Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
Deep goats in hot pots
November 16, 2009, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Chinese character for "delicious" is a combination of the characters for fish (yu) and goat/mutton (yang), and the suburban county of Yuhang is celebrating both.
The annual Goat Pot Festival is underway and a Fish and Mutton Festival is coming soon to the ancient area known as southern China's "land of fish and rice."
Goat Pot Festival
The annual autumn festival, which began last Wednesday, runs through January in Cangqian Village.
Goat is famously good in late autumn and winter because it contains yang (hot) energy and keeps the system warm, according to traditional Chinese medicine. Mutton is good, too.
The lean goat meat is considered a tonic for men and some guys eat goat every day in winter. The meat is lower in cholesterol than beef and pork. It improves blood circulation and digestion and benefits the kidneys (kidneys refer to the reproductive system in TCM).
Cangqian has hundreds of years of "pulling the goat out of the pot." The pot is a steel cauldron at least 1 meter in diameter that can cook an entire animal. It blends the flavors of every part of the beast - meat, bone, viscera and hide.
Huge hooks are used to pull the animal from its broth. The main course of viscera in broth is like a hot pot.
Dishes include every part of the goat, from head to hoof, as well as goat's milk cheese.
The festival also features goat culture activities, such as goat fights, paintings, calligraphy and photography about goats, and a goat-cart tour of the scenic area.
How to get there:
Take Wenyixi Road to Luding Road, turn right to Haishu Road.
Bus: Two special bus routes run through February 5. One leaves from Jiangcun Bus Depot, the other from Huanglong Stadium Depot. Daily from 9:30am to 9:30pm.
Fish and Mutton Festival
The festival in Yunhe Village, Linping County, opens on November 27 and runs through February. It's a first for the village.
The Grand Canal passes through the village at the center of the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain.
The festival will feature all kinds of mutton, snakehead fish and soft-shelled turtle cuisines.
Linping County's braised mutton with soy source is famous in the Yangtze River Delta for its flavor, aroma and tenderness. Unlike the pale boiled goat from the pot, this braised mutton is red.
The dish uses male Huyang sheep that are only raised in the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain. The meat is cooked overnight using firewood and a secret recipe using sugar cane and ginger. Linping sugar cane is popular throughout Zhejiang Province.
Every Linping household traditionally celebrates the new year with braised mutton with soy sauce. The story goes that sugar became an ingredient long ago after a child tried to sneak some mutton from the pot, using a piece of sugar cane to fetch it out. He dropped the cane into the pot and the mutton became deliciously sweet. The rest is history.
Snakehead fish and soft-shelled turtle are the basics of Yunhe Village aquaculture. The turtle also can be used for medical purposes and the tough dark fish skin can be made into bags. The village was honored last year as Hangzhou's "Top Village for Aquatic Products."
The festival features a food street selling distinctive food products. Three restaurants mainly specialize in mutton, snakehead fish and turtle dishes, in addition to a dozen restaurants throughout the village.
One famous dish combines fried fish and mutton slices. Cooks eliminate the strong mutton and fishy odors and fry them together with secret ingredients.
So you can actually taste the Chinese character for "delicious" that combines fish and mutton.
How to get there:
By car: Take G320 national expressway, turn left at Tangning Road. You will see Bolu Village and Yunhe Village.
By Bus: Get on Bus 509 or 339 at Genshan Liushui Yuan (at the crossing of Shaoxingzhi Road and Chaohui Road). Take either one to Linping South Station and then shift to Bus 772 to the Wuhang Stop or Bus 769 to the Grand Canal Hotel.
The annual Goat Pot Festival is underway and a Fish and Mutton Festival is coming soon to the ancient area known as southern China's "land of fish and rice."
Goat Pot Festival
The annual autumn festival, which began last Wednesday, runs through January in Cangqian Village.
Goat is famously good in late autumn and winter because it contains yang (hot) energy and keeps the system warm, according to traditional Chinese medicine. Mutton is good, too.
The lean goat meat is considered a tonic for men and some guys eat goat every day in winter. The meat is lower in cholesterol than beef and pork. It improves blood circulation and digestion and benefits the kidneys (kidneys refer to the reproductive system in TCM).
Cangqian has hundreds of years of "pulling the goat out of the pot." The pot is a steel cauldron at least 1 meter in diameter that can cook an entire animal. It blends the flavors of every part of the beast - meat, bone, viscera and hide.
Huge hooks are used to pull the animal from its broth. The main course of viscera in broth is like a hot pot.
Dishes include every part of the goat, from head to hoof, as well as goat's milk cheese.
The festival also features goat culture activities, such as goat fights, paintings, calligraphy and photography about goats, and a goat-cart tour of the scenic area.
How to get there:
Take Wenyixi Road to Luding Road, turn right to Haishu Road.
Bus: Two special bus routes run through February 5. One leaves from Jiangcun Bus Depot, the other from Huanglong Stadium Depot. Daily from 9:30am to 9:30pm.
Fish and Mutton Festival
The festival in Yunhe Village, Linping County, opens on November 27 and runs through February. It's a first for the village.
The Grand Canal passes through the village at the center of the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain.
The festival will feature all kinds of mutton, snakehead fish and soft-shelled turtle cuisines.
Linping County's braised mutton with soy source is famous in the Yangtze River Delta for its flavor, aroma and tenderness. Unlike the pale boiled goat from the pot, this braised mutton is red.
The dish uses male Huyang sheep that are only raised in the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain. The meat is cooked overnight using firewood and a secret recipe using sugar cane and ginger. Linping sugar cane is popular throughout Zhejiang Province.
Every Linping household traditionally celebrates the new year with braised mutton with soy sauce. The story goes that sugar became an ingredient long ago after a child tried to sneak some mutton from the pot, using a piece of sugar cane to fetch it out. He dropped the cane into the pot and the mutton became deliciously sweet. The rest is history.
Snakehead fish and soft-shelled turtle are the basics of Yunhe Village aquaculture. The turtle also can be used for medical purposes and the tough dark fish skin can be made into bags. The village was honored last year as Hangzhou's "Top Village for Aquatic Products."
The festival features a food street selling distinctive food products. Three restaurants mainly specialize in mutton, snakehead fish and turtle dishes, in addition to a dozen restaurants throughout the village.
One famous dish combines fried fish and mutton slices. Cooks eliminate the strong mutton and fishy odors and fry them together with secret ingredients.
So you can actually taste the Chinese character for "delicious" that combines fish and mutton.
How to get there:
By car: Take G320 national expressway, turn left at Tangning Road. You will see Bolu Village and Yunhe Village.
By Bus: Get on Bus 509 or 339 at Genshan Liushui Yuan (at the crossing of Shaoxingzhi Road and Chaohui Road). Take either one to Linping South Station and then shift to Bus 772 to the Wuhang Stop or Bus 769 to the Grand Canal Hotel.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
