RUSSIAN CUISINE

Russians really love cooking. We usually celebrate holidays with a lot of food, presents and in big companies of relatives and friends, because the main traits of Russian characters are «open heart» and «golden hands». I would like to tell you about Traditional Russian cooking. It is a well-known fact that most Russians are patriots of their country: Russian people keep up a lot of folk traditions. The favourite Russian folk tradition is Maslenitsa. The essential element of Maslenitsa celebration is Russian pancakes, made of rich foods like butter, eggs and milk. They are usually eaten with sour cream or caviar.

Also Blini are practically the same as English pancakes. They are served with butter and sugar. Blinchiki are very thin blini. Of course they are made from other dough. Besides there are blinchiki with stuffing. There is a plenty of different stuffing. For example blinchiki with cottage cheese, meat, jam.
Sirniki is made from dough containing lots of cottage cheese and fried on a pan. They are usually served with sour cream and sugar.

Kasha (porridge) is another traditional dish for Russia. Not only porridge is popular but also cereal made from other different grains.

There is also traditional salad in Russia - this is olivye! Russians prepare it on every holiday. It has become a great tradition. It is prepared from boiled chicken, potato, carrot, conserved peas, pickled cucumbers, onion and mayonnaise. It’s really very tasty.

Another dish of Russian cuisine containing a lot of ingredients is okroshka. The word “okroshka” comes from the verb “kroshit” that in English means “to crumble”, “to cut”. So the name of the course speaks for itself because during its preparing many kinds of products are crumbled and cut.
The base of the course is kvass. Kvass is a traditional drink in Russia itself.
All that you need to do is to add there boiled meat, eggs, potherb, cucumbers, radish and the soup is ready. Finally you get delicious cold soup which is the favorite dish of many Russian especially in the summer time.

Russian cuisine is famous for its natural products. Russian people are fond of gathering, drying and using mushrooms and all kinds of forest berries in the dishes.

Bread plays a very important role in the meal. Russians eat bread with practically all dishes. We cook light and dark bread. The color of bread depends on the kind of flour is used for its preparation. In the past bread was baked in special ovens in the country. That bread has a wonderful taste and of course it can’t be compared with that bread which shops supply. Unfortunately this tradition is disappearing nowadays, although some elderly people continue baking bread and don’t buy it in the shops.