You'll never guess what we had for dinner!

Before coming to Mongolia, we had watched a few on-line videos to learn more about the country. One video showed an international cuisine traveler experiencing how the Mongolians blow torch an entire sheep and literally cook it from the outside in. The crowning delicacy of the meal was feasting on the sheep's head which would include the tongue, the brains and the eye balls. The other night we walked into the apartment of the Baatumur family whom we home teach each month, and sitting on their coffee table was a sheep head!!

 

We've seen sheep heads torched before, but we've never been served one.  So seeing a sheep head in the middle of this table had us intrigued. After a sheep head is purchased, it is then taken home and boiled for 2 hours to make it tender. And it was! The wife, Otgontuya, seemed to have a system of how she would cut and serve this delicacy. Basically, the outer brown skin is peeled off and eaten. As you can see above, part of the skin had already been removed. We thought that the skin was very good but the best part was the upper part of the cheek. It all had a delicious smoked taste to it. Otgontuya then proceeded to remove all the meat on the outside.

 

 

The tongue was next. She just opened the mouth of the sheep wide and cut out the whole tongue and placed it on the platter and sliced it up. We both tried it and although it was a little chewy it still was good. It had a slight taste of beef liver.

 

 

The eyeballs take some work to cut out. Batumur put one whole eyeball in his mouth. The Cultures are so different, aren't they? Learning about the Mongolian culture has made our mission so fun and interesting! The other eyeball was cut up. Dan tried a small piece. It was chewy.

 

 

 

The brains were the fun part, because as Otgontuya would dig some of the brains out with the back end of a tablespoon, she would call one of the names of her young sons. They would run in and open their mouths and she would put a spoonful in. The boys would then joyfully run off to play again. It was so cute to watch them enjoy this unique dish!

By the end of the meal, which included boiled potatoes, onions and carrots, the head was picked clean.  Hmmm! Hmmm! Hmmmmm! Wish you were here. :)