The inheritor of San Fu Tian, who is nearly seventy years old, has become embroiled in the battle with lamb, from "rotten lamb" to "hot lamb"

During the Fuyang Festival in July and August every year, it is the busiest time for Fengxian Village. Every day, diners come in admiration, as if the grand scene of the past market has reappeared. The dog days are hot and humid, requiring a feeling of exhilaration.

Li Jinlong, who is almost seventy years old, has started the busiest time of the year. He wakes up at four o'clock in the morning, brews a cup of ginseng tea, and personally cuts and cooks lamb. He stands there for 10 hours, which is his own exhilarating experience.

Splitting lamb meat is not only a technical job, but also a physical one. Li Jinlong, who is almost seventy years old, is a bit scared. He has brought out his "apprentices" for other jobs, but this skill is tightly controlled by him. Between the extended lunch and evening markets, he stops to have a cup of tea and a cigarette to relieve fatigue.

Good helper, Master Gu, cooks different parts of lamb in batches according to the process set by Lao Li, in order to achieve excellent taste and selling quality.

The lamb is set on a plate and ready to be served to the guest's dining table.

The most difficult thing to wait for in the afternoon market is lamb, which is quickly snatched out of the pot.

Business was booming, and there was no room to sit in the hall. Li Ji set up a tent in the backyard.

Zhuang Xing held the Fuyang Festival in 2008 and entered the second batch of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage list in 2009 with the theme of "lamb, barbecue, wine, and food customs", becoming a local cultural calling card. The outstanding figure in Zhuangxing lamb is undoubtedly Li Jinlong, the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage. His Li Ji lamb has expanded from one family to four, and is filled with customers every day during the dog days.

Lao Li's grandfather is a chef. His grandfather cooks banquets for the villagers in the village, and Lao Li always follows and is familiar with lamb cooking. He worked in the supply and marketing cooperative in his early years, and his family is already the earliest 10000 yuan household in the village. Later, due to lending money to friends for business, he encountered bankruptcy and was forced to start a business. Since 1998, I have been focusing on starting a lamb restaurant and have not only made a fortune, but also supported the village's employees and business partners.

Cooking lamb continuously improved through exploration, and Lao Li established his own unique secret recipe. He often goes to the store to watch customers eat lamb, chat with them about the taste, and see what is left on the plate at the end.

According to the taste preferences of the guests and local customs, he gradually improved from "mashed lamb" to "heated lamb". The method is simple, with the main focus on ingredient control. Choose a one and a half year old, gross weight of 60-70 kilograms of female goats as the raw material, slaughter and divide them, stew over high heat, and control the cooking time according to different parts. Do not add any seasoning except salt.

Splitting lamb is a heavy physical labor, and every year during the Feast of the Sheep, he wears out five or six knives.

Climbing high and falling low, Old Li is agile and agile. What made him even more proud was that there were no wrinkles on his face. He joked, "When steam comes up, it's like doing fumigation in a beauty salon every day!"

Two hours, the plump, tender, and gelatinous lamb is taken out of the pot.

The kitchen is four to five hundred meters away from the restaurant, and I can't wait for all the lamb to be scooped out. My son Li Yingchun steps onto the "Wind and Fire Wheel" and delivers a batch first.

Outside the cutting and matching room, customers who have been waiting for a long time to pack and take away wish they could go on their own.

In this way, the emphasis on fresh "hot lamb" is unique: it emphasizes cooking and eating immediately, and it is best to have the lamb come out of the pot at the same time as the guest sits down, with a fragrant and glutinous taste and a lingering freshness. In order to enjoy this bite, a customer lined up after lunch to wait for the lamb to be cooked in the evening market.

At six o'clock in the evening, Lao Li had dinner with several "brothers and sisters" in the kitchen. This was the most comfortable moment for Lao Li. A glass of old wine wiped out the tiredness of the day.

Despite being exhausted, he enjoyed it. Over the past 25 years, his scale and reputation have steadily increased, and his 44 year old son, Li Yingchun, has also focused on taking over. He has not only become the third generation inheritor of Li Ji's lamb, but also excels in business management, allowing Li Ji's lamb to leave the market and expand to various places in Jinshan and Fengxian.

"Lamb paired with shaojiu can live up to 99%." "A bowl of lamb soup during the summer without the need for immortals to prescribe medicine." This is a summer lamb tonic custom that has been passed down in rural Shanghai to this day.

Li Yingchun has confidence to stand on his father's shoulders and continue to pursue Li Ji's family business as a career. His son will take the college entrance examination next year, and Li Yingchun hopes that his son will choose a major in economics and management, not only for his own lamb business, but also for inheriting a culture.