With footballing talent Dastan Satpayev now based in the English county of Lancashire, he will certainly be looking to enjoy his time there on and off the football pitch.
Time spent abroad often means immersing oneself in the local culture. Sampling the local food, where possible, is one way to achieve this full immersion, and up north in the region where said player now finds himself, the locals are as proud of some of their culinary offerings as the Italians are of pizza and pasta.
The reputation English food has doesn’t put it in the same gastronomical bracket as Neapolitan pizza, but this doesn’t mean that families don’t cherish the preparation and consumption of their local favourites in the same way.
Lancashire hotpot is one of the dishes that families in that region hold very dear – as well as people around England in general – and given its similarity, in some ways, to the Kazakh beshbarmak, could this be something local people in the latter culture fancy trying, as a tribute to their prized footballing export, who may be keen to give it a go, too.
Hotpot is a lamb-based stew which influential website BBC Good Food considers should be a staple of pub menus all over the country.
All of the ingredients are readily available in Kazakhstan, or if not, the dish can be adapted slightly depending on what the cook can get hold of, but there won’t be any issue buying lamb, potatoes, onions, carrots, flour, lamb or chicken stock, and bay leaves. Worcestershire sauce might prove trickier, but is optional in terms of the basic dish, which takes approximately 1 hr 40 min to prepare.
While the famous beshbarmak is meat accompanied by dough, and other ingredients, hotpot is meat topped with potatoes, and although it clearly comes from a totally different culinary origin as the former, it is surprisingly similar in many ways, and likely to prove popular with those Kazakhstani families who like to try new things – all while paying tribute to their new star who has already won the hearts of his Lancashire admirers.
Sadly, there is not likely to be a Russian or Kazakh recipe available for hotpot, but the video featured above should give clear step-by-step instructions on how to make it.
Lancashire people may not say Bon Appetit! before a meal, but the phrase tuck in is common in England, and of its three uses, it means, get eating, and enjoy!
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