Donglaishun Salted Lamb Liver: Beijing Heritage Dish

In Beijing, food is more than just flavor—it’s living history. While Peking duck is the city’s culinary star, Donglaishun Restaurant’s heritage salted lamb liver is a quietly luxurious century-old specialty. With its silky texture, restrained savory depth, and traditional technique recognized as an intangible cultural heritage, this dish embodies authentic Beijing dining culture. Let’s explore its origins, ingredients, preparation, tasting tips, and a simple home adaptation.

1. Origin and History: A Century of Tradition

Founded in 1903, Donglaishun Restaurant has become a legend in Beijing’s culinary scene. Salted lamb liver was developed alongside their signature mutton hotpot, transforming an often-overlooked ingredient into a celebrated cold dish. By blending traditional Chinese brining and salt-cooking methods, and refining them over decades, Donglaishun created a recipe that later earned recognition as a Beijing intangible cultural heritage. It’s a testament to the restaurant’s craftsmanship and thoughtful, frugal approach to cooking.

2. Cultural Significance: Beijing Wisdom in a Small Plate

A great dish carries cultural meaning beyond taste. Donglaishun’s salted lamb liver highlights the skillful elevation of offal into a banquet-worthy dish. It reflects Chinese culinary philosophy—careful preparation, maximizing ingredient value—and evokes the communal warmth of Beijing’s hotpot culture. Enjoying it feels like stepping into a historic teahouse, savoring the city’s practical, hospitable food traditions.

3. Ingredient Quality: A Gift from the Grasslands

Quality begins with Inner Mongolia lamb liver. Grazed freely on lush pastures, these lambs yield livers that are plump, fresh, and richly colored. Selected livers are firm, tender, and packed with nutrients, forming the foundation of the dish and ensuring a pure, refined taste in every slice.

4. Preparation: Crafting Flavor with Time and Skill

Making salted lamb liver is a delicate process of washing, soaking, marinating, and gentle poaching:

• Washing and soaking: Fresh liver is cleaned and soaked in cold water for hours to remove blood and reduce gamey notes, ensuring a silky texture.
• Marinating: A special brine of Sichuan pepper, scallion, ginger, cooking wine, and salt infuses the liver with savory depth and balances flavors.
• Poaching: The liver is gently simmered in a seasoned salted broth, with careful temperature control to prevent toughness. After cooking, it cools in the broth, allowing the flavor to fully penetrate.
• Slicing: Once chilled, the liver firms up and is thinly sliced, displaying a rich, dark-red sheen.

5. Flavor and Texture: Simple, Refined Pleasure

Donglaishun’s salted lamb liver is all about minimalist elegance. Without heavy sauces, the dish showcases the liver’s natural quality. Each slice is silky, tender, and melts in the mouth. The flavor is rich yet restrained, with subtle notes of pepper, ginger, and scallion enhancing the meat’s natural taste. The texture is moist but firm, and the finish is clean and lingering—a refined, memorable experience.

6. How to Eat: Pairings and Serving Suggestions

Traditionally served cold as an appetizer:

• Classic: Enjoy plain first to appreciate its pure taste. Optional dips include black vinegar or soy-garlic sauce for added brightness.
• With drinks: Pairs well with cold beer, light baijiu, or huangjiu.
• Creative twist: Try sandwiching slices in hot sesame flatbread (shaobing) for a contrast of temperatures and textures.

7. Visitor Tips: Where and When to Try It

• Best locations: Visit Donglaishun branches in Wangfujing, Qianmen, or other central Beijing districts.
• Ordering advice: It’s available year-round, often as a starter in mutton hotpot sets.
• Tasting sequence: Sample a few slices before hotpot to prime your palate.
• Reservation tip: Popular historic locations fill quickly—reserve ahead or visit during off-peak hours.

8. Simple Home Version

For a simplified home version:

1. Choose fresh lamb liver.
2. Clean and soak in cold water for 2–3 hours, changing water until clear.
3. Blanch with cooking wine, sliced ginger, and scallions; rinse after skimming foam.
4. Simmer in salted water with Sichuan pepper, ginger, scallion, and optional star anise for 20–30 minutes.
5. Cool in the broth for at least 2 hours to absorb flavor.
6. Slice thinly and serve cold.

9. Conclusion

Donglaishun’s heritage salted lamb liver is more than a dish—it’s edible history. Combining a century of culinary skill, respect for ingredients, and authentic Beijing flavors, it offers a taste of the city’s cultural warmth. When in Beijing, after enjoying Peking duck and hotpot, don’t miss this understated luxury—a silky, savory slice of Beijing tradition.