5 traditional Russian dishes that were cooked in a completely different way than today

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The twentieth century has greatly changed Russian cuisine. The dishes changed, the stove changed the stove, the constantly available set of ingredients changed. And in the name of friendship between peoples, people were taught to try the dishes of other peoples - and many of them were borrowed in an adapted form. Perhaps a modern Russian would be very surprised to see what his ancestors ate.

Cabbage soup

The king of the Soviet canteen was borscht, and many got used to it so much that by the twenty-first century red soup replaced the most popular dish before among the people - cabbage soup. And even then to say, Stolovskiy cabbage soup in your mind and cabbage soup could not be called - although many now cook them according to the table's recipe.

This dish had several reasons for its popularity in ancient times. Firstly, it almost did not require fresh food, which was very important in the conditions of a short warm period and the absence of refrigerators. Secondly, due to the fermented products in the composition, it helped the stomach to cope with another main product - heavy and dense peasant bread. There were third and fourth, it can take a long time to list.

There were many recipes for cabbage soup. Depending on the time of the year, on the day of fast or slow, on the wealth of the family, the hostess put some cabbage soup or others on the table. There were several principles in common. The cabbage soup should have an acidic base, a starchy base, edible leaves, and spices.

The most popular sour bases were sauerkraut or sorrel, sometimes other fermented vegetables and edible plants. If the soup was cooked on fresh cabbage, it was acidified in one way or another. Lemons did not grow in Russian farmsteads, so they usually threw pieces of sour apples. They could whiten cabbage soup with sour milk or sour cream. Cabbage cabbage soup, by the way, like borscht with cabbage, could not have appeared before the ninth-tenth century - before that, cabbage from the Mediterranean shores did not penetrate the Slavs.

Until the nineteenth century, flour or cereals were used as a starch base, for example, barley (we know it as barley). Only in the second half of the nineteenth century potatoes firmly entered the cabbage soup, although they were brought in under Peter I. Among those who were entrusted by the government to cultivate potatoes and distribute them among the peasantry was Abraham Hannibal, a Sudanese prince, pupil of Peter and ancestor of Pushkin.

The best cabbage soup was considered on beef, but not on the steam room. Fresh meat was a festive dish, it went to the table immediately - whether fried or boiled. The meat went into the cabbage soup when it had already started to "get under way". Sometimes only the marrow bones reached the cabbage soup. Of course, they cooked cabbage soup on pork, fish, chicken, and completely lean. In green cabbage soup, made of nettle or sorrel, instead of meat, they usually put an egg. And, of course, any available spices were included in the cabbage soup - after all, they were cooked for several days, and the spices helped them to survive. True, during these few days the cabbage soup continued to ferment anyway. This was considered normal and many even liked it.

Kurnik

If you do not take into account the Cossacks, who had their own opinion on this pie, then kurnik in Russia was served only for weddings and some religious holidays. In the northern lands, for example, near Arkhangelsk, kurnik was often made with fish, not chicken. And its name is connected not with the filling, but with the fact that there is a hole on the top of the pie, over which steam is smoked.

As a rule, potatoes or rice are placed in a modern chicken-house. Buckwheat porridge was put into the traditional chicken coop. As many different fillings were added to chicken and buckwheat as they could think of - after all, they were supposed to symbolize the wealth of the future family. Moreover, kurniks were broken over the heads of the bride and groom, and the more different fillings spilled on them, the more prosperity was predicted for them. Pieces of sauerkraut, eggs, fried onions, mushrooms could fall on young people … All these fillings inside the pie were sandwiched with thin sheets of dough.

Pancakes and cheesecakes

Pancakes were quite a popular dish because they did not require expensive ingredients. But nevertheless, they were not baked every day (for example, to treat unexpected guests), because during the preparation of pancakes, unlike cabbage soup or porridge, the hostess did not have to leave the oven. But those pancakes that were eaten before the twentieth century would not necessarily have pleased a modern Russian.

First, sour rye pancakes were more popular than wheat ones. “White” pancakes were prepared mainly for funerals and Shrovetide. Either because of the connection with the commemoration, or because wheat is more expensive than rye, but they simply did not eat wheat pancakes in most Russian villages. In addition, pancakes were often fried not in oil - oil in general as a product was not used every day - but in melted fat.

Pancakes could be empty, or they could have a filling that was wrapped in them after cooking. The most common filling was the leftover porridge, which could be mixed for volume with onions, cabbage, and leftovers from other food. Sour cream for pancakes was not served on weekdays, unless it was necessary to urgently save it.

As an everyday dish, pancakes, and even wheat ones, spread in the nineteenth century in city taverns. More often the peasants ate them and the landowners. Although pancakes were convenient for disposing of holiday food leftovers, peasant women preferred to bake pies for the same purpose, for example, a vekoshnik or cheesecake.

Yes, before in Russia, cheesecakes were baked not only with cottage cheese or jam - literally anything could get there: cabbage, apples, turnips, potatoes, even nettles. Curd cheesecakes were prepared for some holidays, for example, for Ivan Kupala or Yegor Veshny. Most likely, initially curd cheesecakes were a ritual pagan dish. Cheesecakes with jam spread precisely in the twentieth century.

Kissel

Now this is mainly called a thick starchy drink with a taste of berries and fruits. Back in Soviet times, ready-made briquettes made of starch and a flavor base were sold for him, which could only be diluted with water and cooked. But for Russian peasants, jelly was not a drink, but a dish that was eaten with a spoon.

The word "jelly" in direct relationship with the word "sour" is originally a dish based on fermented flour. Oat jelly was the most popular in the nineteenth century - oats not only provide a lot of starch, but are also sweet in themselves. In addition to oats, crops such as rye, wheat and hemp were used for jelly. Unleavened jelly, in addition to oats, was made from peas.

Kissel on a fermented basis was sweetened with honey water or fresh milk, including not skimmed (with cream) milk. Pea jelly was usually combined with meat broth or fried onions. Kissel was eaten both hot and cold - cold it looked like jelly, and it was cut with a knife.

Kissel was such a popular dish that when fast food became popular in bazaars, it was offered along with kalachi and other “fast” food. They scooped it out of large barrels. Although jelly was a popular everyday dish, it was necessarily cooked for funerals and on “parental” Saturdays. Each locality had its own additional secrets of cooking and serving jelly.

The country is not only rich in cabbage soup. What is cooked in different regions of Russia: Posekunchiki, sea borscht and other traditional dishes worth trying.