Los Angeles Russian Restaurants

In traditional Russian cuisine three basic variations of meat dishes can be highlighted:

* A large boiled piece of meat cooked in a soup or porridge, and then used as second course or served cold (particularly in jellied stock—see Studen’ below)

* Offal dishes (liver, tripe, etc.), baked in pots together with cereals;

* Whole fowl dishes or parts of fowl (legs or breasts), or a large piece of meat (rump) baked on a baking tray in an oven, so-called “zharkoye” (from the word “zhar”(жар) meaning “heat”)

The 16th century “Domostroi” aimed at affluent households also mentions sausage-making, spit-roasted meats, stews and many other meat dishes.

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, sour and “soaked” (marinated) apples (mochoniye yabloki), soaked cranberries, “vzvar”s. Pan juices, alone or mixed with sour cream or melted butter is used as gravy to pour on garnishing vegetables and porridges. Meat sauces i.e. gravies based on flour, butter, eggs and milk, are not common for traditional Russian cuisine.

Rassolnik is a hot soup in a salty-sour cucumber base. This dish formed in Russian cuisine quite late – only in the 19th century. About this time the name rassolnik was attached to it, originating from the Russian word “rassol” which means brine (pickle water). Pickle water was known to be used as base for soups from the 15th century at the latest. Its concentration and ratio with other liquids and soup components gave birth to different soups: solyanka, pohmelka, and of course rassolnik. The latest are moderately sour-salty soups on pickled cucumber base. Some are vegetarian, but more often with products like veal or beef kidneys or all poultry giblets (stomach, liver, heart, neck, feet). For best taste there has to be a balance between the sour part and neutral absorbers (cereals, potatoes, root vegetables). Typical rassolnik is based on kidneys, brine (and pickles), vegetables and barley.

Kal’ya was a very common dish first served in the 16th-17th centuries. Subsequently it almost completely disappeared from Russian cuisine. Often it was incorrectly called “fish rassolnik.” The cooking technique is mostly the same as of ukha, but to the broth were added pickled cucumbers, pickle water, lemons and lemon juice, either separately or all together. The main characteristic of kal’ya is that only fat, rich fish was used; sometimes caviar was added along with the fish. More spices are added, and the soup turns out more piquant and thicker than ukha. Formerly kal’ya was considered a festivity dish.

A blintz, blintze, or blin (plural: blintzes or blini; cf. Lithuanian: Blynai, blynai; Russian: блин blin, блины (pl.); Polish: bliny; Ukrainian: млинці, mlyntsi; Yiddish: בלינצע blintze) is a thin pancake. It is somewhat similar to a crêpe with the main difference being the fact that yeast is always used in blini, but not in crêpes.

Traditional Russian bliny are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling water or milk. When diluted with boiling water, they are refered to as zavarniye bliny. The bliny are then baked in a traditional Russian oven. In fact, the process of cooking bliny is still referred to as baking in Russian, even though these days they are almost universally pan-fried, like pancakes. French Crêpes made from unyeasted batter (usually made of flour, milk, and eggs) are also not uncommon in Russia, where they are called blinchiki and considered to be a borrowed dish. All kinds of flour may be used for making bliny: from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet, although wheat is currently the most popular by far.

Botvin`ya is one of the most typical cold Russian soups. It almost is extinct because it is difficult to make. Some modern cookbooks list recipes showing how to prepare it “easily” by substituting some of the ingredients, but cutting corners tends to diminish much of the authentic taste.

A full botvin’ya consists of three parts:

1. The soup.
2. Boiled “red” (most prized) fish (salmon, sturgeon, or stellate sturgeon), that is served separately from soup.
3. Crushed ice, served on a separate platter or cup.

The name of the soup comes from the Russian word botva, which means “leafy tops of root vegetables,” and the ingredients are in line with the name: leafy tops of young beet, beetroots, oxalate sorrel, green onions, dill, cucumbers, and two types of kvass, then some mustard, lemon juice, and horseradish as spices.

It is eaten as the first course or right after a hot soup, before the second course as an appetizer. It is eaten using two spoons and a fork: the fork is used to eat the fish, the first spoon to sip the soup and the second spoon to put ice into the soup, so it stays cold for a long time. Botvin’ya is eaten with fresh rye bread.

Okroshka (Russian: окрошка) is Russian cold soup. The name originates from the Russian “kroshit” (крошить) which means to chop or break into small pieces.

The classic soup is a mix of mostly raw vegetables (like cucumbers, spring onion, radish), boiled potatoes, eggs, ham with kvass or so called bread drink, which is a fermented mildly alcoholic beverage made from black or rye bread. An alternate version uses light or diluted kefir instead of kvass.

The ingredients are chopped into small squares and are mixed with kvass just before eating. The ratio of chopped food to kvass is similar to that of cereal to milk. This allows the vegetables to preserve crunchiness. For that same reason, even though the ingredients are similar to those in the Russian salad, the taste of okroshka is nothing like that of the salad.

Okroshka is sometimes considered a perfect soup for summer time since it combines the refreshing taste of kvas and lightness of a salad. Most people prefer to top it off with a spoon of sour cream and Russian (bitter) mustard. Salt and sugar can be added.

    * For meat solyanka, ingredients like beef, ham, sausages, chicken breasts, and cabbage, together with salty mushrooms, cucumber pickles, tomatoes, onions, olives, capers, allspice, parsley, and dill are all cut fine and mingled with cream in a pot. The broth is added, and all shortly heated in the stove, without boiling.

    * Fish solyanka is prepared similarly, but soup vegetables are cooked with the broth. The meat is replaced with fish, like sturgeon and salmon, and freshwater crayfish. Finally, some lemon juice is added to the soup.

    * For mushroom solyanka, cut cabbage is heated in butter together with vinegar, tomatoes, and cucumber pickles, with little brine. Separately, mushrooms and onions are heated, and grated lemon skin is added. Cabbage and mushrooms are put in layers, breadcrumbs and butter added, and all shortly baked.

Smetana is a Russian loanword in English for a dairy product that is produced by souring heavy cream. Other terms for this food are: Smotana, Shmetana, Schmetten, Schmand, Smântâna, and Skabs krejums, Kisla Smetana, kysaná Smetana, Mietana, Ggrietin, Hapukoor, Tejföl, Pavlaka and Vrhnje. Smetana is from Central and Eastern Europe, a soured cream product like crème fraîche (28%), but much heavier and thicker with usually 36% to 42 % milkfat or even higher, sourer in taste than crème fraîche. It will not curdle when cooked or added to hot dishes. Its cooking properties are different from crème fraîche and the lighter sour creams sold in the U.S., which contain 12 to 16 percent butterfat.

The Smetana is called Smetana in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian (written сметана in the Cyrillic alphabet) and in Finnish, Schmetten or Schmand in German, Kisla smetana in Slovenian, śmietana in Polish, Shmetana in Yiddish kvasena smetana in Bulgarian, Smotana in Slovak and zakysaná smetana in Czech.

In Hungarian it is called Tejföl or Tejfel and in Romanian Smântână, in Estonian Hapukoor in Lithuanian Grietinė, in Latvian Skābs krējums, in Serbian and Macedonian Pavlaka or Mileram, in Bosnian Pavlaka in Albanian Shtalpë and in Croatian kiselo vrhnje. The word Smetana in some languages is a modern loan word from Russian.

In traditional Russian cuisine three basic variations of meat dishes can be highlighted: – a large boiled piece of meat cooked in a soup or porridge, and then used as second course or served cold (particularly in jellied stock – see Studen’ below)

- Offal dishes (liver, tripe, etc.), baked in pots together with cereals;

- Whole fowl dishes or parts of fowl (legs or breasts), or a large piece of meat (rump) baked on a baking tray in an oven, so-called “zharkoye” (from the word “zhar”(жар) meaning “heat”)

The 16th century “Domostroi” aimed at affluent households also mentions sausage-making, red meat roasts, stews and many other meat dishes