Book: To cook Mongolian cuisine, get a blow torch
Jim Huffman spent three weeks in Mongolia in 1995. While there, he lost 10 pounds.
It’s not that the food was uniformly awful, though he describes it as bland. Instead, he calls Mongolians “the original Atkins dieters” who eat meat profusely.
“They can’t figure out why Americans have salad bars,” he said.
This month, the Burlington resident released a Mongolian cookbook based partly on his time there. The book is titled “Eating With Genghis Khan: 22 Easy Ways to Make Mongolian Dishes for Your Kitchen.” Available solely in eBook format, it is available at www.amazon.com.
More than a traditional cookbook, it’s a lighthearted look at some of the country’s more unusual culinary methods.
“You put hot stones inside of an animal carcass and let it cook from the inside out,” he said in giving an example. “Then you have to singe it with a blow torch.”
“Some of them really are terrible,” Huffman said about the book’s recipes. “Some of them are OK.”
A cheese recipe, he said, yields a result “not quite as bad as a rock, but pretty close.” While in Mongolia, he ate it only because “You don’t want to offend somebody.”
While many of the recipes are impractical for a regular kitchen, not all are.
“I’ve made dumplings,” Huffman said.
To compile the book, Huffman said, “I just investigated online (to follow up on) what I had known while I was there.”
THE COUNTRY is located between China and Russia in northern Asia. It’s a little smaller than Alaska and has fewer than 3.2 million people.
It is known for geographic features such as the Gobi Desert and historical details including the rise of Genghis Khan, who in the 13th century created the largest empire of the era.
“I had been interested in Mongolia since I was about 16 years old,” said Huffman, who is now 57. “(But) it had been almost impossible to go up until about 1990.”
The fall of the country’s communist government made Mongolia much more open to travel. And aside from the cost of flying there, “It was basically inexpensive,” Huffman said.
Huffman, who traveled there with his oldest son, Matt, had been in touch with a professor of English at Mongolian National University who helped him plan the trip.
In regular life, Huffman is a registered nurse who does consulting work for insurance companies. He and his wife, Amy, have four adult children.
Besides Mongolia, he’s been to Germany, Spain, Thailand and the Bahamas.
“I’d love to go to Tibet,” he said, “but my wife has no interest in going. She would rather go to Paris.”
It’s not that the food was uniformly awful, though he describes it as bland. Instead, he calls Mongolians “the original Atkins dieters” who eat meat profusely.
“They can’t figure out why Americans have salad bars,” he said.
This month, the Burlington resident released a Mongolian cookbook based partly on his time there. The book is titled “Eating With Genghis Khan: 22 Easy Ways to Make Mongolian Dishes for Your Kitchen.” Available solely in eBook format, it is available at www.amazon.com.
More than a traditional cookbook, it’s a lighthearted look at some of the country’s more unusual culinary methods.
“You put hot stones inside of an animal carcass and let it cook from the inside out,” he said in giving an example. “Then you have to singe it with a blow torch.”
“Some of them really are terrible,” Huffman said about the book’s recipes. “Some of them are OK.”
A cheese recipe, he said, yields a result “not quite as bad as a rock, but pretty close.” While in Mongolia, he ate it only because “You don’t want to offend somebody.”
While many of the recipes are impractical for a regular kitchen, not all are.
“I’ve made dumplings,” Huffman said.
To compile the book, Huffman said, “I just investigated online (to follow up on) what I had known while I was there.”
THE COUNTRY is located between China and Russia in northern Asia. It’s a little smaller than Alaska and has fewer than 3.2 million people.
It is known for geographic features such as the Gobi Desert and historical details including the rise of Genghis Khan, who in the 13th century created the largest empire of the era.
“I had been interested in Mongolia since I was about 16 years old,” said Huffman, who is now 57. “(But) it had been almost impossible to go up until about 1990.”
The fall of the country’s communist government made Mongolia much more open to travel. And aside from the cost of flying there, “It was basically inexpensive,” Huffman said.
Huffman, who traveled there with his oldest son, Matt, had been in touch with a professor of English at Mongolian National University who helped him plan the trip.
In regular life, Huffman is a registered nurse who does consulting work for insurance companies. He and his wife, Amy, have four adult children.
Besides Mongolia, he’s been to Germany, Spain, Thailand and the Bahamas.
“I’d love to go to Tibet,” he said, “but my wife has no interest in going. She would rather go to Paris.”
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