Guest Author - Marianne Gibson

Imagine for a second an average Russian family sitting down to dinner. What is on the table? Potatoes, cabbage, meat? Well, maybe, but the stereotype does not do justice to the variety and quality of home cooking in Russia.

What makes up a typical Russian meal?

The main meal usually begins with a cold salad, or a couple of them, sometimes based on shredded cabbage, or chopped boiled potatoes, sometimes with meat or fish. In winter fresh vegetables are scarce, but this doesn’t mean that vitamins disappear from the table. If the family haven’t made their own jars of pickles and conserves for winter, they are cheaply available in any shop. Fresh cranberries make a useful addition to winter salads also. Mayonnaise is extremely popular, and often takes the place of the more traditional Smetana (sour cream) in these appetizers.

The next element is called pervaya blyuda, or ‘first dish’ This is the soup course, an essential fixture in the meal, for health and warmth. In winter this could be Ukrainian borshch based on beetroot, Sshchi, a popular cabbage soup; meat soup with noodles; yellow split pea soup. Soups tend to be fairly thin, and may be eaten with bread, or pirozhki (Russian stuffed rolls). The most popular seasonings and herbs are garlic, dill, parsley, bay leaves, salt and black or red pepper. Many tasty cold soups are served in the summer months

Vtoraya blyuda, or ‘second dish’ corresponds to the main course. It’s very often a ‘meat and two veg’ type affair, with cutlets, chicken or fish. The side dish or ‘garnir’ is often potatoes, it’s true, but equally may be a ragout of cabbage and carrot, pasta, rice, or some kind of ‘kasha’. Kasha is the Russian word for porridge, but it doesn’t just mean oats! Buckwheat is very popular, millet common, yellow peas are also made into kasha.

Some classic main dishes can come in an individual earthenware pot called a gorshochok, and have been cooked this way in the oven. Pelmeni are a Russian version of ravioli, stuffed with meat and spices, cottage cheese or maybe potato. After boiling, they can be steamed in the oven in this pot, which is closed with a layer of the pasta dough. Smetana and fried onions are added on serving. The pots are used in many dishes as cooking in this way is said to replicate the taste achieved in a traditional Russian brick oven (pechka).

After all this you may struggle to fit in dessert, so maybe sweets or a little cake, and a cup of tea will suffice!