Introduction to Russian Cuisine
The regions occupied by Russia has a tradition of peasant cooking, defined by the tart flavors of sourdough rye bread, pickles and sauerkraut, and complemented by mushrooms, fish, poultry, game, mushrooms, berries and honey. These simple foods reflect what the often poor soil yielded in the harsh climate, and what could be preserved by traditional means - in salt or vinegar or by drying - for year-round use. Hardy root and vegetable crops, a variety of grains, the flavors of garlic, mustard and horseradish, and sour dairy products, were the region’s staples. Cabbage and cucumbers, fresh or pickled, were the primary sources of vitamin C in what, for centuries, was a highly restricted diet.
In Russia and those parts of Russian Empire where the Russian Orthodox Church determined popular eating habits, at least until the beginning of the 20th century, the Church made a virtue out of economic necessity. It divided foods into two groups. For over half the days of the year only Lenten fare was allowed: vegetables, fish and mushrooms. Milk, eggs and meat were permitted on the remaining days.
The result of this intervention was a good number of simple, versatile recipes. A full meal might consist of a cabbage soup (shchi) or a grain porridge (kasha). Meat, if available, would be cooked in the soup but served separately afterwards. On full fast days, mushrooms could be substituted for meat to give the soup flavour and perhaps to fill little pies (pirozhki) to eat alongside it. Pancakes and soured cream, typical of the meat-free Carnival Week, now rank among the best-liked Russian dishes in the world. Russian Easter food, centred cake (kulich), served with a sweet cream cheese (paskha), is a splendidly rich contrast with the simpler Lenten food that precedes it.
Russia’s great expansions of territory, influence, and interest during the 16th-18th centuries brought more refined foods and culinary techniques from Caucasus, Persia, Ottoman Empire, Central Asia and from Siberia and Far East. Migration of population from Germany, Poland, Austria, etc. brought culinary techniques native to West Europe.
Two factors in the 19th century began to modernize the Russian diet. One was the industrialization that brought peasants into the towns and saw middle-class cooking influenced by cosmopolitan ideas. The other was the impact of the eating habits of the royal courts on the cuisines of Russia, which eventually filtered down through the aristocracy to the bourgeoisie.
In the 18 - 19th century, access to French cookery books led to Russian cooking becoming richer. At the same time, however, the Russian upper classes also felt under constant pressure to “Frenchify” their-own cooking, the court and aristocracy mainly employing French chefs to produce elaborate dishes, replete with butter and cream. Antonin Careme, as cook to Alexander I, began a task that was continued by four generations of foreign chefs up to the Russian Revolution in 1917
Generally, however, there was always opposition to this outside influence, and patriotic palates preferred the traditional breads, grains and soups. One such example is borshch, the famous vegetable soup, originated in Ukraina.
By contrast the Russian cold table, originally borrowed from Scandinavia and Baltic regions during the reign of the Peter I, has been wholly incorporated into Russian national cuisine as a first course. Appetizers (zakuski) which are washed down with ice-cold vodka, deserve their fame.
Soviet cuisine, a common cuisine of USSR, was formed by integration of various national cuisines. It is characterized by a limited number of ingredients and simplified cooking.