Khash

Ingredients

The pot

• 2.5 kgbeef feet, split lengthways by the butcher
• 1 kgbeef tripe, optional, scrubbed and blanched
• 1shin bone, cracked, optional
• cold water to cover by 10 cm

At the table (nothing goes in the pot)

• 2whole heads of garlic, crushed to a paste with salt and let down with a ladle of hot broth
• coarse salt in a bowl
• 3 sheetsof lavash, half dried hard and half soft
• 1 bunchradishes
• 1 bunchspring onions
• 1 bunchflat parsley and coriander
• lemon wedges, optional and disputed
• vodka, ice cold

Directions

1. Scrape and singe the feet to remove any hair, then scrub them hard under running water; this is tedious and it is the difference between a clean broth and a barnyard one.
2. Soak the feet in cold water in a cool place for 24 hours, changing the water at least four or five times, until the water stays clear and the meat has gone pale. This purges blood and any smell.
3. Put the feet in a large pot, cover with cold water by 10 cm, bring very slowly to the boil and skim the grey foam obsessively for the first 30 minutes until only clear liquid remains.
4. Add no salt, no onion, no bay, nothing at all. Khash is deliberately unseasoned in the pot; every flavour is added at the table by the person eating it.
5. Simmer at the barest tremble for 6 to 8 hours, topping up with boiling water, until the meat and cartilage fall off the bones and the broth has gone milky-white and viscous. Add the tripe for the last 3 hours if using.
6. Lift out the bones, pull the meat and the soft cartilage into pieces, discard the bones, and return the meat to the pot. Skim off the excess fat if you like, though many would say you should not.
7. Test the broth by dipping a spoon and letting it cool for a moment: it should feel sticky between the fingers, which is how you know the collagen has come out.
8. Serve boiling hot in deep bowls at dawn. Each person crumbles dried lavash into the bowl to thicken it, stirs in garlic paste and salt to their own taste, tears soft lavash to wrap around meat and radish, and drinks the vodka. Beer is not drunk with khash.

Technique

• Khash is a ritual as much as a soup. It is eaten in winter, at dawn, by men and increasingly by everyone, before the working day, with vodka and toasts, and it is finished by mid-morning. Eating it in the evening is considered wrong.
• The rule that nothing goes into the pot is real and universally observed in Armenia; the Georgian and Azerbaijani versions of the same dish are seasoned differently but Armenians salt only at the table.
• The long soak and the fanatical skimming are the whole technique. Skip either and you get a cloudy, heavy broth with an off smell that no amount of garlic hides.
• Whether lemon belongs anywhere near khash is a live argument. Purists say never; plenty of Yerevan tables have a plate of lemon on them anyway.

Substitutions

• No beef feet: use split veal or calf feet, which are more widely sold and give the same gelatinous broth in slightly less time. Trotters change the flavour and are not used in Armenia.

Variations

• Some households add the head as well as the feet, giving a richer, fattier broth.
• In parts of Armenia dried lavash is layered in the bottom of the bowl before the broth is ladled over, rather than crumbled in by the eater.

History

Winter dish of cow’s feet simmered overnight, eaten at dawn with garlic, dried lavash and vodka.

Frequently asked questions

What is Khash?

Khash is a soup & stew from Armenia: winter dawn soup of beef feet with garlic, dried lavash, vodka. Winter dish of cow’s feet simmered overnight, eaten at dawn with garlic, dried lavash and vodka.

How long does Khash take to make?

Khash takes 30 min plus 24 hr soaking of preparation and 7 to 8 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Khash?

Yes, within limits. No beef feet: use split veal or calf feet, which are more widely sold and give the same gelatinous broth in slightly less time. Trotters change the flavour and are not used in Armenia.

What is the most important thing to get right in Khash?

Scrape and singe the feet to remove any hair, then scrub them hard under running water; this is tedious and it is the difference between a clean broth and a barnyard one.