Soldier's dried mutton
Strips of mutton rubbed with salt and Sichuan pepper, dried in the cold steppe wind until dense and savory. The food that endures long marches without spoiling.
Strips of mutton rubbed with salt and Sichuan pepper, dried in the cold steppe wind until dense and savory. The food that endures long marches without spoiling.
At the frontier, the cold bites and the supply carts are late. So we prepare the meat to last: I rubbed the mutton strips with salt and huājiāo, then hung them in the steppe wind until they hardened. Under my man's armor, no one guessed that the hand cutting this meat was a girl's. A piece in the mouth while marching, and you hold out until the evening camp.
- •Mutton (shoulder or leg) — a fine piece (meat)
- •Salt — generously (preservation)
- •Sichuan pepper (huājiāo) — ground, a handful (aroma, signature spice)
Soldier's dried mutton
Strips of mutton rubbed with salt and Sichuan pepper, dried in the cold steppe wind until dense and savory. The food that endures long marches without spoiling.
Why this dish? For twelve years, the ballad says, Mulan fights at the northern frontier. An army on campaign eats provisions that do not spoil: salt-dried meat, which a soldier slips into his pouch and nibbles between marches, is the food of her life as a disguised warrior.
At the frontier, the cold bites and the supply carts are late. So we prepare the meat to last: I rubbed the mutton strips with salt and huājiāo, then hung them in the steppe wind until they hardened. Under my man's armor, no one guessed that the hand cutting this meat was a girl's. A piece in the mouth while marching, and you hold out until the evening camp.
Ingredients (period version)
- Mutton (shoulder or leg) — a fine piece (meat)
- Salt — generously (preservation)
- Sichuan pepper (huājiāo) — ground, a handful (aroma, signature spice)
Ingredients
- Lamb leg or shoulder, trimmed of fat — 500 g (meat)
- Salt — 2 tbsp (curing)
- Ground Sichuan pepper — 2 tsp (signature spice)
- Fresh grated ginger — 1 tsp (aromatic)
Method
- Cut the meat into thin strips along the grain.
- Rub each strip with salt, Sichuan pepper, and ginger.
- Marinate in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
- Dry in the oven at 70°C, door ajar, for 4 to 6 hours (or in a dehydrator), until the meat is firm and pliable.
- Store in a clean cloth; nibble as strips.
How it was made : Drying and salting meat were essential preservation techniques before war and winter; the *Qimin Yaoshu* devotes entire chapters to salting and drying meats. Mutton dominates in the North due to the pastoral Xianbei heritage of the Wei.
The contemporary twist : Cut into sticks and served as an appetizer, this homemade dried meat rivals any commercial jerky — call it "warrior jerky."
Sources : Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu, c. 544 · Ballad of Mulan (Mulan Ci)
Mulan · Charactorium