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Traditional Cuisine - Meat Dishes

Meat dishes are usually made from the meat of four kinds of livestock that the Kalmyks have traditionally bred, including sheep, cattle, horses and camels. The most widely used meat is mutton and beef, whereas horse and camel meat are used less often. Mutton can be prepared in various ways, boiled, fried, roasted, etc., the most common dish being a mutton soup cooked with pasta. Dotur, a soup made of sheep's intestines, is also very popular. Cooked intestines, seasoned with onion and other spices, can also be served as a side dish.

Other popular dishes made of mutton are khuursn makhn (mutton fried in oil with pasta, onion, and other spices), beregi (dumplings boiled in water), bulsn elkn (liver roasted on coal), semjer orasn elkn (liver wrapped in intestine fat and fried in oil) and budan (soup traditionally made of either dried or smoked meat boiled with flour). Kyur stands out among other dishes both in terms of preparation and its uniquely soft taste. It is prepared as follows. The sheep is cut into small pieces in such a way that the entire meat with the carcass fits into the sheep's tripe. Then the stuffed tripe is put into a hole in the ground filled with red-hot ashes of wood or dung. Afterwards, the hole is covered with earth, and a fire is put on top of it. The mutton is cooked in its own juice.

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Zoya Nemeeva, Fried liver
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2016-08-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumov, Anton; Churyumov, Anton
  • ItemOpen Access
    Valentina Bevikova, About meat sharing among family members
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-01-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Koldaev, Tseren; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
  • ItemOpen Access
    Petr Tazaev, About Kalmyk cuisine
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-02-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
  • ItemOpen Access
    Boba Kokueva, About food and gambling
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-11-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
  • ItemOpen Access
    Baatr Mandzhiev, Kur
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2014-08-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Seleeva, Tsagan
  • ItemOpen Access
    Alexei Naranov, How to dry meat
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2016-02-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Gedeeva, Darina; Kovaeva, Bair; Babaev, Andrei
  • ItemOpen Access
    Maria Beltsikova, About what people ate in the past
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2017-12-01) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton
    Maria says that in the past the main food of the Kalmyks was meat and broth. People also ate the meat of Eurasian squirrels. Kalmyks included potatoes in their diet gradually.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Sanal Bovaev, about mutton in rituals and divination
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-05-04) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Koldaev, Tseren; Sandzhiev, Artur
    Sanal talks about the importance of mutton and cooked sheep’s head for rituals and says that sheep’s blade bone and intestines were used for divination:Since we are nomads, all our customs are connected with livestock breeding. We performed various rituals for various occasions, including births, weddings etc. All rituals involved meat offerings to gods. The most important part of the sheep is its head, which was used for the purpose of rituals. The sheep’s head has to be offered with its jaw removed. Also, matchmaking ceremonies always included three sheep legs. In the past Kalmyks used the sheep’s blade bone for divination, usually for weather forecasting. People also used animal intestines or internal organs to do divination.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Rimma Badmaeva, about Kalmyk cuisine
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-04-22) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr; Sandzhiev, Artur
    Rimma talks about Kalmyk cuisine: The Kalmyks love lamb most of all. Lamb can be used to make various dishes, including dumplings, tyunteg, soup, and khuursn makhn (fried lamb with pasta). Intestines are used to make sausages. The next most popular meat is beef. The number of dishes made from beef is less than those from lamb. Camel meat is also very delicious. Compared to other livestock, camels can be without water for a long time, which makes their meat juicy and saturated with herb flavors. The most delicious part is its foot. There is a belief that eating a camel’s foot brings prosperity. Couples should eat camel’s meat together, otherwise they may divorce. The Kalmyks also make various dishes from fish. They cook it by frying it, making dumplings and meatballs with it. The head of a red fish is good for making broth, which is good for health. Dairy products are made mainly from cow’s milk. These include yoghurt, butter, and chigyan. Black goat’s milk is considered to be good for sick children.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Dordzhi Barkhaev, about how to cook and divide mutton
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2019-05-04) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Churyumov, Anton; Sandzhiev, Artur
    Dordzhi says the following: After slaughtering a sheep, its guts are cleaned and cooked. The cooked stomach is given to women and girls. Women also eat the heart. Men eat nuglur (liver wrapped in internal fat) and boys receive kidneys. In the past, boys could eat nuglur only after they reached 12 or so. In the past, the sheep’s neck was not given to strangers, but was supposed to be eaten only within the family. At weddings the feast did not include a sheep’s neck. People slaughtered a sheep and cooked its meat according to customs. Today, there is a custom when the groom’s side gives a life sheep to the bride’s side. This is a new custom.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Maria Erdnieva, About Meat Dishes
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Terbish, Baasanjav; Babaev, Andrei; Gedeeva, Darina
    Maria talks about Kalmyk dishes, including meat and milk-based ones. This is her story: In the past, we ate dried fish. A fish was boiled, cleaned of its bones and dried. It looked like mince. Dried yoghurt was made from what was left from distilling milk vodka. The leftover was dried and mixed with butter. Koortsg is a layer that forms on top of fresh milk. Khursn is a pancake made from yoghurt. Shuurmg is also made from yoghurt mixed with butter. In the past, people kept butter in a paunch. A paunch was first salted, dried and filled with butter. It did not absorb the butter. Bulmg is made as follows. First, heat butter, add flour and salty water. When a layer of butter emerges on top, this means that bulmg is ready. Traditionally, different members of the family eat different parts of sheep meat. Children eat the ears; men eat the eyes. When a cow was slaughtered, its meat was divided among neighbors. The meat was cut into long pieces and boiled in salty water. Some of it was dried for later consumption. Eedmg is what is left from distilling milk vodka. Eedmg is mixed with milk.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Ksenia Kardonova, Kalmyk Cuisine
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Aleksandr Bambeev; Bembeev, Aleksandr
    Ksenia Kardonova talks about Kalmyk cuisine. When we lived in our homeland (before exile in 1943) my father worked as a shepherd. We always had good food. We ate meat, dairy products, we made milk vodka. After the distillation of milk vodka milk thicket remains, it is called ‘aadmg’. From ‘aadmg’ we made dried cheese, which is called ‘shuurmg’. Shuurmg is made the following way: milk thicket, left from distilling milk vodka, is compressed by hand and left to dry. Another dish made from aadmg is called ‘khyursn’, it is made as follows: sugar or salt is added to aadmg, to taste, then rolled into a flat cake, cut and dried. Khyursn can be sweet or salted. Shuurmg is consumed mixed with milk or cream. Khyursn can be eaten as a dessert or sweet. Another milk dish is ‘khoormg’. It is made in a special way from ‘chigyan’ (fermented milk) mixed with fresh milk. As there was no refrigerator meat was cut into thin strips and dried in the sun. It turned into special jerky meat called ‘bortslsn makhn’. By mixing ‘shuurmg’ with ‘bortslsn makhn’ and boiling these two ingredients in water, you get another dish called ‘budan’. Another dish called ‘bulmg’ is delicious. It is cooked as follows: heat the melted butter (‘shar tosn’) in a pan, remove the liquid that comes from the melted butter, in the remaining thick butter add flour, milk, raisins, pieces of apples and prunes and mix everything together until cooked to taste. This is what Kalmyks ate in the past. When the war began, food became worse, but still it wasn’t too bad, we had boiled potatoes, rice.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Galina Mamonova, About What We Ate When I was a Child
    (Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge, 2018-10-28) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Korneev, Gennadiy; Bembeev, Aleksandr
    Galina recalls about what she ate in her childhood in the 1960s:My father was a shepherd. He slaughtered sheep by cutting their throat. Whenever we slaughtered a sheep, we collected its blood in a bowl and then stirred it by hand. We added salt, milk, spices and cooked it. It was so delicious! When people could not kill a sheep, they consumed dairy products, including chigyan (fermented milk drink), milk vodka, tea, and bulmg. Kalmyks did not have special dishes. When we returned home from Siberia, we did not have much food. Only 5-6 years later, when we were settled, could we afford enough food. We also ate ground squirrels (tushkanchik). When it rained, my grandfather used to take a bucket with water and go squirrel hunting. We followed him. My grandfather poured water into barrows and waited until the squirrels jumped out. He caught them and broke their neck. During a trip he could catch up to 7 squirrels. We sat next to him and looked how he did it. At home my grandfather skinned them and salted the skin. When he had enough skins, he sold them to some people. With the money he bought tobacco and small things like that. He fried or cooked ground squirrel meat by adding a lot of onions. That was in the 1960s. We also dried their meat. My grandfather ate dried meat himself. We also collected squirrel fat in bottles. My grandfather smeared fat on bread and ate it. Such fat is said to be good for tuberculosis. Many Kalmyks returned from Siberia with tuberculosis and they treated themselves with ground squirrel fat. Wolf’s meat, as my grandfather would say, is also good for respiratory diseases.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Sofya Olzeeva, Kalmyk Cuisine
    (2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Terbish, Baasanjav; Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira
    Sofya talks about traditional cuisine, including meat dishes, bakery and milk vodka. This is her story: The Kalmyks like mutton very much. It is possible to make any dish from it. Especially, a soup from mutton is held in high regard, because of its medicinal properties to heal a headache. The mutton should be cooked for a long time. In the past, people who had a toothache ate beef. Meat cooked with pasta is very delicious. Flour is mixed with an egg and salt, and the dough is rolled into a thin layer which then is cut into square pieces. Afterwards, these pieces are put into a boiling soup with meat. Khursn makhn is fried meat. In the past, pancakes were cooked by putting them inside a pile of hot ashes. When ready, a pancake was cut into slices and eaten with tea. There were many varieties of bortsg biscuits, including tselvg, moshkmr, khorkha, etc. What is left after distilling milk vodka is called bozo. It was mixed with milk. The final product is called khoormg. In the past, young men did not drink alcohol, it was only the elders who had the right to do so.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Sanal Lidzhiev, About Traditional Cuisine
    (2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Dovurkaev, Karu; Gedeeva, Darina; Ubushieva, Bamba
    Sanal says that the Kalmyks cut a sheep in such a way as not to spill its blood on the ground. The blood, collected in a bowl, is mixed with an onion, fat, and poured into intestines to make sausages. During a wedding meal, cooked sheep’s kidneys are kept together on a plate to symbolize a union between the newly-wed. The cooked sheep’s head and shins are offered to gods. The jaw is given to the bride so that she becomes talkative.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Purvya Volod'kina, Meat Dishes
    (2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Okonov, Andzhur; Okonov, Andzhur
    Purvya talks about meat dishes that the Kalmyks ate when she was a child. This is her story: Mutton was cut into thin, long pieces and dried in the sun. The dried meat then was softened in a cup of tea and eaten. It is a nutritious dish. In 1932-33 there was a widespread hunger in the Volga region, which affected the Kalmyks as well. Many people died of hunger. The Kalmyks survived thanks to eating ground squirrels, whose skin they also sold. Those who had a cow had a better chance to survive. One of our relatives fried a cow’s pelt and then boiled it. We drank the soup and chewed the pelt. In the past, poor herders used to make a dish called kur by stealing a sheep from their wealthy masters. They would kill a sheep, break the bones, put the meat into its stomach, and cook it inside a hole all night long. The meat becomes as soft as canned beef.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Maria Erdnieva, About Kalmyk Cuisine
    (2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Terbish, Baasanjav; Babaev, Andrei; Gedeeva, Darina
    Maria talks about Kalmyk dishes, including meat and milk-based ones. This is her story: In the past, we ate dried fish. A fish was boiled, cleaned of its bones and dried. It looked like mince. Dried yoghurt was made from what was left from distilling milk vodka. The leftover was dried and mixed with butter. Koortsg is a layer that forms on top of fresh milk. Khursn is a pancake made from yoghurt. Shuurmg is also made from yoghurt mixed with butter. In the past, people kept butter in a paunch. A paunch was first salted, dried and filled with butter. It did not absorb the butter. Bulmg is made as follows. First, heat butter, add flour and salty water. When a layer of butter emerges on top, this means that bulmg is ready. Traditionally, different members of the family eat different parts of sheep meat. Children eat the ears; men eat the eyes. When a cow was slaughtered, its meat was divided among neighbors. The meat was cut into long pieces and boiled in salty water. Some of it was dried for later consumption. Eedmg is what is left from distilling milk vodka. Eedmg is mixed with milk.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Konstantin Naktanov, Why Kalmyks do not Eat Horse or Goat Meat
    (2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Churyumov, Anton; Gedeeva, Darina; Churyumov, Anton
    Konstantin talks about why the Kalmyks do not eat horse or goat meat. He recounts a story from his youth when he was working as a driver. One day, he and his friends butchered a horse that had its legs broken. When Konstantin brought a piece of horse’s meat home, his grandmother did not let him into the house. Since the horse is considered a nomad’s first and foremost assistant, Kalmyks do not eat its meat out of respect. The Kalmyks do not eat goat meat either because it is believed to be an animal that belongs to malevolent spirits. There is a legend. Once upon a time god created man and all other living beings. Nearby was sitting a malevolent spirit who also asked for an animal for himself. That animal was the goat.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Anna Sangadzhi-Goryaeva, About Kalmyk Cuisine
    (2018-03-31) Terbish, Baasanjav; Churyumova, Elvira; Babaev, Andrei; Kovaeva, Bair; Babaev, Andrei
    Anna talks about Kalmyk dishes. This is her story: In Siberia our mother used to make us bulmg. The weather was cold there. When you ate bulmg, your heart pounded and you felt as if you had eaten a piece of hot, fatty meat. To make bulmg, you need to mix sour cream and produce butter. Then add flour and water to the hot butter and mix it again. When we did not have milk, we drank tea with fried flour called khuursn tsya (fried tea). Other Kalmyk dishes include bortsg biscuits, boreg (dumplings boiled in water) and meat wrapped in dough. Seksrdg is made as follows. Add flour to hot butter and mix. Then roll the dough into thin rectangles and boil them in water.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Bairta Ad'yanova, Bairta Bal'dzhirova, Bortsg, Kalmyk Dumplings and Tea
    (2016-08-16) Churyumov, Anton; Terbish, Baasanjav
    This video features recipes for biscuits (bortsg), dumplings, and Kalmyk tea. Biscuits (bortsg): This recipe is modern. Ingredients include 400 grams of cream, 4 spoons of sugar, a spoon of salt, and an egg. All the ingredients are mixed with flour. The dough should be kneaded until it stops sticking to hands. Then the dough is left for 30 minutes in the fridge. The dough is made into biscuits and fried in sunflower oil until it turns brownish on both sides. The first plate of biscuits is put on the altar. Bortsg is made in many shapes. For example, in the shape of the sun, birds, a ram’s head, a camel, a stick etc. All these have names. Dumplings: Flour is mixed with 2 eggs, half a teaspoon of salt, sunflower oil, and a glass of water. The dough is mixed and kneaded until it is not sticky. Then the dough is cut and rolled into small circles. Mince is put on the dough circles and the circles are closed by wrapping and pinching the edges. The mince is made from mutton, 4 onions, salt, pepper, and fat from a sheep’s tail. The dumplings are boiled in water. Tea: According to a legend, it was lama Tsongkapa who gave the recipe for Kalmyk tea to the Kalmyk people. One day when the lama fell ill, his teacher gave him this recipe. Ingredients include water, tea, milk, nutmeg, salt, and butter. Lama Tsongkapa drank this tea until he recovered.