Dumplings: whose national dish is it? Traditional Russian dishes: list
The nature of Russian cuisine
The peculiarities of the national cuisine have been better preserved than, for example, the typical features of clothing or housing.
Traditional Russian dishes are high in energy and contain a lot of fat. This is due to the harsh climate: it was always necessary to eat a lot ("While the fat one dries, the thin one dies.").
The dishes in Russian cuisine are simple, rational and practical. People prepared mainly dishes from bread, flour and everything that the forest gave - honey, berries, nuts, mushrooms (although the population of the southern part of Russia is wary of mushrooms, afraid to use them). The main part of the Russians' food was various types of cereals and dairy products. Meat was considered a festive dish.
The Russians learned to preserve and preserve food - they smoked, dried, salted meat, fermented vegetables and fruits, pickled, salted (cucumbers, garlic, grape leaves, wild garlic greens), made jams, dried fruits (prunes, dried apricots, raisins).
Food for underprivileged people
When there was not enough flour or cereals, people ate "second bread" - potatoes. They also often ate cabbage, from which soups are made, for example, cabbage soup ("cabbage soup and porridge - our food"), as well as carrots, beets and buckwheat (buckwheat porridge).
Bread
Bread played and plays the most important role in everyday and festive food. Russians say: “bread is the head of everything”.
Russians revered bread very much: according to the old custom, dropped bread must be picked up, wiped off, kissed and asked for forgiveness for negligence. People have never thrown away bread crumbs. From childhood, the child was taught to respect this product. The guests were greeted with the words “bread and salt”.
Bread is used for snacking food throughout the day (for soup, for the second course).
Russian rye bread, it is baked with various additives (spices, raisins - the most famous aromatic bread "Borodinsky" with coriander).
White bread or lavash is also sold (white bread from the south or from Central Asia in the form of a large flat cake).
Russian national dishes
Snacks
Russian cuisine is especially famous for the abundance of various snacks. These are salads, pickles (vegetables, mushrooms, fish), pies with different fillings (meat, fish, cabbage, potatoes, rice and eggs, apples, lemon, different types of jams), pancakes with different fillings (products made from batter, poured into a hot frying pan in a thin layer), smoked meat, fish, sausage, ham, caviar - black from sturgeon, which is appreciated more than red from salmon.
Soups
Russian soups are hearty and thick, or, as the Russians say, “dense”. They are cooked in water or kvass; sour cream or mayonnaise is often added to a bowl of soup. Be sure to eat bread with the soup.
- Cabbage soup - cabbage soup, there are about 60 types of cabbage soup.
- Borscht is a red soup made from cabbage, beets, carrots, meat.
- Solyanka is a soup with pickled cucumbers.
- Ukha is a Russian fish soup.
- Okroshka, pickle, beetroot - cold soups.
Meat Dishes
There is no tradition in Russia to lightly fry meat. Very often, dishes are prepared from minced meat. Cutlets are prepared from minced meat, it serves as a filling for dumplings, pies, cabbage rolls (minced meat in cabbage leaves). Armenian kebab is popular - pieces of lamb. Russians often eat fish.
Sweet
Russians love sweets, the shops offer a large and varied selection of chocolate, sweets (sold by weight), ice cream, cookies; crumpets are popular - baked mugs made of yeast dough with powdered sugar.
Milk products
Fermented baked milk is made from sour milk, products from cottage cheese are common - curd mass (with dried apricots, prunes, raisins), sweet cheese.
Festive and ceremonial dishes
- Christmas is soothing, kutia
- Shrovetide - pancakes with butter
- Easter - Easter cake, eggs, Easter, do not eat hot dishes
- funeral - pancakes, kutia, white jelly
Borrowed dishes
Over the centuries, Russian cuisine has been enriched with many dishes from neighboring peoples.
- Shashlik is a Caucasian dish by its origin, borsch and hodgepodge are Ukrainian soups.
- Pelmeni is a Siberian dish in the form of boiled products made from unleavened dough stuffed with minced meat, as well as fish, potatoes, and cabbage.
Modern trends in Russian food
In the early 90s. Russians fell under the influence of imported foods and fast foods. Especially loved fried - baked goods, french fries. Now they are again partly returning to domestic products and dishes. At the same time, especially in big cities, proper nutrition is gaining immense popularity; dietary, vegetarian and exotic (mainly Japanese) cuisine is becoming fashionable.
Beverages
Kvass
The traditional Russian drink is kvass - a dark, slightly alcoholic drink made from bread or honey.
Vodka
Vodka is considered one of the symbols of Russia, although in recent years the amount of vodka consumption is inferior to the amount of beer consumption.
There are world-famous brands of Russian vodka: "Stolichnaya", "Smirnovskaya", there is also an old tradition of home-made vodka, the so-called moonshine.
Vodka is affordable both in price and because you can buy it anywhere you want, and this is one of the reasons for alcoholism among Russians. Cases of poisoning with vodka or moonshine are not uncommon.
Vodka and beer should be eaten. There is an endless selection of different products. For beer they sell dried squid, smelt (small dried fish), roach (dried fish that must be broken and eaten like chips), chips, peanuts, pistachios, croutons (small dried pieces of bread with different flavors). Vodka should be eaten with bread, sausage, pickles, wild garlic, etc.
Tea drinking
In the past, Russians usually ended the day with the rite of tea drinking, exchanged news at tea, talked about the events of the day, and the whole family gathered for tea.
Tea is brewed in a special teapot, allowed to settle, and then the tea leaves are poured into cups and topped up with boiling water, or tea is prepared in a samovar. Sweet tea is served: jam (cherry jam is most appreciated), sweets, cakes, buns, cookies.
Samovar
Samovar is a self-heating device for making tea. A samovar consists of a vase (there is a charcoal brazier with a pipe), handles, a teapot burner, a spout with a key.
In the past, in every home, the samovar occupied an important place in the interior of the living room or dining room. During tea drinking, he was placed on the table or on a special table, tea was poured by the hostess or the eldest daughter. Gradually, samovars began to resemble not teapots, but decorative vases, became simpler and stricter, and finally became electric. In modern times in Russia, the samovar has ceased to be a basic necessity.
Feast
There is a big difference between everyday and holiday food, between the dishes offered in restaurants
Food throughout the day
Breakfast (about 9 h)
Breakfast is preferably hearty. During the day, there is often nowhere to eat, so Russians prefer warm food - porridge (oatmeal, rice, wheat, buckwheat, semolina), scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes. They eat cottage cheese, cheese, drink tea or coffee.
Lunch (about 14 h)
Lunch usually consists of the first - soup, and the second - hot (meat or fish with a side dish). Russians are accustomed to eating during the working day in fast foods (there are establishments of this type offering Russian national dishes), in canteens and cafes. Unlike a rich Russian home meal, a foreigner may be surprised by the small portions in Russian restaurants. There are quite comfortable restaurants at the highest level, but a normal Russian cannot afford to have lunch or dinner there.
On the street you can always buy something to eat - pies, pastries, pancakes, shawarma (kebab), fried potatoes with different fillings.
Dinner (about 20 h)
Dinner does not play an important role in the diet. Usually they eat what was for lunch, or what is found at home.
Home festive feast
In Russia, family holidays are usually celebrated at home, guests are also invited home and treated themselves. There is no custom to hold meetings in restaurants.
Russia has a tradition of a rich feast. For a long time it has been so established that the guest must be received as best as possible and fed to the fullest.
The change of dishes (appetizers, the first is soup, the second is hot, the third is sweet) in the Russian feast is not very clear - as a rule, all kinds of snacks, pies, salads, meat dishes and even desserts are on the table at the same time. At the same time, Russians attach great importance to the abundance on the table - there should always be a lot of food of all kinds and different (despite possible material difficulties).
Purchases
Now in Russia everything is already there, everything can be obtained. This is a new situation for Russians - in Soviet times, stores looked completely different: empty counters, zero choice, unpleasant saleswomen, low-quality products, long lines. The saleswomen considered the buyer almost their enemy.
Instead of a cash register, they used accounts. A product, for example, cheese or sausage, if it appeared, was sold in kilograms (people bought it for future use).
In the early 90s. almost everyone got their groceries on the market.
“Ruský model zákazníka: snaží se ho vždy za všech okolností podvést jeho krajan. Je to hra na kočku a na myš. Až 90% obyvatel nakupuje na trhu a často neví, jak má originální potravina chutnat a zboží vypadat. "
David Šťáhlavský: Rusko mezi řádky
Now it all depends on the amount of money in the buyer's wallet. There are many trading options. There are still grandmothers on the street offering vegetables from their garden, cigarettes or beer. At the entrances to the metro or near other transport hubs, there are counters and kiosks with different types of products (dairy, bread, biscuits ...). Each area has its own market.
You can also buy in stores with counters, where the assortment is divided into several departments, but there is only one cash register and the payment system is complicated - you have to choose a product, then go to the cashier and pay for everything, and then return to the department with a check and receive the selected product there.
You can shop in modern self-service supermarkets. Many of them are open around the clock - 24 hours.
The outskirts of large cities are now overgrown, as elsewhere, with hypermarkets and shopping centers.
In big cities there are very expensive shops with imported products and products of higher quality, with branded goods that are intended only for modern Russians V.I.P. - very rich people.
Literature:
- Sergeeva, A .: Russians. Behavior stereotypes, traditions, mentality. Flint Publishing House, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow 2005.
- Shangina, I.I .: Russian people. Weekdays and holidays. Publishing house "Azbuka-classic", St. Petersburg 2003.
- Pešek, P .: Ruská kuchyně v proměnách doby: gastro-etno-kulturní studie. Pavel Mervart, Červený Kostelec 2007.
- Ruská kuchyně. Champagne Avantgarde. Bratislava 1992.
- Cooking: http://www.gotovim.ru
Any country is an integral part of its culture, which has been formed for centuries or even centuries.
It is difficult to imagine Russia without cabbage soup or Georgia without khachapuri. Therefore, when visiting different countries, it is necessary to try the national dishes of these countries. This will allow you not only completely plunge into culture country, but also to bring home some interesting recipes.
National dishes
- Croatia: paz cheese
The famous Pag cheese is made from sheep's milk on the island of Pag. - Italy: pizza
Classic pizza is made from very thin dough. Tomatoes, mozzarella, and various meat products are used as a filling; the dish is seasoned with basil. - China: xiao long bao
These are dumplings that float in the soup. They resemble khinkali in shape, but they are made from different types of meat and are steamed in special bamboo baskets. - India: tandoori chicken
This dish consists of pieces of chicken that are marinated in yogurt and spices. Tandoori chicken is baked over high heat in a clay oven, and a dish is served with vegetables and rice. - Canada: Putin
This incredibly high-calorie dish consists of French fries, cheese and a specially prepared sauce. - Belgium: mussels with fries
Mussels can be prepared in a number of ways and are served with salted crispy potatoes and washed down with cold Belgian beer. - Austria: wiener schnitzel
It is a thin piece of breaded, beaten veal that is fried until golden brown in a lot of fat or butter and served with potatoes or rice. - Argentina: asado
It is a charcoal grilled meat served with bread, salad, chimichurri sauce and red wine. - Brazil: feijoada
Feijoada consists of black beans, baked pork, beef, spices and cassava flour. It is served with rice, cabbage, orange slices and hot sauce. - Australia: float pie
This is a meat pie that floats in a plate of thick pea soup. - Egypt: Moloch
Molochea is prepared from molochea leaves (a vegetable with a bitter taste), which are separated from the stems, chopped and boiled in a broth with coriander and garlic. The dish is served with chicken or meat. - England: roast beef with Yorkshire pudding
It's roast beef with dripping pudding. - Georgia: khachapuri
Surely everyone knows this juicy viscous tortilla stuffed with cheese or eggs. - Malaysia: nasi lemak
This dish consists of rice cooked in coconut milk with pieces of pandanus leaves. And it is served wrapped in banana leaves with sambal sauce, anchovies, peanuts and a boiled egg. - Netherlands: herring
The Dutch love to eat herring with a fresh bun and chopped onions. - Indonesia: terang bulan pie
This dish is a sweet pie in the shape of a semicircle, stuffed with chocolate chips, grated cheese, peanut pieces and even bananas. - Saudi Arabia: Kasbah
Kasbah is made from rice with the addition of a large amount of spices - cloves, cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg and bay leaf, and is served with meat and vegetables. - Japan: katsudon
This is a thin pork chop with egg, which is placed on top of a bowl of rice. - Mexico: mole sauce
This sauce consists of about 100 ingredients, and it takes quite a long time to cook - sometimes several days. - Norway: rakfisk
This is a trout that is first salted, left to ferment for several months, and then served with onions and sour cream. - Philippines: adobo
These are pieces of chicken or pork that are stewed in a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. Pepper, garlic and bay leaves are also added here. - Portugal: francesinha
It is a sandwich that consists of two square pieces of white bread, between which there is a piece of meat, a slice of ham stuffed with olives and a sausage. It is covered with melted cheese and placed in a plate with tomato sauce. - Ukraine: dumplings
Dumplings are usually prepared stuffed with potatoes, cottage cheese, cabbage or meat, and they are served with fried bacon with onions and sour cream. - Romania: sarmale
This dish looks like stuffed cabbage. It is prepared from minced meat with rice, which is baked in small salted cabbage or grape leaves. - Russia: cabbage soup
Russians will gladly treat a foreigner with a plate of delicious and hearty cabbage soup. - Scotland: smoked salmon
It is served on toasted bread with butter or curd and cheese paste. - Slovakia: cheese dumplings
These are small potato dumplings seasoned with soft cheese and bacon. - Slovenia: Kranjska sausage
These are small pork sausages to which salt, pepper, water and garlic are added. - South Africa: Biltong
This is beef jerky marinated with various spices. - South Korea: Panchang
Panchkhan - many appetizers and salads that are served with the main course and rice: kimchi, namul, chon ... - Spain: jamon Iberico
This ham is made from a special breed of Iberian pigs, which are kept on a special acorn diet. The meat is salted and then dried in well-ventilated cellars. - UAE: shawarma
In the UAE, this dish is prepared from pita stuffed with pieces of fried meat of various varieties and vegetables. Tahini, hummus or hot sauce are used as a dressing. - Venezuela: Pabellion Crioglio
This dish is made with chopped beef, rice, black beans and cheese. - USA: hamburger
For the hamburger, Americans recommend taking a milkshake and fries.
These dishes look so delicious that I already want to go to all these countries. Whichever country you are in, remember to ask about the local national dish and taste it!
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I think when it comes to American food, almost everyone has images of fast food or other heavy and hearty food in their heads.
However, in this article I want to talk not only about the famous burgers, but also about other popular dishes in different parts of the States.
The most popular dishes in the USA
The United States is a large and multinational country. Of course, in different parts of the state, recipes for cooking dishes have their own variations, but these are the ones that are popular in all corners:
- Barbecue... The word has already become a household name: it is both a cooking method, and the own name of a dish, and even a variant of family leisure. You can try barbecue in any state, although it is believed that it is tastiest in Texas. You can taste the dish not only in a restaurant, but also buy meat in the market or in a store and fry it in nature. My advice is to have a barbecue yourself. It's always available: BBQ tables are often set up in parks and beaches in the United States.
Central states cuisine
The cuisine of the central states was greatly influenced by Europe. , England - many immigrants from there went to the United States and settled in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. These places have fertile soil, which allowed immigrants to establish many of their plantations. One of the plants that has firmly entered the life of both the central regions and the whole country is corn. But meat is also eaten in the central region, don't think :). So what to try here:
Southwest USA cuisine
Speaking about the cuisine of the south and west, it should be noted that it has absorbed the influence of Latin American countries. Even in Mexico they say that all the best chefs left for America long ago. Spicy food, meat, stews are the main ingredients of the cuisine of these states.
Northeastern USA
Here, the influence of Mexican gastronomic traditions is hardly felt. Favorite seafood, pastries and vegetables:
I would like to highlight New York cuisine separately in a conversation about the culinary traditions of the northeastern states. She absorbed the influences of the Old World, Latin America, Africa. - a city and a state in which new culinary establishments are constantly appearing aimed at completely different consumers. Here you can find vegan cafes, restaurants of different nations of the world (Italian, Chinese, Russian cuisine, etc.), numerous markets, trendy gastropubs. Nevertheless, there are dishes that, in all this variety of different cuisines and places, are associated with New York. Such dishes are loved and prepared all over the world, but the best place to try them:
Beverages
America is home to a huge number of drinks, which later became part of the culture of the country (and, by the way, not only the United States). The most popular of these are:
What else to try
While I am in the USA, many friends ask me to bring or send them various goodies that are not sold in Russia or Europe. And, of course, being at home, I also miss the unusual tastes of store-bought chocolates and cookies.
For example, here you can find Oreo cookies with double chocolate or mint; Kit-Kat with peanut butter, fruit filling. I also recommend trying Milka chocolate with M & M’S; popcorn with caramel, cheese, bacon, candy or cheeseburger flavors; Wonka Words chocolate - famous dragees from Wonka Company (just like in the movie about Willy Wonka).
Food prices
The prices for groceries and ready meals depend, firstly, on the state, and secondly, on the place. As for the state, prices are lower in the central states of America (Kansas, Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska, Alabama). The most expensive are New York and. In terms of location, the cheapest option is day markets and markets, as well as supermarkets. The average check in a store is 30-50 USD. More expensive, of course, in restaurants and cafes.
Maltese traditional food
There is no shortage of cafes and restaurants in Malta, but the discerning traveler is still looking for places to sample traditional Maltese food.
Traditional dishes
These are the dishes that many associate with Malta. In fact, most of the dishes are still prepared daily by Maltese families. Some of them are quite modest, they reflect hard times in the past. The skill of a Maltese chef lies in the ability to give the most common products a unique taste. It is this skill and the use of the freshest ingredients that creates such delicious and distinctive dishes. Here's what to try:
- Stuffat (Stuffat): literally translated "stew". Maltese stews are thick in consistency and are almost always tomato-based. Pork sourced from local farmers is often used for meat stews. But for a change, try the octopus stew ( Stuffat tal Qarnit) is a very tasty and unusual combination of octopus meat with vegetables, potatoes and fennel.
- Cake (Torti): maltese pies. You can find them in almost all restaurants and cafes. These pies have a variety of fillings, but the most traditional filling is ricotta, eggs and parsley. Sometimes they add pieces of Maltese bacon, peas and the favorite green beans, which are sold only in the spring, for taste.
- Tympana (Timpana): unlike any other dish you've ever tasted. Tympana is pasta with meat sauce, baked in dough. It would seem that this dish is very heavy on the stomach, but only a few having just tried it once, they remained indifferent. Each home has its own ingredients that are added to tympanum, including liver, beef brains, fried eggplant, béchamel (white sauce), or hard-boiled eggs.
- Rabbit (Fenek): a traditional Maltese dish with a century of history. If you decide to order this dish at a restaurant, make sure it is made from Maltese rabbits - their taste is much richer and juicier than the taste of imported meat. The locals cook both fried and stewed rabbit meat, but garlic is a very important ingredient anyway - be careful when ordering a rabbit dish on your first date. Traditionally, the rabbit is served with baked or fried potatoes or a light salad.
- Ravjul : Maltese ravioli (pasta pasta with different fillings) are similar to their Italian cousins. The difference is that it uses the traditional goat cheese from Gozo - ġbejna. The ravioli tomato sauce is made with local plum tomatoes called tsenguli ( zenguli) and, of course, with the addition of fresh garlic.
- Other local dishes - Hobz Biz-Zeith (Hobz biz-zejt)- bread with olive oil, greased with tomato pulp. Ross fil-forn (Ross fil-forn)- Rice casserole with meat sauce. Pastizzi (Pastizzi) - very tasty puff pastry pies with filling. Vegetable soups such as ministra (minestra) and soppa tal-armla (soppa tal-armla) - translated from Maltese "widow's soup" - with the addition of ricotta and cheese.
- Creamy ricotta cheese is often used in sweets. Try it Cannoli (Kannoli)- these are deep-fried dough buns stuffed with ricotta and candied fruits. A-a tal-asel (Qagħaq tal-għasel) is a wreath of dough with a sweet filling. Prinjolata (Prinjolata) - carnival cake made of sponge dough, covered with candied fruit glaze. AND Figolly (Figolli) - Easter almond cake with marzipan filling, covered with glaze.
Lesser known dishes
The more the traveler loves adventure, the more difficult it is to satisfy his urge to sample unique and unusual dishes. If you are one of those people, then you will enjoy lesser-known, non-standard dishes. Try some of these goodies:
- Sphineg (Sfineg) are deep-fried pieces of dough stuffed with anchovies or dried cod. They are tasty and inexpensive, which is very handy, since it is impossible to stop at one small portion.
- Kirsha (Kirxa)- Giblets in Malta are usually served as a stew with vegetables, which is different from the famous dish - trippa fiorentina.
- Babbush (Bebbux)- as in France, snails in Malta are served with garlic sauce. Freshly baked Maltese bread is a good addition to this dish.
- Laham taz-zimel (Laħam taz-ziemel)- horse meat is gaining popularity again. It has a special rich taste and, if it is skillfully cooked, it will not yield to other types of meat in softness.
- Bakkagliau (Bakkaljaw)- dried salted cod is known throughout the Mediterranean, however, the decline in the number of this fish does not contribute to the popularity of this dish. There are several ways to cook salted cod in Malta - braising, fricassee or as filling for pies. sphineg (see above).
- Fritturi tal-mohh (Fritturi tal-moħħ)- fried beef or sheep brains. For those who dare to try it, this will be a real culinary discovery. They have a rich, creamy taste. The Maltese cook them with ingredients like eggs, garlic and parsley. This dish is only for real gourmets!
Russian cuisine is not only cabbage soup and porridge, although these dishes also deserve attention. The famous gourmet Brija-Savarin recognized only 3 cuisines, including the Russian one. First of all, Russian cuisine is famous for its first dishes (bread): cabbage soup, saltwort, pickles (with pickles, mushrooms), kali (fish or meat soup cooked in cucumber pickle), fish soup. 
For some soups, for example, for the soup, it was customary to serve pastries - pies. 
In hot weather, a variety of cold soups were served for the first time: okroshka, botvinya, turyu. 
The pies were taken seriously and thoroughly. Cooking kulebyaki or kurnik takes time and skill. But what a plus: the country was a leading grain producer, so flour was always in almost any home, and the filling was based on availability. Further - the fantasy and skill of the hostess. 
Cottage cheese was actively used, it was added to the fillings of cheesecakes and shanegs. 
It is easier with pancakes, which for many have long become the hallmark of Russian cuisine. Pancakes were baked in butter, filled with filling, or put into pancake pies. 
Mushroom dishes occupy a special place in Russian cuisine: mushrooms were not only cooked or dried, as in other cuisines, but they were also prepared for future use (salted). 
Meat main courses, as a rule, were prepared on great holidays. But what a variety: from cutlets and roast offal to a whole baked pig. 
Winter in most of Russia lasts almost six months and it was a sin not to use subzero temperatures for cooking. For example, jellied meat. Fortunately, you do not need to cook selected pieces of meat. 
A fish alternative to jellied meat is jellied fish, sturgeon, for example. Although for me personally in this case, the number one is pike perch. 
There was also something to wash down the meal: sbitni, kvass, fruit drinks, honey, water, whey with raisins and boiled cabbage juice, as well as tea made from dried leaves of fireweed, that is, willow tea. 
Strong drinks were also appreciated: they knew how to cook hoppy honeys (mead), birch (fermented birch sap), kvass, beer. 
In the 15th century. learned to make "bread wine" - vodka. By the 16th century, vodka had become the subject of a state monopoly: in 1533, the first Tsar's tavern opened in Moscow, on Balchug Street, opposite the Kremlin. 
Of course, over time, Russian cuisine has changed, with the advent of new products, the recipe has changed, old recipes have been forgotten. Fortunately, recipes have been preserved that allow you to get an idea of the traditional Russian feast.