With Reviews
Russia took its diverse cuisines from the various peoples inhabiting its territory
Peoples inhabiting Russia
Avarians, Adygheans, Altaians, Bashkirs, Belorussians, Buryats, Vod', Georgians, Dargins, Dulcans, Jews, Ingushs, Kabarditsy, Kalmyks, Kamchadals, Karemas, Karakalpaks, Karachayivs, Karelians, Lezghins, Kirghiz, Komi, Koryaks, Kuniki, Kurds, Latvians, Lithuanians, Mansi, Mariots, Mongols, Mordva, Nentsi, Nogai, Oroks, Orochons, Ossetians, Poles, Russian, Serbs, Slovaks, Tajikistan, Tats, Teleuts, Ottoman, Turks, Turkic, Tatars, Tuvans, Udins, Udmurts, Uyghurs, Ukrainians, Khakasses, Khanty, Croatians, Gypsies, Circassians, Chechens, Chuvantsi, Chukchi, Shapsugi, Evenks, Eskimos, Estonians, Yukagirs, Yakuts
Pirozhki
Pirozhki is a small dish of yeast dough stuffed, which is baked (in the oven) or roasted (in fryers, small pots or boilers). Pirozhki are popular in Russia primarily because they are practical. Large pies were baked for the whole family and required consumption according to special traditions. The right to break the first piece belonged to the oldest man in the family, then the men who were younger, and in the last instance the food was given to children and women. Over time, it became inconvenient, and women began to cook miniature pies - pirozhki.
Dough, as a rule, is made with yeast and fillings are with cabbage, potatoes, onions and eggs, with various berries, with porridge. They can be an independent dish, and as an addition to the national soups, especially to the fresh-soup, cabbage soup or borscht.
thin russian Bliny
Thin Russian bliny (pancakes) are especially loved by guests from other countries. Pancakes can be eaten with jam, jam or syrup. As well as with meat, caviar, fish or some other satisfying stuffing.
Bliny are considered one of the earliest flour dishes that appeared around the 9th century AD in the diet of the ancestors of modern Russians. In ancient times, pagan times, bliny were a ritual of treating ancestral spirits, people believed that they could treat their souls, coax them to help bringing good harvest for the coming year. So there was Maslenitsa time, which was initially not a holiday, but a pagan ritual tradition. People baked a lot of pancakes, fed poor with them, wretched and wanderers, considering them as intermediaries between the two worlds.
Bliny with filling
"When I first came to St. Petersburg, I was taken to a cafe to eat bliny. There I saw how people wrapped caviar, fish or meat in pancakes. I thought back then: "Lord, people, you need to put jam, butter or chocolate on pancakes", but decided to try pancakes with meat out of politeness. Now this is my favorite dish. For four years, I only once ate sweet pancakes, "- says James Brankin from Scotland.
Pelmeni
Pelmeni (dumplings) - a calling card of Russian, to be exact, Siberian cuisine. In the 15th century dumplings appear on the tables of the Ural and Siberian inhabitants. The indigenous population of the Urals was Permyaks and Udmurts, and they called the dish "pelnyan", meaning "doughty ear". Later it change to "pelmeni". Russian people put dumplings in soups, they steam them, boil and fry, serve with sour cream, butter, different sauces or just like that.
The main difference is in the filling: it can be beef with a small addition of fat or pork and, of course, onion and crushed ice.
In addition to meat dumplings in Perm cuisine, there are pelmeni with mushrooms, onions, turnips and sauerkraut are common.
Manti
Manti are dumplings popular in most Turkic cuisines, as well as in the South Caucasian, Central Asian, Chinese Islamic. Nowadays, manti are also consumed throughout Russia and other post-Soviet countries, where this dish spread from the Central Asian republics.
The stuffing depends on the region they are cooked in. In Kazakhstan, they add chopped beef, onions, lamb fat, pumpkin and potatoes. In some regions of Russia manti are cooked with such stuffing as in dumplings - with any minced meat. Tatars can make this dish at all without the addition of meat, using instead of it jusai plant.
Their are cooked not in oil, water or broth, but in the steamer. The tightness is very important in order to keep broth inside each product. The classic recipe also involves the use of non-pure minced meat but mixing it with other fillers (carrots, onions, pumpkins, dill).
Plov
Plov is a national dish of the peoples of Central Asia. In Soviet times, all the culinary books offered a traditional recipe for this dish, which includes lamb meat, rice, carrots, onions and raisins. The modern history of the origin of the plov is as follows: the recipe of the dish came from the Türks through the Tatars, the name "plov" is taken from the Turkish "pilau". The basic and unshakable ingredient of plov is rice. All other ingredients depend on a certain recipe.
Holodets
Holodets or Studen'. Holodets appeared in the north and among nomadic peoples who thousands of years ago cooked a rich broth of meat and bones and noticed that the remaining broth always freezes in the cold. Ideally, Russian holodets is prepared from a cow's head, brains and all four legs, tails and the like. In the case when it comes to the use of pork, people use pig ears, tails, and legs.
This dish traditionally takes a leading position in the anti-rating of Russian dishes.
"When I first saw it (if you visit a stranger, you cannot reject), I thought I would die. I really like all sorts of fats, but this terrible thing looked just disgusting. Then I realized that a lot depends on who is preparing this dish Holodets. I can eat it. But I can't say I love it, I eat just for the sake of politeness, " writes Katerina Korbella
Potatoes with fried or marinated mushrooms
Potatoes are one of the most used products, which it is customary to prepare as an independent dish, add to soups, borscht, salads. When we want something delicious without cooking for long hours, a common recipe always comes to the rescue: potatoes with mushrooms, which we can simply fry with onions, or we can send it to the oven to bake, put out, cook a casserole.
One of the main secrets to maximize the taste of mushrooms is that we cook them separately, frying and evaporating the liquid.
Buckwheat
Buckwheat porridge is a national Russian dish. In the daily diet of Russian people, for a long time, an important and honorable place was taken by a variety of porridges. Buckwheat porridge was already considered as a national dish of the Russians in the 17th century. Buckwheat didn't originally grow on the territory of Russia.
It appeared in the distant Himalayas, about 4000 years ago - it is still called a "black porridge" over there. The porridge gets cooked on water, milk, with additional ingredients (mushrooms, vegetables, meat, poultry, roasted onion or boiled eggs). The history of buckwheat porridge is such that because of the medicinal qualities buckwheat is called "a queen of croups". Buckwheat contains many vitamins and minerals, but no less important is the protein. There is more protein in buckwheat than in any other cereal.
Borscht
For many centuries before the Roman people were cooking soup, with the addition of all sorts of edible vegetables. The main ingredients were beets and cabbage. Greek navigators presented the red vegetable with the present name, delivering it to the shores of Scythian, Slavic, northern peoples. In ancient Russia, people ate liquid food with the composition of beets and cabbage. "Brown cabbage soup" as it was called. This vegetable soup had the status of the main dish, at the tables of tsars, at the magnificent feasts of those times. A wide variety of vegetables is used to prepare the famous dish. The main thing is, of course, beet. Other vegetables or meat products are added according to the recipe. Carrots, potatoes, paprika, onions, tomatoes, garlic.
Vinegret
There are suggestions that the birthplace of this vegetable salad may be Germany or Scandinavia. At that time, it consisted of boiled vegetables - potatoes and beets, pickles, grated apple and egg white, and, of course, herring. The dressing contained a mix of butter, yolks, sour cream and vinegar. Vinegret appealed to the inhabitants of the Russian Empire. However, it was immediately modified, Russians began to put inside sauerkraut, cranberries and salted crispy cucumbers. The most important ingredient in vinegret is dressing. Nowadays, vinegret is usually prepared with any ingredients, meat and fish, shellfish and squid, mushrooms and crabs, leaves of plantain, chicory, apples, beans, canned corn, mussels and even fruits. Modern vinegret dressing contains at least four main ingredients: salt, black ground pepper, vegetable oil and vinegar.
Okroshka
After hearing only one word "kvass" foreign guests change in the face, and when they see floating vegetables and pieces of sausages in it, they believe that the hour of reckoning for sins has come. They wonder why we should pour a salad with a drink, especially with sour water. Some are still willing to try okroshka on kefir and mineral water, but again not everyone likes it.
Nowadays, many people cook okroshka the same way and using the same products. In the distant past people knew a huge number of recipes. The composition of okroshka depended on what was grown in a certain region. Cold soup could satisfy not only hunger, but also thirst on a hot day. The special ingredient is kvass, and it is mentioned in written sources in 989. Initially there were included only onions and black radish inside. Shredded products were poured with kvass and flavored with sour cream. Later, the main ingredients could contain fish and meat, trout and turnips, potatoes and eggs. Also Russians used a variety of fragrant greens. Nowadays, people add various kinds of sausages inside the okroshka. In older times, they used brine from cabbage and cucumber, whey and kefir as a filling. In modern times, Russians use mineral water, kefir and diluted sour cream, yoghurt.
Each of the ingredients in it can easily be replaced with another without compromising the taste. The main ingredients are cucumbers and eggs. The spicy taste of the dish is given by various spices. Mushrooms are also used.
"One my friend (Canadian) once gave a very good definition of okroshka:" We took everything that was on the table, including drinks, and collected in one plate. " Poor food, poor kvass, even poor kefir. Why do they need all this suffering for? "
Pryaniki
Pryanik is a plate of figured, rectangular or oval shape, on the top of which a pattern is squeezed out.
Pryaniki are divided into three types: printed, cut and sculpted.
Printed - the most common, were made by using a gingerbread board made of solid wood.
Cutted pryaniki were cut from the dough using a metal mold; this is the easiest and most effective way of cooking.
Sculpting of pryaniki is the most ancient way; it was especially common for the Northern people.
A special regional variety of Russian pryaniki are kozuli - gingerbread in the form of different small animals.
In Russia, the first pryanik (gingerbread), was called "honey bread" and appeared about IX century, it was a mixture of rye flour with honey and berry juice, and the honey people put inside made almost half of all other ingredients. Later they started to add local herbs and roots to the "honey bread". In the XII - XIII centuries, when exotic spices brought from India and the Middle East began to appear in Russia, the pryanik received its name and almost completely formed into the delicacy that is known to us today. By the end of the XIX century, gingerbread cookers in Russia knew about twenty varieties of recipes. In Russia, pryanik made from rye flour was prepared with honey, cloves, anise, ginger, orange peel, alcohol and water. Yolks were added to the wheat flour gingerbread dough and often also a color dye to get a colorful dough. Such pryaniki were sprinkled with crushed almonds, candied fruits, and then kept in the oven after using it for preparing loaves. Chocolate gingerbread was coated on top and bottom with a mass of grated chocolate and sugar. In Siberia, pryaniki were also made with pink dough, small gingerbreads on dry raspberries, etc. Pryaniki were made for the poor and the rich, for gifts and birthdays. It was believed they have healing properties. Also small pryaniki were used for the game. The winner was not only the one whose pryanik flew farther than the others, but also the one whose pryanik remained unscathed after reaching the ground.
Nowadays, pryaniki are baked from a special "gingerbread" dough; Russians add honey, nuts, raisins, fruit or berry jam, spices for taste.
Varen'ye
According to historians, ancient Greeks invented first varenye. They boiled the fruits of quince on honey over low heat, until they reached a viscous consistency.
In Russia, the term "varenye" arose in the late 18th and early 19th century and denoted boiled sweetness.
According to the Russian tradition, varenye is made from whole or large-sliced fruits and berries, while jam, confiture or marmalade, are made on the basis of the mashed ones. A syrup of varenye is thick and clear, it holds berries very well.
Varenye was prepared by using syrup and honey in ancient times. Among the fruits that were used for varenye, the main ones were, of course, apples. Other fruit trees, of which the varenye was brewed - pear, cherry, plum - were grown in Russia much later (from the XV century), not to mention such southern cultures such as quince, apricot and peach. Most of the collected berries were used mainly for varenye - raspberries and blackberries, currants and gooseberries. Especially gooseberries were popular in Russia. Catherine the Great loved varenye made from gooseberries.
Raspberry varenye has long been valued for helping in the fight against colds. Sometimes varenye combine with several different berries, nuts, citrus peels, spices. Varenye was and is prepared not only from fruits and berries, but also from flowers (for example, a varenye from rose petals is very famous), and also from various vegetables (carrots, radishes, turnips). It is known that Ivan the Terrible loved varenye made from cucumbers with honey. In folk medicine almost all berries were used in a variety of forms; it was believed that they help from a variety of diseases.
There are many microelements in berries, in addition to vitamins, that are also necessary for the good functioning of our body. They do not break down when exposed to heat.
Hvorost
Hvorost - confectionery, thin and brittle biscuits. It got its name for similarity in form with brushwood - fallen branches of trees. It is believed that the journey of hvorost began from Greece. It was there in the 15th century that thin strips of fresh dough were prepared in hot fats. It turned out curly, moderately fatty, golden and very crunchy cookies, which began being called hvorost in Russia in the early 18th century. The dough for hvorost is kneaded on any liquid - water, milk, kefir, curdled milk, yogurt and mixtures thereof. Russians use different additives to the dough, in the modern hvorost starch is usually added. In addition to starch and various kinds of flour people add nuts, cottage cheese, vegetable and fruit purees, cheese, etc. Classic hvorost is usually very thin rolled and curled.
Syrniki
Russian syrniki entered to the top 25 of the world's best desserts, compiled in 2015 by one of the leading world news portals #BusinessInsider. Not everyone immediately understand how you can fry curd though.
There were no refrigerators before, and the economical housewives decided not to throw out the dairy product, they added only a little flour to receive a dough, which was later subjected to heat treatment.
Syrniki were cooked with the same recipe for a long time: curd was mixed with flour, sugar and eggs and baked in the oven in the form of thick small round pancakes. Mothers taught their daughters how to make syrniki with curd, and they, in turn, passed the technology to their own children. So, on the territory of many Slavic countries, this dessert was created for centuries by a single recipe, until the modern Russians started adding various ingredients and methods for syrniki.
Javier Garcia from Spain visited Russia several times: "I always liked Russian soups and dumplings. But one day I realized that I did not know anything about Russian cuisine. My friend said that most of Russians eat syrniki for breakfast. This dish I liked so much that I even learned how to cook it and now I'm eating only syrniki for breakfast. "
Kvass
The word "kvass" of old Russian origin means "sour drink".
In 1975, at the International Competition held in Yugoslavia, excellent taste qualities of the Moscow Kvass were appreciated by the jury and numerous guests of the event. As a result, the "good" and "tickling" Russian drink scored 18 points, while "Coca-cola", which, by the way, will appear in Russia only in 1988 - could not earn even 10 points.
Nowhere, except for Russia, this drink did not receive such distribution and did not get such popularity. The first written mention of kvass refers to the period of the baptism of ancient Russia by Prince Vladimir in 988. By the 11th century this drink was already brewed everywhere. The most ancient kind of kvass was prepared only on the basis of various cereals, and only later there were added fruits, honey, spices. However, its main component remained malt - germinated grain. The technology of making kvass from small dried pieces of bread appeared already in later times - it allowed to simplify the technological process. People drank it in the royal mansions and behind the monastery walls, in peasant cottages and in soldiers' barracks, at fairs and in high society salons. By the beginning of the 15th century, there were over 500 varieties of this beverage: sweet and sour, mint and with raisins, thick and kvass-sour soup, scented and diurnal, white and for okroshka, with horseradish (Ural) and boyar, flavored and millet, with pepper and pears. The presence of kvass at that time in homes of Slavic people indicated the well-being, the fortress and the stability of life, and if someone treated you with this drink that meant he wished you prolificacy. It was believed that kvass increases efficiency, relieves fatigue and restores strength. The alcohol content could reach 15%.
Medovukcha
Medovukcha is a fermented honey - one of the oldest, tastiest and healthiest alcoholic beverages invented by mankind. As a rule, the medovukcha has a fortress that oscillates in the range of 1-16 revolutions. The lower degree bar is inherent in the nonalcoholic type of the drink, while the upper one is in the strongest medovukcha. It is interesting that the medovukcha gains degrees both due to the duration of the aging period and the increase in the content of pure honey in it, and thanks to various ingredients that contribute to the strengthening of the fermentation process.
To date, a classic medovukcha is considered the one which contains: honey, yeast, spring or artesian water and, in some cases, sugar.
Honey alcohol was known to many early Indo-European communities. It was prepared by keeping it in closed oak barrels of water-honey solution, in which various of red berries were added, as a rule: cherry, raspberry or strawberry. The fermenting time of such a drink could be from five, twenty to sixty or more years. This drinking of the fermented honey water was accompanied by such significant events in the life of one kind or another as religious festivals, marriages, a birth of new members of the community or a death of family member. Since the XI century, the drink associated with pagan rituals gradually lost its importance.
Thus, between the patriarchal medovukcha in oak barrels and modern medovukcha in kegs lies an extraordinary time interval of almost half a millennium.
Today the main centers involved in this industry are: Suzdal, Veliky Novgorod and Kolomna outside Moscow. Varieties of medovukcha come with honey and without. According to the duration of aging medovukcha is divided into young, regular and strong. By its composition, honey is divided into natural, hop, spicy and berry.
birch juice
In the spring, birches, like powerful pumps, carry the earth's juices to the tips of the branches, to the buds, to the future foliage. It contains many substances and vitamins useful for a body.
Birch juice is a liquid that flows from cut or broken birch trunks and branches under the influence of roots pressure. The juice begins to lift up in the spring, with the first thaw, and continues until the buds are blooming. Birch juice is almost tasteless, a bit sweet, like pure spring water. Among the vitamins, there is ascorbic acid (up to 5 mg), and vitamins B: B6 and B12 predominate. A fresh, mild taste makes this drink an ideal beverage for quenching thirst, especially in hot weather. Birch juice is a good general restorative for a variety of diseases.
In the time of ancient Russia, only healers knew about the healing properties of birch juice. It was used to treat diseases, and simply as a delicious refreshing drink. In the old days, birch juice was harvested in special small birch bark box with lid. Nowadays, birch juice is extracted and produced by several industrial combines. There are birch groves at combines which produce juice. Preserved birch juice tastes similar to natural, but does not have any value for a person's health. People make kvass, wine, syrup from natural birch juice.
kissel
Kissel is a traditional Russian drink which contains fruits or berries (fresh or frozen), water, sugar and potato starch, it is caloric (potato starch). Russian ancestors immensely loved kissel - kissel shores along with dairy rivers became a kind of symbol of well-being and material prosperity, a symbol of a full and happy life. Kissel was the most popular dessert at that time. Most likely, people began to prepare the kissel at about the same time, when they learned to cultivate cereals, because in the old days, the kissel was not made from fruits or berries as today, but from wheat, oats, rye and even peas. The name kissel was derived from the word "kisliy"(sour). In ancient times it was nothing more than a product of fermentation. Russians started to prepare kissel by using a potato starch recently, after the potatoes appeared in Russia and people learned how to make potato starch. In ancient Russia, kissel was prepared on the basis of rye, oat and wheat broths, sourish to taste. In time, in order to make the kissel not sour, people began to add honey, jam, berry syrups. Kissel, made from quality berries, fruits or juices, takes first place among other drinks by quantity of organic acids and has medicinal qualities.
Kompot
Kompot is a traditional drink of Eastern European and Russian people, served for dessert and combines decoctions and syrups from various fruit and berry crops. Kompot, as Russians cook it today, has been known only for about 200 years. However, until the 18th century, there was a similar drink called Uzvar or Vzvar. The word "vzvar" comes from the word "brew". Russian ancestors boiled, or rather, brought to boiling broths with herbs, berries and fruits. Vzvar was served mostly on Christmas Eve as a special treat. Sometimes there were croups added inside the beverage, so it was more juicy. In the XVIII century the word "kompot" appeared , it was taken from the French language. The advantage of this drink is that it can be cooked with or without sugar, while preserving the maximum good qualities of the raw berries or fruits used, its taste and aroma. For cooking kompot people use not only fruits and berries, but even vegetables, and to increase nutritional value, add some cereals. Those active ingredients and trace elements, which are contained in the compote, favorably affect the physical condition of the person as a whole, are able to detox and recover a body, and also to tone up and enhance mental performance.
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