Öröm

What it is

Öröm (also written urum or orom) is a thick clotted cream made by heating milk and then letting it cool slowly, so that a heavy layer of fat and milk solids forms on top. It is skimmed off in a soft, slightly crinkled sheet, rich and mildly sweet. Öröm is one of the most valued Mongolian dairy foods: it is spread on bread, eaten with boortsog (fried dough), stirred into milk tea and used as the starting point for butter.

Öröm can be made from cow, sheep, goat, camel or yak milk. Yak milk, which is especially high in fat, is widely regarded as giving the best cream, so öröm from yak-herding families is particularly prized.

How it is made

Milk is heated gently, to roughly 80 degrees Celsius, and the cook repeatedly lifts it with a ladle and pours it back to raise a foam. As the fire is lowered the foam starts to set. Fresh milk can be added around the edges and the pot reheated several times to build a thicker layer. The pot is then left to cool, usually overnight, and the solid cream is lifted off in the morning.

Nothing goes to waste. The milk left under the cream is used to make tarag (yoghurt) or byaslag (cheese), and the cream itself can be churned into white butter and then melted down into shar tos, clarified butter. Öröm can also be dried or frozen to keep for later in the year.

When and where to try it

Öröm is a summer and autumn food, made daily in many herding households while the animals are giving plenty of milk. It is often among the first things set out when guests arrive, together with bread or boortsog and a bowl of milk tea. Shops in Ulaanbaatar stock Mongolian-made dairy products, but freshly made cream in a herding family's ger is the version most visitors remember.

A popular combination is öröm mixed with aarts (soured curd) and sugar into a sweet spread, and some families heat cream with sugar, flour and raisins to make khailmag, a dessert.

Etiquette and tips

• If öröm is offered, spread a little on bread or boortsog. It is rich, so a small amount is normal.
• A spoonful melted into hot milk tea is a common way to enjoy it.
• Do not waste or spill milk products in a herder's home; dairy is treated with particular respect.
• Home-made öröm is often made from raw milk that has only been heated, so if you have a sensitive stomach, introduce it gradually.