​Over the next four weeks I will be teaching a course on campfire cooking on a budget. I thought that I would add some of the information here even though it’s not specifically Mongolian in nature.
The first class was an introduction to campfire cooking. The course topic breakdown is below.
Week 1 – Introduction to Campfire Cooking (14:00 AEST, 31 May 2020)

• What you will need and where to get it
• Who you will need to help you
• Food safety
• Making your fire pit
• Fire safety
• Differences between campfire and kitchen cooking (heat/radiation/environment temp)

I have attached my notes to this link. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me either in the comments or by sending me an email.
Given our Covid-19 times, I have included the use of hand sanitiser in the in both the Food and Fire Safety sections. As a warning, if you are using hand sanitiser, please make sure that your hands are fully dried before working with the open flame fire.
Next week I will be talking about the building of the cooking campfire.
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Until then, ride free over the range.
~ Natal’ia

March/April is when I go camping with my friends and try out my latest redactions on them. I also volunteer to teach Mongol and Cooking related subjects while I am at the camp. This is always a highlight of my year: seeing my friends, camping, making great food, and teaching others how to do likewise.

Unfortunately, this year was sidelined by COVID19 and the Corona virus response. No camp equals no class, no cooking with friends, and sadness on my part. I was ready to teach, I just needed students. So, when the opportunity came along to teach my classes online, I said I would be happy to.

Enter Polit U. I will be teaching 5 classes. One is on Mongolian Food (see below). The other four will be a budget friendly camp cooking experience (more on that next week).

After talking with our IT for the classes, it doesn’t seem that I can get a recording for you. But I will post my notes and, if I have the time, a shortened version of each class.

Without further ado, I introduce the handout for my first class at Polit U 2020.
Marauding Mongols: Borrowing the Best from Your Neighbours' Cuisine.
 
I must admit that it was a different way of teaching from what I am used to. This isn't a bad thing. I love to have new experiences and learn. It also has shown me what is possible. I is possible that I could run class from this site. We will have to wait to see what the future holds. 
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Until the next time, ride safe in this time of trouble.
~ Natal’ia

Normally, I look at the numbers behind my feasts before I start to plan them. How many people are likely to come? How many are likely to have food allergies? What is my budget? How many courses? How many dishes per course?

This project is a bit different. I am unsure of my guest numbers. We are 11 months out. Because of this, the list of diners is unclear. Numbers I know or speculate so far:

• 5 people (locals that include my head cooks)
• 2 people (members of our household from out of town – most likely will be there)
• 3 people (members of our household from international locations)
• 5+ people (who would like to come and are looking at costs)

At this point I will be using 15 to 20 as my guest numbers. I will adjust as needed.
I know some of the food allergies.

I will be serving 2 mains/2 sides/1 starch/1 dessert per night. 150-200g of meat per person per night. I will also investigate a vegan main for each meal (just in case).

I will be redacting 3 mains/3 sides/ 1 starch/1 dessert per night to help with selecting dishes that will meet the allergy needs of my party.
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I will trying to precook as many dishes as possible. We have a member of our camping group who goes home each day to feed the household fur people. He picks up our frozen food and additional needs when he does his runs.

Of high importance to our household:

• Food that is tasty, nutritious, and documented.
• Very low or no food waste.
• Limited packaging (we use reusables that can be taken home rather than put in the bin whenever possible).
• Food that is deliverable by beginner cooks under the direction of a more advanced cook.

So, with these ground rules in place, I go into the next part of my research, redaction work.

Until next time, enjoy the good things in your life.
~ Natal’ia

Five feasts in five nights. Well, maybe mini-feasts is better terminology. I have four locations settled on. One more location is a difficulty (I will go into that a bit more in a minute). I have the following source books for the redactions:

Mongolia: A Soup for the Qan – Paul D. Buell (Yinshan Zhengyao – Hu Sihui) early 14th century
China: Ni Zan’s Dietary System of the Cloud Forest Studio – Alec Story (Yun lintang yinshi zhidu ji – Ni Zan) mid 14th century
Syria: Scents and Flavors: A Syrian Cookbook – Charles Perry (Greater Part of the Pleasure of this Life – Anonymous) late 13th century
Italy: Translation of Libro di Cucina/Libro per Cuoco – Louise Smithson (Libro di Cucina/Libro per Cuoco – Anonymous) 14th century
or
Italy: An Anonymous Tuscan Cookery Book – Renaissance Food (Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina) Late 14th century
Byzantine: I currently do not have a text for this. If I cannot find a text, then I will have to look at moving this night to another area. We will see where the rabbits lead.
 
Now that I have some resources, I can start doing my redaction and research. I will blog about that next time.
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Until then, ride free.
~Natal’ia

I look over at the calendar. It has been a long time since my last blog. What happened to my schedule? And why have I not updated?
I pulled myself out of my rabbit hole and blinked in the light of day. Oh, dear!
Hello everyone. Below is my very quick update. After which, I should be returning to my regularly scheduled blogging.
 
I fell down a rabbit hole of research. Have you ever had that happen? You begin a project and then find an interesting thread. You pull it and before long, you are lost in research. The days fly by and when you finally come back to the surface of the planet (primarily because one of your friends has called the police about a missing person – you), you realize that you have been away from your blogs for months.

Hello to my world.

Next Easter (2020), we have several people visiting from the US. They will be camping with us for 5 days. I am super excited. And there is so much to arrange for them. But the greatest honor is that my campmates have asked me to design the food for the camp. I have an idea. I like it. Better yet, the team likes it (so much so that they have asked me to make it a small feast after the camping event).
So, I am going to spend a year (well, just under) researching, redacting, and then cooking and feeding the 5 nights of food. I am going to blog about my progress (or lack thereof) here. It’s time to buckle up. This is going to be a bumpy ride for sure!
Each night is a different fare. Currently, I am looking at Mongolia (duh! It’s my favorite), China, Syria, Italy, and I would love to do Byzantine (this is proving to be a real rabbit hole).

I have started my feast book. I am in the process of picking my recipe books.
Now it’s time to move forward and to jump back down that rabbit hole.
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Until my next blog, may the skies be clear, and the winds be light.
~Natal’ia

​I promised to discuss one of my failures. So, here we go.
 
I was working with the Cloud Forest Hall manuscript and came to number 48. Roast Goose. The original recipe as translated by Alec Story is:
 
48. Roast Goose
 
Original:
Use the roast meat method [above], using salt, pepper [Sichuan, Zanthoxylum simulans], scallions [Allium fistulosum] and wine rubbed over the inside. On the outside, smear wine and honey. Add it to a wok. Follow the rest as the above recipe, but when you first add it to the wok, point the cavity upwards, and later turn it so that the cavity points down.
 
I was able to quickly redact the recipe as it is similar to other recipes I had already redacted from this work. My redaction reads as follows:
 
Natal’ia’s Redaction:
Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken (1.5 kilos)
• 2tsp Salt
• 2tsp Chinese Pepper
• 4 Spring Onion
• 1 1/2 cups Cooking Rice Wine
• 50g Honey
• 1 cup water

 
Method:

1. Clean bird and remove feathers.
2. Marinade bird: inside marinade: 2 spring onion, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1/4 c wine; outside marinade: cover bird in honey, rub on (2 spring onion, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper).
3. Place in a bowl and pour 1/4 cup cooking rice wine over the bird. Cover and place in a refrigerator for at least 2 hours (better if you can allow to sit for 24 hours).
4. In a wok, place bamboo skewers to form a lattice so that there is a gap between them and the bottom of the wok. The gap needs to be large enough to allow the bird to sit above the liquid that will be placed in the bottom of the wok.
5. Place bird on the bamboo lattice breast up. Try to keep the bird off the sides of the wok.
6. Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of cooking rice wine to the bottom of the wok.
7. Put the lid on the wok and seal the seam with wet paper (keep this paper moist—very important).
8. Put the wok on a medium heat and allow the liquid to boil. Do not open the lid until it is time to turn the bird and then reseal with wet paper. Indicative times: 40 minutes from when the wok is put on the heat. Open, turn the bird, and reseal. Cook another 20 minutes and then allow to sit until the wok is cool.

 
I have a family of three. There is no way that we could eat an entire goose in a reasonable number of days. I decided to redact the recipe using a roasting chicken. This had the added benefit of fitting into the wok I already have at home. This would allow me to ‘trail’ the redaction and then scale it up at some point when I have more mouths to feed.

The redaction worked well until it was cooking time. Then the catastrophe began:
I was using indicative times for the redaction. I do this with each redaction as I work through it. Using previous experimentation and knowledge, I felt it was likely that these times would be about right. But to make sure, I put a meat thermometer in the breast of the chicken. I don’t like raw chicken. The meat thermometer connected with a side unit outside the wok so that I knew the meat temperature. Excellent, I thought. Oh, but it did make getting the seal on the wok difficult.

I started the cook and watched as the meat temperature skyrocketed. It was just not possible for the meat to heat this quickly. I removed the wok from the heat and waited for the temperature to fall inside so that I could open it without the possibility of hot liquid splashing on me.

What I saw inside was a tragedy. The chicken was too heavy for my lattice work of bamboo skewers and had fallen into the liquid below. The boiling liquid was resting against the thermometer. Hence the rapid temperature rise.

I rearranged the bamboo, strengthening the structure. I repositioned the thermometer and started again. The cook seemed to be going well.

On the second part of the cook, the thermomotor read that the chicken was cooked. I was thrilled because I had guessed nearly to the minute. Only….

I opened the wok to a grey chicken. It was utterly disgusting. When I pulled the meat thermometer, a gush of blood followed. The thermometer was resting against the rib bone and had read a false number.

Into the wok again. This time without the meat thermometer.

I cooked it for another 20 minutes. Certainly, it must be done now.

Opening the wok, I looked at the still grey bird. I pulled it out and cut into the meat. Once I cut through the rubbery, pale skin, the breast meat was hard and dry on the outside, pink and spongy on the inside.

I tipped the bird into the bin and we ordered takeaway. Sometimes, it’s better to know when you are beaten.
 
I have yet to try this recipe again. I will do in the cooler months. But I am giving my brain a few months off before I try.

I hope that this helps you in your redaction work.
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Until next time, may the hunting be good and the rivers flow calmly.
~Natal’ia

I decided to start this year with the topic of failure as success. ‘Why?’ You may ask.

I was recently talking with one of my apprentice siblings. She mentioned that I always seem to have such success with my work. She bemoaned that she was constantly failing to succeed, failing to produce.

This brought me to an interesting conclusion. First, my apprentice sibling was actually reading my blog. I never assumed that they would. Any of them. Second, I have a history of positive spin on the blog. Okay, I will not change that. This blog is about successes. But success can also come from failure. My next blog will be about a failure, what I learned from it, and how I can turn it into a success.

So, getting back to my apprentice sibling. She looked at me with big eyes as if she hoped that I could fix the failure roadblock in her work.

Honestly, I wish that I had a magic spell that could help, but to all those out there who do not succeed on the first take, remember that this is a process. Sometimes my redactions come out the first time I do them. The well-planned experiment is a success. The food is tasty and a plausible outcome from the original recipe.

This is, in the most part, because of my history with cooking. My grandmother and I did a lot together. She taught me the family recipes with amounts like ‘a pinch’ or ‘the size of a chicken egg…’ or my favourite: ‘just enough’. These times gave me the confidence and the food chemistry knowledge to play with things. And that is what redaction work is. It’s playing with food chemistry.

You must first understand the reasons behind why things happen. We all understand that yeast makes bread rise. But until you know how and why, redacting a yeast-rising bread recipe would be challenging.

Getting a good result is about designing that first experiment around research and cooking knowledge.

What happens when you try that and the results are less than perfect? You can do one of two things.

1. Stop working on that recipe. And you know what? There is nothing wrong with stopping. Sometimes the challenge is too much for us at that time. And it’s okay to say so. You might pick it up later when you know more. Notice I said you can try again later? Putting a recipe that is too complex aside is okay, but stopping all research and redaction work isn’t if you want to succeed. You need to push through and have discipline if you want to succeed.
   
2. Research more into the failure and redesign your experiment. Ask others for guidance, research similar recipes, have a look at modern takes or traditional cooking, look into the archeology of the time and place, run other experiments on how they cooked their food.

Ultimately, it’s important to realise that some of the best research has come from failure. It’s through failure we learn or find new paths to research.

Never be afraid of failure.

Until next time, may the blank page of your new year be written with success, happiness, and the occasional failure.

~ Natal’ia

The New Year is just around the corner. Over the last few months, I have updated Mongol Musings every week. I have enjoyed this and I hope that you have found it informative and useful. However, due to other commitments, I need to decrease the frequency of my blogging so that I have the time to research and extend my knowledge. To this end, beginning in January 2019, I will be publishing a new blog on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. These will be the same sort of blogs as I have always published – information, redactions, research – whatever comes up at the time.

From time to time, I might post extra blogs if time allows. But I thought that it was better to cut my promised updates back rather than get to the point where I miss months of updates again. I hope you will understand.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Until the first week of January, I hope that you have a great New Year’s and that you ride swiftly.
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~ Natal’ia

​Happy Holidays!

I have a gift for you. This is the cookbook for the Fields of Gold Mongolian Feast and the special lunch menu item on Sunday.

I hope that you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. If you attended the feast, did I forget your favourite dish?

Until next time, may your days be merry and bright.
​
~ Natal’ia

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Lotus roots (known as Lotus Rhizomes) are something that many Australians and Americans have never heard of, let alone come across on their dessert plate. Let’s see what we can do about that.
In the Cloud Forest manuscript, Ni San has outlined a sweet, musky dish in 36. Cooked Filled Lotus Roots.

Original:
Take really good true flour, honey and a little musk [lit. musk deer Moschus moschiferus] and pour it inside lotus roots. Pour from the big head. Wrap in oiled paper, tie, and boil until cooked. Cut into slices and eat warm.
I have taken some liberties with this recipe. The primary reason for this is the lack of whole lotus rhizomes. Because of this, I can only access frozen rhizomes that have already been sliced. I hope to redact this recipe sometime with whole rhizomes when I can access them.

Changes I have made:

1. I used a patty of filling (which necessitated it being thicker than the probable type in the recipe that would be poured down the long tubes of the rhizome).
2. After having tried to boil the cut rhizomes to interesting effects, I decided to use a shallow fry method – this is the method suggested on the packaging.
3. Use of musk: I have made this recipe without musk for several tasters who do not like musk flavour. This returned a very nice, sweet honey flavoured dessert.

 
Natal’ia’s Redaction: Fried Sliced Rhizome Version:
 
Ingredients:
• 1 pack frozen Lotus Rhizomes
• 1 cup Flour
• ½ cup Honey
• Musk Essence, to taste*
• Olive oil, as required for frying
 
Method:
1. Defrost rhizomes
2. Mix flour, honey, and musk.
3. Take a small amount of mixture (about 1 teaspoon) and flatten onto on piece of rhizome. Cover with another piece of rhizome to create a sandwich.
4. Dip sandwich into flour to thinly coat both sides. (important step to avoid spitting oil).
5. Fry in shallow oil until rhizome is developing a golden colour (approximately 10 minutes).
6. Remove rhizome to drain plate with paper towel.
7. Serve warm.
 
[recipe makes about 20 rhizome sandwiches. This is limited by the number of rhizomes in the bag]
 
Note:
*Be careful with the amount of musk being added to this recipe. A drop too much makes the finished rhizomes unpleasant.

Until next we meet, may bitterness never touch your mouth.

~Natal'ia