Any modern tourist guide of any country will have such an alluring section: cuisine. The variety of national culinary features and delights can be endlessly surprised. Russian cuisine is no exception.
The traditions of Old Russian cuisine date back to the 9th century. We find lists of popular dishes from the times of Ivan the Terrible in Domostroy. The refectory books of Russian monasteries are the most valuable material for studying the preferences of the Russian people in the choice of food for centuries. All these sources show that the canon of Russian culinary art was originally a variety of grain and flour dishes, and rye black bread has always been the focus of attention. It is still a symbol of our national cuisine today.
To replace and in addition to numerous cereals, rye pancakes and pies, oatmeal, peas and other jelly products from the 15th century on the Russian table appeared products from imported wheat flour. With them, new glory comes to the famous Russian pastries: bagels, crumpets, pancakes, bagels, rolls, pies with dozens of types of delicious fillings - meat, vegetable, fish, mushroom. Cereals are also held in high esteem: buckwheat, millet, rye. They are divided into thick ("steep"), viscous ("smears"), liquid ("gruel"). Soups, cabbage soup, pickles become (and still remain) unchanged in the Russian meal.
Foreign traditions of cooking culinary dishes came to Russia in the 17th century with the advent of exotic products and overseas recipes. In Peter's times, pies, casseroles, rolls, sandwiches appeared on the Russian table. But no matter what influences and changes the Russian cooking art may have undergone, its iconic dishes were and remain: fragrant bread, delicious daily cabbage soup, everyone's favorite hearty okroshka, invigorating jellied meat with horseradish, ruddy pancakes with various fillings (including caviar), the famous sterlet ear, Siberian dumplings, vinaigrette, stuffed pig, duck with apples. These classic recipes from Russia are traditionally included in the book "Cuisine of the Nations of the World".
Other names cannot be found in any other country. Where else can you, for example, taste "Guryev's" porridge? She has a seemingly familiar main "warehouse" of products: milk, semolina, sugar, walnuts, butter … But the food is also marked by a special cooking technology (even a ritual!) - the collection of strong milk froths, which must also be carefully browned …
Yes, the feasts of the Russian boyar nobility with baked swans and giant sturgeons, which only a few people could raise on huge dishes, are a thing of the past. But gourmets will gladly choose "sturgeon in a monastery style" in a Russian restaurant even today.
The uniqueness, originality, brightness of Russian cuisine is obvious, although it selectively and skillfully absorbed the traditions of different culinary cultures.
