Russian Dishes in the 19th Century
An Englishwoman enjoys a feast in an upper class home in 19th century Russia
From: 1859 C.E. To: 1859 C.E.
Location: Russia
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Six Years Travels in Russia by an English Lady by Mary Anne Pellew Smith, 1859.
The first dish presented, and which was handed on the most approved plan, with a napkin wrapped round the hand was the national "borsh-schie," accompanied by patties of minced meat, and immediately succeeded by a servant bearing a large bowl of sour cream, of which every one partook, putting a spoonful or two of it into their soup. This borsh-schie is a super-excellent soup; it is made of several kinds of meat, such as beef, veal, and chickens, boiled together, with sour white cabbage; beet-root is sometimes added, but always sour cream, which thickens it agreeably.
Then followed another dish, also national; the renowned "blinnie," a kind of crumpet, but whiter and thinner, a pancake which no foreign cook can accomplish correctly. These are eaten thickly overspread with fresh caviare, or oiled butter. Then came a native fish, resembling in appearance a fine trout, but of immense size, smothered in white sauce, capers, and truffles, and ornamented with stars and crescents cut in carrots and turnips. And next, a pair of turkey-poults, boiled and cut up, but retaining their natural form, and stuck all over with silver arrows, upon which were strung mushrooms and sausages cut in small round slices the whole covered with white sauce; then followed green peas and French beans, preserved, a la Russe, fresh and green.
And after these a couple of tongues cut in thick slices. And now, frying and frizzling as it approaches, comes a silver saucepan full of something like golden-tinted rissoles, but which turn out to be potatoes fried German fashion. Then appeared a brace of grouse roasted in sour cream, and served with the national accompaniment of "brusnic"; a delicious bitter-sweet preserve made of an early kind of cranberry and the universal salt cucumber. Iced pudding and cream ice next made the line of one side of the table, for each dish just described had its duplicate, so that the party(nearly twenty)were almost simultaneously helped. This was by no means a dinner of ceremony, indeed it differed little from the ordinary daily meal but in the number of sweets presented after the pudding, which were positively endless in detail, though partaken of by few.
Wines of all kinds, principally French and Rhine wines, and the so-called English wines, viz. Port and Sherry, were there in profusion, and even Barclay's London porter, which here enjoys a high reputation.
Mary Ann Pellew Smith, Six Years Travels in Russia by an English Lady, vol. 1 (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1859), 143-145.
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