fat.
A heavy head: a piece of meat on the outside of a sheep's thigh. Compared with a big fork, a heavy lean meat accounts for a higher proportion and the meat quality is more tender.
Cucumber strips: grow on the thighs and buttocks of sheep and wrap the femur in strips. One piece of meat has two colors, and two on a sheep. The meat is reddish and strips, and the taste is very tender.
Tendon of sheep: Tendon meat is the muscle on the thigh. It is pure lean meat, and the meat is very elastic, with tendons in it, which is very chewy.
Tendon of sheep: loin pit meat with ribs removed, crisp and fragrant in taste.
If you like to eat thin, you can order tenderloin, cucumber strips and grinding crotch; Love to eat fat, you can point to the brain, fork, and sink; Love to eat with tendons, crisp, you can order tendons, sheep tendon.
The soup base of old Beijing instant-boiled mutton pays attention to "one light of clear water, two or three onions and ginger", and some ingredients that can refresh but have no peculiar smell are added, such as shrimp, longan, medlar and lily. When you rinse, first put a piece of sheep oil to make it fragrant, and then rinse the meat.
Sesame sauce dipping sauce is the soul of mutton hotpot. It is not enough for mutton hotpot to be delicious. After all, it is clear soup. At this time, a bowl of delicious dipping sauce is needed, and the dipping sauce that can complement mutton hotpot is sesame sauce. Sesame sauce with instant-boiled mutton can not cover the mutton smell, but also cover the mutton smell. The aroma of sesame seeds is mixed with the mutton smell, which is mellow and delicious. The cold sauce can instantly cool the scalded mutton and make it suitable for the entrance. Sesame sauce is the most common dip in northern hot pot and the most important dip in instant-boiled mutton.
The sesame sauce of old Beijing instant-boiled mutton is generally blended with peanut butter and sesame sauce, with a ratio of almost 2:8. The water in the sesame sauce of a more exquisite old shop is boiled with licorice, fragrant leaves and codonopsis pilosula. At home, we usually use clean water, add a little water to the boil, then add leek sauce, bean curd, oyster sauce, shrimp oil, sesame seeds, etc., and mix well. Generally, it is enough for us to dip only one-third of the meat in the rinse meat. It is salty and light, and it is properly matched.