Breakfast Staple · Clotted Cream

Kaimak

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Kaimak isn't whipped from cream — it's skimmed off the surface of milk that's been slow-simmered for hours, forming its own thick, wrinkled skin as the milk barely bubbles.

Fresh cow's or sheep's milk is simmered low and slow until a thick layer of cream forms on the surface, which is lifted off and chilled into a dense, spreadable paste. Southern Kazakhstan's bazaars sell it by the jar for spooning onto warm tandyr nan with honey or jam, a common breakfast pairing across the region's tea houses.

Why it's made this way: Clotted-cream traditions descend from the Turkic tribes of Central Asia and spread from there to the Balkans and beyond; in southern Kazakhstan's bazaars, kaimak's pairing with fresh tandoor bread reflects the region's blend of pastoral dairy farming and Silk Road bread culture.