[Sca-cooks] Mongol Feast Questions

[Michael Gunter]

>Well that is the way the Mongols
>cooked in period, they were not vegetarians,everything had meat meat and 
>more
>meat just in case there was not enough meat in it.
>If you are going to strictly to Mongol and strictly to period
>recipes you are out of luck for vegetarian friendly.
>
>Iago

Actually, this is different from many of the more archaeological and 
cultural
references I've seen on the nomads of the Steppes. I was just reading up
on it the other day. Although you are correct in the documented sources of
Mongol feasting, I feel this does not reflect the true Mongol or Steppes 
nomad
diet. Meat was a real treat and the more meat served the greater the honor
given to the guest. Especially if the meat came from valuable animals such 
as
a male or pregnant female. Remember, to the average nomad, the size of
your herd was your wealth. To eat from this constantly was to drain them of
wealth.

Much of the nomadic diet contained millet that was casually cultivated. By 
this
I mean they would scatter the seeds in certain places and hope there were
plants when they came back. Milk and milk products were also very common.
Everyone is familiar with kumiss or kwass, fermented milk. But they also 
drank
defatted milk (sort of like a skim milk) as well as yoghurts and simple 
cheeses.

Gathered fruits and vegetables were eaten. Often mixed into the millet 
porridge
or cheese/yoghurt mixes. There were cases of a dried yoghurt cheese. I 
recall
a type of pasta that was dried in large cubes and grated into boilng liquid. 
Master
A knows more about this.

Some of the meat dishes included a hide kept whole and the meat chopped up.
Then the meat was placed back into the hide with the hide sewn up and a
large tube fitted in. A pit was dug and a fire lit. Once the coals had 
burned down
or rocks were added to stay hot the hide was placed into the pit and covered 
with
the pipe left sticking out. As the meat cooked the juices and icky fats and 
such
would bubble out of the pipe. When the pipe bubbled clean, the meat was
dug up and enjoyed.

There are also reports of meat placed on sticks with onion and garlic and 
roasted.

Here are some areas to check:

Tender Meat Under the Saddle. Customs of Eating, Drinking, and Hospitality 
Among
Conquering Hungarian's and Nomadic Peoples. Krems. 1998 ISBN 3-90 1094 10 5

Medieval Arab Cookery, Essays and Translations by Maxime Rodinson, A.J. 
Arberry,
and Charles Perry. Prospect 2001  ISBN 0907325 91 2

Book of Dede Korkut. Geoffrey Lewis. Penguin Books, Canada 1979
ISBN 0140442987

God's Banquet, Food in Classical Arabic Literature.  Geert Jan Van Gelder.
Columbia University Press. 2000 ISBN 0 231 11948 8

I hope this gives a slightly better overview of nomadic people's diets.

Gunthar

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