fd-Russia-msg – 1/19/08
Russian food. Russian cookbooks.
NOTE: See also the files: Russia-msg, kvass-msg, Russia-bib, Rus-Handbook-art, Rus-women-art, fd-Poland-msg, Kiev-Slavery-art, Russian-Snaks-art.
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
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Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: mcs at unlinfo.unl.edu (M Straatmann)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: kvas reference
Date: 29 Nov 1993 22:46:24 GMT
Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln
In my last post discussing kvas with Balderik, I promised the
reference and then promptly forgot to include it. Here it is:
Bread and Salt
A social and economic history of food and drink in Russia.
R.E.F. Smith and David Christian
Cambridge University Press 1984
ISBN - 0 521 25812X
Good book,
misha
From: ddfr at aol.com (DDFr)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Cook needs translated Russian Sources!
Date: 10 Dec 1995 01:46:34 -0500
Lady Aoife Finn asks for translated period sources for Russian cooking. So
far as I know, there is only one: _Domostroi_. The English translation was
published a year or so ago by Cornell University Press. It is a household
management book, probably composed in the mid-16th century, with some
later additions, and includes a few recipes and a lot of talk about food.
If you use it, you may want to correspond with me about points where the
translation seems to be wrong; in particular, it sounds as though what is
translated as "sour cabbage soup" is something more like Alegar.
David/Cariadoc
So far as period sources for Steppe, Mongol, etc. cooking the nearest I
know of is the _Ain I Akbari_, which contains ingredient lists for thirty
16th century recipes from the Mughal court of Akbar (northern India).
Good luck. If you find other period sources, please let the rest of us
know about it.
From: innana at imap2.asu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Russian Stuff!!
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 10:40:32 -0700
Organization: Arizona State University
On 19 Oct 1996, 'Jherek' W. Swanger wrote:
> This may be a bit after the period he's interested in but...
>
> The Domostroi : rules for Russian households in the time of
> Ivan the Terrible / edited and translated by Carolyn Johnston
> Pouncy. -- Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 1994.
Excellent source, good stuff on culture and there is a section on
food in the back. This leads me to a question on food. There is a
reference to "stuffed stomach". The footnote says that it is probobly
a cleaned pig's stomach stuffed with sausage (yep, Russian haggis). So
does anyone know of a recipe for this dish?
-Kaite
From: lobel at is.nyu.edu (Sheldon Lobel)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Russian Stuff!!
Date: 23 Oct 1996 22:35:16 GMT
Organization: New York University
innana at imap2.asu.edu wrote:
: Excellent source, good stuff on culture and there is a section on
: food in the back. This leads me to a question on food. There is a
: reference to "stuffed stomach". The footnote says that it is probobly
: a cleaned pig's stomach stuffed with sausage (yep, Russian haggis). So
: does anyone know of a recipe for this dish?
I don't know if this will have any historical relevance or identity but -
Russian Jews make a (how do I describe it?) stuffed chicken skin.
The same stuffing is also used to stuff intestine (the russian for
intestine being Kishka - in american kosher stores howevver, these have
become vegetarian).
Anyhow, I could ask my mom for the stuffing recipe if folks are
interested.
Nahum
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 18:04:39 -0500
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #197
>Mark Harris wrote:
>>> Is this Russian Cherry Soup period? Sounds like it probably isn't. Could
>> you please post this recipe anyway? Or send to me by email? It sounds
>> interesting.
>I suspect that it probably is period, or derived from some earlier
>version that is. An earlier version of the "Syrosye" recipe calls for
>the inclusion of "vlehs gret", or great flesh, which is probably chunks
>or slices of a large joint cooked (or partly cooked) whole and
>separately, either by boiling or roasting. The thickening of bread
>crumbs suggests it is quite early, too. Actually the Russian Cherry Soup
>sounds like borscht made with cherries. (Doesn't borscht just mean soup
>anyway? But you know what I mean.)
I'm sorry, I can't post the recipe. I got my copy of "Elena Molokhovet's Gift to Young Housewives" through Inter-Library Loan and, annoyingly, they wanted it back in 2 weeks! Anyone have a copy they'd be willing to thumb through or live near a large library? I didn't save my recipe, since Icouldn't get the stuff to look appetizing (thick pink soup with sour cream by candle light looks like---pardon me, please---vomit). I served something
else at the Russian feast instead---home made stuffed dumplings in vegetable broth.
The recipe itself isn't period. The book (currently, to my knowledge, the EARLIEST KNOWN Russian cookbook) was first published 30 years before the fall of the Czars. It is surmised that there are no other surviving historical Russian cookbooks because the Communists destroyed themanuscripts, whose contents centered largely on cooking for religous observance. An alternate theory is that the Russian people were fairly illiterate, so didn't write down much. Many of the nobility imported French Chefs. It is fairly easy to thumb through "Gift" and observe which recipes show outside influences, however. Tomatoes do not make an appearance, and Corn on the cob appears only in a recipe that instructs one to "slice" the corn, cob and all! So, the general consensus is that over time Russian cooking underwent few changes, or underwent these changes far later than the rest of the world, at the time of Mrs. Molokhovet's writing. BTW I was under the impression that Borshcht was simply Vegetable soup ofsome sort, and didn't have to include beets. I vaguely recall a recipe for aSummer Borshcht that involved pot herbs and summer veggies (and dill).BUT, for my Russian Cherry Soup I used canned tart cherries (Oregon brand,which had the pits, but lacked a little in color). My kids ate it, though,so it just goes to show you how good it is. They've gotten a little wary of"Mom's Wierd Food". I have noted that it is now possible to get dried,pitless cherries at my grocery store in small quantities, at a large price.Does anyone have any experience with these?
Aoife
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 1997 01:28:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #197
At 6:04 PM -0500 7/12/97, L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt wrote:
>The recipe itself isn't period. The book (currently, to my knowledge, the
>EARLIEST KNOWN Russian cookbook) was first published 30 years before the
>fall of the Czars. It is surmised that there are no other surviving
>historical Russian cookbooks because the Communists destroyed the
>manuscripts, whose contents centered largely on cooking for religous
>observance. An alternate theory is that the Russian people were fairly
>illiterate, so didn't write down much.
It depends what counts as a cookbook. _Domostroi_ is believed to be mostly
16th century, and it has a few recipes, along with a lot of stuff about
food. Cornell University Press published a translation a few years ago.
David/Cariadoc
Subject: period Russian cookbooks
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 98 20:01:31 MST
From: Stephen or Stephanie Dale <sdale at mail.tqci.net>
To: "Mark.S Harris" <rsve60 at msgphx1>
In Chamberlain's bibliography, all the works that she cites are
postperiod. However one, _The_Traditional_Russian_housewife_ by N.P.
Osipov, is from 1794 and printed in Moscow, and she has 5 that are from
the 1800's. The biggest problem with Russian cooking is that it was
reworked by Parisian cooks during the reign of Peotyr the Great.
Chamberlain states frankly that early Russian cuisine was nothing but
"peasant food" and mostly vegetarian for all but the wealthy (Mother
Russia has been consistently impoverished since the Mongol invasion).
The French effectively bastardized native cooking and that's why it is
hard to find period cookbooks.
In service,
Stephanie Dale
Subject: kvas (from Stephanie Dale)
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 98 16:52:27 MST
From: Stephen Dale <sdale at mail.tqci.net>
To: "Mark.S Harris" <rsve60 at msgphx1>
I just found this nifty little book that has period recipes from Russia.
By Leslie Chamberlain, it's called _The_Food_and_Cooking_of_Russia. Not
all the recipes are period, however. I posted info about period noodles
from it on Rialto today. Chamberlaine says that kvas was the national
drink from the 1500's. She gives a recipe that she claims is similar to
hard cider, and she makes it herself.
1 tbsp dried yeast
5 0z malt extract
12 oz rye flour
3 1/2 oz buckwheat flour
3 1/2 oz wheat flour
4 1/4 pts water
1/2 tbsp dried mint
Add yeast and one tbsp of flour to 1/4 c. warm water. Mix the flours
together. Dilute the malt in some hot water, then add to the flour with
two pints of the water above. Stir well, getting out all the lumps.
Allow to stand 5 hours. Then blend in the rest of the water, the yeast
and the mint. Allow to ferment for twelve to twenty-four hours then
strain and bottle. She suggests that the corks be put on loosely, and
that the brew be served chilled.
I'll try this soon and let you know!
Aislinn Columba of Carlisle
aka Nadya Petrovna Stoianova
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 20:47:36 EST
From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton)
Subject: SC - my russian inn- a success
well, winter challenge has come and gone and my inn was quite well
received (the feast is another story, and so another post). I ended up
serving a borscht that was a clear soup, what a lovely red!, and three
types of turnovers- pork and vegetable (the most popular), cheese (which
was a little on the salty side, being a combo of feta and farmer's
cheese) and walnuts. For drinks, I served margaret's grape juice and
vinegar concoction previously posted on this list, and coffee (I know, I
know, <sigh>). My main problem is that I didn't make enough turnovers; if
I had known in advance how popular they were going to be I would have
made a lot more than 25 of each. The borsch was raved over by those brave
enough to try it, but it was a nice sunny day here in Oakheart (that's
Springfield, MO, for whoever wanted to know where we were all at) and not
a lot of people were interested in soup (now if we had a blizzard....)
the recipes all came from Festive Ukrainian Feasts, and are traditional
rather than period; although I did double check in the Domostroi to see
if they were at least period-oid.
Meatless Beet Soup
(Pisnyi borsch)
2 lbs beets
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 turnip
2 celery ribs
2 medium onions
1 bay leaf
3-4 peppercorns
3 dried boletus or 1/2 lbs chopped mushrooms
1 quart of beet Kvas or 1 teaspoon sour salt (crystallized citric acid)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 tsp fresh chopped dill
Soak boletus overnight. Cook in a little water until tender. [I used the
button mushrooms so I skipped this step] Scrub beets and cut into
quarters. Cover with water and cook over low heat until tender, about 1
to 2 hours. Cool and pour off liquid [save this, you'll need it later].
slip off peels. [the fun part!] This may be done a day in advance.
Peel and cut up the other vegetables. Add bay leaf, peppercorns and
mushrooms to vegetables, with enough water to cover and cook in a large
non-aluminum pot over low heat until tender. Strain beet liquid into
vegetables. Shred beets and add. Simmer for about 10 minutes and strain
into a large pot. To keep broth clear, do not press the vegetables.[I
did, it wasn't, oh well]Add souring agent, mushroom liquid [if you did
the first step] pepper, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil then turn heat
low. Taste; the flavor should be tart, mellow, and full. For more
tartness[you should need this, to me, it was plenty tart - but then
growing up in the midwest may have something to do with that], add fresh
lemon juice or sour salt. Keeps well in refrigerator. Reheat gently; do
not overcook or the color will turn brown. Garnish with chopped dill.
Since this is getting long, I'll give the turnover recipes in another
post.
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 1998 20:18:08 EST
From: melc2newton at juno.com (Michael P Newton)
Subject: SC - my russian inn- a success
Ok, now for the turnovers -
Pyrizhky
(baked Turnovers)
2 1/2 c. flour
1/4 lb. of butter
1/2 c. sour cream
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg white beaten with a little water for glaze
Combine flour and cold butter in a processor, or cut in butter with a
pastry cutter into coarse crumbs. Add egg yolks, salt, and cream, and
knead lightly until dough forms a ball. Cut in half, wrap in plastic
wrap, and refrigerate for a least 2 hours or overnight.
Roll out half of the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch
thickness. Cut rounds with a 3 in. cutter or wine glass. Place a spoonful
of filling to one side of each round, then fold over other half. Seal
edges with a little glaze, sprinkle with sugar, and bake in preheated
375F oven about 20 minutes. Cool on racks.
This makes a very sticky and elastic dough.
Orikhova masa
(walnut filling)
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup grated walnuts
(or almonds)
1 tablespoon whipping cream or evaporated milk
4 egg whites
1/2 cup flour
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg whites and beat well.Combine
grated walnuts, cream, and flour, and mix well. If almonds are
substituted, add a drop of almond extract.
Pyrohy z syrom
(Turnovers with cheese)
4 oz. dry farmer cheese
4 oz. crumbled bryndzia or dry feta cheese
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. fine dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp. fresh chopped dill or chives (or both)
Force cheeses through a sieve or mix well in processor. Mix in butter,
egg, and bread crumbs. Add chives/dill. Taste and adjust seasoning,
depending of the saltiness of the bryndzia.
Vegetable and meat filling
1 med. turnip
2 carrots
2 large potatoes {I just used 3 turnips instead}
2 c. water
2 onions
2 Tbsp. bacon fat or oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 lbs. lean pork or beef, minced or coarsely ground
2 teaspoons spiced whiskey (optional)
Peel and dice vegetables. Combine with water, bring to a boil and cook 5
minutes. Drain and reserve liquid. Saute chopped onions in fat until
golden, combine with vegetables, add salt and pepper. Dissolve bouillon
cubes in 1/2 c cooking broth, add whiskey, and add mixture to vegetables.
Stir lightly with wooden spoon, but do not mash. Add meat to vegetables,
cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for flavor to develop.
the pork and vegetable turnovers were the most popular of the three, with
the cheese and walnuts coming in a very close second.
However, today, a friend told me that a few of the fighters were miffed,
because I opened the inn at 11:30 and was sold out by 12:30, and since
the fighting didn't stop until 2, they didn't get lunch. has anyone else
had this problem?
Beatrix
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 16:11:47 -0500
From: "Jennifer D. Miller (Yana)" <jdmiller2 at students.wisc.edu>
Subject: SC - cookbook info?
>I recently received a catalog from Jessica's Biscuit (all cookbooks)
>which has one called "Classic Russian Cooking" by Joyce Toomre. It is
>written up as a translation of the cookery recipes from "A Gift to Young
>Housewives" by Elena Molokhovet (date??). Has anyone seen this one,
>and can you tell me if it is what it claims to be?
>
>Ceridwen
>Barony of An Crosaire, Kingdom of Trimaris
Unfortunately, the recipes are not documentably period. It was written in
the late 1800's or early 1900's (sorry) and is a wonderful source of
"modern" Russian cooking, but not SCA period.
- --Ilyana Barsova (Yana)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/6376/ --Home Page
http://vms.www.uwplatt.edu/~goldschp/slavic.html --Slavic Interest Group
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 12:28:45 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - re: Domostroi
kat asked for Russian recipes; Mordonna referred her to the Miscellany for
one from the Domostroi and kat had trouble finding the recipe in question.
Here it is:
Russian Cabbage and Greens
Domostroi pp. 162-3
Chop cabbage, greens, or a mixture of both very fine, then wash them well.
Boil or steam them for a long time. On meat days, put in red meat, ham, or
a little pork fat; add cream or egg whites and warm the mixture. During a
fast, saturate the greens with a little broth, or add some fat and steam it
well. Add some groats, salt, and sour cabbage soup; then heat it. Cook
kasha the same way: steam it well with lard, oil, or herring in a broth.
Note: the ingredient translated as "sour cabbage soup" turns up elsewhere
in the Domostroi in lists of things to brew: "For brewing beer, ale, or
sour cabbage soup, take malt or meal and hops. Beer from the first grade
makes good sour cabbage soup. You can make vinegar, too, from a good mash."
This suggests that it may really be something like alegar (beer vinegar).
We therefore substitute malt vinegar.
Version 1
2 3/4 lb green cabbage (1 head)
3/4 lb turnip greens
3 c water
meat: 1 1/2 lb beef or lamb
6 egg whites
1 c dry buckwheat groats (kasha)
2 t salt
"sour cabbage soup": 4 t malt vinegar
Version 2
2 lb green cabbage (1 head)
5/8 lb mustard greens
2 1/2 c water
1 1/4 lb pork butt roast
1/2 c cream
4/3 c dry buckwheat groats (kasha)
1 1/2 t salt
"sour cabbage soup": 1 T malt vinegar
Chop cabbage and greens very fine. Bring water to a boil, add cabbage and
greens and simmer 30-40 minutes covered. Cut meat into bite-sized chunks.
Add meat and simmer another 25 minutes (this time probably depends on the
cut of meat). Add groats, salt and vinegar, and cook another 15 minutes