Khorkhog

Name: Khorkhog
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Mongolian
Ingredients: 3 kg Mutton or lamb on the bone, cut into large pieces; 12 Smooth river stones, fist-sized; 1 kg Potatoes, halved; 500 g Carrots, cut into chunks; 3 Onions, quartered; 1/2 Cabbage, cut into wedges; 500 ml Water; 3 tbsp Salt; 2 tsp Black pepper; 1 head Garlic, whole cloves

Mutton layered with fire-heated river stones and a little water in a sealed metal churn and cooked over an open flame — the stones cook the meat from the inside out, and are handed round hot afterwards.

Fonte

Ricetta di Mongolian steppe cooking · 🏺 Tradizionale · Meat cooked with fire-heated river stones, outdoors, for a crowd — the method is thousands of years old and needs no oven at all.

Mongolian · stone-cooked mutton — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The cited article confirms it as a Mongolian barbecue dish cooked with heated stones in a closed container. Quantities, the stone-safety instructions and the venting warning are this book's own.

Background on Wikipedia ↗

Watch it being made · 3 videos

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⏱ 150 min🍽 8 porzioni🔥 620 kcal🇲🇳 Mongolia

HalalSenza glutineSenza latticiniSenza frutta a guscio

Passaggi

Build a good wood fire and set the stones directly in the embers. Leave them 45 minutes until they are too hot to go near.
💡 The stones have to be genuinely glowing-hot, not just warm. They are the only heat source inside the can and a lukewarm stone cooks nothing.
Salt and pepper the meat. Put a layer of meat in the bottom of a heavy metal churn or a deep pot with a clamping lid.
Lift a stone out with tongs, drop it in, then another layer of meat, then a stone. Keep alternating until both are used up.
💡 Tongs and gloves, and never a bare hand near the can. These stones are well over 300°C and they stay that hot for an hour.
Tuck the vegetables and garlic in around the sides, pour in the water and close the lid.
Set the can over the fire and cook 1 hour 15 minutes, turning it a quarter turn every 15 minutes. Steam will hiss out at the seam — that is correct.
💡 It must be able to vent. A fully sealed container over a fire is a pressure vessel, and this is not a dish to improvise a lid for.
Open it away from your face. Lift the meat and vegetables out onto a tray and hand the stones round for people to pass between their palms.

💡 Consigli

Passing the hot stones from hand to hand before eating is part of the meal, and is said to be good for you. Let them cool for a minute first.
Khorkhog is a guest dish and a summer dish, cooked outside when several families are together. Three kilos is not too much.
No churn? A heavy stockpot with a lid that sits loosely does the job. Do not clamp it down.