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Q&A about Russian cuisine

post #1 of 9
1/29/12 at 4:33am
Thread Starter 

Hi All!

 

It the past, I spent a lot of time learning Russian cuisine and I did a number of researches on history of some Russian dishes. And If you don't mind, I'm ready to share my knowledge and answer your questions about russian cuisine.

 

Is it true that russian pelmeni are of chinese origin?

When did vodka appear?

What is a difference between crepe and blini?

Is there one and only recipe of a true borsch?

 

... if you have these or similar questions, just write them here and I'll do my best to give you an answer. :)

 

 

ps.

here is my photo of traditional siberian pelmeni, just to make this discussion more illustrated and draw a little bit of attention. :)

 

pelmeni

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post #2 of 9
1/29/12 at 4:50am

I spent time in Russia in the early 80s. I was not impressed with the cuisine available in most places. All meats seem to be called Shishka. They were very limited in product and a bananna for dessert was a big thing. The old regal russian cuisine is not evident anywhere.

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post #3 of 9
1/29/12 at 6:03am
Thread Starter 

I believe it was a kind of misunderstanding. Russian word "shishka" means "cone of pine tree" and it has nothing to do with meats. The closest word that is somehow similar to "shishka" and related to meats is a word "shashlik", that is a kind of kebab.

 

Apparently, early 80-s were not good at all for russian cuisine. There were a lot of problems with quality foods and even good cooks could not do much about it.

 

Anyway, when it comes to more or less modern cuisine, I think that there are following different periods:

 

1. From 1917 to mid 40-s, when russian cuisine was based on a cuisine of XIX century.

2. From mid 40s to the end of 70s, when rapid industrialization of foods industry changed a lot of techniques and ingredients. At the same time, russian cuisine was enriched with some dishes from ex-USSR republics.

3. From 80-s to mid 90-s, when a lot of reasons caused overall decline.

4. And finally current state, when russian cuisine became, let's say, a little bit stunned after all what happened during XX century. smile.gif


Edited by romanas - 1/29/12 at 6:29am
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post #4 of 9
1/29/12 at 8:55am

 had a guide from Russian dept of tourism. He gave me all the definitions for things. I remember him well because his 3 front teeth were stainless steel., he was a good looking  well spoken english speaking fellow.He took me to a winery and through many kitchens, and factories.

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post #5 of 9
1/29/12 at 1:39pm

I'm interested. Nice thread concept. When I was 12 years old and in 6th grade, one of my best friends today moved over from Moscow to our little school. He got a lot of attention at first, but that soon grew into resentment and just about the entire school with the exception of faculty shunned him. I didn't care what the class thought, I thought it was the coolest thing to meet someone my age from the Soviet Union. He tells me that I walked up to him, stuck my hand out and said "Hi.. I'm John" and apparently that was the first act of kindness he'd seen.

 

When we figured out that he lived just a mile or two from me, I started going over after school. This led to me being over when they were ready for dinner and so I was invited to join them. What I remember, were the number of courses for one.. at my house having soup for dinner meant.. well that we had soup. They would start with a soup.. very light chicken broth with vegetables herbs and some form of oil. There was plenty of bread and they often had salads of cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions with herbs and oil. I was full by this point and then they would bring out the main course! The dishes really were often what is stereotypical.. hearty dishes of meat and potatoes, often similar to what we call home fries. I also remember his mother trying to correct how I used my knife and fork, she didn't succeed and my friend would yell at her to stop bothering me.

 

I did not respect nor was I compelled to really learn about the differences in food and wish I had.. but that would have been quite odd for a 12 yr old. We were more interested in wreaking havoc in the neighborhood (with a good deal of success).

 

So.. I don't really know where to start.. how about you explain how you go into Russian cuisine, maybe what your top 3 favorite dishes are? Are there regional cuisines as there are in India that differ a great deal? What are some artisanal foods that Russians are known for if any (cheeses, breads, meat products, seafood products?)

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post #6 of 9
1/29/12 at 11:30pm

I'd be interested in hearing about Russian charcuterie.  There is an immigrant community here in the Twin Cities and at least one small store specializing in Russian foods, including sausages and other preserved meats.  I've had some really great fresh pork sausage from them.  I'd be interested in knowing more about the types of sausages and other preserved/smoked meats.  Recipes are a bonus of course, since I dabble in sausage making as well.

 

Nice thread concept.  Thanks!

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post #7 of 9
1/30/12 at 7:52am
Thread Starter 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by eastshores View Post

 

So.. I don't really know where to start.. how about you explain how you go into Russian cuisine, maybe what your top 3 favorite dishes are? Are there regional cuisines as there are in India that differ a great deal? What are some artisanal foods that Russians are known for if any (cheeses, breads, meat products, seafood products?)


 

Thanks for your story! Apparently, you met a family that keeps traditions. :) Russian meal usually consists of three or more courses. First one that is soup. Second one or main one that is usually meat, fish or poultry with some kind of side dish. First and second are accompanied with bread, salads and what is called "zakousski" - sliced meats, different preserved foods and so on. And finally a third course that is a dessert with tea or coffee.

 

I would say that my personal favorites are: 

 

1. Siberian pelmeni.

2. Okroshka soup (although a concept of an ice-could soup looks really strange and surprising to a lot of people).

3. Ukha soup. Especially "Triple ukha" that is sometimes called "Tzar's ukha".

 

But I won't say that it was easy to choose just three. :)

 

When it comes to regional diversity, I would say that there is a general set of dishes that is being cooked across all Russia more or less the same way. For example, if you taste a borsch in Moscow, it will be almost the same as a borsch in Vladivostok 4000 miles away. At the same time, there are a lot of dishes and products that are linked to particular regions and have strong influence on regional cuisine. For example, people in Moscow like "solianka" soup and it's difficult to find decent "solianka" somewhere outside of Moscow. Also, there are a lot of different ethnic groups in Russia and almost all of them have their own unique and distinctive cuisine that influence regional cuisines as well.

 

Nowadays true artisanal foods are not in a very good shape in Russia. A lot of traditional foods were forgotten during XX century and a lot of traditions of crafting true hand-made foods were lost. Also, current Russian law does not help small manufacturers, there is nothing similar to European PDO/PGI/TSG system and almost all producers of quality foods suffer from counterfeiting of some kind. As a result, quality foods are produced in very low quantities and seldom cross regional borders.

 

On the other hand, everything's not that bad and it seems that getting better. I think there is no need to mention Russian caviar (black and red) and vodka. Except that, there is a number of well-known local foods of a good quality, to name just a few: Smoked fish from Baikal lake and Siberian rivers; butter from Vologda; cheese from Kostroma; dried sturgeon from Kaspian sea; honey from Altai and so on... Also, there is a sea-food of excellent quality (salmon, caviar, crabs and so on) in Far East regions of Russia (that are nearby the Pacific ocean), but unfortunately it seldom reaches even western part of Russia.

 

 

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post #8 of 9
1/30/12 at 3:46pm

When I was in college I taught English as a Second Language in a small Russian community in Columbus, Ohio.  We worked in teams of two, and taught in the family's homes.  We would arrive in the early evening, and begin teaching fairly quickly.  The moment the lessons were over the books were cleared away and the table was quickly set.  The food that was served was always amazing.  We were teaching as volunteers, and I suppose since we wouldn't accept any real payment this was their way of saying thank you.  I do not remember the names of most of the foods we had, but I do remember that I enjoyed every dish I ate there.  The family I worked with were Jewish, and that meant that there were all sorts of holiday's (and special foods for them) that I was not used to.  I went back to my dorm after Passover and Hanukkah with LOTS of extra food to share with my dorm-mates (which made me VERY popular, lol).

 

Ever since this wonderful experience, I have h ad a deep interest in both the Russian culture and their cuisine.  Some of my favorite things are quite simple.  I love a good black bread (I have a Ukrainian recipe I really like) and borscht.  Every so often, the mood strikes me and I decide to make Russian food for dinner.  I'll hop online and look up a myriad of recipes and pick whatever looks like fun.  I enjoy experimenting with new foods at home, especially cultural foods, and have had a lot of fun with Russian food.  I've mostly stuck to rural/country type Russian foods though, and have not yet tried to make a foray into Russian fine-dining cuisine.

 

I'm not sure if it's still there, but there used to be a Russian market in Austin, Texas that I went to a number of times.  If they're still there, I intend to visit on a more regular basis after I finish my move back down there.  I also need to find a Russian market in San Antonio, since that would make it easier to visit on a more regular basis.

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post #9 of 9
1/30/12 at 9:31pm
Thread Starter 

 

Originally Posted by pohaku View Post

I'd be interested in hearing about Russian charcuterie.  There is an immigrant community here in the Twin Cities and at least one small store specializing in Russian foods, including sausages and other preserved meats.  I've had some really great fresh pork sausage from them.  I'd be interested in knowing more about the types of sausages and other preserved/smoked meats.  Recipes are a bonus of course, since I dabble in sausage making as well.

 

Nice thread concept.  Thanks!

 

Thanks for your interest! :)
 

Russian charcuterie date back to XII century. A scroll dated 1140 AD says that an orthodox church lecturer (we don't know his name) and a guy named Ilia have supplied unknown person with sausages. :) Some kinds of preserved meats are mentioned in a lot of old manuscripts, including famous "Domestic Order" ("Domostroy") written by priest Silvester in 16th century, but unfortunately no one recipe has survived.

 

There is an opinion that German immigration to Russia that took place in 18th century has greatly improved russian preserved meats and sausages. I belive that it makes sense and there are some evidences that in 18-19th centuries best charcuterie stores in St. Petersburg and Moscow were owned by germans. It seems, that russian habit to buy already cooked sausages date back to this period.

 

During Soviet era government has spent a lot of effort in order to standardize and improve technologies related to preserved meats and sausages making. In 1960-s there were more than 100 types of fully standardized smoked sausages only. Due to my age, I had no chance to taste them by myself, but people say that they were of a very good quality. :) On the other hand, traditional names and origins of these meats have almost vanished and some types of meats were named with artificial names like "Doctor's", "Tourist's", etc.

 

Soviet preserved meats industry has declined since 70-s, when USSR faced with serious problems in meat production together with a demand of rapidly growing population for meat products. There was some progress since 90-s, but industry didn't reach Soviet standards yet and market was flooded with meats and sausages of a poor quality. As a result, people's interest to home-made sausages has dramatically increased.

 

I think that the most popular types are following:

 

1. Kolbasa. Usually large sausage about 15-20 inches long and about 1,5-2,5 inches in diameter. Made of pork, beef, spices and sometimes with an addition of some strong-flavoured alcohol like brandy or port wine. Usually fermented and cold-smoked. By the way, sometimes people in US write "Russian kielbasa" that is completely wrong. :) "Kielbasa" is a Polish word, correct Russian word is "Kolbasa". :)

 

2. Boiled kolbasa. Quite similar to Italian mortadella and probably of Italian origin. Made of emulsified meat, eggs and milk. Most popular brand is "Doctorskaya" ("Doctor's").

 

3. Hams. Actually, there in nothing special here. A lot of unique types of hams are mentioned in 19th century literature, but it seems that they didn't survive. As for me, I could not find any trustable information on this matter. Hope I'll manage to do this one day. :)

 

4. Sosiski. Small thin pre-cooked sausages probably of Austrian or German origin, made of emulsified meats and quite similar to Frankfurters or Viennese.

 

5. Kolbaski. This is regular fresh sausages. Probably, most popular type is "Ukranian" that is made of pork, fat and some garlic. When long Ukrainian "kolbaski" are hot- or cold- smoked, they become "ukrainian home-made kolbasa". :)

 

6. Salo. Very popular home-made food made of pork back fat, cured with salt and sometimes smoked. Some people even make "salo" that is brined, salted and fermented with aromatic leaves and herbs in special oak-wood chests. 

 

If you're interested in particular type of sausage, I think that I can provide a little bit more detailed information, including ingredients and basic technology. 

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