This Month’s Film: YiYi
Cuisine: Taiwanese

As part of a food writing project, I received a shipment of yak meat from DelYaks of Montrose, Colorado. The package included a pound of ground yak, of which I used a half pound to make a pot of my favorite soup. The recipe calls for only seven ingredients: oil, meat, onions, garlic, chili garlic paste, broth, and flour dumplings. Every time I make it, I marvel at how simple yet satisfying it is. The whole process, including the handmade dumplings takes less than an hour, and yields a hearty kettle full of tender meat and pillowy dumplings in a subtly spicy broth. A rustic pot of home-made goodness that warms you from the inside out.

Ordinarily, I use lamb or beef for this recipe, but for this special project, I used ground yak instead. And although yak has a somewhat subtle flavor and texture, it holds up well in a soup kettle and imparts its own unique quality to the recipe.

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