Kaymak

Domestic water buffalo

Kaymak or kajmak is a creamy dairy product, similar to clotted cream, made all over the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, and India. It is made from the milk of water buffalos in the East or of cows in the West.

The traditional method of making kaymak is to boil the milk slowly, then simmer it for two hours over a very low heat. After the heat source is shut off, the cream is skimmed and left to chill (and mildly ferment) for several hours or days. Kaymak has a high percentage of milk fat, typically about 60%. It has a thick, creamy consistency (not entirely compact due to milk protein fibers) and a rich, mildly sour taste (depending on how long it matured).

Southeast Europe

Kajmak is almost always produced in the traditional way, in private households, and can be bought only on open markets rather than in stores or supermarkets; commercial production is low and not of as good quality. The best varieties come from mountain cattle farms. Kajmak can also be matured in dried animal skin sacks, and this variation is called skorup.

It is usually enjoyed as an appetizer, but also as a condiment. The simplest recipe is lepinja sa kajmakom (fresh bread filled with kaymak) consumed for breakfast or as fast food. Bosniaks, Serbs, Montenegrins, and Macedonians consider it a national meal. Other traditional dishes with kajmak include pljeskavica sa kajmakom (the Balkan version of a hamburger patty topped with melted kaymak), as well as ribić u kajmaku (beef leg meat, simmered with kaymak).

Turkey and the Middle East

Kaymak was very popular in Turkey and shops were devoted to its production and consumption for centuries, as evidenced by a 1573 prohibition against women's presence in the kaymak shops. Though kaymak has declined in popularity in modern Turkish cuisine, compared to previous years, one of the better types of kaymak is still to be found in the Afyonkarahisar region where the water buffalo are fed from the residue of poppy seeds pressed for oil. Outside of Turkey kaymak is still used extensively. Kaymak is traditionally eaten with pastries, preserves or honey or as a filling in pancakes. Kaymak or qymaq in Afghanistan is used as an accompaniment to flatbread, naan, or for the tea drinking on special occasions, qymak chai which is green tea with baking soda, milk and kajmak as a topping.

Kaymak is also the thick foam at the top of a well-prepared Turkish coffee in Bulgarian, Serbian, Bosniak and Turkish.

References

• The Poppy Growers of İsmailköy (2002)
• Davidson, Alan. Oxford Companion to Food (1999). "Kaymak", pp. 428-429. ISBN 0-19-211579-0

External links

• Recipe