Day Seven: The Duet

A side note before I begin the post: this is the final entry of this segment of the blog. I'll elaborate on the future of this blog in a later post.

In Novgorod, I went with a bunch of folks in my study abroad group to a little cafe along the Volkhov river. We probably pissed off the locals as we struggled to order from the restaurant's only English menu. I was craving something meaty that day, so I ordered something called a *DUET* off the menu and a Baltika to go with it. I knew it was going to involve chicken, pork, and garlic in some form, but I did not expect to see what arrived at my table:

This is the sort of ridiculous food item I thought I could find only in America. It was a chicken cutlet stuck to a pork cutlet with garlic served with a pretty tasty carrot slaw.

There's the pork.

While the meat was kind of dry, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every minute of eating this. What a novel meal! It's not difficult to make, either.

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Reflection on a Week of Russian Cooking

This entry nearly concludes my week of Russian cooking. There was supposed to be another update today, but as something sudden came up, I did not have time to cook. The final day of Russian cooking will take place tomorrow.

As time consuming as this project was, it was thoroughly enjoyable to relive some of the culinary experiences I had in Russia. While what I cooked wasn't exactly the same as what I ate in Russia, I was surprised at how delicious the recipes I made turned out, especially given the sorry state of my kitchen! I believe I'm a more confident home cook now than I was when I started this project.

A side effect of this project is that I didn't go hungry this week. Each of my meals were planned, so I didn't have to think too hard about dinner. The night before I cooked each dish, I wrote up a shopping list and picked up the food I needed after work. I tried to cook as soon as I got home, but on some days I waited until later or couldn't get the ingredients until later. I ate much healthier this week than I usually do (an odd thing to say when each day's meal consisted of butter and/or sour cream in some form) and I still have a lot of food left for later. There's a lot of effort involved, so I couldn't do this every week unless I never had to work again. It was a fun experience, though!

Some other things I found interesting about this project:
- While Russian food is still mostly meat, potatoes, sour cream, and butter, I used less butter than I thought I would. I bought too much butter and had to go back to the store for sour cream.
- I ate less this week than I normally do, but less is more when food contains this much dairy.
- It's possible to put too much cheese in something. (See the post on khachapuri.)
- Georgian food is simpler to prepare than it looks. The most difficult part involves finding the right spices, which isn't impossible thanks to the internet. Chicago probably has some stores that would carry these kinds of spices, but they're not as convenient and I didn't need the spices immediately.

I have a few more days with the cookbooks I checked out from the library, so I will be copying the recipes I liked the best and saving them for later. The chakokhbili is definitely one of them - I'd love to pass it on and I hope others will be as impressed with it as I was. As for my leftovers, my father and I will eat some and I'll distribute the rest to interested (and hungry) friends.

If you paid attention to this blog, thanks for reading!

Day Six: Chakokhbili (Georgian Chicken Stew)

During the meal at Tbiliso mentioned in my earlier post about khachapuri, we were served a pretty little plate of Georgian chicken and herb stew. Every other dish in this meal was delicious, but this dish made the meal into one of the best I've ever eaten.

Sailing the seas of deliciousness!

The flavors seemed so familiar and reminded me somewhat of Persian food. As soon as I finished eating it, I missed it and wished I knew the name of it so I could try cooking it later.

It took a little bit of research to find out that this stew is called chakokhbili. The recipe I found on the internet seemed doable, so I looked it up in The Classic Cuisine of Soviet Georgia and found it there. The recipe didn't seem to be too complicated, but the spices involved were unfamiliar. I was able to find most of them at Penzeys down the street, but nowhere I looked had dried marigold petals.

I looked absolutely everywhere I could on the internet in search of marigold petals. I didn't find anything suitable for use in food, but I ran into this blog post when I started searching for the specific kind of fenugreek my cookbook called for. It included a link to this online spice shop that sold khmeli suneli, a Georgian spice mixture which contains fenugreek and the marigold petals I needed to complete my recipe. I ordered it immediately and was happy to know that, with this, I could bring this wonderful dish into my home!

Before this project started, I asked my foodie friend Chiana if she'd be interested in cooking this particular dish with me. Saturday morning is when the local farmers' market takes place, Chiana was available and ready to cook, and the khmeli suneli conveniently arrived yesterday. The stars have aligned just in time for an exciting moment of kitchen teamwork!

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Day Five: Golubtsy (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

I did not eat golubtsy while I was in Russia, so I can't begin this entry with a picture or a story. I previously had the Polish, Bulgarian, and Greek variants of this dish (the latter two were wrapped with grape leaves), so when I found a recipe for golubtsy in The Russian Heritage Cookbook, I decided to try it out.

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Day Four: Chicken Kiev

If I didn't know any better (and I was in this position), I'd assume that Chicken Kiev had Slavic origins and not think about it beyond that. However, that's not the case. According to this source and many others that a quick search on Google led me to, Chicken Kiev was created by a French chef in the 1700s due to Russia's love for foreign influence. However, this source (which actually links to other sources) states that Chicken Kiev's origins are hard to discern and it might have either been a Ukranian invention or a Soviet invention. In short, the origins of Chicken Kiev are as confusing as the inspiration behind St. Petersburg. (You may interpret this as a slight against Peter I.)

There was a small food court in the ritzy mall next to the hotel I had stayed in at St. Petersburg. After my classmates had convinced me that eating at this food court was a good value, I went there and was thrilled that they had Chicken Kiev.

Isn't it pretty? The food had a good flavor, but I cut open the Chicken Kiev expecting to find delicious molten butter and there was none of it. None! For something that looked so good, I was thoroughly disappointed. This irked me so much that I swore I had to cook it myself when I returned home. And so I did!

I checked in The Russian Heritage Cookbook for a Chicken Kiev recipe, but the one it had contained truffles and that's far too rich for my blood. I Googled and used this recipe instead, which had ingredients I could readily access (and mostly had).

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Day Three: Russian Chicken in a Pot

During the first group meal my study abroad group had in Novgorod, we had a regional dish that was served in the clay pot it was baked in. To this day, I do not know the Russian name of this dish, but it translates to something along the lines of "chicken in a pot".

Whoever decided to combine chicken, potatoes, cheese, and sour cream in the same piping hot dish is a genius. This was so good that I finished every bite.

A few days later, we had a variation of the same dish with fish and mushrooms instead of chicken. Though I'm not fond of fish and I wasn't as eager to finish this as I was with the chicken variation, it was still a delicious dish.

When I returned, I knew I had to cook this dish sometime in the future. I tried searching for the dish by looking up the ingredients in the dish, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I finally e-mailed the professors who hosted the trip and, while I still didn't get the name of the dish, I got the recipe:

You will need 1 pound of fish, 5-6 potatoes, 2-3 onions, 4 table spoons of sour cream, 2 ounces of cheese, 2 table spoons of butter, 1/2 glass of fish stock, lemon, 1/3 cup water, salt and pepper.  You cut fish into pieces, salt and pepper it, sprinkle lemon on it and leave for 15-20 minutes.  Slightly saute the onions.  Peel the potatoes and cut them into circles.  In a clay pot put a bit of butter at the bottom, then a layer of fish, a layer of potatoes, and a layer of onions, again fish, potatoes and onions.  Pour the fish stock into the pot and put in the oven for 15 minutes.  Then put the sour cream and grated cheese on top, and back into the oven until the dish is ready.

I intended to cook chicken in a pot for two people, so I halved the recipe and used chicken breasts and chicken stock instead of the fish equivalents. Even so, the recipe is missing what I'd consider to be pretty important components: the temperature the dish should be baked at and how long it takes for it to be ready. Despite this, I dove in - I'd figure it out on the way, right?

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Day Two: Georgian Khachapuri

The best meal I ever ate was at a Georgian restaurant in St. Petersburg called Tbiliso. Before then, I did not even know what Georgian food was. After eating the meal, I was sorry I did not know what it was. The spices in the food reminded me of the Persian food my grandfather would make for me and my family enjoyed together. I plan to make two Georgian recipes during this week, the first being Georgian cheese bread (or khachapuri).

The cheese bread is in the back, behind the traditional beef soup.

At Tbiliso, our slice of cheesy goodness was made in house and topped with deliciously tangy homemade cheese. I doubted the recipe I had would come close to that (from what I saw on Google Image Search, khachapuri is an incredibly varied food item), but the concept of cheese bread is so good that I figured I'd enjoy it no matter the form it was in.

I got this recipe for Emeruli Khachapuri from The Classic Cuisine of Soviet Georgia. I couldn't find the English Lancashire the recipe called for, so I substituted with the suggested medium sharp white cheddar and Monterey jack.

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Day One: Pelmeni and Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Pelmeni was the food item I remember eating the most in Russia. The fact that they were Siberian meat dumplings piqued my interest - how exotic in a land of meat and potatoes cuisine! Turns out that they too were meaty and simple, but oh so delicious. I ate them three different times in Russia and they were different each time I ate them.

The first order of pelmeni I ate was comparatively expensive and seemed to be prepared differently than the other two. (Maybe they were steamed?) The meat was more tender than the other two and there was an interesting spice combination in the meat mixture. I suppose that made it worth the money.

The second order of pelmeni was served in the water it was cooked in and was shaped sort of like tortelloni. It was cheap, plentiful, and delicious!

The third order of pelmeni was served without liquid and with vinegar as well as sour cream. Eating it with the vinegar made me wonder why I hadn't had it this way before.

To balance out the meal, I decided to make the tomato and cucumber salad I enjoyed each morning for breakfast in Novgorod.

I wish American breakfasts were as varied as Russian breakfasts. Along with blini (which are sort of like crepes), I usually ate an open faced sandwich with salami and cheese, some sort of lightly dressed slaw (either cabbage and carrot, red cabbage, or just carrot), and a lightly dressed tomato and cucumber salad that was absolutely delicious. There were also sweets, other meat options, and either coffee or tea (I went for the latter). Something for everyone!

The recipe I found included green pepper and onion, neither of which were in the original salad but both of which I have no problems with.

Both recipes are from The Russian Heritage Cookbook and are incredibly simple to make.

Click the link below get to the cooking!

A Week of Russian Cooking

It's been a little over three weeks since I'd returned from my study abroad trip to Russia. Everything's still a blur of devoutly painted religious frescoes and other lovely works of art, walking alongside buildings and structures that are much older than the country I was born in, rows of little old ladies selling tchotchkes, far too many tourists blocking the flow of foot traffic with their cameras and awkward poses, and folks who were stuck in Russia after missing the Captain Hook impersonator convention. Only one thing is clear to me: there is a massive hole in my heart (and stomach) that can only be filled with Russian food.

I didn't know what the food would be like in Russia before I went there. I knew about borsch and I figured that Russian cuisine would mostly involve meat, dairy, and potatoes, but I didn't learn the specifics until my first meal in Novgorod:


Lesson #1: Russian salad is neither leafy nor green. It's creamy and probably contains meat and potatoes in some form.


Lesson #2: Soup is always served with a dollop of sour cream.


Lesson #3: Dairy in Russia is different enough from dairy in America in that it doesn't bother me to eat something made almost entirely of cream and cheese after eating the previous two courses.

I left my first meal satisfied. All of the other meals I ate with my study abroad group were just as satisfying. When I was scavenging for food on my own, I was mostly happy with what I found. Now that I'm back home and have finally gotten used to it being dark at night, I barely know what to do with myself. I cooked a meal or two from scratch and they were good, but I'm craving Russian food. Nothing tastes as good as blini in the morning, pelmeni for dinner, or any sort of Georgian food served any time I can have it. Now is the time to relive the culinary joy I had in Russia!

I went to my local library and checked out two cookbooks:



On the left is The Russian Heritage Cookbook by Lynn Visson and on the right is The Classic Cuisine of Soviet Georgia by Julianne Margvelashvili. These cookbooks will be my primary sources on my culinary quest to recreate the food I enjoyed in Russia. Will my pale recreations be any good? Who knows!

I figure I should choose a few recipes to work on before I actually start this project (especially since I'm starting tomorrow). I'll start with pelmeni tomorrow and work my way to more complicated recipes as the week progresses. I'm thinking of making golubtsy, chicken kiev (I have a bet to settle with myself), khachapuri, and perhaps some small salady sort of thing I could eat in the mornings. I'd really like to make chakokhbili (Georgian chicken with herbs), but I need a special spice for it that I'm unsure I'll get in the mail before the beginning of next month. If I can get the Russian name for the Novgorodian chicken in a pot (depicted earlier in this post), I'd like to cook that as well.

I'm ready for a week of Russian cooking! My afternoons will finally be put to good use.