Contents
The question “What is kaymak?” you can “download” even an experienced chef. Usually they say that this is a cross between cottage cheese, butter, cream and sour cream. It is prepared in different ways, but it is always a fatty, barely salty product. If you have ever seen very heavy cream that is even difficult to get out of a jar, then most likely this was kaymak. Some compare it to mascarpone cheese.
What is kaymak
According to some researchers, kaimak belongs to the most ancient whole milk products. In many countries of Central Asia, it is considered their national dish. This dairy product is the result of the culinary fantasy of the inhabitants of the southern regions. Kaymak was invented where in ancient times it was difficult to build a cellar, but somehow it was necessary to store milk. Residents of the Balkans, Crimea, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Bashkiria and the Volga region massively prepared this kind of dairy products. In each of these regions, it is believed that it was their ancestors who first prepared this product. However, today it is not so important who prepared the first kaimak and how. It is important that an unusual dish has appeared in cooking, which is so difficult to describe in words, but which at the same time can never be confused with other milk.
Kaymak is a very fatty fermented milk product. It is quite difficult to generalize its appearance and consistency. In different regions, depending on the technology of preparation, it is different in density, color and taste.
Tatars and Bashkirs, for example, call kaimak very thick sour cream, and the Don Cossacks under this name meant foams collected from baked milk, folded in layers in a pot and baked in the oven. By the way, something similar is being prepared in the Rostov region today, however, it is served in the form of rolls. But still, the most “correct” is considered to be the Balkan version of kaymak, when for several days the foam is removed from the milk and put in an earthen vessel. The result is a delicate product with a creamy texture.
Montenegrin kaimak is prepared in much the same way, but a little salt is added to it. The Serbian version of kaimak resembles cottage cheese, and is made mainly for cheesecakes and other confectionery purposes. In Azerbaijan, foams for kaymak are collected from yesterday’s milk, repeating the procedure for 2-3 days, and then the collected foams are poured with cream. By the way, the Japanese learned to do something similar to kaimak. They add the resulting product to rolls and some other delicacies.
Depending on the method of preparation, kaimak can be white, cream, light yellow or brownish. There are no restrictions on taste. Salty, sour, sweet or even tasteless – all this is also kaymak. The Balkan version is generally divided into three varieties:
- young;
- average;
- old.
Young or freshly prepared kaimak is always white and slightly salty. The texture of this product is very soft.
Medium kaimak is a product aged for several days. It has a light spicy taste and a yellowish color. He is more dense than young.
Aged kaimak in the Balkans is usually called old. Usually this product is aged for about 2 months. Old kaimak is easy to recognize by its pronounced sour-salty taste and rather dense texture. Such a product is usually yellow in color.
Chemical composition and useful properties
For gourmets and culinary experts, kaimak is just a delicious dairy product. But chemists see in it an impressive set of vitamins, micro-, macroelements and other useful substances.
Despite the high fat content (23 g / 100 g), this type of dairy product is considered very useful for the human body, due to its special biocomposition. The use of such food has a very beneficial effect on the intestinal microflora.
Thanks to beneficial bacteria, kaimak has all the characteristics of an easily digestible food.
This protein product is rich in essential amino acids for humans. With its chemical composition, it resembles most dairy products: it contains a lot of calcium, iodine, phosphorus, molybdenum, potassium, cobalt, vitamins A and B.
One of the most important benefits of kaimak is its rich calcium content. This mineral is the basis of the human skeleton. It affects the strength of bones and teeth. But in addition to the musculoskeletal system, the cardiovascular system benefits from kaimak as a source of calcium. Calcium is an indispensable element for children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, as well as people in old age.
The second no less important component of kaimak is phosphorus. It, like calcium, is important for maintaining bone strength. But at the same time it is useful for the nervous system, kidneys, as well as for proper metabolism.
The benefits of kaimak are felt by the endocrine system. The product has some reserves of iodine, and it improves the functioning of the thyroid gland. In addition, iodine-containing kaimak is useful for the nervous and immune systems, skin, hair, it has a beneficial effect on the functioning of brain cells and is useful for muscle tissue.
People who are prone to edema formation or with interruptions in the work of the cardiovascular system should also not ignore this product. Do not forget that it contains potassium – a substance responsible for heart health and electrolyte balance in the body.
Thanks to the vitamins contained in this product, it is useful for:
- maintaining visual acuity;
- immunity strengthening;
- improve brain function and increase concentration;
- prevention of depression and chronic fatigue;
- eliminate irritability and insomnia;
- increase appetite;
- health of skin, nails, hair;
- healthy metabolism;
- proper functioning of the gastrointestinal tract;
- production of white blood cells.
Possible side effects
Kaymak is a very high-calorie product (nutrition value exceeds 700 kcal per 100 g), so it is still better for overweight people not to abuse it. Also, do not overdo it for people with a diseased liver, pancreas, or high cholesterol.
How to cook yourself at home
If you live far from the regions where real kaimak is made, this is not a reason to deny yourself the pleasure of trying this dish. If you have 0,5 liters of heavy cream and about half a glass of sour cream in your refrigerator, you can try to make this yummy yourself. It’s easy, albeit tedious.
Recipe 1
Pour the cream into a ceramic vessel and place in a preheated oven (although ideally it should be a stove). Simmer the cream in the oven until a brown foam appears, which should be removed and transferred to a clay pot. Repeat the process until foam forms. Then add sour cream to the rest of the cream, mix everything thoroughly and pour the foam with the resulting mixture. Keep the pot with the future kaimak warm for 12 hours, then cool in the refrigerator.
Recipe 2
For several days, collect foam from fresh milk and put it in a small pot or jar. On the first day, remove the foam from the milk, put it in a vessel, add a little salt, cover the pot with gauze folded in several layers, and send it to heat for a day. To speed up the fermentation process, you can add a little live yogurt to the foam. Then mix the contents of the pot and send it to the refrigerator. The next day, remove the foam from fresh milk, add a little salt, mix everything and send it to the refrigerator again. And so repeat at least a whole week. A faster option involves collecting foam from one serving of milk. To do this, cow’s milk must be boiled until foam is formed, cooled, boiled again, the foam is collected, and so on. When you have collected enough foams, heat the pot a little in a water bath. This will allow you to separate the whey and get a product of a denser consistency. In the evening, before warming in a water bath, add a spoonful of yogurt or sour cream to the kaimak.
Recipe 3
This is perhaps the easiest of all known home kaimak options. In addition, according to this recipe, a delicate sweet product is obtained, reminiscent of a curd dessert. Prepare it this way.
Add vanilla sugar to 2 cups of cream, mix and simmer over low heat until thickened. To understand whether the mixture has reached the desired consistency, you should drop a little hot cream into cold water. If they thicken, then it’s time to remove the kaimak from the heat. After cooling, beat the creamy mass with a mixer, adding a few drops of lemon juice (in total, you need to add juice from a whole fruit). Pour another glass of cream and beat the mixture thoroughly again. At this stage, you can add sugar to taste. Send the finished product for 5 hours in the refrigerator, after which it is ready for use.
How to use
The finished product is stored in the refrigerator, and some even freeze stocks. You can use kaimak as an independent dish or as a spread on bread. Tajiks serve it with hot cakes. Some gourmets love this milky delicacy with jam or honey, others prefer to combine it with fresh fruits and berries. The sour-salty version is in harmony with fish, vegetables, suitable for making sauces and toppings for baking. This product can also be used as a filling for pancakes, served with pancakes, casseroles, dumplings and cereals. By the way, kaimak can be added to Guryev porridge instead of ordinary foams. In Montenegrin cuisine, it is used to make yeast dough, and in some other Balkan countries lamb, pork or poultry are stewed in kaimak.
Kaimak is very diverse. Sometimes options prepared according to different recipes can look like completely different dishes. But no matter how this dairy delicacy is prepared, it always remains useful and loved by many gourmets.