Another Lamb Culture Festival Opening, "No Sheep Can Live Out of the Three Dog Days of Shanghai" Rural | Songjiang | Lamb

"No sheep can survive out of the dog days of Shanghai" - a popular internet meme that highlights the popularity of "eating dog sheep".

On July 20th, the second Zhoupu Lamb Culture Festival opened in Pudong. Two days ago, the 15th Zhangze Lamb Food Culture Tourism Festival just opened in Songjiang. At this moment, the 16th Shanghai Zhuang Xing Fu Yang Festival has lasted for more than ten days in Fengxian.

Every year from January to July, there are countless festivals related to lamb in Shanghai, not to mention some popular lamb restaurants located in Chongming, Putuo, Minhang, Baoshan, Qingpu and other places. There are also many local intangible cultural heritage projects related to lamb production techniques or lamb dietary customs, including but not limited to Zhoupu lamb, Zhangze lamb, and Zhuangxing lamb, all of which have their own inheritors of intangible cultural heritage.

Shanghai, a place that has never produced sheep on a large scale, is so capable of eating sheep. What are the reasons behind this? And how different are sheep from sheep?

The sheep is that sheep, but the pot is not that pot

Just like people in the north who generally eat sheep to warm up in winter, there is a similar principle for eating sheep in various districts of Shanghai: summer nourishment.

Journalists who have been interviewing in the suburbs for many years have found that the reason why the older generation generally retains this tradition is mainly due to the hot and humid summer days in the south of the Yangtze River. At this time, taking sheep meat with sexual heat can force out the cold and humid heat in the body, playing a therapeutic role in diet.

Therefore, Shanghai's lamb cuisine strives for a refreshing taste. Except for the lamb restaurants in Chongming and Qingpu areas that have braised dishes, the vast majority of other sheep are eaten by burning them for free. And the by-product of burning sheep, a pot of clear lamb soup, often becomes a favorite among diners.

They are all braised in white, and when it comes to the difference in taste, only absolute lamb enthusiasts and foodies can explain it clearly. However, based on the limited experience of journalists, overall, Zhuangxing sheep are softer and more glutinous, Songjiang sheep are more crispy and rotten, while Zhoupu sheep strive for a smooth and fatty taste without being greasy.

As is well known, most lamb restaurants in Shanghai choose sheep from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, aged one and a half years old. There is no difference in sheep, and the factors that determine the taste are mainly reflected in the pot.

Shou Xinming is the sole heir to the intangible cultural heritage of Zhangze lamb production technology in Songjiang District. As a representative of Zhang Ze's lamb, his family's lamb continues the traditional cooking method of lamb in the Zhang Ze region - barrel firing.

The combination of wooden barrels and firewood, behind the practice of cooking sheep with wood, is not only the core of this intangible cultural heritage technique, but also the fundamental reason for the crispy and rotten lamb.

Put the fresh slaughtered lamb into a wooden barrel and simmer with firewood and an earthen stove for more than 3 hours until the base soup boils to a milky white color. After filtering out the fat, only the lamb's meat aroma remains.

Zhuang Xing's sheep are fired in large barrels. Each sheep must be used separately in a pot, and water can only be added once after being placed in the pot. The amount of water must be accurate. "Adding too much soup makes it light, but adding too little flavor cannot fully blend in..." Li Ji, the head of lamb, told reporters.

After being cooked, Zhuang Xing lamb often has a shiny surface due to the heat. Lao Li said that after boiling quickly, the lamb was taken out of the pot for three hours. The meat was crispy and the skin was shiny. As for the seasoning, I'm sorry, it's not available. There is only sheep, tap water, and a handful of firewood at the bottom of the pot.

Zhuang Xing lamb is cooked in large barrels. Photo by Li Maojun

Zhoupu's pot for boiling sheep is more interesting. Huang, who has been operating a lamb restaurant for 50 years, is a typical representative of the intangible cultural heritage Zhoupu lamb making technique. In the woodshed in his backyard, there stands a large iron pot that is over one person tall, and can cook 10 sheep at once.

Brother Huang said that his cooking skills for sheep are inherited from his ancestors, and the core essence is to use firewood and simmer slowly over low heat for at least 10 hours until the lamb skin is cooked to a fat but not greasy taste.

In order to ensure quality and taste, Huang Dage's lamb restaurant can only cook more than ten sheep per day, "about enough for 150-180 people to eat."

Some are exclusive to night owls, while others are available 24/7 for guests

In rural areas of Shanghai, there is a custom of eating sheep in the early morning. Fengxian people eat Zhuangxing sheep, which used to be accompanied by a sip of shaojiu. In the words of some elderly local masters, "Lamb paired with shaojiu is so refreshing that it's not as satisfying as any of my friends."

In fact, lamb paired with shaojiu is too spicy. In recent years, people have not paid much attention to these details when eating sheep. However, the habit of eating sheep in the early morning has still been passed down in some regions.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, before dawn, smoke was already rising from the cooking in Yexie Town, Songjiang. There is a "Lamb Street" in Yexie Town, Songjiang District. Local people are accustomed to picking up old friends from three or five neighborhoods in the morning, ordering plates of battered lamb, and eating them in a fly restaurant, sweating profusely and enjoying themselves.

At Brother Huang's Lamb Restaurant in Zhoupu, the sign "Lamb sold out" was hung up at 8 o'clock in the morning. At 3:15 am every day, the long corridor and 12 private rooms in the inner courtyard of Brother Huang's lamb restaurant are already filled with people, while the sheep are still in the pot. Wait until at least 3:30 pm when serving the table.

"Does eating lamb wake up so early?" the reporter asked.

"No, most of these people are night owls who stay up without sleeping," said Mrs. Huang.

Guests come from various places such as Baoshan, Jiading, Pudong, and Minhang. Adhering to the principle of "eating sheep in the early morning is not only in line with traditional rules, but also particularly cool", the last table of diners usually pats their stomachs and supports the wall before 7 o'clock. Before leaving, they also bring lamb for their families, ranging from 100 to 1000 yuan. "Sometimes before dawn, the lamb is sold out first," said Mrs. Huang.

During the day, Brother Huang's lamb restaurant was particularly quiet, with only Brother Huang busy cutting meat, chopping wood, and cooking in the kitchen, preparing for the next lively early morning.

In recent years, under the strong demands of diners, the tasting time of Zhuangxing lamb has been prolonged. At any time during the morning, afternoon, and evening markets, you can enjoy authentic fresh lamb. For two years, even the opening ceremony of the Zhuang Xing Fu Yang Festival was held in the evening, which made eating lamb no longer exclusive to locals or retired aunts. Ordinary office workers can also experience the charm of lamb anytime and anywhere.

Do "live" this sheep and let it go out of the circle on a larger scale

Can a lamb festival revitalize the local economy? Judging from the current practice of various "lamb main battlefields" in Shanghai, it is too early to say this. However, rural tourism centered around lamb has taken the lead in forming a climate in these regions.

During the Zhoupu Lamb Culture Festival on that day, Zhoupu Town designed interactive photo check-in, fun game experience, blind box winning prizes, browsing cultural and creative markets, on-site tasting of lamb, and fun check-in for food and passport, making the surrounding projects of "eating lamb" relatively rich.

The relevant person in charge of Zhoupu Town also stated that there are multiple agricultural enterprises, cooperatives and other resources in the area, as well as the "signature" of Zhoupu Flower Sea, which is expected to be linked with the lamb culture festival in the future, forming an overall tourism style.

Zhoupu Lamb Festival.

In order to strengthen the lamb industry chain, Yexie Town in Songjiang has thoroughly transformed the "lamb street" and launched a comprehensive tourism map that connects points into a line. Now, after eating lamb in Zhangze, diners can also experience picking at their home Green Rainbow Farm, stay overnight in a rural homestay on 88 acres of land, visit the Rice Culture Experience Hall, and purchase green plants at the flower base

During this year's Zhuang Xing Fu Yang Festival, for the first time in over a decade, Zhuang Xing Town attempted to combine elements such as coffee and music festivals with seemingly incompatible farmhouse flavors such as lamb and honey pears, and the results were good. A local young man in Fengxian said that from snacks to large Zhuangxing mutton, now it is accompanied by pear flavored latte and Baijiu flavored American style, magic and "feeling". This new attempt, to some extent, has also broken people's "thinking pattern" of local mutton. Who said that eating mutton must be "full of unfashionable"?

Of course, whether using lamb as a selling point gimmick or the main theme of local culinary culture, the ultimate goal of retaining people is the creativity and service of a region. The former determines the richness of visitors, while the latter determines their loyalty. We look forward to Shanghai lamb culture breaking through itself in the future and seeking a larger scale of expansion.