Russian Cooking

It's seems that a lot of people think Russian cooking is super complicated! But it's not! Mainly it's putting things in pots, adding salt and pepper, and cooking it till it's dead! GIGGLE Spice's? We don't need no sticking spice's!

One of my favorite side dish's is Cucumbers. Yes, cucumbers.... but no dish is any kind of dish unless you add sour cream!!!

You slice and peel cucumbers, add salt, pepper, grated onion, and some dill... and of course sour cream




I make this dish all the time, just to snack on.

Even our complicated dish's like Blinni's are easy to make. I loved the potato Blinnie's my mom made. They were thin and lite like crapes, but hardy to eat because they were made with potatoes. They were always served with butter... and SOUR CREAM! LOL

Though some times my Mom would make... "verashotk". Honesty, I'm not sure where that came from, or if it's spelled right... but, you put:

Chicken, pork, fresh kielbasa, duck, and any other left over meat in a pot, and cook it down to a thick sauce. You remove the bones, and use the Blinnie's to scoop it up and eat it.

Then she also made Blinni's with out the potato, these were thinner, more like crape's...except they used yeast in them to make them light and fluffy. These were usually served with, of course, sour cream, and fresh fruit or some fruit Jelly on top.

And, yes, when I mention "Ducks blood soup" people go ewwwwwwww... and it is made with real, fresh, ducks blood, and lots of it.... but it's the most incredibly yummmy soup in the WHOLE WORLD! At least in my opinion. LOL

Basically, if it's not trying to run away, (and even if it is) put it in a pot and cook it down. A lot of organ meats make it rich and spicy. Kidney, heart, liver.... it all is added to the mix!

The only thing I never like was my Mom's "Tripe Soup" Loved the soup, but eating Tripe is like chewing an old piece of gum.... you can chew forever and never get it soft enough to swallow... but adding it to a soup gives it a fantastic flavor!

My favorite soup of all time was "Stafh" it's a weed that grows all over the U.S. When chewed it tastes like lemons! You probably have a ton of it in your back yard right now, and don't even know it!! It's also called sorrel! (and you can buy it to grow in most GOOD garden centers that have tons of herbs... our go find in in a yard and pick to your hearts content.

We kids, spent many a summer day in fields, picking this for our parents to cook up!!



In the summer go out and see if you can find it, I guarantee you will. Chew a piece and it's like chewing a lemon!!

Tons of this is added to chicken stock, and cooked. Then you boil potatoes, mash them up with some browned onions and salt pork!! You eat the soup by taking a spoon full of the potatoes, and dipping it into the soup. OMG!!! It's fantastic!!

No matter what others tell you... real Russian cooking is very basic, and rustic.

I don't think we have ever used any herbs for cooking besides some, Rosemary (and rosemary was only used with pork), dill (and dill was only used with cucumbers!), and salt and pepper! And of course SOUR CREAM! We use that in just about EVERYTHING!

Now to gross you out.... my Mom's favorite snack? She would pour a bowl of milk... add a shot glass of vinegar.. cover it and leave it till it turned totally sour and solid!!! Then she would put it in the fridge to chill, while she boiled potatoes. After is was nice and cold, you ate it with the boiled potatoes. Don't ewwwww, cause it actually tasted pretty good!!!! After all, that IS how Sour Cream is made... she just made her own!!!!