Continuing with the series of articles on our journey through Russian kitchen, in this post we will take you on a tour of cuisine of Central Russia.
Cuisine of Central Russia – 60 kinds of cabbage soup and porridge.
Until the 14th century, Russian cuisine was simple and not very diverse.
Hot dishes were most often cooked in the oven: boiled, braised or simmered for a long time under a closed lid; in those days they rarely fry.
Meat was rarely cooked: about 200 days a year they did not eat meat, especially every Wednesday and Friday it was forbidden to eat any kind of meat.
Food restrictions were different: sometimes it was forbidden not only to eat meat, fish and dairy dishes, but also to cook in vegetable oil.
On the first day of Great Lent and on Good Friday before Easter, believers tried to don’t eat any food.
In opposit, on some church holidays, even during fasting, it was allowed to eat fish: boiled, baked, stuffed or dried.
Flour and derivatives in Cuisine of Central Russia
Bread was most often baked from rye flour, sometimes barley cakes were made.
Wheat flour appeared in central Russia around the 17th century, but even then it was more often used for rich cakes such as “kalachi”, “Bubliki”, “Branki”.
The flour was used not only for dough, but also for other dishes: oatmeal diluted with water or milk was used to make “tolokno”, and “kissel” a type of thick jelly cooked with rye flour or flour of peas.
More plates
The basis of Central Russian cuisine was cabbage soup “shchi” and “kasha”.
Only “shchi” soup there were about 60 different recipes: “full shchi” was cooked with white mushrooms, various varieties of meat were put into “combined shchi”, nettle, quinoa or other herbs were added to “green shchi”.
An invariable component of such a dish is only fresh cabbage or fermented cabbage. In addition to shchi soup, housewives of that time also prepared other soups: “fish kalya” based on cucumber brine, “botvinya” with beet greens, “okroshka” on “kvass”.
Kasha was also an everyday dish, it was cooked with peas, buckwheat, wheat grits or barley grits.
The “kasha” were served separately and with meat, fish, vegetables and mushrooms.
Where is my dessert?
Instead of dessert, “kasha” with milk and wild berries often appeared on the table.
Vegetables, mushrooms and berries made up an important part of cuisine of Central Russia, eaten fresh and preserved for the winter in various ways.
Until potatoes appeared in the 18th century, turnips were the main vegetable on the Central Russian table; they were eaten raw, boiled and baked, dried or fermented for the winter along with cabbage, turnip greens were added to soups.
There were few sweets in central Russia; most often, desserts were fresh wild berries, baked apples with honey, or “gingerbread.”
Unusual “tsukati” were made from pumpkins, cucumbers and carrots. They are steamed in honey until the vegetables become translucent, washed down with tea or herbal infusions.
In summer, cold kvass was preferred as a refreshing drink, in winter they prepared a warm “sbiten” from honey, water and spices.
We invite you to enjoy your trip to Russia
If you have plans to travel to Russia, we invite you to visit typical Russian restaurants with our guides in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other cities.
