Hand-Grasped Lamb

Hand-grasped lamb is a classic Mongolian dish: bone-in lamb is jointed, boiled in plain salted water, and eaten by hand with a knife, dipped in wild leek-flower sauce or salt to let the pure flavour of the meat shine through.

Hand-grasped lamb grows from the Mongolian herding way of life, one of the oldest and truest ways the steppe prepares lamb, prizing grass-fed Inner Mongolian sheep and boiling them plain to embody the grassland creed that good meat needs no disguise — a fixture of Nadam fairs, weddings and other solemn occasions.

Served bone and all, diners sit around and carve by hand, dipping each piece in wild leek-flower sauce, garlic sauce or salt, with milk tea or kumis to follow, the heart of grassland hospitality at its most generous.

The plain boiling, the hand-and-knife eating and the brightening touch of wild leek-flower sauce are what set hand-grasped lamb apart from other lamb dishes.