Slow Food home | About us | Foundation | Editore | Sloweb | Press Office | Store     Sloweb     Home | Sloweek | Voices from the Slow world | Slow Talk | News | Watch & Listen             Yak meat: new technologies of processing and producing yak meat delicacies using old kyrgyz gastronomic traditions 01 Dec 05 - Kulsina Kachkynbaeva - News da Terra Madre 1. Yak is a unique productive animal. Yak is generally accepted to be in one group with such animals as bison, mask-ox, aurochs and buffalos. The uniqueness of yak is that it lives in high mountainous areas at the height of 3 000 – 5 000 metres above sea level. The average annual temperature must be 4 degree centigrade in order the physiological processes in yak‘s organism run in a normal manner adequate to the nature of this animal. There are about ten countries in the world where yaks are bred. Kyrgyzstan is fortunately one of them. They say that yaks are breeding in Kyrgyzstan for about two centuries. They were brought from China and successfully adopted in the Tien Shan. In Kyrgyzstan the mountain high pastures are able to feed about 180 000 yaks. There is no deficit in pastures so far. Yaks in our country are half-wild-half-domestic animals. In Kyrgyzstan the environment in high mountains is ecologically clean. As a rule there are no big settlements and very few industrial enterprises, so people do not disturb the nature much as in the low lands. There are no other productive animals breeding in high mountainous pastures due to the height and comparatively small amount of oxygen in the air. So yaks have no competitors in the fruitful alpine pastures. High mountain pastures are rich in gramma grasses which have big energetic vallue. Almost all of them are herbs. So we speak with confidence that yak in Kyrgyzstan gives ecologically clean and healthy meat. 2. In the framework of the project headed by me in the cooperation with my husband Dr. Turar Cholponkulov, which was supported by the Central Asia The forth. Being a success testing yak meat to prepare above mentioned products we continued to use it to prepare national and common (international) sausages, pate and other dishes. All of them were cooked with adding different mountain spices including “kyzyl gul – red flower”. They are very delicious and flourishing. We called all our products “Delicacy of Jailoo” (Delicacy of alpine pastures). We organized several testing parties and invited specialists from restaurants, bars and cafes. The common opinion was that yak meat is one of the best alternative meats. 4. For all our new products we worked out the national standard and received the state certificates. We can use them to promote our products in the national market and in some cases in the markets of some former soviet republics. But we would like to promote the results of our activity concerning yak meat in the much broader market. I mean in the international market. So it is quite urgent for us to work out the international standards and receive international certificates for our products and organize very good advertising campaign. We need in international partners and investors. We invite everybody who wants to promote ecologically clean and healthy yak meat for cooperation. The second. We thought over the idea how to make it possible to eat well cooked fresh yak meat any time, knowing how healthy the yak meat is. And we developed a unique new technology of producing a product which we called “Yak meat in its own juice “Topoz”. Large pieces of first-class fresh yak meat mixed with mountain spices and salt are put in glass jars (0.4 litre, 0.7 litre, 1.0 litre) and covers are tightly locked. It is prepared by the method of autoclaving under definite system pressure and temperature during definite period of time. The use-by date period is two years. I’d like to underline that the product turned out to be very delicious and flavoured one. The secret is not only in yak meat which itself is very much flavoured but also in a spice which we added to the product. It grows mainly in Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyz people used to add it to dishes for centuries as a natural food preservative and aromatizer. People call it “kyzyl gul - red flower”. The “Yak meat in its own juice “Topoz” can be eaten as it is or with different garnish and vegetables. It is perfect to serve as everyday food for yourselves as well as for banquets receiving guests. You may serve it as a cold dish as well as a hot dish reheated in the microwave oven. Mountain Program, we investigated the composition of yak meat in the laboratory at the Institute of Biotechnology of the Kyrgyz National Academy of Science and compared with the composition of more common meats (beef, mutton). We have invented that yak meat contains much iron and calcium (Fe mg/% - 4, Ca mg/% - 4.73). It is well known that iron forms part of respiratory pigments and haemoglobin and participates in the process of binding together and transporting oxygen to tissues of animal and human being’s organisms. Yak meat contains much myoglobine which helps yak successfully survive and breed in high mountains with inclement climate. Besides yak meat contains less cholesteryl then common meats do. Taking into consideration all these facts and that yak is high mountain herb feeder we came to the obvious conclusion that yak meat is of great value as a very healthy one. It contributes to strengthen human immunity. Products made of yak meat are quite necessary for people who suffer from iron deficit (especially children and nursing women), who is recovering from hard diseases, who are engaged in activities which demand much physical effort and muscle tension (pitmen, sportsmen, ballet dancers, etc.). 3. Continuing the project we put a question: What kind of products could be made of yak meat and do Kyrgyz people have any old technologies and gastronomic traditions to process yak meat? The first. We remembered one mentioning in the great Kyrgyz epic poem “Manas” concerning a product made of cooked dried meat in combination with roasting cereals and salt, which soldiers took with them when they had long-term marches. It was called “gulasyk”. We studied some literature, consulted with specialists and mainly with old people in the remote villages in Kyrgyzstan and got main information about the technology. On the basis of the old technology we decided to work out a modern technology of preparing “Gulasyk” with yak meat as food concentrate – food second helping. We prepared more then twenty types of “gulasyk” from cooked, dried and milled yak meat in combination with different roasted milled cereals (wheat, maize, rise, barley, oats, etc.) mixed with different milled spices. Some of them were prepared in combination with dried milled yak sour milk. The product looks like dry powder. It is ready for use. It should be mixed with hot boiled water and be eaten as soup or porridge. It also can be used as valuable food second helping in soups, sauces, etc. We believe that this product is the best one for those Moslems who annually go to the Mecca. The third. Developing the project we tested yak meat for preparing fresh-smoked meat. We proved the yak meat to be the best one for that. We utilized traditional technology of smoking meat products commonly used for fish, beef and horse-flesh. But we have one secret why yak fresh-smoked meat is so delicious and flavoured. Again it is the spice “kyzyl gul - red flower”. The product is an excellent hors d’oeuvres for beer. Kulsina Kachkynbaeva, Kyrgyzstan, Head of the Centre “World Aroung Yak”   News archive from Terramadre News archive from Slowfood Foundation for Biodiversity News archive from University of Gastronomic Sciences News archive from Watch & Listen           News     Bulgaria - 27 Jul 10     Brotherhood Across the Balkans     A communal desire to support small-scale traditional producers in the face of growing threats from regulations and the food industry united food communities from ten countries across the...           News archive     Italy - 22 Jul 10     Dream Canteens     Slow Food buildings a strong network of schools putting good, clean and fair in the canteen ...     Belgium - 16 Jul 10     A Slow Voice in Policy Reform     Slow Food President Carlo Petrini participates in a public debate conference on Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy ...     Denmark - 14 Jul 10     Convivial Danes     Danish convivial join the country’s largest fair of artisan producers to share the Slow Food message ...     Argentina - 08 Jul 10     Flavors from the Andes to Patagonia     Terra Madre Argentina unites producers, cooks, academics and consumers in Buenos Aires ...     Macedonia - 02 Jul 10     Preserving Figs and a Gastronomic Heritage     The Wild Fig Slatko Presidium is created to protect a traditional preserve ...     Croatia - 23 Jun 10     Thank you for Everything, Giani     Farewell to Giani Banich, a friend and dynamic figure in the Slow Food movement ...     Archive previous news   Slow Food 2010 - All rights reserved - P.iva 91008360041 - Powered by Blulab