fd-Mongols-msg – 2/24/08
Food of the Mongols. Recipes for Mongol food.
NOTE: See also the files: Mongols-msg, fd-Russia-msg, kumiss-msg, dairy-prod-msg, Mongols-N-o-B-art, Mongl-Mission-art, horse-recipes-msg.
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: corun at access2.digex.net (Corun MacAnndra)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mongolian Cuisine (HELP!)
Date: 30 Jun 1995 18:28:39 -0400
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
In article <3t1l80$qd5 at freenet.unbc.edu>,
Keith Johnson <ad520 at freenet.unbc.edu> wrote:
>
>I am trying to locate medieval mongolian recipes, I would be most
>appreciative if anyone has some and would be willing to post them here or
>e-mail them to me.
Here are a couple of Mongolian recipes that are fairly common over there.
I can't attest to their periodness, and I'll let the cooks of this group
debate whether or not there's a case for them having been made in the 13th
century, but they're the only Mongolian/Tuvan recipes I have.
In service,
Corun
From the alt.culture.tuva archives....
--------------------------------------------->
Cooking and serving boiled lamb without spices is not a deeply rooted
Tuvan-Mongolian tradition, and any representatives of the two nations
happily parted from old habits in favour of paprika, pepper, marjoram, etc.
A truly fine dish is made as follows:
Mix flour and little water (salting permitted) to make dough; flatten (in
college kitchens comfortably by wine bottles [should be emptied beforehand])
to 2-3 mm, cut ~ 10-15 cm diameter discs, fill with minced lamb (keep the fat);
form a ball in your hand by pinching the edges together; leave a little
opening on top (important!); put over steam for 20 (?) minutes. The meat boils
in its own juice, keeping all vitamins, minerals, trace elements. You eat
it by hand, opening your mouth BIG!
5-15 balls per person. It is the famous booz (Mongolian name).
Here is the recipe for the fried version of booz, the khoorshoor.
Dough and fill is the same as for booz.
Dough: flour and water (salt added), make dough, flatten to 1-2 mm, cut
discs of 10-15 cm diameter with a cup. Fill: minced meat. Spices: typically
none, but salt; paprika, pepper, especially marjoram help a lot.
Put the disc of dough in your palm, put the minced meat on it and flap the
dough over it (you get a half-disc).
Pinch the two dough layers together. No holes should be left, otherwise the
juice of the meat will disappear. The khoorshhor is flat, about 2 cm
thick. Fry both sides in lamb fat (although Mongolians here readily use
sunflower oil). The colour of the fried dough should be light brown. It is
crisp at the edges and soft in the middle.
The pattern of the pinched edges of booz and khoorshoor is a matter of
competition and pride. Several delicate forms can be made by the fingers,
the smaller and thinner is the better for booz. The margins should not be very
thin for the khoorshoor, because it burns when frying.
--
===============================================================================
Corun MacAnndra |
Dark Horde by birth | vivivi - the editor of the Beast
Moritu by choice |
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: DDFr at Midway.UChicago.edu (David Friedman)
Subject: Re: Mongolian Cuisine (HELP!)
Organization: University of Chicago Law School
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 16:42:59 GMT
Corun MacAnndra gives modern recipes for two versions of a lamb in dough
ball recipe, called "booz" and "Khoorshoor." They sound similar to the
medieval islamic Sanbusak, which I suspect is related to the modern Indian
Samosa and to the following ingredient list from _Ain i Abari_ (16th
century Mughal):
20. Qutab, which the people of Hind call sanbusa: This is made in several
ways. 10 s. meat; 4 s. fine flour; 2 s. ghee; 1 s. onions; 1/4 s. fresh
ginger; 1/2 s. salt; 2 d. pepper and coriander seed; cardamons, cumin seed,
cloves, 1 d. of each; 1/4 s. of summaq. This can be cooked in twenty
different ways, and gives four full dishes.
Our current worked out version is:
To make 1/34th of this:
10 oz meat
4 oz flour=aprox 1/2 c white + 1/2 c whole wheat
2 oz ghee=aprox 4T (can substitute butter or margarine)
1 oz onion=1/3 to 1/2 c chopped
1/4 oz fresh ginger=1T chopped
1/2 oz salt=2t
1/24 th oz pepper=1/2 t ground
1/24 th oz coriander seed=1/2 t ground
1/49th oz cardamon=1/4 t ground
1/49th oz cumin=1/4 t ground
1/49th oz cloves=1/4 t ground
1/4 oz sumac=2t
The following instructions are loosely based on the Andalusian Sanbsak
recipe.
Mix the flour, cut into it the ghee; continue until it is finely cut in.
Sprinkle on about 4-5 T water and knead to a smooth dough.
Cut up meat, combine it and all remaining ingredients in a food processor.
Process about 25 seconds, until it is all cut finely together. Roll out the
dough to about 12x16, and cut into 2x2 pieces. Divide the filling
evenly, putting about a 1.5 t of the filling in each (i.e. use up all the
filling). Wrap the filling in the dough. It would probably work with fewer
squares and larger amounts of filling as well; the related Andalusian
recipe specifies a lump of filling the size of a walnut and an equal amount
of dough to wrap it with.
Put about 3 c of cooking oil in about a 3 qt pot, heat to between 350 and
370, fry the Sanbusas about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes each, drain, serve. Makes
about 48
Rather salty, but not intolerably so. People who do not like salt should
probably cut it in half. Almost all of the dishes from this source come out
quite salty.
--
David/Cariadoc
DDFr at Midway.UChicago.Edu
From: ddfr at midway.uchicago.edu (7/4/95)
To: Mark Harris
RE>Mongolian Cuisine (HELP!)
>What's "ghee"?
Clarified butter. You can get it from Indian grocery stores, or make it
following instructions in Indian cookbooks. Basically it is butter with
some impurities removed, making it stable to a higher temperature and (I
think) less subject to spoiling.
David Friedman
ddfr at midway.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: DDFr at Midway.UChicago.edu (David Friedman)
Subject: Re: Mongolian Cuisine (HELP!)
Organization: University of Chicago Law School
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 16:35:34 GMT
> I am trying to locate medieval mongolian recipes, I would be most
> appreciative if anyone has some and would be willing to post them here or
> e-mail them to me. ...
> Keith Johnson
The following is an ingredient list for Shulla for the _Ain I Akbari_,
which is late 16th century northern Indian (Moghul). According to Charles
Perry, whose opinion I trust, Shulla is a mongol dish, and the source is
period although not period mongol. Unfortunately, what the source gives is
a list of ingredients, not a recipe:
Shulla: 10 s. meat, 3 1/2 s. rice; 2 s. ghi; 1 s. gram; 2 s. onions; 1/2 s.
salt; 1/4 s. fresh ginger; 2 d. garlic, and round pepper, cinnamon,
cardamons, cloves, 1 d. of each: this gives six dishes.
According to calculations by Robin Carroll-Mann, who first told me about
this source:
1 ser = 964 gm. = 2lbs, 2 oz.
1 dam =20.084 gm. = 7/10 oz.
The following is our worked out version, as it currently stands:
meat: 1lb leg of lamb
rice: 1.6 oz = 3-4 T
ghee 1.6 oz = 1/4 c
gram (chickpeas) .8 oz = 2T
onions 3 oz sliced (check volume)
salt .8 oz salt! = 1T
fresh ginger .4 oz peeled and copped (check volume)
garlic .07 ounce! = aprox 1/2 clove, sliced
pepper .035 oz = 1/2 t
cinnamon .035 oz = 1/4 stick
cardamon .035 oz = aprox 1/2 t
cloves .035 oz = aprox 1/2 t
Melt the ghee, put it in a pot. Brown the meat, onions, and garlic in it
for about 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add 1 1/4 c of lukewarm water, salt,
chickpeas, cinnamon. Simmer about another 10 minutes, then add ginger,
pepper, cardamom and cloves. Add the rice and another 1/2 c of water.
Simmer another 1/2 hour. Serve.
This was done on the (very uncertain) assumption that Shulla is related to
Shurba in al-Baghdadi, and that the recipe we have for the latter thus
gives a rough idea of how the former is made.
If you find any period mongol cookbooks, please let the rest of us know.
--
David/Cariadoc
DDFr at Midway.UChicago.Edu
From: saaral at dcez.com (Grey Randall)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Mongolian Cuisine (HELP!)
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 1995 17:52:20 GMT
Organization: Capital Area Internet Service info at cais.com 703-448-4470
ad520 at freenet.unbc.edu (Keith Johnson) wrote:
>I am trying to locate medieval mongolian recipes, I would be most
>appreciative if anyone has some and would be willing to post them here or
>e-mail them to me.
A while back I had a recipe for Khorkhog, which was listed as a
mongolian festival dish. The book doesn't say how old the recipe is,
but it consits of the following:
1 Lamb cut into small pieces still on the bone
1 basket of onions chopped coarsley
seasonings to taste
(also needed is a large urn and many small stones that have been
heated in a fire)
rice
cooking broth
Mix the lamb pieces and onions together.
fill the urn with alternating layers of the lamb mixture and the hot
stones until full, cover the urn and leave it alone for a few hours.
When finished, remove stones, scoop out lamb and onion mixture and
serve over rice with cooking broth.
I've made this on several of our saturday night gaming sessions,
although I cheated. I used boneless lamb, and baked it in a covered
caserole dish at 350 for 75 minutes.
I have a few more Mongolian recipes at home on my bookshelf, I'll go
digging through them when I get home today (IF they decide to unchain
me from my desk)
The book with the Khorkhog recipe has the instructions for the
buttered tea. I've made it for 3 events, and got mixed results each
time. The second and third times I had to make a substitution and
ended up with results that were drinkable, but nothing to write home
about.
Yours,
Saaral (Soon to be Changed)/Grey the Succinct (Don't Blame Me, a BEAR Named Me!)
Frequent customer of the Tendou Akane's Kitchen of Pain
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 18:45:02 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: SC - Cossacks, Mongols, and Huns..Oh My!
Karen Lyons-McGann wrote:
>
> Conchobar says:
> Ok, I foolishly agreed to make a soup/stew for our event in March.
>
> Me too! It's the first time I've volunteered for such a thing. The
> title of the event is "Cossaks, Mongols & Huns" and I don't have to stick
> to the theme, but it would be nice. Anyone have an idea what Cossaks,
> Mongols or Huns ate? Or know of what book I should hunt down to start
> finding out?
>
> Anne
Okay. Lessee now. First off, I suspect that whatever the Cossacks ate
in period either hasn't been documented in any way accessible to us, or
concerns their eating habits since the eighteenth century. Huns are in a
similar, but diametrically opposed, situation. I'm not aware of any
Greek or Roman authors who went into their eating habits, and while
there may be some period or early-post-period Hungarian recipes
available, there's some question whether those recipes represent the
eating habits of nomadic horsemen to any extent.
Now. The Mongols, on the other hand...
There are several relatively modern Mongolian recipes available in
archives from the UseNet newsgroup, rec.org.sca, a.k.a. the Rialto. I
believe the noble Lord Stefan Li Rous can hook you up with those; since
it's been a long time since I've looked at them, I'm not certain they
made their way into his Florilegium files.
In the mean time, you might check William of Rubrick, who was a European
traveller in the Far East in the 14th century. No specific recipes, for
the most part, but numerous descriptions of dishes and foodways.
Distantly related (because modern) is a method my brother-in-law, who
travelled to Outer Mongolia last summer, and made a video recording of
Mongol herdsmen cooking what was, for them, a traditional version of
Mongolian hot pot.
They built a big bonfire, heating smooth riverbed rocks in it until they
glowed. They added the rocks, and rather minimally seasoned chunks of
freshly killed, skinned, and butchered lamb or kid, to a large milk can,
with a clamping lid, and sealed it shut. They then played a version of
soccer with the can for ten minutes or so. Maybe more like five.
They then flipped the can upright again, and carefully opened it,
spraying meat juice, ash, and superheated steam everywhere (since the
milk can, having become, effectively, a pressure cooker, lacked a safety
valve) and ate their barbecue like proper Mongols: squatting on their
heels around a campfire, with semi-raw, semi-grilled leeks and
wheat-flour flatbread griddlecakes, and, of course, plenty of Russian
vodka.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 11:04:26 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Cossacks, Mongols, and Huns..Oh My!
Karen Lyons-McGann wrote:
>> They built a big bonfire, heating smooth riverbed rocks in it until they
>> glowed. The added the rocks, and rather minimally seasoned chunks of
>> freshly killed, skinned, and butchered lamb or kid, to a large milk can,
>> with a clamping lid, and sealed it shut. They then played a version of
>> soccer with the can for ten minutes or so. Maybe more like five.
>> Adamantius
>
> How well do you think a lamb/kid stew would sell? I've eaten both and
> liked it, but hardly anyone eats lamb, and I don't think you can even by
> kid around here. Everyone would think it smelled and tasted odd and I
> couldn't sell any. This is one of the things that makes people say
> "period food is yucky" because they aren't familiar with it. But, you
> said they ate it with flat bread? That's useful to know.
There's no reason lamb stew shouldn't sell, if properly prepared. The
trick is to make sure the lamb isn't too mature, trim off most of the
fat (but not all or it could be dry), and season it well. For a
Mongolianesque seasoning, I'd suggest ginger (fresh), lightly toasted or
fried garlic (fresh is best, but a nice cheat is to buy the little
dehydrated flakes or chips--NOT powder or "salt"--and either toast them
lightly in a low oven until they just begin to turn golden, or sauteed
in a lightly oiled saute pan, to a similar shade--make sure you don't
burn them) and a dash of cheap American or Canadian whiskey, like rye,
which is a reasonably close approximation of the kaoliang sorghum "wine"
you find in the North and West of China, which sometimes gets up to
around 180 proof. The wine, that is.
If you wanted to do something like this as a stew, rather than as a sort
of barbecue, which is really what the milk can method seems to produce,
I suggest you brown the lamb in a bit of oil, and just add more liquid,
like, for instance, beef stock. Small amounts of dark Chinese soy sauce
(thicker and less salty than the light kind) and a small pinch of
Chinese Five Spice Powder wouldn't hurt. Nor would a piece of dried
orange peel. If the lamb has enough gristly connective tissue on it, it
will cook until soft and the dissolved gelatin will thicken the broth
enough without adding any other thickener. You could eat this with wheat
flour cakes (bao bing in Mandarin, kinda like flat, thin, biscuits,
cooked in a frying pan or griddle, with or without a garnish of sesame
seeds), or the kind of wheat pancakes usually eaten with Mu Xi pork in
Chinese restaurants, rather like wheat flour tortillas. Or, in a pinch,
this could be eaten over thick, eggless, wheat-flour noodles, like the
Japanese udon.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 11:08:30 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Mongol Cooking
One further source you might want to look at is the _Ain I Akbari_. It is
16th century Mughal. The Mughal culture was Persian/Indian, and the
Persians had been under Mongol rule (the Ilkhans) for a considerable while
somewhat earlier. So the recipes might (or might not) have some connection
to Mongol cooking. I believe there are a couple of worked out ones on our
web page, and in the latest edition of the _Miscellany_ (7th), although
probably not the previous (6th), which is the webbed one.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 19:34:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Chabi Merkit <afn05063 at afn.org>
Subject: SC - Mongol Receipes
Most of the receipes I have came from the Mongolia Society. I also have a
few traditional receipes from some friend that are from Mongolia, but I'll
get to those.....
Sturgeon Boullion
1 kilogram Sturgeon
2.5 liters water
1 onion quartered
1 bunch parsley
1 parsnip
1 bunch celery
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
In order to make this sturgeon boullion one may use the entire fish or just
the head.
After cleaning and scaling sturgeon, cut it into peices, chopping the head
into a few peices, removing the eyes and gills. Cover the cut sturgeon with
cold water in apot and bring to a boil.
Skim off the foan as it collects at the top.
Add the parsley, celery, and onion and bring to a boil for the second time.
Then cook over low heat for 50-60 minutes.
Take out the peices of fish and debone it.
Cook the cartilage until is becomes tender.
The fish is served on a plate, decorated with parsley springs and onion whil
the boullion is served separately in small bowls (pialy).