The Kazakh
cuisine, as a mirror, reflects the soul of the people, its history, customs and
traditions.
Since ancient times, hospitality has been the most distinctive feature of Kazakh people. Dear guest is more than welcomed in the house; he has the opportunity to seat at the place of honor, and is offered the best dish in house.
At first, the guest is offered a kumis, shubat or ayran, then a tea with milk or cream, baursaks, raisins, irimshik or kurt. Then followed the snacks made from horsemeat or lamb - kazy shuzhuk, zhal, zhaya, sur-et, karta, kabyrga. A cake from a wheat flour is traditionally presented on every table.
The decoration of any dastarkhan and most favorite dish has always been the Kazakh meat. This boiled meat is usually served in big uncut pieces. The owner cut the meat and treated each guest with tidbits: the pelvic bones and shins were for elders, the belly for the son-in-law or daughter-in-law, the cervical vertebra was for the girls, etc. The honorable guest was able to have the specially cooked sheep's head. The guests were supposed to divide the head between the people around, observing an ancient ritual in which disrupted the ancient custom of respect for the guests, the elderly, children, friends and distant relatives.
A fragrant meat is served in thin slices of rolled out and boiled dough. The perfect complement to the dish is the rich flavored broth, the sorpa, which is usually served in tea bowl.
The most popular product in Kazakh cuisine is meat.
Meat is the basis of many dishes, the meat products will adorn any table, and the abundance of meat dishes reflects the richness and diversity of the festive table.
The Issatari Kazakh cookery was different because of the special technology. The peculiarity of the Kazah lifestyle left a mark on cooking methods. The preference method of cooking in the traditional Kazakh cuisine was the boiling. This process produces soft and delicate flavors of meat.
A big place was given to the intermediate and the long-term food storage. During the slaughtering of the cattle, meat was stored for the future use, it was salted, jerked, and sometimes smoked, the specialty foods were prepared mainly from horse meat kazi, shuzhuk, zhal, zhaya, karta, etc.
The milk and dairy products were widely used. The Preference was given to the dairy products, as it is simpler and easier to maintain them in terms of nomadic life.
Bread was often baked in the form of cakes, baked products, but the bawyrsaks were of the greatest popularity.
The favorite drinks were kumis, shubat or ayran, while the tea occupied a special place.
The ancient dish utensils was made of leather, wood and ceramics, every family had a cast-iron cauldron, where the food was prepared. The tea was boiled in cast iron jugs, and later in the samovars.
