Sour-milk products are popular all over the world. It is well known that some peoples, having passed their infancy, cannot use milk at all, which is very useful for bone tissue. For them, the ideal solution is to use acidic dairy products, which, moreover, unlike milk, are completely absorbed. Everyone knows yogurts, kefir, sour cream or fermented baked milk. However, there are more exotic products. For example, katyk. What is it, probably, know only the Central Asian peoples and Bulgarians. The rest pass by him, even if he catches his eye.
Katyk: what is it?
From the usual sour-milk assortment, it differs in many ways. First of all, the origin of milk. Usually it is sheep, buffalo or goat. Cow is used much less frequently. But this is not the most important difference. Many people think, trying katyk, that this is an Asian kind of yogurt. However, it is fermented on its own, and the katyk has to help. Moreover, it is not made from raw, but from boiled milk. And in order to get a real katyk, the leaven is taken clearly defined, in it in a strict proportion there should be a Bulgarian stick and streptococci for milk fermentation.
Benefit
Like other lactic acid products, katyk is absorbed completely, helps to cope with dysbiosis, which occurs, for example, when taking antibiotics, replenishes the body with calcium. An added bonus is the increased nutritional value that katyk has. Benefit and harm, by the way, are caused by it. With the weakening of the body after a disease or operation, with intensive development in adolescence, katyk can be called indispensable. And if you use it systematically, you can completely forget about problems with the stomach and never again fear the appearance of an ulcer.
Harm katyka
Oddly enough, it is largely determined by the same increased fat content. So it should not be eaten by those who have problems with weight. But, in principle, this is the only limitation. Another harm that can be caused by katyk can only be attributed to dishonesty: fakes, improper storage or expired shelf life is a matter of honesty of the seller. And not the disadvantage of the product itself.
With caution, it is worth giving katyk to children who are less than ten years old. However, this is due solely to the incompletely formed digestive system of the child.
Home katyk
Those who live far from the places of traditional production of this product will have to do it themselves. The process itself is not too complicated, although it requires attention, time and patience. If you decide to make a skewer, the recipe requires the purchase of a liter of homemade milk from a trusted livestock farmer. It must be boiled for five minutes on the smallest fire. The pan is removed, the milk is cooled to body temperature and poured into a washed (possibly sterilized) jar. The "hotness" of milk should be monitored especially carefully. In too hot, the sourdough will boil, in too cooled it will wander much more slowly. Another prerequisite: only glass, porcelain, ceramics, no plastic or metal! Two large spoons of yesterday’s katyka are put in milk, then the contents of the can are mixed. Note again: the spoon (or spatula) must be wooden. The neck is loosely covered, the container is wrapped and left alone for several hours. Six is enough in the heat, in winter the process will drag on for ten hours. You can check whether your katyk is ready by gently and smoothly shaking the jar. If the mass does not "flop", then it's time to eat or hide in the refrigerator.
Katyk in the oven
On the stove, it is not always possible to keep track of the uniformity of heating and the magnitude of the temperature. Therefore, when preparing the skate at home, you can use the oven. It is heated to ninety degrees, milk is boiled on a burner and placed in an oven. So it will slowly warm up until it loses up to a third of the water. When the milk has evaporated and has cooled, a katyk sourdough is laid. If it is thick (rather "old", infused), then it should be mixed until homogeneous until infusion. Then everything is according to the previous plan: for several hours the capacity of the wrapped one is warm, and when the katyk thickens, it is cleaned up in coolness. If, by the way, the latter is not done on time, it can peroxide.
If there is no appropriate leaven
When katyk is cooked, the recipe requires katyk fermentation. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to find the right leaven. For this case, use one of three options.
- Pour half a glass of thick sour cream into a liter of very fresh (ideally fresh) milk and leave it warm for a day, without covering anything. A glass of obtained yogurt will become your sourdough.
- Half a glass of ordinary yogurt is poured into boiled milk and a chopped cherry branch is placed directly with leaves.
- Instead of leaven, half a glass of ordinary sour cream is poured, in which a spoon of cabbage brine is mixed. The first katyk will have a distinctive aftertaste, but it can become a starter for the next. After 3-4 fermentations, the aftertaste will disappear, and you will get a quality katykovy foundation.
Try to cook a skate! What is it and how to do it yourself, we have already said, and you will certainly appreciate the taste nuances. And if your admiration is shared by friends and relatives, you will present them with the leaven of your own preparation.