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Mutton stewed according to Tung-Pu

Lamb Stewed Tung-Pu Style

Bold and tender at the same time — like a kiss, this dish will win you over! Tung-Pu was a poet who lived during the Song dynasty. I have no idea what he got up to back then, but the dish named in his honor really is a piece of culinary poetry. And I wasn't exaggerating in that flowery intro: the flavor combination is remarkable. A generous amount of onions (several kinds), plus ginger and pepper, give it real heat, while the long, multi-stage cooking makes the lamb meltingly tender. It may just be the best lamb dish I know. The texture lands somewhere like an eintopf — halfway between a soup and a main course. The recipe was originally published in English as told by Wu-Yi Sun, a cook at a Muslim restaurant in Beijing.

Magnago

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Lamb (lean meat — I used a piece from the leg)

750

Vegetable oil (for deep-frying)

Potatoes

750

Carrots (I used red carrots, but any kind works)

Onion

Ginger

Pepper (1 tsp whole peppercorns, or less if ground)

Salt

0.5

Soy sauce

2.5

Sugar

White wine (dry sherry, or dry port)

Leek

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 11 % 5 g

Fats 71 % 32 g

Carbohydrates 18 % 8 g

322 kcal

GI: 88 / 0 / 13

Cooking method

Step 1:

Gather and prep your ingredients.
Step 2:

Cut the lamb into thin strips (keep in mind that Chinese dishes are eaten with chopsticks, no knife — that's what dictates the size and shape of the pieces). Cut the potatoes into thin triangles, the carrots into thin rounds, the onion into rings, and the ginger into thin slices; crush the whole peppercorns. Meanwhile, heat the oil for deep-frying and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Step 3:

Deep-fry the lamb for 5 minutes,
Step 4:

then drain and pat dry with paper towels,
Step 5:

Transfer the lamb to a heavy, thick-walled ovenproof pot. Scatter the onion over it and add all the seasonings — but only half of the wine (3 tablespoons). Pour in enough boiling water to cover everything by about 1½ inches (4 cm); how much you need depends on the width of your pot — for me it was a little over 1.5 quarts (1.5 liters). Cover the pot and place it in the oven for 2 hours at 350°F (180°C). Stir the contents twice during that time — in other words, set a timer to go off every 40 minutes.
Step 6:

Deep-fry the potatoes and carrots for 5 minutes each, then drain on paper towels.
Step 7:

After 2 hours, add the potatoes, carrots, and the leek (sliced into rings) to the pot, and pour in the remaining wine. Return to the oven at the same temperature for another 20 minutes, this time uncovered.