Russian Cuisine (part 2) - blini, vinaigrette, holdets, golubtsy, chicken tabaka and much more
Every culture has its own way of life, traditions, holidays, songs and fairy-tales. That makes us different and also what makes us a culture. Every culture has its favorite dishes and its inherent feast customs. Rich natural resources favored making particular national dishes. In Russia the first recipes were written by monk-chroniclers. The monks lived by their own labors and by the fruit of their labors. They cultivated the land, fished, gathered herbs, kept bee-hives, made wine, made mead, and baked breads as well as smoked and preserved meats, fruits, and vegetables. For this reason monastery libraries contained chronicles of cooking recipes which later became cook books, medicinal compounding, and herbals as well. In this way monasteries played a very important role in the conservation of the cuisine of the Rus.
Since the XVI century it has been possible to select out royal, country, and monastery cuisine. In monastery cuisine, vegetables, herbs, greens, fruits were of greatest importance. They were used for base dishes during the fasts. Country cuisine was not very rich and diverse, but it was always tasty and nourishing. Dinner parties were supposed to offer not less than a variety of 15 dishes. The principal meal was and is dinner. The dinner was usually served in 4 courses: cold appetizer, first course, roast meat and beverages, and the desserts of cakes or pies. It should be noted that table appointments in rich houses had long oaken tables covered with embroidered table-clothes. The first course dishes were served in earthenware crockery, wooden, stannic, or silver plates. The beverages were brought in large tubs and served in bowls with little ladles on the brim. All products were kept in wooden barrels, casks, tubs and tins in the storehouses or cellars. Dough was made only in wooden tubs and food was fried only in copper pans.
The appetizer table was very rich and diverse, but salads were usually served as garnish to meat dishes. Farragoes (Vinegret ) and different dishes with salinity were the most beloved ones. By the end of the XVII century the assortment of appetizers was enlarged by Studen , caviar of different fishes, smoked, salted and cold boiled pork, and sausages called kolbasy. Foreigners were quite surprised by delicious taste of fish dishes - Rassolnyk with salmon, white surgeon. Its unique taste led to Ucha being called "magical ucha". Schi , Borsch, the invention of Russian cuisine, were served with mushrooms, fish, pies or patties. Thanks to richness of nature, various meat dishes from poultry (hens, ducks, turkeys ,geese) and gamebirds (black grouse, partridge, hazel-grouse etc) were created.
From time immemorial Russian ancestors cultivated cereals on the land and used them for food. There were special bakeries called "Bread houses". There is a great diversity of pies - Koulebyaki, Kourniki , Koulichi, Krendelya, Sayki and so on. The Bliny (pancakes) are the symbol of spring holiday - Shrove. Among beverages, the most popular were berry and fruit juices and nastoyka. Heady, more potent drinks were mead and beer and eventually came vodka and cognac, but the beverage most recognized in every house was Kvas . It was necessary for a poor as well as a rich table. Russian Kvasses were distinguished by their excellent and unusual taste and aroma.
Source: RusCuisine.com
Russian Blini
Bliny is a Russian traditional dish. They are baked in a great quantity at Shrove (carnival) - last week before Lent. Bliny making was a real sacred mystery. People told fortunes on the dough, kept their recipes of Bliny in secret. The first Bliny were put on the window-sills for poor people and pilgrims. The foreigners were very surprised at how many Bliny Russians could eat. At Shrove mother-in-law must bake a lot Bliny for her son-in-law. The most popular Bliny were made from buckwheat flour. Good Bliny must be very very thin. The thinner Bliny are the perfect your skill is.
- 1 pkg dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 cup plain yogurt, room temp
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 large egg whites
- Sprinkle yeast over 1/2 cup warm water.
- Stir and allow to proof until bubbly.
- Blend yogurt with sugar, salt and oil.
- Stir into yeast mixture.
- Add buckwheat flour and beat until smooth.
- Cover bowl and allow to stand in a warm spot for 20 minutes.
- Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
- Stir 1 cup water into buckwheat batter.
- Fold in egg whites and let stand 10 minutes.
- Spray a blini pan or 6-inch crepe pan with cooking spray.
- Heat the pan over medium heat.
- Pour a scant 1/4 cup batter in the pan and cook until top is bubbly.
- Turn over and cook until crisp and browned, about 5 minutes.
- Hold in a 250F oven until ready to serve. Repeat to make 12 blini.
Stuffed Eggs
Eggs are considered the best item for breakfast and for appetizers. But it is not easy to diversify the dishes with them. This one is very good and rich dish. It is easy to make, but looks and tastes exclusively.
Ingredients:
- 8 ea eggs hard boiled
- 3 tb parsley and dill finely chopped
- 1/2 c cream
- 1/2 c cheese ground
- 3 tb butter
- mayonnaise
- salt
- greens
Preparation:
Cut eggs in halves, take yolks out. Blend yolks with butter, greens, salt and cream.. Put the filling back into the halves. Put two halves together like a whole egg, sprinkle with cheese and butter. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Before serving pour mayonnaise over and decorate with greens.
Vinaigrette
Vinaigrette is Slavic cooked vegetable salad. Is is usally made from different boiled vegetables and pickles to impart piquant relish.
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes, cooked in their skins
- 1 large beet, cooked in its skin
- 2 pickles
- 1 tart apple
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cooked
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons water
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
Serves 6. Peel the potatoes, beet, pickles, and apple, and cut them and the carrots into 1/4-inch dice. Combine the diced ingredients with the onions and beans and mix carefully. Mix all the dressing ingredients together, pour over the vegetables, and toss gently. Then add salt to taste. Serve in a bowl at room temperature, either as an hors d’oeuvre or as a side dish for entrees.
Holodets
Holodets is the best meat appetizer with Vodka, It can also be serves hot as meat soup.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg pigs' or calves' feet
- 300 g veal shanks
- 1 ea onion, chopped
- 3 ea carrots, pared
- 3 ea bay leaves
- 5 ea peppercorns
- 2 ea celery stalks
- 2 ea garlic cloves crushed (optional)
- water
- salt
- fresh parsley chopped
- 1/3 c vinegar
Preparation:
Have the butcher skin and split pigs' feet. Cook pigs' feet, pork, vegetables, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice, garlic, and water to cover in a covered saucepot 2 hours on low heat. Skim off foam and add salt, parsley, and vinegar; cook 2 hours. Strain off the stock; set aside. Take out pigs' feet and carrots. Discard onion and spices. Dice meat and slice carrots. Arrange sliced carrots on bottom of an oiled mold. Put meat on top of carrots in mold. Add parsley. Pour stock into mold. Chill until set, at least 4 hours. Skim off fat. Unmold onto platter. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley sprigs.
Salad Mimoza
This salad is usually served for the 8th of March in Russia. But in North America, it decorates any table at any date. It is only a beautiful, but delicious and filling dish.
Ingredients:
- 1 can fish in oil
- 4 ea boiled eggs
- 2-3 ea boiled carrots
- 3 ea boiled potatoes
- 1 ea onion
- 250 g mayonnaise
Preparation:
For this salad, it is better to use a deep glass bowl. Put canned fish on the bottom without any liquid and mash with a fork. Spread mayonnaise on it. Then top with finely grated egg whites and again mayonnaise. After that goes grated boiled carrot, mayonnaise, finely chopped onion, mayonnaise, grated boiled potatoes, mayonnaise. The top is decorated with grated yolks.
Golubtsy
Golubtsy is a main dish, very popular in Russia. It is cooked in everyday life and for holidays as well.
Ingredients:
- 1 big head of white cabbage
- 500 g minced meat
- 300 g rice
- 2 carrots
- 3 tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Boil the whole head of cabbage in a salt water during 20 minutes. Then peel off the leaves accurately. Boil rice in a salt water until it is almost ready. Grate carrots and chop tomatoes. Mix rice with minced meat and carrots and tomatoes. Don''t forget about salt and pepper. Put each leaf the inner side up. Place one tablespoon of prepared meat stuffing in the centre of each leaf. Roll leaves, covering stuffing from sides like an envelope. Put stuffed cabbage leaves with seam down close to each other on a frying pan. Add two tablespoons of tomato sauce or ketchup to 0,5 litre of water or broth. Add it, covering the bottom of the pan. Spread butter on top of each piece. Heat oven to 140 degrees Celsius (250 degrees Fahrenheit). Bake golubtsy for an hour. Served with seam down, in a deep plate. Garnished with sour cream or sauce in which golubtsy were cooked. Servings: 2-3 If you don''t eat meat, you can put more rice and more vegetables. Anyway it will be tasty.
Caucasian Shashlyk
Shashlyk originates from the Caucasus. This wonderful dish has become a must of every picnic and an outside party.
Ingredients:
- 3 kg lamb (chuck)
- 500 g onion
- bay leaf
- pepper
- peas
- salt
- greens
- white table wine
Preparation:
A real shashlyk must not be marinated in acid liquids. Cut meat into large cubes 5x3x2 cm. Peel onion and dice it finely. Put in a large pan a layer of meat, cover with onion, and add 2 bay leaves, 5 pepper peas, sprinkle salt. Repeat these layers until meat is out. Top with onion. Pour over a cup of cold water. Cover and put a weight on the top for 4-5 hours. Thread lamb onto flat metal skewers tightly. Put skewers over well-heated brazier with charcoals (the distance between meat and coals is about 12-13 cm). The skewers must lie very tightly, forming a “meat roof”. Turn skewers only once. Sprinkle marinate over meat regularly. Serve with a lot of greens and white table wine.
Chicken Tabaka
Tsyplionok Tabaka is a famous Russian dish. It doesn't need any sophisticated spices, just salt and pepper, but the taste of this chicken is really delicious. Serve Tsyplionok Tabaka with fried potatoes, tomatoes and garlic sauce.
Ingredients:
- 1 ea chicken
- 2 tb melted butter
- salt and pepper
Preparartion:
Take a clean chicken, make a cut longwise the stomach, unfold it and beat it to make carcass flat. Tuck in legs and press wings to the back. Season to taste from both sides. Heat the pan with melted butter, put the chicken on, cover and put the weight on. Cook on average heat for 15 minutes, then turn the chicken over and cook for other 15 minutes. Make the heat low and cook until done.
Easter Kulich
Easter table couldn't be without Kulich, holiday ceremonial bread. Easter Kulich, being a symbol of atonement sufferings on the cross by Jesus Christ, has an inner meaning.
Ingredients:
- 600 g flour
- 1 c milk
- 2 c cream
- 50 g fresh yeast
- 10 eggs
Preparation:
Dissolve yeast in some tb of milk and stir in 2 eggs. Mix hot milk with hot cream and flour and cool down. Add dissolved yeast and mix thoroughly. over with towel and put in a warm place. Kulich dough must be "coddled" and "cherished", the temperature of the dough must not less than 29-30C. Beat up 8 yolks with sugar and 8 egg whites with sugar separately. Add yolks and whites to the risen up dough. Knead the dough carefully upside down. Add more flour if needed. Let the dough rise the second time. Beat up the doough on the table to remove carbonic acid. Grease the form for Kulich with soft butter, sprinkle with flour and pour in the dough half. Leave in a room to rise. When the dough is up to the top, brush the top with yolk and sprinkle with almonds. Bake in the oven 180 C. The duration of baking depends on the size of Kulich and can last 1-2 hours.
Source: Russian Foods.com