Also Shuàn yángròu, Beijing hotpot, Mongolian hotpot
Paper-thin slices of raw mutton swished for a moment in plain boiling water, in a chimneyed copper pot over charcoal, then dipped in a rich sesame sauce.
What makes it instant-boiled mutton
Mutton or lamb sliced so thin you can see through it.
A clear, plain broth in a copper pot with a charcoal chimney.
A dip of sesame paste, fermented tofu, chive-flower sauce and chilli oil.
Where it comes from
Northern herders cooked meat this way long before it reached the city, and Beijing tells several stories about how it arrived — one credits Kublai Khan's army. What's agreed is that the Hui kept it and made it famous: Donglaishun, opened by a Hui Muslim in 1903 as a stall near the Forbidden City, is its best-known house.
Unlike the chilli pots of the south-west, the broth is almost plain water, with a little ginger and spring onion. The flavour is in the meat and the dip.
How it varies
Later in the meal
Cabbage, tofu and glass noodles go into the now-rich broth, and sometimes a sesame flatbread on the side.