The Seventh Day of the New Year: One More Bowl of Clear-Simmered Lamb Soup
On the very last day of the holidays, let us enjoy one more clean and delicious meal. The Harigaobi herders’ “Clear-Simmered Strolling Lamb” is simple to prepare — anyone who has tasted grassland lamb raised through seasonal nomadic herding by the Harigaobi herders cannot help but sing its praises and keep reaching for more.
On the grassland of Harigaobi gacha in East Ujimqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, Tulan and her family, herders in the Harigaobi Cooperative, remain committed to raising traditional Ujimqin sheep — unimproved, native breed, truly nomadic grassland sheep.
The sheep here are born on natural pastures and graze freely, with no fattening, no antibiotics, no water injection, and they move with the grasslands through all four seasons. As the herds walk between different pastures, the varied grasses supply different trace minerals. It is precisely for this reason that Ujimqin sheep are renowned for their faint gaminess, evenly distributed fat, and tender, juicy meat. A mouthful of lamb carries the clean fragrance of the grassland.
Compared with fixed fencing, single-pasture grazing or even grain supplementation, seasonal nomadic herding preserves both the grassland ecosystem and the true flavour of the lamb. Grassland lamb raised in this tradition that celebrates free grazing is becoming ever rarer.
A pasture is more than a place to graze animals; it is bound up with the ecological environment, the local economy and herders’ livelihoods. 2026 is the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Foodthink will continue to follow the stories of our local pastoral regions and herders. We hope that, when you can, you will learn more about herders’ lives, support local pastoral products, and stand behind the grasslands and herders’ livelihoods with real, tangible actions.
Ingredients:
Authentic herder version: lamb from the Harigaobi herders’ home and salt — that is all.
Jishi’s refined version: add white radish, carrot, ginger, black wood ear mushrooms and pepper to taste.
Method:
Simmer in clear, salted water until the meat is tender.
Note:
The herders’ “strolling sheep” walk the grassland all year round, grazing on dozens of different grasses, which is what keeps the meat free of gaminess. The preparation is clean and unadorned, letting the quality of the meat and its natural flavour speak for themselves.
For more stories from the Harigaobi herders, click 👉🏻On the Ujimqin Grassland, Witnessing True Herder Life to learn more. To purchase, please follow @Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market
Dinner’s nearly on! This New Year, savour something good with a real provenance.
Foodthink, together with our farmer friends at Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market, is serving up its “New Year’s Recipes” — made with the farmers’ own produce.
These recipes come with no precise measurements in grams or minutes, no elaborate, complicated techniques.
What you will find instead is a quiet certainty in the ingredients, and the kind of plain, tender advice you would give your own family.
With ingredients chosen with care, there is no need to overthink things. A simple, unhurried method and just the right heat — that is all it takes.
Behind every dish in these recipes stands a real, specific person —
our farmer friends know exactly where their ingredients shine, and they know how best to do justice to that goodness.
When a block of tofu can give its name, a chicken can lay out its pedigree, and a daikon dares you not to peel it — good eating simply falls into place.
From the second to the seventh day of the New Year, six farmer friends share one New Year’s dish a day.
Second Day: Aromatic Steamed Free-Range Mountain Pork
Third Day: Ultimate Stir-Fried Chicken
Fourth Day: Braised Tofu in Sauce
Fifth Day: Daikon Sashimi
Sixth Day: All-Purpose Red Sour Soup
Grow with care, cook with ease, eat with confidence.
