Lamb Offal Soup

Lamb offal soup is a rich broth made by stewing washed lamb head, heart, liver, lungs and intestines with scallion, ginger, chilli and pepper, milky-white in colour, the offal tender, the broth pungent and warming — a classic cold-weather dish of the frontier.

Lamb offal soup has a long history in Inner Mongolia, a resourceful way of using every part of the sheep in pastoral and urban kitchens alike; the version from Hohhot's Hui district is especially famed, long ranked with beizi and shumai among the city's emblematic breakfasts.

At a street stall one orders a steaming bowl at dawn, scattered with scallion, coriander and chilli, and tears a beizi to soak in the broth; the soup is savoury, the offal tender, the warmth welcome — a down-to-earth way locals fend off the cold.

The milky broth, the tender offal and the pungent warming kick, together with the habit of soaking beizi bread in it, are the marks of lamb offal soup.