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Flavors of the Russian North
We embarked on this trip with a limited view of Russian food. While familiar with a few Russian dishes like beef Stroganoff and borscht, we anticipated a diet dominated by cabbage, potatoes, beets, and bread. Our group was unprepared for the overwhelming hospitality of Archangels - their warmth, their friendliness, and their delicious home-cooked food, beautifully prepared and presented with care and taste. From the moment we were greeted with the traditional bread and salt welcoming ceremony, to the festive final banquet at our hotel, we saw and tasted wonderful food, often prepared from ingredients indigenous to New England. Some dishes were similar to ours, while others used familiar ingredients in new and different ways. The idea of a cookbook developed over slices of cake and cups of Russian tea! We collected recipes, began reading about food and cooking in Russia, and became increasingly familiar with the distinctive characteristics of North Russian cuisine, which features dishes made of fish, mushrooms, berries, soups, kasha, root vegetables, and dairy products. In the same way that we adapt our traditional dishes to accommodate current health trends and new seasonings, an Archangel cook uses available products and new information to produce old family favorites in a contemporary way. While most of the recipes in this book are historically North Russian, a few are from friends who came to Archangel from other areas of the former Soviet Union, bringing with them their regional specialties. A word about Russian hospitality. A recent visitor from Russia was heard to remark, "Americans have a lot of food, but put little on the table. Russians have little food, but somehow they make the table groan." Even now, our Archangel friends, although pressed for time and suffering shortages and high prices, are creative and energetic in presenting to guests a beautiful table of food, much of which they have preserved from summer gardens or fishing trips. This book has elements of a scholarly, historical review of North Russian food, but it is primarily a community cookbook-perhaps the first ever for a community in Russia. While the writing of community cookbooks is an American tradition, creating this particular book involved several additional steps and the skills of many people on both sides of the ocean. We were especially lucky to have the advice and help of Archangel friends, either visiting, or now living in, Greater Portland. We hope we have given proper credit to everyone who contributed. The recipes in this book were collected over a four-year period during our frequent exchanges. Many required translation into English by our local team of dedicated Russian speakers. Each recipe was tested, at least once, and adapted, when necessary, to American food products and kitchen equipment. One of the particularly enjoyable social aspects of creating this book were the many "tastings" we held to test these Russian dishes prepared with American products. This joint project has been one of learning and sharing. The people of Archangel have offered their recipes and knowledge, and we have contributed our time and talents to turn this information into a true community cookbook. While only a few years ago our governments were shaking fists and sharing only threats and warnings, we are now, like friends everywhere, sharing over a kitchen table our recipes, and with them our national, regional, family, and cultural traditions. We have had a lot of fun and have eaten a lot of good food in the making of this book. We hope to pass along to you, through these recipes, a few of the FLAVORS OF THE RUSSIAN NORTH. Kathleen Leslie, Editor North Russian cuisine, a happy blending of East and West, undoubtedly has its roots in country peasant cooking. Influenced by natural, historic and socioeconomic events, the much-refined versions of these early Slavic dishes often graced the tables of later aristocrats. And in Russia today it is this so-called peasant cuisine that provides some of the most delightful meals. In early Russian history, the food of town dwellers was not very different from that of the country peasants. The towns began as trade centers, bordered by agricultural settlements, and the inhabitants preserved the rural traditions. The most important feature of the early Russian peasant home was the stove, which often occupied as much as a third of the winter living space. This wonderful stove served a variety of purposes. It had two sections for cooking-one for slow simmering and one for quick baking. It was used for heat and offered a space for bathing. It also provided a sleeping ledge where grandmother, small children or a visiting guest could spend a cozy night. Early influences in the evolution of the Russian kitchen include the 9th century Vikings, who introduced the population to herring and to the techniques of preserving and drying foods. In the 13th century the Mongol-Tatar invaders brought with them the samovar, and, during their two and a half-century domination of the country, introduced new spices from the East and techniques for grilling meat, making sour clotted milk and curd cheese, and pickling cabbage to make sauerkraut. The North has always depended on fish, as the long, bitter winters prevented farmers from developing large herds of animals. Root vegetables could be kept nearly all winter, and salting, pickling, drying, and preserving were ways to have fruits, berries, mushrooms, and vegetables all year round. Mushroom and berry gathering were, and still are, important features of life in the Russian North. Grains for bread-making, cereals, beans, lentils, and peas were important food items. Kvas, a fermented bread drink, was an early beer-like beverage. Other drinks were made from herbs and honey. As the agricultural economy gave way to industrialization, food preparation became more sophisticated and involved. Cities expanded their trade, and the inhabitants began to import from other cities and countries a variety of new products. Russia is a vast country with diverse natural conditions, customs, and folklore, leading inevitably to the development of regional cuisine. At the turn of the 17th century, Russia began to look West and to adopt Western clothing and customs-at least among the nobility. Western food products became common and Western chefs were imported along with their recipes. Many of the dishes for which Russia is now famous were developed during this period, influenced by these French, German and Austrian chefs. Peasant fare continued to be sparse and simple, but the food of the wealthy became even more varied and elegant. Archangel and other northern seaport cities were especially influenced by this contact with the West. In 1917 all that changed. Under the Communists, opulence was frowned upon. Even standard cookbooks, which described elegant dishes requiring a vast array of readily available food products, were no longer printed and were sold only on the black market. Religious holidays were no longer officially observed, and many of the special dishes associated with them fell out of favor. Everyone worked, men and women alike, and it was impossible to prepare the complicated recipes that sometimes took days to complete. Quick cooking became the style, although even today Russian women spend much more time in food preparation than their American counterparts. Progress in the distribution of food, however, meant that the inhabitants of the North could occasionally enjoy many southern fruits and vegetables. Lettuce would arrive in Archangel from Azerbaijan, peppers from Moldova and eggplants from Georgia. The popularity of regional specialties spread throughout the Soviet Union. In recent years, because of many
food shortages, our friends in Archangel have had to be very inventive in
creating interesting and tasty dishes out of available products. And
today, although there are fewer shortages, food prices are high, meaning that
creativeness, the summer vegetable garden, and the preserving of food is still
very much the order of the day.
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