Instant-boiled mutton
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Instant-boiled mutton (Chinese: 涮羊肉; Pinyin: Shuàn Yángròu) is a very popular Chinese hot-pot dish.
[edit] Origin
Kublai Khan, the fifth Khagan of Mongol Empire, once during a battle asked the soldiers to prepare lamb for meal. However, suddenly it was reported that the enemy's troop was approaching. Kublai was still hungry. He walked to the cooking place. The chef very quickly sliced a dozen very thin slices of lamb and put them into boiled water. He took them out as soon as the lamb changed color and served to Kublai. Kublai ate them quickly before going to the battle. After Kublai won the battle, he invited the subordinate generals to dinner. He let the chef made the same lamb that he ate before the battle. Kublai named the dish as instant-boiled mutton. It is said that it has become popular among the mass people since the Qing Dynasty.
[edit] Eating method
In China, when having instant-boiled mutton, people put a hot-pot filled with water at the middle of a table. Normally food materials boiled in the pot include Tofu, Chinese leaves, bean vermicelli etc.
Lamb is pre-sliced and served on the table. The requirement on the lamb slices is that the slice must be very thin like a paper, and each slice is complete.
Because lamb can be cooked in very short time and longer cooking will make the lamb more solid, the way of having the lamb is to take some pre-sliced raw lamb using chopsticks, put it in the boiling hot-pot and take out as soon as the lamb changes color.
Each person has a small bowl to hold some sauce. Cooked lamb is eaten with the sauce. The sauce normally is a mixture of sesame sauce, chili oil, leek etc.
