Mongolia

Mongolia is an oval shape country, nestled between China and Russia. It is a landlocked country known for long, cold winters. The terrain sounds rough with mountains and plateaus. The area is noted for having a lot of seismic activity, but the low population density limits damage. Most of the country is used for grazing, and little land is used for crops. It makes sense that this land known for its nomadic herder population. That said, about 70% of the population is reported to live in urban areas. One video I saw about tea showed nomads melting snow in a big pot to make tea. Another resource talked about using lamb tail fat to coat the pot before bringing water to a boil.

As luck has it, when I made this tea, it hadn't started snowing yet. Granted, it was a cool, wet fall, so snow is probably going to be early and plentiful this year (groan!). Even so, I would not go out and scoop up pans of snow to melt down and drink. There are way too many chemicals used on lawns and fields for me to ever think of doing that, so I'm just using the stuff that comes out of the tap. I also have no clue where I would acquire lamb tail fat to prepare a pan with. Lamb is not a popular meat in this country, so I don't know if stores even sell it any time other than Easter.

Some resources cited green tea being boiled (with the lamb tail fat), while others cited black tea being used. I opted for black tea. I cheated and used a tea bag so I wouldn't have to strain it. Cow or goat milk is used in the brew, so I opted for the cow variety since it is easily available where I live. One thing I did follow was stirring with a ladle. You scoop up some brew with your ladle, and pour it back in. The locals say it tastes best if you stir it 81 times. This is what it looks like after being stirred 81 times with a ladle. Nice and frothy.


I was amazed by how much the stirring inhibited boiling. As soon as I stopped, it started to boil, but while I was stirring, it wasn't. It was also markedly less frothy by the time I got it into my cup, but it was a nice, classic cup of milk tea. I'm sure that lamb tail fat would add another dimension to it, but that would take a bit more searching to try.

Comments

  1. Poppy CrockerOctober 28, 2018 at 7:41 AM

    Yeah-- I can't imagine lamb tail fat would be too easy to come by.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lace makerOctober 28, 2018 at 6:40 PM

      I know that the lamb would prefer to keep it in its rightful place.

      Delete

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