Changzhi Mutton Soup

Changzhi Mutton Soup

　　Mutton soup is a traditional delicacy from Huguan County in Changzhi, Shanxi. Along with the mutton offal soup from the northern Yan-Tong area and the mutton soup with flatbread from the southern Yuncheng area, these three can be considered the three major styles of Shanxi’s mutton soups. Among them, Huguan mutton soup stands out as truly unique, boasting a distinctive flavor.

Drinking Huguan mutton soup is all about the season. It’s only made after sheep stop grazing on green grass, and production stops once they start eating it again—roughly a seven-month period from the Mid-Autumn Festival to the following Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to the soup makers, it’s to avoid the grassy taste that comes from the sheep eating greens, which can spoil the flavor. When it comes to mutton soup, the sheep is the foundation. The soup masters have an expert eye for selecting the best sheep, choosing just three or five one- or two-year-old mountain goats from a whole flock to raise in the backyard until slaughter—a practice known as “tying the sheep in the backyard, selling the soup in the front shop”—ensuring the utmost freshness with on-the-spot butchering. The butchering process is a true skill among these masters, almost like “Butcher Ding dissecting an ox with effortless precision.” They work swiftly, clean thoroughly, and sort every part methodically. One notable feature of Huguan mutton soup is that it offers a taste of the whole sheep: a single bowl might include seven or eight mutton dumplings, three or five mutton meatballs, several pieces of stewed meat, blood tofu, suet, as well as strips or chunks of various offal such as the head, hooves, tongue, stomach, intestines, heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys—everything except the hide and fur is included, even the bone marrow is simmered into the broth. No wonder it’s said to be so nourishing. Another hallmark of Huguan mutton soup is its emphasis on aged broth. In every mutton soup shop, besides the main pot, there’s also a large earthenware pot dedicated to simmering sheep bones and meat chunks. This pot is placed over the fire from the start of soup-making season in autumn and continues until Tomb-Sweeping Day the next year. As the broth is ladled out, more is added, ensuring the aged stock remains unbroken. To enjoy mutton soup at its best, it should be paired with yellow steamed buns (huangzheng). These buns are made with millet flour and stuffed with sweet red bean paste or date paste filling—extremely soft, sweet, and sticky. The vendors handling them are careful not to let them stick to their hands, using wooden spoons to scoop them onto plates. A bowl of mutton soup with one or two yellow steamed buns is warm, fragrant, and truly a satisfying meal.