File Photo: CFP

The mutton presented as a gift from Mongolia was served to Chinese medical workers who fought on the frontline against coronavirus in Central China's Hubei Province on Monday. 

In a video posted to social media, medical workers at the Leishenshan Hospital in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, can be seen sitting around a round table and enjoy casserole dishes made from boiled mutton.

Mutton is one of Chinese people's favorite foods during the winter season as it is considered a "warming" food that can easily heat up the body on cold days. 

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, eating the proper amount of mutton in winter cannot only increase one's heat and resistance to the cold, but also increase digestive enzymes, which improves digestion and helps protect the walls of the stomach.

As a popular food, mutton is used in a variety of dishes in China. Mutton hot pot is one of the most popular dishes that has leapt over territorial boundaries. Hot pot restaurants are always crowded in winter in most places around China.

Mutton hot pot is common in Northern China, but in places in Southern China like Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, which is also known for spicy hot pot, people prefer cooking slices of beef or pork for hot pot instead of mutton.

"Maybe because sheep are not very common in my hometown," a resident in Chongqing surnamed Li told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Although mutton hot pot is not popular in Southern China, people there have adapted the ingredient to other dishes. For instance, in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, yangrou tang, or mutton soup, is a household name.

Dating back more than 1,000 years, the recipe calls for a broth made from goat and pig bones, which is then poured into a bowl containing a sauce made from ingredients such as chili oil, pepper powder and salt. 

Other places in China also have their own unique local snacks made from mutton.

In Central China's Henan Province, mutton buns are a local specialty. Minced mutton and sauce are wrapped within thin buns which are then baked with lamb oil. The buns are chewy and the fried meat tastes delicious.

"Mutton buns are my favorite snack. I love mutton best and the snack takes good advantage of mutton's charm," Feng, born in Xuchang, Henan, but is now living in Beijing, told the Global Times, adding that she misses the traditional mutton buns very much.