Shuan Yang Rou

In Beijing, an international city in China, you can find many kinds of cuisines around the world, while, Shuan Yang Rou, instant-boiled mutton slices, is one of the finger-countable local flavors. After I first tried it when I came to Beijing ten years ago, it becomes one of my regular dining-outs. Outsiders often mix it up with hot pot, a flavor originated from Chongqing, a municipality in the southwest of China, whose pot contains thick soup, hot and spicy, while the pot of Shuan Yang Rou contains only clear water, and every taste is in a dish of special sesame jam, which is usually the top secret of a restaurant, since it can lure fussy goers far away. You fetch a piece of mutton, usually transported from the grassland of Inner Mongolia, with chopsticks, and put it into the boiling water for a little while, then, get it out and put it into the dish of sesame jam, and it is ready to serve. The action, Shuan in the clear water, is quite easy to learn, and people put a different meaning to this little verb, cheated or befooled, i.e., you are asked to do something but finally you get nothing reward at all.