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Russia
is a vast multi-ethnic country with a rich farming tradition, and has
a tremendous amount to offer in the culinary arts. Many Russian dishes
are derived from traditional peasant food eaten in the country's huge
rural expanses.
Crops of rye, wheat, millet and barley provide the ingredients for breads,
cereals, pancakes, kvass (a bread drink), and of course beer and vodka.
Other common ingredients include a variety of vegetables as well
as fish, poultry and game, as well as mushrooms, berries, and honey.
Additionally, the influence of
Russia's historic
neighbours such as Persia and the Ottoman Empire can
still be seen in some Russian dishes.
From the time of Catherine the Great (who reigned from 1762 to 1796),
Russian nobility imported products and household staff
from
Austria,
Germany
and most especially
France.
The result was a plethora of new dishes, infact a whole new Franco-Russian
cuisine, that includes some of the most famous "Russian" dishes:
beef stroganoff, sharlotka (charlotte russe) and veal Prince Orloff.
Some highlights of Russian cuisine include:
- Okroshka - A traditional cold soup made from Kvas (bread drink).
Okroshka can be prepared in meat, fish or vegetable varieties.
A combination of neutral tasting vegetables (such as
potatoes, turnips, rutabagas (yellow turnips), carrots or
cucumbers) and spicy vegetables (mainly green onion, plus
celery,chervil, dill, parsley or tarragon) are used in making
the soup. Spices such as black pepper, mustard or pickled
cucumber may also be added.
- Teur - A variation of okroshka, but using bread instead of vegetables.
- Soljanka - A thick spicy and sour soup. There are three main varieties:
meat, fish or mushroom. All variants also contain pickled cucumbers,
and usually cabbage, cream, dill and salty mushrooms.
- Borshch - The Russian variant of Borscht. A vegetable soup made with
beets, but meat, cabbage and potatoes may be added.
- Shchi - A traditional cabbage soup. There are many varieties, for example
the poor typically made the soup just from cabbage or onions, but richer
variants might add meat, carrots, parsley, spice herbs and sour ingredients
(the latter might include smetana (sour cream), apples or pickle water).
- Studen (Kholodets) - Jellied pork or veal, with spices and a small amount
of vegetables. The food is prepared by boiling the meat for an extended period
of time, and then chilling the dish. The dish may be eaten cold, in which
case it is served with grinded garlic with smetana (sour cream), horse radish
or mustard, or may be used as a garnish for other dishes.
- Shashlyk - The Russian form of shish kebab. Shashlyk features
alternating slices of meat and onions.
- Katlyeti - Small pan-fried meatloaves made from pork or beef.
- Pelmeni - A thin dough (made with flour add eggs) filled with minced meat
(beef, lamb, pork, or a mixture of all three, may be used). Spices such
as garlic, onions and pepper are mixed into the filling. Pelmeni are cooked
by boiling (although sometimes they are fried after boiling), and then
served with butter or sour cream.
- Pirozhki - A stuff bun or pie that is filled with a cooked filling.
Traditional fillings include fish sautéed with onions and mixed with
chopped hard-boiled eggs, chopped boiled meat with onions and eggs,
or mashed potatoes with eggs and sour cream.
- Blini - Thin pancakes made from wheat or buckwheat, and usually topped with either sour cream or caviar.
- Beef Stoganoff - Another dish which probably has Franco-Russian
roots, however the exact details of its exact origins have been lost - it
may perhaps have been named after the Stroganov family. The dish consists
of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream.
- Veal Prince Orloff - A Franco-Russian dish created by
Urbain Dubois, to Prince Orloff, the Russian ambassador
to France.
Veal Orloff is a braised loin of veal, cut thinly into slices, with
layers of pureed mushrooms and onions between each slice, then topped with
bechamel sauce (white sauce) and cheese, and browned in the oven.
- Charlotte Russe -
A cold dessert created by French chef Marie Antoine Carême
who was employed by Czar Alexander I. It is a mould, lined
with lady fingers (small sweet light sponge cakes) and filled
with Bavarian creme (a custard made with flour, thickened
with gelatin and flavored with liquer).
On this page, you'll find a great selection of Russian Cook Books.
By Anya von Bremzen
Workman Publishing Company
Paperback (688 pages)
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Is there more to Russian cookery than beets, cabbage, and sour cream? Please to the Table, a comprehensive guide that takes readers and cooks from the Baltics to Uzbekistan, should absolutely bury that question. Russia alone is bigger than the U.S. and Canada combined; its people claim more than 100 different nationalities and languages. Throw in the other 14 former Soviet republics, cook a feast, and you'll sample everything from Moldavian marinated peppers to cold yogurt and cucumber soup to Uzbek lamb stew to crawfish boiled in beer to open cheese tartlets, Russian tea, and, yes, beef stroganoff--nearly every major culinary style is represented here. Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman capture the soul of Mother Russia in 400 recipes joined together with a literate overview of each culinary piece in this magnificent jigsaw puzzle of a nation. The cook will be amply rewarded, and readers will travel far and wide through flavors and feasts only dimly imagined in the West. |
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By Darra Goldstein
University of California Press
Paperback (254 pages)
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According to Georgian legend, God took a supper break while creating the world. He became so involved with his meal that he inadvertently tripped over the high peaks of the Caucasus, spilling his food onto the land below. The land blessed by Heaven's table scraps was Georgia.
Nestled in the Caucasus mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas, the Republic of Georgia is as beautiful as it is bountiful. The unique geography of the land, which includes both alpine and subtropical zones, has created an enviable culinary tradition. In The Georgian Feast, Darra Goldstein explores the rich and robust culture of Georgia and offers a variety of tempting recipes.
The book opens with a fifty-page description of the culture and food of Georgia. Next are over one hundred recipes, often accompanied by notes on the history of the dish. Holiday menus, a glossary of Georgian culinary terms, and an annotated bibliography round out the volume. |
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By Victoria Jenanyan Wise
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover (320 pages)
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A veteran cookbook author returns to her delicious culinary heritage in this savory and passionate recipe collection
Victoria Jenanyan Wise grew up with the flavors, scents, and seasonings of Armenian cooking--a cuisine that combines Mediterranean flavors with Persian and Russian accents. In her eleventh cookbook-and her first on Armenian food--Wise collects traditional favorites and inspired contemporary variations. Recipes include:
-Lavosh, Armenian pizzas, and other savory breads
-Shish kebab, moussaka, and other lamb dishes
-Baked and roast chicken prepared with yogurt, dill, turmeric, pomegranate, and more
-Grilled mackerel with lemon and dill; red snapper stew with tomato and artichokes
-Stuffed vegetables (dolmas) and stuffed grape leaves
-Baklava and other fillo-pastry sweets; lemon yogurt cake; almond and rice flour pudding with toasted almond slices, and more.
This authentic and warm-hearted cookbook will be met by a ready audience of Armenian-Americans, as well as lovers of Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, and other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.
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By Elena Molokhovets
Indiana University Press
Paperback (704 pages)
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By Catherine Cheremeteff Jones
Jellyroll Press
Paperback (192 pages)
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Equal parts travel memoir and cookbook, A Year of Russian Feasts combines Catherine Jones's warm, insightful writing style with her sensitive approach to discovering her family's heritage and its cuisine. Jones takes the reader on an unforgettable journey to her private Russia featuring celebrations, seasons, and people. Her forty recipes highlight Russia's finest dishes. |
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By Alexandra Kropotkin
Hippocrene Books
Paperback (270 pages)
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By Darra Goldstein
Russian Information Services
Paperback (224 pages)
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The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine, layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes rich historical and cultural context. With over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-Honey Filled Pies, A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use. |
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By Anne Volokh
John Wiley & Sons
Paperback (640 pages)
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The Art of Russian Cuisine is almost as immense as the vast expanses of Mother Russia. Filled with 500 recipes for classic Russian dishes, it also provides a history of Russian food and culinary life. Anne Volokh, a Russian food writer who eventually emigrated to the U.S., enlivens her work by including passages from Russian literature and historical works. She concentrates on authentic cooking, often drawing recipes from A Gift to Young Housewives written by Ellena Molokhovets in the 1870s. The result brings to life how Russians ate when their rivers ran thick with fish and aristocrats had French chefs invent elaborate dishes like Veal Orloff, made with two creamy sauces. Naturally, Volokh starts with zakuski, the antipasto-like ceremony that can constitute a meal in itself; including herring, caviar, salads, even suckling pig in aspic. For soups, there are peasant-hearty borschts--which are actually Ukrainian, not Russian--and spicy Selianka, an example of upper-class cooking. In Russia, each soup has a proper garnish or accompaniment; Volokh provides them all, from sliced eggs in cold borscht to yeasty garlic rolls with the hot kind. Dishes such as Beef Stroganoff, Stuffed Cabbage, proper Bliny and Pashka (the sweetened cheese dessert), require culinary expertise, great patience, or both to make. But dishes such as Roasted Chicken with Raisin-Studded Stuffing and Baked Trout with Walnut-Based Satsivi Sauce are simple but rich. If Russian food interests you, The Art of Russian Cuisine is worth having for its traditional recipes and the enlightening exploration of their origins. --Dana Jacobi |
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By Bohdan Zahny
Hippocrene Books
Paperback (295 pages)
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By Faith Stewart-Gordon
Perigee Trade
Paperback (239 pages)
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