Sanliu Fragrant Meat (dog meat): the best season to eat it, foods to avoid pairing with it, and the price per jin

Dog meat is also called “fragrant meat”, “earth sheep”, and “white dog”, and has the reputation of being the supreme kidney tonic; its texture is tender, dense and full. In Cantonese-speaking areas it is also called “Sanliu Fragrant Meat”. So what season is best for eating dog meat? What should it not be eaten with? How much is it per jin?

What season is best for eating dog meat?

It is better to eat it in winter.

After the start of winter, the yang energy between heaven and earth is stored away, and at this time people need to replenish yang, and dog meat and mutton are very good choices. Dog meat can nourish blood and qi, warm the stomach and dispel cold; it is an excellent cold-resistant food in winter, can drive away cold and keep you warm, and enhances the body's ability to resist cold, making it especially suitable for eating in winter. As the saying goes: “When the cold winter arrives, dog meat grows fat”. There are also folk sayings such as “After eating dog meat you are warm and toasty, and can get through winter without a cotton quilt” and “After drinking dog meat soup, you can use a cotton quilt as [a coat] in winter”. These sayings all strongly prove that winter is suitable for dog meat.

In summer it is generally not advisable to eat dog meat.

The summer climate is relatively dry and hot, and dog meat is a warming food, so eating it makes it even easier to get internal heat; especially people with a yin-deficiency and fire-excess constitution will experience symptoms such as sore throat and nosebleeds after eating it, so dog meat is best eaten in winter, and eating dog meat in summer is not recommended. Eating dog meat in the scorching summer, by reason of external heat plus internal heat, is bad for the body.

Generally speaking, dog meat is suitable for eating in winter and not suitable for eating in summer. However, people believe that the summer solstice is an exception: eating dog meat on the summer solstice not only does not generate heat and cause physical discomfort, but is instead beneficial to the body.

This may be related to the legend that dog meat tonifies the body and can ward off misfortune. According to relevant records, in the Warring States period, in the year after Duke De of Qin ascended the throne, June was extremely hot and an epidemic spread. Duke De of Qin, following the saying “dogs are yang livestock and can ward off misfortune”, ordered his subjects to kill dogs to ward off evil. Later this formed the custom of killing dogs at the summer solstice. There is also a folk saying, “Eat dog at the summer solstice, and the west wind takes a detour”, meaning that as long as a person eats dog meat on the summer solstice, their body can resist the invasion of the west wind and foul rain, catch fewer colds, and be in good health. It is just like the currently popular practice of treating winter diseases in summer. The folk rhyme “On the first day of summer, eat tonic foods” also shows that dietary tonification begins at the start of summer. It is precisely on the basis of this good wish that the unique folk food culture of “summer solstice dog meat” came into being. “Fish at the winter solstice, dog at the summer solstice” is a custom and tradition in our country, and eating dog meat on the summer solstice is also acceptable.

How much does dog meat cost per jin?

The dog meat of Pei County, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, is quite famous in our local area and the surrounding provinces, at about 25-34.

The turtle-juice dog meat of Pei County, Jiangsu Province, is the most famous traditional specialty food of Pei County. Turtle-juice dog meat is sauce-red in color, bright in appearance, delicious and mellow in taste, with meat that is firm yet not tough, and tender yet not greasy; it can be called excellent in color, aroma and taste. Because of this, Pei County has become the “hometown of dog meat” famous in both ancient and modern times.

The effects and functions of dog meat

1. Dog meat is sweet in taste, warm and salty in nature, and enters the spleen, stomach and kidney meridians; it has the effects of warming and tonifying the spleen and stomach, tonifying the kidney and assisting yang, strengthening strength, and nourishing blood vessels.

2. Dog meat warms the kidney and strengthens yang, and is used for cold pain in the waist and knees, clear and profuse urine, frequent urination, edema, deafness and other symptoms caused by kidney-yang deficiency; it warms and tonifies the spleen and stomach, and is used for symptoms such as abdominal distension and fullness and cold pain in the abdomen caused by insufficient yang qi of the spleen and stomach.

3. Eating dog meat can strengthen a person's physique, improve digestive ability, promote blood circulation, and improve sexual function.

4. Dog meat can also be used for weakness in the elderly, such as incontinence, cold limbs, and listlessness. Eating it often in winter can enhance the elderly's ability to resist cold.

Contraindications for eating dog meat

1. People with non-cold-deficiency diseases should not eat dog meat

Dog meat is a hot-natured food, and it should not be eaten in large amounts at one time. Anyone suffering from cough, cold, fever, diarrhea and yin-deficiency fire-excess and other non-cold-deficiency diseases should not eat it.

2. Half-cooked dog meat should not be eaten

All meat must be guaranteed to be fully cooked before it can be eaten, and dog meat is the same. So remember that half-cooked meat must absolutely not be eaten.

If you eat dog meat that is not fully cooked, the Trichinella that breeds in the dog meat will infect the human body. In this way there is not only no tonic effect, but instead harm to health.

3. Remember that mad dog meat must absolutely not be eaten

The saliva of a mad dog contains the rabies virus; during handling, as long as there is a break in the human skin, the virus may be contracted, so mad dog meat must be strictly avoided.

Dog meat from dogs that died of “rabies” and other diseases must be absolutely forbidden; it is best to choose healthy meat dogs that have been injected with the rabies vaccine. Otherwise, if eaten improperly and greedily without restraint, seeking only momentary pleasure and disregarding everything else, there will be harm and no benefit.

What should dog meat not be eaten with?

1. Garlic

Dog meat is hot in nature, and garlic is pungent, warm and stimulating; dog meat is warming and tonic, and garlic is acrid and fierce, and eating them together adds fire and easily harms people, especially those with a hot and yang-excess constitution, who should avoid it even more. Because the volatile substances in garlic can inhibit gastric juice secretion, and dog meat is hot in nature, eating a large amount of fresh garlic when eating dog meat may cause gastrointestinal discomfort and is also not conducive to the digestion and absorption of dog meat. Therefore, when eating dog meat, one should not eat large amounts of fresh garlic, but if it is dog meat stir-fried with garlic, green garlic or garlic sprouts, there is no need to worry.

2. Tea

Dog meat is rich in protein, while tea leaves contain a relatively large amount of tannic acid. If you drink tea immediately after eating dog meat, the tannic acid in the tea leaves will combine with the protein in the dog meat to form tannin protein. This substance has an astringent effect, can weaken intestinal peristalsis, and cause constipation; the toxic substances and carcinogens produced by metabolism remain in the intestines and are passively absorbed, which is not good for health. Therefore, after eating dog meat, one should avoid drinking tea.

3. Almonds

Almonds and dog meat are incompatible. When taking almonds, one should not eat dog meat; eating them together will produce substances harmful to the body.

4. Field turtle

Dog meat and field turtle are incompatible; dog meat and field turtle are both very hot foods, and eating them causes internal heat.

5. Watermelon

Because dog meat is sweet and hot, while watermelon is cold in nature and belongs to raw and cold items, eating it not only greatly reduces the warming and tonic effect of the meat, but also harms the spleen and stomach. So after eating dog meat, one should not eat watermelon.

6. Pumpkin

Pumpkin is a warm-hot food, and if eaten together it very easily causes “internal heat”. By the same reasoning, when cooking mutton, one should also put in less chili, pepper, ginger, clove, fennel and other pungent, warm and drying seasonings.

7. Vinegar

Dog meat should not be eaten with vinegar, because sour vinegar has an astringent effect and is not conducive to the generation and rising of yang qi in the body; eating it with dog meat greatly reduces its warming and tonic effect.

8. Walnut

Dog meat and walnut are incompatible; both are very hot foods. Eating them together makes the mouth dry and the tongue parched.

9. Carp

Carp is sweet and neutral in nature and taste, and promotes urination and lowers qi; besides containing protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus and iron, it also contains more than 10 kinds of free amino acids and cathepsin. Dog meat is dry and hot in nature, and eating the two together will produce extremely complex biochemical reactions and produce substances harmful to the human body. Therefore carp and dog meat should not be eaten together, and even more should not be cooked together. Dog meat is warm in nature, and carp is also warm in nature; eating the two together easily causes internal heat and produces heat toxin.

10. Pokeweed

Dog meat is sour and salty and warm in nature, and functions to boost qi and strengthen yang and tonify the stomach and strengthen the body; pokeweed is bitter and cold. Pokeweed and dog meat are not compatible in nature, taste or function, so those using pokeweed should avoid eating dog meat.

11. Mung beans

Dog meat and mung beans are incompatible; eating them together can burst the belly. If you encounter mung beans it will cause poisoning, because after eating dog meat and then eating mung beans, a chemical reaction occurs in the stomach and intestines that makes the dog meat ferment and expand many times over, which in serious cases can lead to death, so it is best not to eat mung bean paste just after eating dog meat.

12. Ginger

It is incompatible with ginger, and eating them together causes abdominal pain. Dog meat and ginger both belong to warm-natured foods, and eating them together easily causes internal heat; especially those with yin deficiency and internal heat should avoid eating the two together.

13. Dog kidney

Dog meat and dog kidney are incompatible, and will cause dysentery. It can be treated with white chicken feces.

14. Pork liver

Dog meat and pork liver are incompatible; dog meat and pork liver are both hot-natured foods, and eating them together easily causes internal heat.

15. Scallion

Dog meat and scallion are incompatible, and add fire. Most people like to pair scallion as a seasoning when cooking dog meat. In fact, this is very inappropriate. Dog meat is hot in nature and has the effects of warming and tonifying the spleen and stomach, tonifying the kidney and assisting yang, lightening the body and boosting qi, and dispelling cold and strengthening yang; scallion is pungent, warm and dispersing, and opens the orifices and unblocks yang. If the two are eaten together, it further increases fire and heat, and people with symptoms of nosebleeds should pay even more attention.

16. Rice field eel

Dog meat and rice field eel are incompatible, and will cause poisoning. Dog meat is warm and hot and stirs fire, while rice field eel is sweet and very warm; eating the two together makes the warm-heat fire-supporting effect even stronger, which is not good for ordinary people; moreover, rice field eel has a fishy smell, and even more should not be cooked together with dog meat.

17. Cinnabar

Dog meat and cinnabar are incompatible, and eating them together causes internal heat. In addition, mallow, adzuki beans and pickled vegetables should not be eaten with dog meat.

Is it legal to eat dog meat in China?

"A gentleman, in regard to birds and beasts, seeing them alive cannot bear to see them die; hearing their cries cannot bear to eat their flesh", let alone eating a dog with which one lives day and night and to which one has poured deep feelings. In the eyes of dog lovers and animal protectors, eating dog meat has become a barbaric act, but just as Americans eat steak while Indians revere cattle as deities, this is only a cultural difference and not a matter of superior or inferior. The traditional Western habit of not eating cats and dogs comes more from the small family model of Northwestern Europe centered on husband and wife, because their function is emotional companionship, not meat or a tool for labor. Some nomadic ethnic groups in China, such as Tibetans and Manchus, likewise consider eating dog meat unacceptable, because dogs are regarded by nomadic, fishing and hunting peoples as companions, and in their culture dogs are not only helpers in life but also members of the family.

Mainland China has so far had no laws or regulations prohibiting the eating of dog meat.In China it is legal and not illegal for an individual to eat dogs, but operating in meat requires administrative permission. For cats and dogs there are only quarantine standards for transport, rearing and sale, the “Quarantine Protocol for Dog Origin”, and there are no meat and slaughter quarantine standards, so they cannot be operated as meat. Operating cat and dog meat does not constitute illegal business.