Russian cuisine has developed over a long period, adopting different dishes from many
different countries, but at the same time
it has retained many of its own traditions. In spite of all of the changes in the national
cuisine over the years, no one can imagine
Russian food without brown bread, soup, pancakes, pies and porridges or dishes made with
fish or mushrooms or pickled vegetables.
Sedentary lifestyle of Russians is considered to be one of the factors which influenced
the development of Russian cuisine.
During long winters, when people spent most of their free time inside of the house, they cooked
using the Russian oven.
Russian stove allowed the cooks to either bake or boil food;
however, it was impossible to fry, grill or roast meat.
Russian stove uses a very interesting temperature regime: food could be prepared at either a constant or
decreasing
temperature but never with an increasing one. These conditions allowed to cook specific meals which cannot be created today using a modern gas or electric oven.
Russia's expansions of territory and openness of the country towards the world in the
16th-18th Centuries led to
appearance of new types of food, such as smoked meat and fish, chocolate, ice cream, wines,
and liquor. At least for the urban aristocracy and provincial gentry, this opened the doors
for the creative integration of these new foodstuffs with traditional Russian dishes.
New territories which were added to the
Russian Empire also influenced the cuisine and introduced their national meals to the whole country.
For example after the
Caucasus area became a part of Russia people got acquainted with today's very popular dish - shashlyk
(shish-kebab).
Today, Russian cuisine is very diverse. It combines traditional meals with dishes borrowed from
European and Eastern countries.
Russian soups
hen in Russia you should certainly try Russian soups, and it is proved that local people cook splendid ones.
Borsch
One of the most popular soups in Russia is borsch (beetroot soup), though Ukrainians claim that
they invented this hot meal.
Borsch is made on the basis of meat or chicken broth and includes beetroot as the main ingredient,
which at the same time gives a strong red coluor to the soup, as well as other
vegetables. This type of soup can be served either hot or cold.
Shchi
Shchi (cabbage soup) is the second popular soup in Russia. It is generally made of either cabbage or
sauerkraut although meat can be added.
Shchi made of sauerkraut have sour taste and are called sour shchi. A summer sorrel soup, popular in
pre-Revolutionary Russia, was known as green
shchi. This kind of soup is usually served with sour cream.
Solyanka
Solyanka is also a well-known Russian soup. It is is a thick, spicy and sour soup.
There are mainly three different kinds of solyanka, with the main ingredient being either meat,
fish or mushrooms. All three types contain pickled cucumbers with brine, cabbage, salty mushrooms,
cream and dill. The soup is prepared by cooking the cucumbers with brine before adding the other
ingredients of the broth.
Ukha fish soup
Ukha is loved by fishermen. Some people claim that the real ukha can be made only on fire using fish,
which have just been caught.
Though there are plenty of nice recipes how to cook ukha at home. The main ingredient is, of course,
fish including vegetables, and
the most important thing to remember is that the fish soup becomes ukha if you add a spoon of vodka into it.
Okroshka cold soup
This is a real Russian cold soup, which is very popular. It is made of vegetables, potatoes, sometimes
meat and eggs, including kvass.
Kvass is a Russian non-alcoholic drink made of bread. You pour kvass into the mixture of vegetables in your
plate and your soup is ready.
The soup is served with sour cream.
Hot Dishes
Pelmeni, blinis, shashlyk
Russian hot dish called "pelmeni" (dumplings) is very popular in Russia.
They are made of minced meat filling, wrapped in thin dough (made out of flour and eggs, sometimes with
milk or water added).
Pork, lamb, beef, or any other kind of meat can be used; mixing several kinds of meat is quite popular.
Traditional Ural recipe requires the filling be made with 45% of beef, 35% of lamb, and 20% of pork.
Often various spices, such as pepper, onions, and garlic, are mixed into the filling.
They are easy to cook and very tasty with different dressings. One can buy semi-manufactured dumplings at
any supermarket.
"Blinis" are thin pancakes and are made all over the country. Russian blinis can be made from wheat, buckwheat,
or other grains, although wheat blinis are most popular in Russia. You may eat them with jam, sour cream, meat,
salted
fish and caviar. Nowadays there are special cafes which make only pancakes for their guests and may offer
interesting dishes made of pancakes to you.
Shahslyk is a form of Shish kebab usually cooked at picnic parties (marinated meat grilled on a skewer).
Originally it was borrowed from the peoples of the Caucasus and today in summer cafes or
restaurants in Russia they offer different types of shashlik including lamb, pork, chicken and even salmon
shish-kebab.
Russian Salads and Appetizers
Salads are widely spread in Russia, especially salads with mayonnaise. The most famous is
Olivier salad (sometimes called Russian salad).
Vegetable salads can be found at most
of cafes or canteens together with special salads made of meat or fish with mayonnaise.
During big holidays or family celebrations people make
a lot of salads and appetizers. One of the most popular appetizer is Seledka (herring with onions).
It is usually served as an entre with vodka.
Russian Caviar
There are some dishes and products which are traditionally associated with Russia. First of all caviar,
which is considered to be a Russian delicacy. One can find two types of caviar, red and black.
Such fish species as salmon and trout are caught to get red caviar. It is cheaper than the
black one,
while the black caviar has always been a symbol of luxury. By taste and nutrition value, the three types of
fish are considered to be the
most valuable, they are white sturgeon, stellate sturgeon and sturgeon.
Dining in Russia
Street food
Nowadays small food kiosks which sell snacks are widely spread in big Russian cities.
They offer sandwiches, salads and drinks.
In small cities and villages and also during train stops at small stations one can
observe local people selling handmade pies (pirozhki)
with different fillings as well as smoked fish and ice-cream. Beer and non-alcoholic
drinks can be sometimes purchased in the street as well.
In late summer berries and mushrooms are sold along the highways.
Fast food
Fast food cafes have developed very quickly in modern Russia. Every big city has got a great variety of
fast food restaurants.
One can find famous world chains such as Mcdonald's, KFC, PizzaHut, etc, as well as Russian fast food cafes -
Chainaya Lozhka
(they offer pancakes and salads), Teremok, Kroshka-Kartoshka, etc.
Cafes & Restaurants
Nowadays in big cities there are plenty of cafes and restaurants which represent traditional
Russian cuisine as well as cuisines of other countries. In Moscow and
St.Petersburg one can find restaurants, representing almost all the countries of the world, you name it -
Australian, Asian, Armenian, American, Belorussian, Hungarian, French, Greek, Italian, Georgian, Jewish,
Mexican, European, Chinese, Korean, German, Tatar, Turkish, Japanese, Ukrainian, etc.
