The history of the origin of this dish is far from unique.
Most people mistakenly believe that kulebyaka is a “copy” of the German dish; Kohlgebä;ck;, ; which translates as “baked cabbage in dough.” There is another opinion about the origin of the name “kulebyaka”, which is also considered erroneous: many are sure that “kulebyaka” is named after the Finnish; Kala, which translates as “fish”. However, kulebyaka is a pie that has not only fish or cabbage filling. First of all, this is a pie with a complex filling, the basis of which is meat or mushrooms.
There is also an opinion that “kulebyaka” comes from “kolob”, which means “small bread”. The only version of the origin of kulebyaka is correct, “Kulebyaka” comes from the verb “kulebyachit”, which is in Dahl’s dictionary, and means “to roll with your hands”, “ dump”, “crumple”, “bend”, “fold”, “cook” and “sculpt”. Simply put, the verb “kulebyachit” lists all the actions that need to be done when preparing the dough.
There is as much confusion about the date of origin as there is about the name. Some sources claim the first mention in the 12th century, others claim that kulebyaka appeared in the 16th century, and still others talk about the 17th century.
Kulebyaka was one of those dishes that, like pancakes, was eaten by all segments of the population, from peasants and artisans to boyars and kings.
In the 19th century, French culinary specialists working in Russia at that time wanted to bring kulebyaka to the international level of fame and, according to the requirements of “haute cuisine,” made various changes to the recipe for preparing kulebyaki: delicate “French” dough began to serve as the basis for kulebyaki, and for the filling they began to use game, mushrooms, rice, salmon and so on.
Kulebyaki became widespread in Moscow. Kulebyaki, as well as sterlet fish soup and kalachi, received the status of a culinary symbol of the first throne and even began to be used when receiving guests, like bread and salt. In the 19th century, St. Petersburg gourmets sang songs of praise to kulebyake. Among these gourmets were people such as A. I. Turgenev, P. A. Vyazemsky, N. V. Gogol.
The main difference between kulebyaka and various pies is its complex filling. The filling for kulebyaki was prepared from several types of minced meat, which was placed in layers on the base. To prevent mixing, each layer was separated from each other by a thin layer of dough or pancake. Thanks to this method of filling, each portion of sliced ​​kulebyaki contained all types of minced meat that was used in its preparation.
Another very important difference between kulebyaki and pies is the difference in the ratio of filling and base. In a kulebyak, the filling takes up more than half of the total mass, while the filling of the pie takes up less than half. Taking into account what was written above, the dough for making kulebyaki must be very thin and very durable, since the dough serves as a “container” for the heavy filling.
The filling for kulebyaki includes from two to four types of minced meat. But the number of layers is not limited. The number of layers depends only on the size of the kulebyaki, which will allow it to bake well in a particular oven. Thus, Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a journalist and famous researcher of Moscow city life of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, described in one of his articles that one year a huge kulebyaka was prepared, which consisted of twelve layers of various minced meat. People who wanted to try it had to order it a day in advance.
Kulebyaki differed from each other not only in the types of minced meat used in their preparation, but also in the method of laying the layers. The layers were often laid in two ways. The first method is to lay the layers one on one, parallel to each other. The second method is angular. Each type of minced meat was laid at an oblique angle, not one on top, but one next to the other, and naturally each type of minced meat was separated from the other. There are known options: “two corners”, “three corners”, “four corners”.
Kulebyaka is a universal dish. Depending on how the kulebyaka was prepared, what kind of dough and minced meat was used in it, the kulebyaka could be served as an appetizer, as a separate dish, or as an addition to some other dish, side dish, or as bread, for example, to a stew. . Kulebyaka was very rarely used as a dessert, because sweet fillings and pastry were practically not used in its preparation.
The kulebyaka is also distinguished by a more elongated, oval, and more fluffy, convex shape, similar to a loaf. This form guarantees better baking of the filling, as well as convenient cutting, in which all the fillings of the kulebyak are included in each portion.
Kulebyaka is a very tasty dish that you can easily order from us at a very low price, with delivery anywhere in the city. Information about our menu, contact information, as well as prices for dishes and delivery, you can find on our website. We offer our clients only the best!

In Rus' they said that the hut is red with pies. And the favorite type of pie among the Russian people has always been kulebyaka. This pie was prepared both in the peasant hut and in the boyars' chambers.

Kulebyaka - Russian national pie

Kulebyaka is a national dish of Russian cuisine, a type of closed pie with a complex filling. The complexity of the filling lies in the fact that several types are used. They are separated from each other by regular pancakes so that the filling does not mix. When cutting the kulebyaki, all its layers are clearly visible.

Today we bring to your attention kulebyaka, a step-by-step recipe for which with various fillings is given in the article.

Features of preparing kulebyaki

To bake kulebyaki, yeast dough prepared on a sponge is used. But this pie can also be made from unleavened or puff pastry. To separate the fillings, thin unleavened pancakes are baked. The most important thing: kulebyaka is a pie, the main weight of which is the filling. Typically, 2 to 4 types of minced meat are used for this purpose. The most popular types of this pie are kulebyaka with fish, with meat filling, with stewed cabbage, with egg and rice, and with mushroom filling.

How to place the filling

There are different ways to lay out the filling: in the form of tiers or corners. The tiered method is the simplest: first, lay out one layer of minced meat, which is covered with a pancake, then a second layer, and so on. Laying at an angle: one type of filling is laid out at an angle, in the form of a wedge, and separated from the other diagonally.

Kulebyaka today

Kulebyaka is a type of pastry that can be served as a main course, as an appetizer, or as a substitute for bread for first courses. In appearance, it resembles a wide loaf - it has the same oblong shape.

Modern housewives prefer to bake a simple kulebyaka with one type of filling, mistakenly believing that a kulebyaka with several tiers is difficult to prepare. One of the proposed recipes is meat kulebyaka, which consists of 3 tiers. You can easily prepare it, it does not require much effort and time.

Recipe for kulebyaki with cabbage

Kulebyaka with cabbage is one of the most favorite types of homemade baked goods. Products for its preparation can be found in every kitchen.

Ingredients for yeast dough:

• Wheat flour - 3 full cups.
• Medium fat milk - 1 full cup.
• Raw pressed yeast - 30 g.
• Butter - 30 g.
• Chicken eggs - 2 pcs.
• Granulated sugar - 3 dessert spoons.
• Table salt - 1 dessert spoon.
• Egg yolk - 1 pc.

Filling ingredients:

• Cabbage - small fork.
• Red bell pepper - 1 pc.
• Onions - 2 pcs.
• Chicken eggs - 3 pcs.
• Table salt - to taste.
• Granulated sugar - 1 tbsp. l.
• Vegetable oil - 6 dessert spoons.

So, the kulebyaka is prepared step by step as follows:

1. First you need to prepare the dough: dissolve the yeast in heated milk.
2. Mix the eggs with granulated sugar, pour in the milk-yeast mixture and add salt.
3. Add the sifted flour to the prepared mass, stir in the melted butter. Knead the dough, cover the top with film or a clean towel, and leave to rise in a warm place for 50 minutes. After half an hour, knead the risen dough.
4. Prepare the filling: remove the skins from the onion, wash it and chop it.
5. Shred the cabbage and cut the red pepper into strips.
6. Pour sunflower oil into a preheated saucepan and simmer the onion in it until golden brown, add cabbage and pepper and simmer until half cooked.
7. Boil the eggs, cool, peel and cut into cubes.
8. Add salt, sugar, chopped eggs to the stewed cabbage and mix.
9. Pinch off a small piece of dough to decorate the kulebyaki. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 7 mm and place the filling on top. Pinch the edges, giving the pie an oval shape. Decorate the top with pieces of dough in the form of leaves, flowers, fish, and grease the top of the kulebyak with yolk.
10. Transfer the kulebyaka to a baking sheet with oiled paper and bake at 180 ºС. In 45 minutes the kulebyaka will be ready.

Men will appreciate the meat kulebyak - it is very filling and is quite capable of replacing one of the meals. Since a real kulebyaka should have several fillings, in this recipe the meat filling will be adjacent to chicken and mushroom. The meat filling also goes well with potatoes and rice.

To knead the dough you will need:

• Fresh pressed yeast - 30g.
• Milk - 1 cup.
• Flour - 3 cups.
• Chicken eggs - 2 pcs.
• Butter - 2 dessert spoons.
• Yolk - from 1 egg.
• Table salt - a pinch.
• Granulated sugar - 1 dessert spoon.

For the fillings you will need:

• Minced beef - 330 g.
• Chicken fillet - 330 g.
• Porcini mushrooms - 330 g.
• Cream - 160 ml.
• Ready broth - half a glass.
• Onions - 2 pcs.
• Vegetable oil - for frying fillings.
• Pepper - to taste.
• Any greens - half a bunch.
• Table salt - to taste.

The dough is prepared in 5 minutes: add sugar to the yeast and rub with a fork until completely softened and a liquid dough forms. Pour heated milk into the sifted flour, add 2 eggs, dough and butter. Knead the dough, adding flour if necessary so that it stops sticking to your hands. Place the dough in a warm place to proof for about half an hour.

Using your favorite recipe, prepare 6 savory pancakes. They are needed to separate the fillings in the kulebyak.

Preparation of fillings:

1. Meat filling. Chop the peeled onions and fry in a saucepan with vegetable oil. Pour in the minced meat, salt, pepper, chopped herbs, add a little broth, which will add juiciness to the filling, and simmer until half cooked.
2. Chicken filling. Cut the chicken meat into equal pieces, sprinkle with pepper, salt and fry until half cooked. Then add a little cream and simmer until it evaporates.
3. Mushroom filling. Wash the mushrooms, cut into small pieces, place in a deep frying pan, add salt and pepper to taste, and simmer until half cooked. Pour in the cream and cook the filling until done.

We begin to form the kulebyaka. The dough needs to be cut into 2 halves, roll out one half on the table into a rectangle 7 mm thick, and first pinch off a small piece of dough to decorate the kulebyaka. Place the rolled out dough onto an oiled baking sheet.

Place 2 pancakes on the dough, then distribute the meat filling evenly, cover the top end-to-end with 2 pancakes. The next layer is the mushroom filling, cover with pancakes again. The last layer is chicken filling, which is also covered with 2 pancakes.

Roll out the rest of the dough and cover the kulebyak with it, pinch the edges. Cut out any shapes from a small piece of dough and stick them on the top of the pie, pierce the top of the pie with a knife or fork to prevent it from puffing up during baking, and brush with a mixture of yolk and milk. Bake a 3-tier kulebyaka in an oven preheated to 180ºC. After 25 minutes, the kulebyak with meat will be ready to serve.

Not only with fish, but also with eggs

Many foreigners believe that kulebyaka is a Russian fish pie, mainly filled with salmon. In Russian restaurants abroad they mainly serve just this variety. Therefore, when they come to Russia, they are surprised at the variety of types of kulebyaki and the richness of its filling.

Another type of this multi-layer pie is kulebyaka with egg. As a rule, this filling is prepared from boiled rice and boiled eggs, which are finely chopped with fresh herbs.

To prepare fish kulebyaki, prepare yeast dough according to one of the above recipes, and also bake 6 pancakes. The principle of preparing kulebyaki with fish is the same as for meat kulebyaki.

For the filling, use the following ingredients:

• Salmon - 550 g.
• Porcini mushrooms - 250 g.
• Rice - half a glass.
• Onions - 2 pcs.
• Fine salt - 2 dessert spoons.
• Any vegetable oil - for frying fish and mushrooms.

To prepare a three-layer kulebyaka, you need:

1. Fry the fish fillet until cooked. You can replace fresh fish with canned salmon in its own juice.
2. Cut the washed mushrooms into small pieces, add salt and fry them together with peeled chopped onions.
3. Cook the rice in salted boiling water until tender.

Assemble the kulebyaka and bake in a preheated oven at 180ºC for 20 minutes.

As you can see, preparing kulebyaka is not at all difficult. And it is much healthier and tastes better than hot dogs!

KULEBYAKA FROM YEAST DOUGH

Kulebyaka differs from a pie in its shape: it should be narrower and taller, while the pie is usually made wide and flat. In addition, kulebyaka is sometimes prepared with two or three different fillings, arranging them in layers, for example: a layer of boiled rice, then a layer of minced meat and, finally, a layer of hard-boiled eggs, cut into slices. To ensure that the bottom layer of dough on the inside of the finished kulebyak does not turn out wet, less wet minced meat, such as rice or crumbly porridge, is placed on the dough, and moist and juicy minced meat or fish is placed on top.

Dough prepared using the sponge or straight method, but steeper and richer than usual, roll out into a strip along the length of a baking sheet or sheet (1 cm thick and 20 cm wide), place on a towel, lightly sprinkled with flour, place the entire dough in the middle fill it with a narrow strip of filling, lift the edges of the dough, connect them and pinch; then, lifting the towel by the edges, carefully place the pie, seam side down, onto a greased baking sheet.

Kulebyaka can be decorated with thin strips of dough, placing them crosswise at a certain distance from one another. In order for the strips of dough to stick better to the kulebyak, the ends and middle of them on the bottom side need to be greased with egg. After this, put the kulebyaka in a warm place, let it rise a little, and then brush with egg, make punctures in two or three places with a knife to allow steam to escape during baking and place in a hot oven.

The kulebyaka is baked for 35-45 minutes. If during baking only one end of the kulebyak is browned, then it must be turned with the other end, and if it starts to burn on top, cover it with damp paper. To find out if the kulebyaka is ready, you need to pierce the dough with a splinter, and if there is no dough on the splinter taken out of the kulebyaka and it is dry, then the kulebyaka is ready.

Remove the kulebyaka from the baking sheet, cover with a towel so that while it cools, it retains a soft crust. Kulebyaku can be served with meat or chicken broth.

For 1 kg of flour - 13/4 cups milk, 50 g yeast, 100-125 g butter, 4-5 egg yolks, 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt.

FILLINGS
(for dough made from 1 kg of flour)

BEEF FILLINGS

Pass raw meat through a meat grinder, fry it in a frying pan with oil and pass through the meat grinder again. Separately, fry finely chopped onion and mix it with meat, adding chopped eggs, salt, pepper, finely chopped parsley or dill.
The meat filling can also be made from boiled beef; cut it into small pieces, pass it through a meat grinder or chop it on a board. Fry finely chopped onion in oil in a frying pan, mix it with meat and fry again for 3-4 minutes. After this, combine the meat with chopped eggs, adding salt, pepper, dill, 1-2 tbsp. tablespoons of butter, and if the minced meat is not juicy enough - 1-2 tbsp. spoons of broth.
For 800 g of meat (pulp) - 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons butter, 3 eggs, 1-2 pcs. onions.

LIVER FILLING (liver, lung, heart)

Rinse beef, veal, lamb or pork liver in warm water and cook. Cut the cooked liver into small pieces, pass through a meat grinder, put in a frying pan along with the fried onions and lightly fry. Then add salt, pepper, chopped eggs, dill or parsley and mix everything.
For 1 kg of liver - 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons butter, 3 eggs, 2 pcs. onions.

BUCKWHEAT PORridge WITH LIVER FILLING

Peel veal, lamb or pork liver from films and bile ducts, rinse in cold water, cut into small pieces and fry in oil along with chopped onion. Then finely chop the liver, add salt, sprinkle with pepper, mix with crumbly buckwheat porridge and chopped boiled eggs.
For 300 g of liver - 1 glass of buckwheat, 2 tbsp. tablespoons butter, 3 eggs, 1-2 pcs. onions.

FISH FILLING

Clean fish (pike, pike perch, catfish or carp) from scales, remove entrails and rinse in cold water. Separate the fish pulp from the bones, cut it into small pieces, salt, sprinkle with pepper and fry in oil. Add fried onion, dill and stir. You can add chopped eggs to this filling.
For 750 g of fish (or 500 g of fish fillet)—2 tbsp. spoons of oil, 1-2 pcs. onions.

FISH AND RICE FILLING
Wash the fish fillet, cut into small pieces, put in a frying pan and fry in oil (1-1 1/2 tablespoons). Then mix with boiled rice, add melted butter, finely chopped parsley or dill and salt and pepper to taste.
You can also take boiled fish for the filling, cut it into pieces and mix it with rice.
If desired, you can add finely chopped fried onions to the minced meat.
For 300 g of fish fillet - 3/4 cup of rice, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of butter.

VAZIGA FILLING

Soak the elm in cold water for 2-3 hours, then rinse, add fresh water and cook for 3-3 1/2 hours. Throw the elmfish, boiled until soft, onto a sieve, then pass through a meat grinder or chop with a knife, add salt, pepper, melted butter, finely chopped hard-boiled eggs and parsley or dill and mix it all. You can add boiled rice, finely chopped boiled fish and onions fried in oil to this filling.
For 100 g of vyaziga - 2-3 tbsp. tablespoons butter, 3-4 eggs.

RICE AND EGGS FILLING

Rinse the rice in warm water, cook in salted boiling water (10-12 cups), after cooking, place in a sieve or colander and let the water drain. Place the cooked rice in a bowl, add chopped hard-boiled eggs, butter, salt, dill and mix.
For 1 1/4 cups of rice - 3-4 eggs, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of butter.

BUCKWHEAT PORridge FILLING

Cook crumbly buckwheat porridge, mix it with chopped eggs and butter. Instead of eggs, you can add fried onions and 50 g of boiled and finely chopped dried mushrooms.
For 2 cups of buckwheat - 3-4 eggs, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of butter or ghee.

FRESH POTS MUSHROOMS FILLING

Boil peeled, washed porcini mushrooms, then cut into slices and fry with butter in a frying pan.
Then add sour cream, finely chopped fried onion, salt and, covering with a lid, simmer for 10-15 minutes. After this, add finely chopped parsley or dill and cool.
For 1 kg of mushrooms - 1-2 tbsp. spoons of oil, 1 pc. onions, 1/4 cup sour cream.

SALTED MUSHROOMS FILLING

Wash the salted mushrooms. If the taste is too spicy, then the mushrooms should be soaked for 1-2 hours in cold water, and then drained in a colander and allowed to drain. After this, finely chop the mushrooms and fry with butter. Separately, fry finely chopped onion and mix with mushrooms, adding a little pepper.
For 1 kg of salted mushrooms - 2-3 tbsp. spoons of ghee or vegetable oil, 1-2 pcs. onions.

FILLING OF DRIED MUSHROOMS WITH RICE

Finely chop the cooked dried mushrooms, add fried finely chopped onions to the mushrooms, mix and fry for 2-3 minutes. After this, mix the mushrooms with boiled rice, adding salt and pepper.
For 50 g of dried mushrooms - 1 cup of rice, 1-2 pcs. onions, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of butter or vegetable oil.

SAGO FILLING
Rinse the sago in cold water, place in salted boiling water (10-12 cups) and, stirring, cook for 20-25 minutes until the sago becomes transparent. Place the boiled sago in a sieve or colander and let the water drain. When the sago is dry, put it in a bowl, add melted butter, chopped eggs, salt, finely chopped parsley or dill and mix it all.
For 1 glass of sago - 2 eggs, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of butter.

Kulebyaka (Kulebyak) - one of the types of closed pie with a complex filling, a traditional Russian dish. Descriptions of kulebyaki are found in many writers, for example, in Gogol’s “Dead Souls.”

Distinctive features

The main difference between kulebyaki and traditional pies is the complex filling. It consists of several types of minced meat, laid sequentially and separated from each other by thin, usually unleavened pancakes to prevent mixing. Thus, with a vertical cut, each portion of kulebyaki contains all types of filling.

Another main difference between kulebyaka and other pies is the ratio of filling to total weight: in kulebyaka it makes up more than half of the total weight, while usually in pies it is less than half. In this case, the dough must be quite thin and strong at the same time, since its main purpose is as a container for the filling.

The filling of kulebyaki usually consists of two to four types of minced meat. However, the number of layers of filling is limited only by the size of the kulebyaki, which can be baked efficiently in a specific kitchen oven. Thus, Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a journalist and famous researcher of Moscow city life of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, mentions a huge kulebyak with 12 tiers of various minced meat, which was served at the Merchant Club. Those who wanted to try it had to order it a day in advance.

Kulebyaki differ from each other not only in the number of types of filling, but also in the way it is laid out: in tiers or “corners”. Tiers are parallel layers of filling placed sequentially one above the other. “Angles” - one mince is laid out at an oblique angle (mound, wedge) and divided with the other diagonally. There are known options: “two corners”, “three corners”, “four corners”.

Kulebyaka is a universal dish. Depending on the type of dough and filling, it can be served as an appetizer, as a main dish, and as an addition to it (for example, instead of bread for soup or stew). Kulebyaka is served much less frequently as a dessert, since butter dough and sweet fillings are extremely rarely used in its preparation.

The kulebyaka is also distinguished by a more elongated, oval, and more fluffy, convex shape, similar to a loaf. This form guarantees better baking of the filling, as well as cutting, in which all the fillings of the kulebyaki are included in the portion.

Story

Different sources differ in determining the date of the first mention of kulebyaki. Some talk about the 12th century, others - about the 16th century, and others - about the 17th century

The original Old Russian kulebyaki were prepared exclusively from yeast dough, with several layers of minced meat - from meat of all varieties, cabbage, buckwheat porridge, hard-boiled eggs, dried and boiled fish, mushrooms, onions, viziga, etc. It was a dish that, like pancakes, All segments of the population ate regularly - from peasants and artisans to boyars and kings.

The most famous were Moscow kulebyaki, which, along with sterlet fish soup and kalachi, became the culinary symbol of the Mother See and were even presented as traditional “bread and salt”. The praises of Moscow kulebyake were sung by St. Petersburg gourmets of the 19th century, including A.I. Turgenev, P.A. Vyazemsky, N.V. Gogol

origin of name

There are different versions of the origin of this name.

There is a widespread misconception that the name comes from the German Kohlgebäck - “baked (in dough) cabbage”. Another erroneous version is based on a relationship with the Finnish Kala - “fish”. However, kulebyaki are not (only) cabbage pies or (only) fish pies, but first of all - pies with complex fillings, one of which can be minced meat, fish, or mushrooms.

One version believes that “kulebyaka” came from “kolob”, that is, small bread. According to another version (which, in particular, was adhered to by V. Dahl), the term “kulebyaka” comes from the verb “kulebyachit,” that is, “to roll with your hands, dump, crumple, bend and fold, cook and sculpt.” In fact, this verb completely covers all the processes that occur when making dough.

Preparation

Traditional kulebyaka is made from yeast dough, but it is permissible to use puff pastry or unleavened dough, and with sweet filling - even butter dough. The thickness of the layer on which the minced meat will be laid out also depends on the type of dough: it should not be too thick (so that the dough after baking does not exceed the volume of the filling). The main thing is that the dough retains its shape after baking and serves as a container and only an addition to the filling when serving, just as the dough serves in an eclair or pita bread for shawarma.

Before forming the kulebyaki, it is necessary to bake thin unleavened pancakes, which will separate the different fillings from each other without interrupting their taste.

The minced meat for the filling must first be heat-treated until cooked or half-cooked (depending on the density of the ingredients) and crushed as much as possible to a pulp or pate. This is necessary so that the filling ingredients, which are different in initial density, are as close in condition as possible and at the same time retain their shape in their kulebyaki segments when it is cut into slices. In addition, the state of the pate will create a “melt in your mouth” effect.

Depending on the type of kulebyaki, the minced meat is laid out on a rolled out layer of dough in tiers or “corners”. In the first case, the fillings are laid out sequentially in horizontal layers - one on top of the other. Each layer is covered with a pancake. After the last layer of minced meat is laid out, the filling is wrapped in dough.

Kulebyak "corners" is formed depending on the number of corners. On two corners: the first filling is laid out in a heap - from the minimum thickness of the minced meat from one edge of the dough, increasing to the other edge - so that the cut forms a triangle (“wedge”); A pancake is placed on an oblique surface, on top of which another minced meat is laid out and leveled so that together with the other layer they form a rectangle in cross-section. After this, the filling is wrapped in dough. On three corners: a pancake is placed on top of the second filling and the third minced meat is placed horizontally above the first two, after which the filling is wrapped in dough. At four corners: a pancake is placed on top of the first two, laid with wedges of fillings, and then the procedure of laying the minced meat in a mound is repeated, after which the entire filling is wrapped in a layer of dough.

Rolled kulebyaka, unlike pies, is baked seam side down. According to tradition, the top of the kulebyaki is decorated with “braids” or “twigs” fashioned from dough, after which it is brushed with egg and pierced in several places to preserve the juiciness of the filling and the uniformity of the entire pie.

Serve the kulebyaka cut into slices so that each piece contains all the fillings at the same time. If this is an independent dish, then it is topped either traditionally with melted butter or sour cream, or, which is allowed, with another sauce suitable to taste. If kulebyaka is served as an addition to soups or broths, then no gravy is used.

Since ancient times in Rus', an oblong pie with porridge, fish or cabbage was called kulebyaki. Not a single Russian feast was complete without pies for every taste, be it a royal feast or a peasant holiday. Kulebyaki were baked on Maslenitsa and Easter, served in teahouses and taverns; each owner of the establishment was famous for his own recipe for Russian pie. Today, the most famous restaurateurs in the world are engaged in the revival of culinary traditions, preparing kulebyaki along with other Russian dishes, according to ancient recipes.

What is kulebyaka

An old Russian pie of an oblong shape with a large amount of filling began to be called kulebyaka from the middle of the 17th century. It was traditionally prepared from yeast dough, with several layers of various fillings, which could include cabbage, meat, fish, viziga (sturgeon dorsal cartilage), solo or in tandem with other products, mushrooms, porridge from various cereals, onions, boiled eggs, etc. similar. Often the fillings inside the pie were layered with pancakes. A special shape of the pie was necessary in order for the complex fillings to be baked, and when cut into pieces for trading, each part of the kulebyaki had a full share.

In Moscow, kulebyaki were famous for their variety not only of fillings, but also of types - open, closed, half-open, multi-layered, tall. There were even special ones, they were called bread ones, the filling in them was liquid, after baking the open pie, guests were asked to eat the contents with spoons.

Origin of the name

Many historians agree that the word “kulebyaka” comes from the German “Kohlgebäck”, which means “cabbage baked in dough.” However, this version of the origin is erroneous, because cabbage was only one of a wide variety of fillings for this type of Russian pie. Vladimir Dal gives his version of the origin of the name from the verb “kulebyachit”, that is, to crush, bend, do something with your hands. This version of the name fully lists all the processes of preparing kulebyaki, when you have to tinker with the dough to give a solid base.

How to cook kulebyaka

The dough for kulebyaka must be strong and elastic so that all the large filling does not fall apart or leak through the dough shell. First, some basic filling is prepared, pancakes are fried for a layer, if a complex Easter or wedding kulebyak is planned. Yeast, sponge or unpaired dough, rich or unleavened, is rolled out so that after baking it is not thick, no more than one centimeter. The distinctive feature of kulebyak from other pies is that they contain two to three times less dough than filling.

To obtain a real kulebyak dough, milk is not added to it; beef lard, sunflower oil and/or meat broth are added. The most common fillings for kulebyak are:

• boiled meat with chopped eggs, rice, onions;
• buckwheat porridge with boiled salmon and fried onions;
• fried fresh cabbage with onions and mushrooms;
• river or sea fish, with rice, onions and vizig.

Lay the finished filling on the rolled out rectangle of dough, either in layers or completely, and pinch it on all sides. A hole is made in the closed kulebyak for steam to escape and for better baking of the pie. Place the finished long kulebyaka seam side down on a greased baking sheet and leave for some time to proof. Before baking, the pie is brushed with egg, sour cream or butter, punctures are made in several places with a fork and sent to the oven. The finished kulebyaka is cut into portions and served with broth, pouring butter or melted butter into the hole left.

This is interesting

French chefs and pastry chefs who worked in Russia in the 19th century contributed to the popularization of kulebyaki and making it world famous. With their light hand, Russian pie began to be prepared from a more airy, so-called French dough with delicious fillings of champignons, sturgeon, salmon, rice and game. The requirements of high cuisine in relation to Russian baker pride were met.

In Rus', kulebyaka was served strictly according to a schedule: it was brought to the table after the first courses, between boiled or baked fish, but certainly before porridge and dessert. The cooks of Russian taverns and restaurants always prayed before starting to bake pies, since only with clean hands, thoughts and soul could they prepare a real Russian miracle of culinary skill - juicy and satisfying kulebyaki.

Zhanna Pyatirikova