RUSSIAN CUISINE

Original and varied, Russian cuisine is famous for exotic soups, cabbage schi and solyanka, which is made of assorted meats. Russians are great lovers of pelmeni, small Siberian meat pies boiled in broth.Every housewife of any experience has her own recipes for pies, pickles, and sauerkraut. Even more varied is the choice of recipes for mushrooms, one of the most abundant and nourishing gifts of our woods. They are fried, pickled, salted, boiled and what not."No dinner without bread," goes the Russian saying. Wheat loaves have dozens of varieties. As to rye bread, Russians eat more of it than any nation in the world--a peculiarity of the Russian diet.As the Russian custom has it, a festive table isn't worth this name without a bottle of vodka. Russians are traditionally hearty drinkers:as good whiskey shall come from Scotland, and port from Portugal, so Russian wheat vodka is the world's best. We have an amazing variety to offer, from the clear, colorless Moskovskaya and Stolichnaya to all kinds of bitters with herbs and spices.Of our folk soft drinks, kvass is the best-known. Made of brown bread or malted rye flour, it goes down best on a sultry summer day. If you add it to chopped-up meat and vegetables, you get okroshka, an exquisite cold soup.

Pryanik(prianik) Pryaniki are ones of the most interesting makes of Russian cuisine. The name of Pryaniki comes from the spicy taste and smell which are achieved by special various additions. They could have different sizes, sometimes they made to order Pryanik up to several poods ( pood is old Russian measure, 16,38 kg (36 lb) and decorations. There were two kinds of Pryaniki - painted and printed. Painted Pryaniki are decorated with nuts, berries and candied peel. Real dynasties were involved in making forms for Pryaniki. Sometimes Pryaniki were made from two layers with fruit jelly or jam between. Expensive Pryaniki were always covered with icing. Pryaniki are one of the favourite food. They were always offered to guests, relatives. But there were "leavingaway" Pryaniki that were given to late guests and, having received such Pryanik, they had to leave the house immediately. They baked Pryaniki to any occasion and the quality and the decoration were perfect.

Borsch (borscht) This hearty soup traditionally prepared from beets and cabbage and served with a dollop of sour cream is a most popular first course. There are no less than 40 varieties of hot and cold borshch, depending on the vegetables and or meat in them, even some that don't have any beets at all. All borscht recipes are slowly simmered for maximum flavor. The tiny garlic buns, which are often served with it, are akin to the ubiquitous garlic bread of Italian cuisine.

Schi Schi took a special place among national soups. Historians suppose that this dish was known long time ago before Adoption of Christianity in the Rus. Once all soups were called Schi. Now Schi are cabbage soups. There are a lot of Russian proverbs about schi: "Good wife is not the one who speaks well, but who cooks schi well". Schi are cooked on meat, fish or mushroom broths. Schi with meat are served with a meat piece in the plate. Pies and Koulebyaki are very good with Schi.

Kvas Kvas is a traditional Russian beverage made from bread, yeast, water and different spices.

Golubtsy Better known as cabbage rolls, golubtsy (holubtsi) traditionally consist of tender cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice, often baked in tomato sauce, and served with sour cream. Equally common stuffing includes plain rice with onion or buckwheat. A standard portion is often filling enough to be a meal in itself.

Okroshka Okroshka is a summer vegetable soup with kvas instead of meat broth. This spicy, cold Russian soup was a favorite of the rebellious Crimean government. The Ukrainian equivalent is called kholodnyk and there is some debate as to which ingredients compose the quintessential okroshka. All agree that its tangy taste comes from kvas, the pungent drink made from ferrmented bread which serves as its base. Many lovers find inspiration in the combination of diced potatoes, meat, radish, cucumber, green onion, and boiled egg, with milk and hearty helpings of both kvas and fresh dill

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