Datong Mutton Offal Soup

Datong mutton offal soup, also called 'mixed mutton stew,' is a rich soup simmered from cleaned mutton head, trotter, heart, liver, intestine, lung and blood. The broth is milky and deeply savory rather than gamey, finished with scallion and chili — a beloved warming dish in the cold northern winters.

Sitting on the northern frontier where farming met herding, Datong has a long tradition of eating mutton. Folklore dates the city's offal soup to the Yuan dynasty, linking the name to the mother of Kublai Khan. The story can't be verified, but the dish genuinely reflects the meeting of Datong's cuisine with nomadic culture.

It is ladled out steaming hot, scattered with scallion and coriander, slicked with chili oil and eaten with flatbread or with bread torn into the soup — best drunk while piping hot. It is a regular on Datong breakfast tables and at street stalls.

The draw is the milky, robust broth coaxed from a pot of well-cleaned offal — full-flavored without any off taste — paired with chili oil and flatbread for the most down-to-earth northern flavor in Datong.