Russian
Kulebyaka (Layered Salmon and Rice Pie)
Russia's great fish pie: salmon, rice, mushrooms, boiled egg and dill stacked in layers and baked in a pastry case, with a thin pancake laid between one layer and the next so the fillings do not mix. Escoffier brought it to France in the early twentieth century.
Shchi (Cabbage Soup, Fresh or Soured)
The Russian cabbage soup, and one whose identity is its sourness. Where that sourness comes from changes with the season — the cabbage itself, sauerkraut, or a sour leaf such as sorrel — and which one you pick changes the order things go into the pot.
Olivier Salad (Diced Potato, Egg and Pickle Bound with Mayonnaise)
Russia’s salad, and compulsory on a New Year table: potato, egg, pickled cucumber, peas and ham all cut to the same small dice and bound with mayonnaise. Temperature is the whole thing. Mayonnaise is a finished emulsion, and warm food breaks it from the outside — the fat softens and coalesces while steam condenses into it and thins it. So everything goes in completely cold and dry, which is the exact opposite of the rule for a German potato salad.
Medovik (Honey Layer Cake)
A Russian cake of eight to twelve thin honey layers stacked with soured cream. Soda bread must be baked within minutes of acid meeting bicarbonate; medovik runs that reaction to the end in a pan before any flour goes in. Honey is acidic, bicarbonate of soda meets that acid over heat, and the mass foams to twice its volume.
Solyanka (Sour Soup of Cured Meats and Brine)
A sour Russian soup of smoked sausage and ham with brined cucumbers, olives, capers and lemon. Much of the sourness comes from pickle brine, an acid that is already salty, so you cannot fix the salt first and then add acid bit by bit: more sour means more salt. The broth stays under-salted until the end.
Ukha (Clear Fish Soup with Dill and Vodka)
Russia’s clear fish soup. It is not a broth made in advance and used in something else — the broth is the dish, so the rules of stock-making invert one by one. Fish bones turn bitter past twenty or thirty minutes, so more time is not available, and depth has to come from the number of fish instead: cheap small fish are boiled first and thrown away, and the good fish goes into that liquid for ten minutes. No fat goes in at any point, which is why the broth has to stay clear, and why it is salted from the first pot rather than at the end.
Blini (Yeast-Raised Buckwheat Pancakes)
Russian pancakes from a buckwheat and wheat batter raised with yeast. What separates them from every other pancake is how they are leavened. Baking powder makes gas while the pan is hot; yeast spends an hour or two beforehand making gas and acid together. So blini come out faintly sour rather than merely fluffy, which is why they hold up under soured cream or smoked fish instead of being flattened by them.
Pelmeni (Meat Dumplings)
Russian dumplings: thin dough around a raw meat filling, pinched into a ring, boiled and served under soured cream. What separates them from every other dumpling comes after the shaping. They are not eaten fresh — they go onto a tray into the freezer, and then straight into boiling water still frozen, never thawed. The habit comes from a time when a Siberian winter was the freezer, and it still makes the better dumpling.
Beef Stroganoff
A Russian classic of thinly sliced beef and mushrooms in a sour cream sauce, served over egg noodles or rice. Searing the beef fast keeps it tender — a comforting one-pan dish.