Mongolia

A hard, sun-dried curd made by boiling and straining the skimmed, fermented residual milk left after separating cream or butter, then pressing and drying the solids until they achieve a stone-like density.

Airag is a lightly effervescent, mildly alcoholic fermented mare's milk traditional to Mongolia and the Central Asian steppe, produced by sustained percussive churning of raw mare's milk inoculated with a live backslopped starter culture of lactic acid bacteria and wild yeasts.

A traditional Mongolian distilled spirit produced by heating fermented mare's milk (airag) in a pot still and collecting the condensate, yielding a mildly alcoholic, sour-milk spirit integral to nomadic feast culture.

Small Mongolian hand-folded dumplings of unleavened wheat dough encasing a seasoned minced-mutton filling, cooked by boiling in water or broth and served in that broth, or secondarily pan-fried.

A Mongolian nomadic feast dish in which a whole gutted goat or marmot — skin kept entirely intact as the cooking vessel — is cooked from the inside out by superheated stones packed into the sealed cavity alongside the animal's own organs.

A deep-fried wheat-dough nugget from the Mongolic and Turkic steppe tradition, lightly sweetened and enriched with animal fat, served alongside milk tea at everyday meals and ceremonial feasts alike.

A Mongolian steamed dumpling of unleavened wheat dough wrapped around a minced mutton-and-onion filling, pleated shut at the crown and cooked in a tiered steamer so the rendered fat forms a hot broth inside the pouch.

A Mongolian pan-fried flatbread of dough layered with butter, sugar, and egg, eaten as a sweet breakfast or tea snack.

A clear, lightly seasoned mutton bone broth with hand-cut or hand-pulled wheat noodles and root vegetables, the quintessential everyday soup of Mongolian nomadic pastoral cuisine.

A Mongolian feast dish in which bone-in mutton pieces are slow-cooked inside a sealed metal vessel with fire-heated stones placed among the meat, which cook and steam the flesh from within using conducted heat and the animal's own released juices.

A Mongolian unleavened wheat-dough pastry crimped into a crescent or oval shape, filled with minimally seasoned minced mutton and onion, then deep-fried in fat until the exterior is blistered and golden.

An everyday Mongolian mutton-and-noodle soup of Soviet/Russian lineage, a hearty broth with hand-cut wheat noodles and chunks of fatty mutton.

A Mongolian one-pan dish of rice stir-fried with mutton, onion, and carrot — hearty, lightly seasoned steppe home cooking.

Qoton Makh is a traditional Mongolian dish of whole cuts of mutton boiled in salted water until tender and served with its own broth as the centerpiece of a feast.

Mongolian clarified butter rendered from sheep's or cow's milk fat, simmered until the water and milk solids separate, then stored as a golden keeping fat for winter.

Suutei Tsai is a traditional Mongolian salted milk tea made by brewing compressed brick tea with milk and salt, served hot as an everyday beverage.

A thick Mongolian cultured soured milk — a traditional steppe yogurt — eaten plain or with dried curds and other dairy products.

Not a single dish but the ceremonial category of Mongolian dairy foods — dried curd, clotted cream, butter, aaruul and fermented milk — collectively offered and consumed, above all during the Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year) celebration.

A Mongolian one-pot dish of hand-rolled fresh wheat noodle ribbons that are steamed directly over simmering mutton and vegetables, then tossed at high heat until lightly caramelized.

A thick clotted cream skimmed from the surface of whole milk that has been slowly heated and then cooled, eaten as a rich breakfast spread.