The concept of "Russian cuisine" is as wide as Russia. Tastes, composition and names of dishes clearly vary depending on the geography. Wherever the representatives of the Russian ethnic community moved, they carried their own traditions in cooking, and on the spot were keenly interested in the culinary specialties of the region and actively introduced them, adapting to their own idea of tasty and healthy food. Thus, over time, a fairly large area of the formation of a global image of Russian national cuisine.
Traditions of Russian cuisine
Originally Russian dishes were distinguished by natural simplicity and even monotony. Because of the observance of fasts provided for by religious beliefs, all food was divided into lean and fast. Dishes were prepared from flour, dairy products, vegetable and meat stocks. Bread, traditionally, was baked from rye flour, adding a little barley grinding or other cuttings. Wheat was not enough, therefore from it only delicacies, for example, калачи were prepared. Salt in liveriness was added much later, and initially all Russian flour dishes were fresh.
The usual food of the Russian family in the 16th-17th centuries was oatmeal from oatmeal and water, as well as pile and rye rye pies filled with meat, fish, cottage cheese, cereal, noodles, chicken, eggs, mushrooms and berries. On holidays, on the table were served loaves, kurikas, pancakes, pans, pancakes, brushwood, levashniki, perepichi, doughts and nutlets.
Vegetables were consumed in a variety of ways - they were eaten raw, salted and marinated. Prior to the arrival of potatoes in the kitchen gardens, the turnips were "hosted" by turnip - it was put into many dishes and used as an independent dish.
A lot of soups were prepared: soup, borsch, cabbage soup, caly, rassolnik and botvy. The fish made an excellent ear. As a seasoning, traditionally, sour cream or curdled milk was used.
The Christian religion had a huge impact on Russian cuisine. There were a number of recommendations on the use of certain products. In fasting days, many dishes were forbidden. That is why in no other kitchen in the world there is such a variety of lean dishes from vegetables, cereals, mushrooms and berries.
There were significant religious restrictions and in the use of meat. You could not eat veal and horse meat. And if this prohibition is practically not observed with respect to veal today, horse meat in Russian cuisine is not used at all, except in those regions where Russians live next to the peoples who, because of ethnic traditions, regard horses as food.
As in Russian houses the dishes were prepared in the ovens of a special device, very little is known about fried foods. Basically, such culinary techniques as cooking, stewing, baking and languishing were used.
Famous dishes of Russian cuisine
Many dishes in Russian cuisine have a ritual meaning, and some of them are known since the time of paganism. They ate on certain days, on holidays. For example, pancakes, which were considered sacrificial bread from the eastern Slavs, were eaten at Maslenitsa or at funeral feasts, and Easter and cakes were eaten on the Bright Feast of Easter.
As a funeral dish for the triune and funeral, cooked kutya. This same dish was cooked for holidays, moreover, each time its name was "timed" to the event."Poor" kutya was served to the table before Christmas, "Rich" - before the New Year, and "Hungry" - before Baptism.
All over the world since ancient times Russian desserts have been famous - honey, baked apples, all kinds of jam and gingerbread. Some sweets of national Russian cuisine today are undeservedly forgotten, but in fact there was once nothing more tasty than carrots and cucumbers cooked in honey on a water bath. Russian kids loved oven-dried flat cakes, and also "parenki" - steamed pieces of carrots and beets.
Truly Russian drinks can be called kvas, sbiten, honey and berry fruit. Kvass, for example, is known to the Slavs for over a thousand years. Immediately after baptism in 989, Prince Vladimir, according to the chroniclers, ordered to give the people "food, honey and kvass."Whoever did not cook this drink in Russia: peasants, landlords, princes, monks and boyars. By the XV century there were already more than 500 of its varieties, and the presence of kvass in the house was considered a sign of the special well-being of the family and even wealth.
Features of cooking dishes of Russian cuisine and formed a unique kitchen inventory. For cooking in the oven used pots, cast iron and special grips, as well as frying pans and cups to them. For bread baking, a special shadnik in the shape of a shovel was required. The table was served with bowls and wooden spoons, and tea was brewed in a samovar, which, however, appeared only in the XVIII century.