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RUSSIA
Soups have always played an important role in the Russian meal.
The traditional range of soups such as shchi, borscht, ukha,
rassolnik, solyanka, botvin`, okroshka, and teur' was enlarged in
the 18th to 20th centuries by both European and Central Asian
staples like clear soups, pureed soups, stews, and many others.
Russian soups can be divided into at least 7 large groups:
Cold soups based on kvas, such as teur', okroshka, and botvin'ya.
Light soups and stews based on water and vegetables. Noodle
soups with meat, mushroom, and milk. Soups based on cabbage,
most prominently Shchi. Thick soups based on meat broth, with a
salty-sour base like rassolnik and solyanka.
Fish soups such as ukha and kal'ya. Grain- and vegetablebased
soups.
Main Dishes Meat
In traditional Russian cuisine three basic variations of meat dishes
can be highlighted: - large boiled piece of meat cooked in a soup
or porridge, and then used as second course or served cold as a
snack:
Studen´ (or Kholodets) - Jellied chopped pieces of pork or veal
meat with some spices added (pepper, parsley, garliñ, bay leaf) and
minor amounts of vegetables (carrots, onions). The meat is boiled
in large pieces for long periods of time, then chopped, boiled a few
times again and finally chilled for 3-4 hours (hence the name)
forming a jelly mass, though gelatine is not used because young
meat contains enough glue substances. It is served with horse
radish, mustard or grinded garlic with smetana.
• Sub-product dishes (liver, caul fat, rennet), baked in pots together
with cereals;
• Whole animal (bird) dishes or it's part (leg), or large piece of meat
(rump) baked on a baking tray in a stove, so called "zharkoye" (from
the word "zhar" meaning "heat")
As a garnish to meat dishes in the past the most
common were porridges and cereals, in which
the meat was boiled, later on boiled or rather
steamed and baked root vegetables (turnips,
carrots) as well as mushrooms; additionally the
meat, without taking account its type, was
garnished with pickled products - pickled
cabbage (sauerkraut), sour and soaked apples
(mochoniye yabloki), soaked cranberries,
"vzvar"s. In modern day conditions baked
vegetables to accompany meat dishes can be
cooked in foil. Succus formed in the meat
roasting as well as melted "smetana" or melted
butter is used as gravy to pour on garnishing
vegetables and porridges. Meat sauces i.e.
gravies on flour, butter, eggs and milk, are not
common for traditional Russian cuisine.
Various minced meat dishes were adopted from
other cuisines and became popular only in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries; for
traditional Russian cuisine they are not typical.
Kotlety (cutlets, meat cakes), a Western
European dish popular in modern Russian
households, are small pan-fried meatloaves,
not dissimilar from Salisbury steak and other
such dishes. Made primarily from pork and beef
(sometimes also from chicken or fish), they are
easily made and require little time. Milk,
onions, ground beef, and pork are put in a bowl
and whisked thoroughly until it becomes
relatively consistent. Once this effect is
achieved, the hands are usually powdered with
flour to keep the mixture from sticking while
you reach to form them into balls (or any shape
you'd like, really) and then put into a hot frying
pan to cook. When meat was in short supply, a
portion of it could be substituted with bread to
protect the size and flavour of the katlyeti.
Pelmeni are a traditional Eastern European
(mainly Russian) dish usually made with
minced meat filling, wrapped in thin dough
(made out of flour and eggs, sometimes with
milk or water added). For filling, pork, lamb,
beef, or any other kind of meat can be used;
mixing several kinds is popular. Traditional
Ural recipe requires the filling be made with
45% of beef, 35% of lamb, and 20% of pork.
Often various spices, such as pepper, onions,
and garlic, are mixed into the filling.
OPEN TRADE 52
Oct-Dec 2007