Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS November 14, 1997

11/07/97, Reuters, By Jane Macartney

KHOTAN, China, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Searching for a recipe for sheep's head? The cooks of Xinjiang know the secret.

The scent of mutton fat lingers in the air in China's westernmost region where Uighur Moslems are the majority, pork is virtually taboo and ethnic Han Chinese must accustom their palates to the more pungent flavour of lamb.

``We people in Xinjiang can cook mutton in every possible way,'' boasted one Han Chinese official in the ancient Silk Road city of Khotan.

``There is almost no part of the sheep that we don't eat.''

In most of China, mutton is not popular. Han Chinese prefer the more delicate flavour of pork, although lamb is popular among northerners in the winter when it is prepared in highly spiced hot-pots that mask much of the meat's stronger taste. Among the Uighurs of Moslem-majority Xinjiang, mutton is ubiquitous.

Pork is frowned upon, to say the least. The meat is supposed to be on sale for Han Chinese only in special streets and markets, well out of sight of the Uighurs.

HOT TOPIC -- THE PRICE OF LAMB

The first topic of conversation among travelling Uighurs is the price of lamb. In the bustling Sunday bazaar in China's westernmost city of Kashgar, farmers line up their flocks of fat-bottomed sheep for sale to the city's butchers and haggle for hours over the quality and price of their livestock.

>From market to meatplate the journey is swift. And for those who enjoy mutton, the fare is varied. Mutton makes its first appearance of the day at the breakfast table, the meat minced with spring onions, stuffed inside a bun and steamed.

Breakfast eaters with hardier taste buds may prefer ``zhua fan'' or ``grabbed rice'' -- a concoction of rice, raisins, nuts and grated carrots fried in swirling mutton fat that is eaten with the hands. The consumption of mutton does not stop there.

In need of a mid-morning snack? The peckish can pause on the pavement to nibble on mutton kebabs created by hawkers who roast skewered chunks of meat and fat over burning braziers.

FAMED FOR KEBABS

Xinjiang is famed for its mutton kebabs and proud locals crow over why their kebabs are Xinjiang's best.

``In Kashgar, the sheep eat vegetation that is rich in herbs so the meat itself tastes better than anything you can find in the rest of Xinjiang,'' said Kong Fuxi, director of foreign affairs for this famed Silk Road bazaar and trading post. Kashgar's kebabs are renowned for the spicy powder of chillis and cumin that cooks sprinkle over the meat. But Khotan also vies to produce the tastiest kebabs.

``This is a desert region and we have virtually no rain and that is what makes our mutton special,'' said local official Mohammad Nur.

``It means the salt is very concentrated in the grass and it gives the mutton much more flavour than meat from other parts of Xinjiang,'' he said. ``The taste is already in the mutton.''

Maybe that is why Khotan's kebab sellers only dust their meat in spices, just accentuating the flavour of the juices. Uighur cooks do not limit their ambitions to kebabs.

Still hungry? How about a flaky bun, made by bakers who stretch out their dough, paste it liberally with mutton lard, roll the strip into a sausage-shaped roll and steam it. A favourite lunch dish is noodles floating in a spicy soup of tomatoes, peppers, onions and chunks of mutton.

FEAST AT DINNER

Diners who have kept their appetite in check until dinner can enjoy a feast. Minced mutton baked in pastry, thin-skinned boiled mutton dumplings, mutton roast in spices, fried sheep's intestines, mutton fritters and fresh cuts of meat sliced from a whole lamb roast on a spit.

For special occasions, a host will order his cook to prepare the piece de resistance -- sheep's head boiled in soup. Its ears trimmed and eyes removed, the head is placed before the guest of honour whose privilege it is to plunge the first knife into the skull. Lesser diners finish off the rest.

``The cheek is delicious,'' said one recent satisfied banqueter as he plunged his chopsticks into the dish of sliced sheep's head.