Монголд Мах (Meat in Mongolia)

            Meat is a big deal in Mongolia. Most Mongolians consume a lot of meat and vegetarianism is almost unheard of. Traditional Mongolian cuisine that has been described in earlier posts revolves around meat, and even нөгөөний хуурга (vegetable stir-fry) always comes with a health portion of meat. One Mongolian phrase captures the public opinion of meat, “Махгүй хоол хоол биш ээ!” (A meal without meat is not a meal.)

            In this post, I will detail the types of meat commonly consumed in Mongolia, taste, texture, cuts, and ways to prepare for a more flavorful western cuisine. The purpose is slanted a little toward PCVs or future PCVs in Mongolia. That being said, it may also be interesting information for folks back home. Usually I don’t photograph raw meat, so instead the pictures in this post shall be the cutest version of these animals I can find for my own humor.

Тахианы мах (Chicken meat)

A lot of the chicken in Mongolia is imported, but there are still some chicken farms on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. Chicken remains Mongolia’s most expensive meat outside of imported canned delicacies. The price range falls between 6-8,000₮ a kilo. (3 to 4 dollars a kilo).

Үхрийн мах (Cow meat)

Beef is domestically raised in Mongolia. It is not uncommon for wealthier families to buy a cow in autumn for the purpose of butchering for winter. The price of beef is usually a little less than chicken. Buying beef in stores can be problematic, because Mongolian butchers don’t always pay attention to cuts of meat, and the standard practice is to tightly wrap the meat in plastic before freezing it. One could buy a cut that looks good in cellophane only to find that it has fascia or organs of the abdominal cavity still attached, which can significantly alter the taste of the meat. When it comes to cows, Mongolians tend to let the animals lead a life into maturity if not old age before butchering. This also changes the texture of the meat. An old cow just doesn’t always taste the same as the younger beef found in America. However, as you are chewing through grizzly cuts of meat you can rejoice that your dinner led a long and peaceful life.

Most provincial capitals (aimag centers) have open air markets where freshly slaughtered meat can be bought by the kilo. This tends to be the better place to buy red meats, because it is easier to avoid the “surprise” of a frozen package. However, the open air markets can be unsanitary during the warmer months of the years. This is not due to changes in sanitary practices in the winter, rather it is easier to avoid spoiled meat when the entire country is a refrigerator or freezer. Open air markets also usually have meat grinders where, for a small fee, a cut of beef can become loosely ground beef.

When preparing Mongolian beef, I do many of the same things that I would do in America as far as seasoning goes. While the texture can be tougher, the taste is not much different. Since the meat is butchered in such a different way, a lot of my pre-meal preparation is spent cutting away excess fat and connective tissue that surrounds the tastier muscle. This preparation can take a lot of time, because even the smallest piece of connective tissue in a stir-fry can lead to an un-chewable piece of grizzle. Butchers in American spend a lot more time preparing cuts of meat and separating muscle for the consumer.

Адууны мах (Horse meat—адуу being male horse, but used for food and as a mass noun, where as 

мөрь often refers to a single horse)

I recently bought a half kilo of horse at the open market. The price for kilo runs at about 6,500₮ for kilo, so a little less than three dollars. When I was preparing this meat, one of the first things I realized is that it is bloodier than beef. This blood seems to be embedded in the muscle which is stringier with larger fibers than beef. The blood leads to a distinct taste that is more iron tasting than beef, and while you can cover the taste with a lot of marinade and seasoning, it is still obvious that the meat is not beef.  Horse contains all the risk that beef or any other red meat in Mongolia has in that you must carefully select your cut.

While I am glad for the opportunity to eat horse (something that is illegal in much of America) I can see why we don’t. There are many Mongolians who don’t like horse, so as a meat its flavor is an acquired taste.

Хонины мах (Sheep meat)

Mutton is a favorite among Mongolians. Perhaps the main reason why Sally and I don’t buy it much is because we have been saturated from getting it in so much Mongolian cuisine. It is cheaper by far than horse at about 4,500-5,500₮ per kilo. Mutton has a very pungent meat with a distinct flavor, but a lot of this flavor comes from fat and oily glands located around the fat tissue. Removing the fat prior to cooking and seasoning the meat copiously can reduce a lot of the unwanted flavor of the meat. This is almost never done in Mongolian cuisine since the fat is perceived to be essential for body heat in the winter, and many Mongolians enjoy the taste of the fat. Nonetheless, I have had a number of absolutely amazing experiences with mutton here in Mongolia. Experience has taught me that anytime Mongolians are doing a traditional barbeque (khorkhog) the outcome is always great. I also had the equivalent of a mutton T-bone steak that was boiled to perfection. 

Ямааны мах (Goat meat)

This is often the cheapest of the red meats in Mongolia. Goat has a gamier flavor than mutton, but also lacks some of the pungent flavor of mutton. Goat also doesn’t have as much meat as mutton does. In the market, goat can be easily identified because of the skin which is often left on the meat after being blow torched.  With lower muscle content, goat is sometimes difficult to work with and is usually left out of most Mongolian traditional foods; however like the sheep, goats are often used for khorkhogs. I am not a huge fan of the flavor of goat meat unless it has been seasoned appropriately.

Тэмээний мах (Camel meat)

Camel is not something that is eaten often in Khentii. We are not close to the Gobi, so there are fewer camels which are more often used for cashmere. I have only had camel once; it is by far the worst tasting of the meats I have had in Mongolia.  It is stringy, chewy, pungent, and gamy all in one. I am not sure how much camel cost, because we do not often have it, but I would expect it to be in the same range as horse.

Гахайны мах (Pig meat)

There are pigs in Mongolia, and sometimes Mongolian pork is sold in grocery stores. It is also possible to find imported pork in the form of bacon or sausages in many provincial centers. Imported pork is naturally quite expensive (11,000₮/ $5 per kilo). Imported bacon can be extremely salty. I usually cook it in dishes where it is boiled or baked, because pan frying seems to make it even saltier. Domestic pork is usually around the price of beef. Pork that is slaughtered in Mongolia is usually in the form of cuts with a lot of fat on them. Sometimes the skin is left on the cut as well. Korean food is quite popular in Mongolian, so many cuts of meat are in the style of Korean pork. This is a marbled slab similar to bacon, but thicker with more fat.

Тарваганы мах  (Marmot meat)

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II-pierY8Hs

Marmot in Mongolia is a large ground rodent similar to a groundhog. Mongolians consider marmot to be a delicacy and deeply enjoy doing a marmot khorkhog called Боодог. Most khorkhogs involve pressure cooking meat with hot stones. This particular style involves gutting the animal through the neck and then cooking it from within by placing hot stones, spices, and water inside the skin. The whole rodent is then placed on a table and slit open to be devoured by an excited group of Mongolians. The meat is light and rather savory, somewhere between a cow and a chicken in flavor. I found the little humorous and scapula to be quite “cute” for lack of a better word. 

It is vital that marmot is cooked completely (something that is not usually a problem in Mongolia), because the rodents have been known to carry the bubonic plague. It is also illegal to hunt marmot in Mongolia, because it has become an endangered species, but this does not stop it from being consumed. I would recommend that PCVs are not involved in the cooking of this particular animal and only eat it in blissful ignorance when everyone else is too.

             This sums up most of the meats consumed in Mongolia from a western perspective. I should mention that most Mongolians consume almost the entire animal that is slaughtered, so it is not uncommon to eat tongue, testicles, innards, or the delicacy of sheep head. To say that this is an acquired taste does not accurately capture the sensation of biting into boiled intestine with boiled intestinal juices.  I have adopted a policy of being open to trying anything once; still it is possible to avoid many of these dishes as they are usually only served in a home setting.   

~Caleb 

Winter Changes

A number of articles have come out recently predicting that the back half of November will be the coldest November Mongolia has experienced in ten years. Already this winter has shown signs of being a colder more brutal winter than last year. Our first snowfall this year was at the end of September, whereas last year we didn’t get snow until November. This year, October’s highs were consistently at or below freezing. Last year we went hiking in a pleasant 45 degrees Fahrenheit on Halloween.  Today my beard had drops of ice that condensed in my mustache and across my right cheek where the wind had blown my breath. Last year this sensation was first noted in mid-December. So it is with no great surprise that I decided to break out my parka. (Last year, I didn’t even have a parka at this time.)

Wet snow in the end of September. 

Winter wonderland of mid-November

Since September, we have received several different snowfalls of various height. Each successive snowfall seems more permanent. Still, the snow doesn’t accumulate to more than a few inches as it is blown across the steppe in fine clouds of powder. I stepped outside this morning with the plan to take a taxi, but the world was so pristine and beautiful that I instead decided to walk to work. The highs now are usually between 5-15 degrees and dropping quickly, but in the early morning with a bitter wind chill, the temperature huddles around zero. Soon, the wind chill will be far into the negatives. My walk to work today was pleasant and chilly, but I have found that I don’t seem to mind the cold as much as I thought I would two years ago when first we found out about going to Mongolia.  Wow, the time has flown by. Already we are going on three quarters of our service completed; it is mind boggling.

Besides the appearance of a colder season, this year’s winter brings a number of new changes and challenges.  With a cat, it is necessary to find litter. Synthetic litter can only be found in the capital, so I usually fill the box up with dirt from a mound outside that I have slowly been moving a few feet to the left with used soil. As the temperatures drop it becomes increasingly difficult to dig the dirt with a hand trowel, but with each drop of 20 degrees I have been adapting my method. The current method involves pounding the soil with a 5 pound hammer to break through the frost, and then using the hand trowel to cut it into smaller pieces. Soon, I will have to adapt again, because this method is far too slow.

Mission wearing Sally's ingenious "beanie baby" Halloween costume 

Last year, I had little understanding of how the taxis worked in our town. For 6 months, I walked to school before I realized that a collection of unmarked cars was a 500₮ taxi stand.  What this means is that if I want to, I can climb into the car with 3-6ish people and pay less than 25 cents for a ride into town. Since this discovery, I have made use of these taxis on a semi-regular basis. On days when I am running late or just don’t want to walk the solid mile to school, this is a cheap alternative. (It is also not unlikely that someone I know will stop to give me a ride.)

The Mongolian economy is not doing too great. The value of the tugrik continues to weaken. Last check the exchange is 2469₮ to 1 USD. A startling ¼ decline in the short time Sally and I have been in Mongolia. This of course has drastic implications for Mongolia, but the full effect in loss of jobs will probably take place after Sally and I leave. Right now the price of food is slowly rising in larger cities, and while the impact hasn’t directly hit our small town, it will soon.

I don’t know if you are aware, but recently the United States has elected a new President, a fact that is unimportant to the majority of Mongolians.  This is not to say that foreign countries are indifferent to our presidential elections, it is just not very important to most Mongolians. It was an interesting experience watching the outcome on social media and various news sites. I can honestly say that while democracy is a wonderful thing, our election process does not bring out the best of people. Mongolia is also a democracy and will be electing a new president this coming summer. One way that Mongolia differs from America is that by law, candidates can only campaign two weeks prior to the election. Having watched this last summer with parliamentary elections, this seems to be a far less stressful transition than our American campaign system. A second way that Mongolia differs from the US is the lack of an electoral college.  Every single Mongolian has an equal vote. In America the winner-take-all mentality of the majority of our states with regards to electoral votes creates a situation where landowners or large urban centers have a larger vote depending on where you live. This leads to the minority republicans or democrats in these states being essentially vote-less. Where do the republican votes in New York or the democratic votes in Alabama go during the presidential election? Perhaps if all of the states broke up their electoral votes like Maine and Nebraska do, we would see a representation of voters that Mongolia already has.

Regardless of the election process, as a PCV, I am respectful of the new President Elect and am hopeful that he will demonstrate himself worthy of that respect.  As the political transition takes place, Peace Corps will also undergo a change in leadership, because our President is a political appointee.

~Caleb  

Eagle Festival

Hi everyone, We apologize for not posting much lately. Hopefully we can get back to a more regular schedule now. We've got quite a bit of catching up to do, starting with the recent trip we took.

At the end of September / beginning of October, Caleb and I took a trip to the far western region of Mongolia to see the annual Eagle Festival.

Our route from east to west and back again

Since our travel destination of Bayan-Olgii province is the farthest you can get in Mongolia from our site, most of our time was spent travelling there and back. We took a 6 hour bus from our site to Ulaanbaatar. We flew about 3 hours from UB to Uvs aimag, the province to the east of Bayan-Olgii. And then we took a 9-10 hour mekr trip to Olgii, the aimag center of Bayan-Olgii. Then, we did it all in reverse to get back home. We were gone for a total of 7 days.

On the road to Bayan-Olgii

We arrived in Ulaangom, the aimag center of Uvs, on the last Thursday in September. Eric and Emily, another married PCV couple, took us in. I also got to catch up with Lexa, another PCV who was in the same training site as me. Friday morning, the five of us plus two other Uvs PCVs, one KOICA volunteer, two visiting family members of one of the PCVs, and two random Mongolians piled into a mekr to begin the long ride west. It took us about 10 hours to get there, across bumpy roads or no roads. Some of the passengers had a rough trip. We had to stop several times for people to be sick. The rest of us took pictures of the scenery in the meantime.

On the road to Bayan-Olgii, one of the many lakes we stopped at in Uvs aimag

The scenery on the ride was amazing. We passed several lakes and went through some beautiful soums with a mass of trees. Khovd soum in the southern part of Uvs aimag was breath-taking. We stopped there for food, and all the PCVs were longing for this to be their permanent site.

Khovd soum, Uvs aimag

It was dark by the time we got to Olgii. The PCVs split up into two groups to stay with the two PCVs living in Olgii. After a bit of socializing with the mass of PCVs who had come in for the Festival, we went to sleep.

The next day, Saturday, was the first day of the Festival. We piled into cars to travel the 15 minutes to the outskirts of the city where the Eagle Festival was being held. There were over 90 participants in the Festival this year, ranging from age 12 to age 80. All the participants were either Mongolian or Kazakh.

One of the many eagle hunters

In the province of Bayan-Olgii, since it borders Kazakhstan, there is a lot of cultural influence from there. Most of the aimag speaks Kazakh instead of Mongolian. The clothing they wear is bright and colorful, and the Kazakh gers are generally bigger, taller, and more ornate than Mongolian gers.

An eagle hunter calling his eagle

The first event during Saturday’s festivities was the parade of participants. Each Eagle hunter/huntress presented themselves in front of a panel of judges, who judged their clothing, their horse, their eagle and their overall appearance. Seeing all the different garb, eagles, and horses was fascinating, but it did get a little long after a while. 90 participants is a lot to get through.

An eagle hunter catching his eagle

The second event was more exciting. Each hunter had a friend/friends to help them out. The partner would take their eagles up a nearby mountain. The hunters on their horses would then have to call their eagle. The eagle, ideally, would fly off the mountain and soar down to land on their hunter’s arm. This was so much fun to watch! About half of them were successful, it seemed. At some points, the wind was really blowing and probably made things a bit difficult for the eagles.

Caleb haggling for a Kazakh knife

These were the two events that happened on Saturday. Before, in between, and sometimes during the events, we walked around to check out the vendors. They were selling clothing, knives, wall hangings, hats, purses, bags, food, etc. Caleb and I bought two colorful table runners and several hot pads. Caleb bought a knife and a “duster” as he calls it. In a Kazakh ger, we ate some really tasty khuushuur followed by the obligatory milk tea. We also made sure to take pictures holding an eagle, too!

That evening, we looked around in some of the souvenir shops back in the city. I bought a backpack and a small purse. We had the pleasure of eating at a Turkish restaurant for dinner, which is not a type of food that exists anywhere else in Mongolia (except maybe UB). We socialized more that evening before bed.

On Sunday, some PCVs returned to the festival. Unfortunately, we needed to leave in the early afternoon, so we didn’t have time to go back. Instead, we walked around the city and went to the open air market. We looked around in some more shops, and after that, it was time to start to journey back to Uvs aimag. It took us somewhere between 8-9 hours to get back.

Caleb and I at the overlook in Ulaangom, Uvs

We had a full day in Ulaangom, so we went with Eric to a popular mountain not far from the city center. It gave us some great views of the city and the towering snowcapped mountains in the distance. We enjoyed spending time with Eric, Emily, and Lexa that night at their apartment.

The mountains in Uvs aimag, outside of Ulaangom

The next day, we flew back to UB, stayed the night, and took the bus the following day. Overall, it was a great trip. It was great to experience the western part of the country. 

~Sally