Our national cuisine is famous for a wide variety of dishes, the list of which is constantly updated with new culinary inventions. Once the inhabitants of Europe were practically not interested in the traditions of Russian cuisine, due to the low sophistication of its dishes. However, this pathos attitude did not play a significant role, and even vice versa - served as a motivating mechanism for the emergence of new recipes. And now dishes of Russian cuisine are in great demand among European gourmets who highly appreciate their variety and delicate taste.
What is Russian Salad?
The presented name of the national culinary masterpiece is found in European circles. For us, this salad is known as vinaigrette - a dish that is called Russian throughout the world.
Its main feature is the presence of purely national ingredients, such as pickles, sauerkraut and more. The name "Vinaigrette" has French roots, namely, comes from the word vinaigre, which translates as "vinegar".
The origin of the name of the dish
During the reign of Alexander I, a French chef named Antoine Karem served at court. So, on the eve of the next celebration in the kitchen, the Russian cooks worked together with Antoine. The French culinary specialist saw that they were preparing an interesting salad, consisting mainly of vegetables, and watered with vinegar essence. He was quite surprised at this and asked again: “Vinaigre?” The cooks decided that he named the dish they cooked. From that moment, the dish, which is called Russian all over the world, began to be called in the French manner, namely “Vinaigrette”.
What did our culinary specialists treat before?
Old Russian dishes as an element of national cuisine, developing from the IX-X centuries. and which reached its peak in the XV-XVI centuries., Are characterized by common features that have survived to our times.
At the beginning of this period, Russian bread appeared, which was made from sour rye dough. He appears as a kind of uncrowned king on our table, without which the national menu is unthinkable. Also, other equally important varieties of flour products were invented, in particular saiki, juicy, pancakes, pies, bagels, cakes, pancakes and so on.
All of them were prepared mainly on the basis of acid test, which was so characteristic of Russian traditional cuisine throughout its historical culinary evolution. Addiction to fermented, sour formed the basis of jelly - oat, rye and wheat. They appeared long before their modern counterparts, usually berry ones.
Also, ancient Russian dishes are represented by a variety of cereals and gruel, originally considered solemn and ceremonial food. And to dilute all this bread and flour abundance, fish, mushroom, vegetable, dairy, and sometimes meat dishes were often prepared. At the same time, classic Russian drinks appear, namely all kinds of honey, kvass, sbitn. Needless to say, their range was very wide?
Note that Russian dishes have long been divided into lean (fish, mushroom and vegetable) and the so-called fatty - dairy, meat and egg. This had a significant impact on the further development of our culinary tradition, up to the end of the XIX century.
An interesting name for Russian dishes, or Why did cabbage rolls be called cabbage rolls?
The history of such a dish beloved by many, like cabbage rolls, is connected with the Ottoman Empire, which left them, so to speak, a legacy to the Russian people. The dish, which is called Russian all over the world, is essentially Moldavian. The word sarmale, or in our opinion - "cabbage rolls" comes from the Turkish verb sarma and means "wrap" in translation. This dish has been popular for several hundred years now.
In Russian cuisine there is a huge number of variations of cabbage rolls, differing mainly in filling. It can be rice, and pork with mushrooms, and fried mushrooms with peanuts, and even a sweet bean paste. Also, they can vary in size, from miniature to indecently large. A few such cabbage rolls can feed the whole city. For example, they act as a traditional dish at the Dragon Boat Festival.
In what other countries do cabbage rolls eat?
This dish, which is called Russian throughout the world, is present with a slight difference in almost all cuisines of the world. So, for example, in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Persia and Bosnia it is called Dolme. In Turkey, it is, as already noted, Sarma. Moldavian and Romanian cuisines have an analogue of cabbage rolls, known as Sarmale. In Armenia they are called Tolma.
In addition, this Russian dish is popular in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, etc. Even such a distant country as Sweden has a dish based on all the same cabbage rolls. There, a mixture of pork minced meat with rice is wrapped in cabbage leaves, and a treat is served with a side dish, which is boiled potato. Along with this, brown sauce and lingonberry jam must be present on the table . The dish is called Kaldolmar.
Thus, we can say that the name of Russian dishes can be found in different countries, albeit somewhat modified. Although it is customary to believe that it is we who borrow the names of others.
What begins the traditional serving of national food?
The first dishes of Russian cuisine are represented by a wide variety of soups. They can be divided into seven significant groups, namely:
1. Cold soups, which are prepared on the basis of kvass: okroshka, turi and botvini.
2. Light soup or stew, the main component of which is water and various vegetables.
3. Meat, milk or mushroom noodle soup.
4. Russian cabbage soup.
5. Solyanki and pickles, which are quite heavy, due to fatty meat broth and salt-acid base.
6. Calla and ear are two main varieties of fish first courses.
7. Cereal vegetable-based soup.
Cabbage soup as a national dish
Russian first courses, as you can see, are quite diverse. However, there is one thing that almost no table could do without, both peasant and royal. This cabbage soup is the most important everyday dish that appeared in Russia in the 9th century. Their main ingredient is cabbage.
Many believe that this culture was imported from Byzantium. However, this opinion is not entirely true, since in ancient times cabbage was cultivated in the Black Sea colonies of Ancient Greece, from where it came to the Russians. Then in Russia they cooked various soup and soup. They were prepared from fresh, and most often from sauerkraut. This dish quickly gained popularity and was called "cabbage soup" or "Shti".
Then the dishes of Russian cuisine were replenished with another delicious dish derived from cabbage. We are talking about borscht, which immediately began to enjoy great love and popularity among the Eastern Slavs. At first, its name meant “beetroot cabbage soup”, more precisely, beetroot cabbage soup.
Cabbage soup and porridge - our strength!
Dishes of Russian cuisine, including cabbage soup, are common in many countries of the world. This is Ukraine, and Belarus, and Poland, and Lithuania, and Latvia, and Estonia, and Finland, and Moldova. But they enjoy special love, for obvious reasons, among the Russians, and not only among the inhabitants of the Central strip of the Russian Federation, but also among representatives of Mordovian, Udmurt, Chuvash, Komi-Perm peoples.
These Russian dishes, photos of which are presented in the article, were prepared both in merchants' houses, noble estates, royal palaces, and in poor huts. Only the contents of the shan pot ’were different. Wealthy people cooked, so to speak, rich cabbage soup - on meat or chicken broth, and the poor put in them everything that was in the bins at that time.
Pomors preferred fish soup, in which small fish ground into powder was added. During fasting, they prepared lean or mushroom soups. For the emperor’s table, an exclusive recipe called “Royal cabbage soup” was invented, which added a lot of overseas delicacies. In spring, they cooked “green” cabbage soup, which included sorrel or nettles, quinoa, rejected cabbage seedlings. In winter, they were frozen and taken on the road, and then heated in a pot.
In addition to cabbage, onions are another ingredient in this dish. They also put potatoes and carrots. In the south, it is customary to add sweet pepper and tomato. Many people prefer to put rye flour to thicken.
What are the cabbage soup in modern Russian cuisine?
Today, chefs offer twenty varieties of national Russian cabbage soup, the main of which are:
1. Full or saturated cabbage soup. They are very much in demand, due to the fact that they are cooked in chicken or meat broth with the addition of vegetables sautéed in oil. They can be cooked both from fresh and from sauerkraut or from a mixture thereof. It is permissible to add mushrooms, mainly white ones.
2. Prefabricated cabbage soup. In the cooking process, several varieties of meat are used (for broth), as well as smoked meats and sausages. The meat should be cut into small pieces. It is necessary to add fresh or pickled cabbage in large quantities.
3. Lean cabbage soup. They are cooked in a vegetable broth, usually with the addition of any kind of mushroom.
4. Fish soup. Cooked in fish stock. You can use small fish, ground into powder. A combination of fresh and salted fish, mainly sturgeon, is suitable.
5. Gray cabbage soup. Prepared from the lower gray-greenish cabbage leaves, pre-fermented. The dish is very popular in the northern part of Russia.
6. Green cabbage soup. This is the only variety of this dish, cooked without cabbage. The main ingredients are spring herbs, such as sorrel, nettle and quinoa.
7. Seedling cabbage soup. Cooked from cabbage seedlings unsuitable for planting.
8. Daily cabbage soup. A special kind, since the container with the cooked dish is first wrapped for four hours with a thick blanket, and then put in a cold place for a day.
The demanded second courses. Russian cuisine in terms of originality and identity
Their traditional representatives are cutlets, various meat rolls, zrazy, fish fries, meat, stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers, casseroles and more.
The second dishes have characteristic differences, expressed in a longer cooking process and high calorie content. As a rule, products are fried, boiled or stewed. Naturally, the original Russian dishes were baked or languished in the oven, on a free spirit.
The main tradition of the Russian table is the variety and abundance of products used to prepare the corresponding treats.
Stages of the formation of Russian cuisine
Our kitchen is constantly evolving, and at the moment it is possible to highlight the main stages of its formation, namely:
- Old Russian cuisine - refers to the IX-XVI centuries;
- cuisine of the Moscow state - dates from the 17th century;
- the cuisine of the Petrine-Catherine era - the 18th century;
- Petersburg - refers to the end of the XVIII century;
- All-Russian national cuisine - prevailed in the 60s of the XIX century;
- Soviet - dominated from 1917 to the present.