Eastern European Cuisine

[captainofiron 2]

Mi Tierra is great also. I loved their bakery and always got the "cactus candy" there. I grew up in Runnels county,SW of Abilene, I lived in Odessa also...Odessa, Ukraine. I lived in the Dallas area for 12 years when my work brought me there.

Seriously, Matt and his father are the only father/son combo ever inducted into the Texas Restaraunt Hall of Fame" (WooHoo!) I still use his recipe for chili exclusively (no beans of course, chili does NOT have beans!) He was a great hunting buddy and we hunted all sorts of stuff all over Texas, Colorado and Montana. He was the "camp cook" of course.

I laughed when I saw the name of his cook book (which is also a family history) "Mex-Tex" He always called his food "Mex-Tex" NOT "Tex-Mex"! He is one of the funniest guys I ever met with a very droll, dry humor. One time a rather self centered horse dumped me off and ran back to the house. Matt had already come back from the morning hunt and was sitting on the porch with my dad. My horse returned without me. So a bit later I see Matt riding along with my horse. He comes up and says "Your dad hates it when your horse comes back empty" You had to be there, I suppose. He has a very pleasant, very beautful Mexican wife and he would always entertain us with his stories about how "Estella would kill me if..." I bet she never raised her voice to him.

HAHAHAHAHA

Thats cool man, I will definitely have to check that restaurant and book out

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

HAHAHAHAHA

Thats cool man, I will definitely have to check that restaurant and book out

I keep promising to cook some of his receipes for Alla, but she is not too wild about spicy food, I guess I can dial back the heat a little. She does not like chili.

He also gave me recipes for really wild sounding casseroles (he made these for hunting camp as they can be cooked all in one pan) "Frogmoor Stew" and "Dragon Stew" are my favorites. He also adopted my father's recipe for "bean casserole". You won't find these on the restaraunt menu though.

[captainofiron 2]

I keep promising to cook some of his receipes for Alla, but she is not too wild about spicy food, I guess I can dial back the heat a little. She does not like chili.

He also gave me recipes for really wild sounding casseroles (he made these for hunting camp as they can be cooked all in one pan) "Frogmoor Stew" and "Dragon Stew" are my favorites. He also adopted my father's recipe for "bean casserole". You won't find these on the restaraunt menu though.

Yea Yana hates spicy foods, I would have thought its a Russian thing, except for her friend loves it and eats Jalapenos like nothing

[slim 1,525]

I was in Detroit once and we visited a "Mexican" restaurant, and oh wow it was bad

We have pretty good Mexican food here in the Cincinnati area because the restaurants are all staffed by Mexicans.

we end up with a stack of hard tasteless cookies in vanilla sauce.

That's what it's supposed to taste like! Russian cakes are never too sweet. My wife is always wanting to make cakes and "dessert" and I'm always stressing to her to add more sugar or chocolate or something. When I eat cake, I want it to be sweet but she doesn't like anything too rich. "Fooooo. I taste only sweet and even can't concentrate on flavor. Fooooo. Give me tea."

She's becoming more desensitized as time goes on. More and more of "my dessert" starts disappearing.

Yea Yana hates spicy foods, I would have thought its a Russian thing, except for her friend loves it and eats Jalapenos like nothing

My wife kills some spices. Just about everything she makes (that I'll eat) has a spicy kick to it. Then again, she's more Asian than European so the whole "let's pretend we've never heard of any spices and just eat this with some sour cream on it" doesn't really apply. She likes sour cream, but she's more likely to add some spicy sauce than sour cream or mayo.

Since being here, she's come to love hot sauce. Generic ol' "hot sauce" from the little bottle. Anything that's supposed to be spicy she'll add a few shakes to it. I'll put some on and she'll be like, "Add some sauce. You put so little. Put more, blat."

[amberdima 6]

i chose Vareniki. my husband has made me 'lazy variniki' which involves not stuffing the dough. he just shaped it, boiled it, and mixed the warm, cooked dough with fresh berries and sour cream. vkysna!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

i chose Vareniki. my husband has made me 'lazy variniki' which involves not stuffing the dough. he just shaped it, boiled it, and mixed the warm, cooked dough with fresh berries and sour cream. vkysna!

One of Alla's cook books was on the counter this morning, open to the page for "beef Vareniki" Looks like it is "What's for dinner"

[SMR 368]

One of Alla's cook books was on the counter this morning, open to the page for "beef Vareniki" Looks like it is "What's for dinner"

I suppose I am unenlightened, but it was my understanding that vareniki and pelmeni are distinguished by the fact that pelmeni contain meat and varniki don't. They are different shapes also but that is so you can tell them apart when you see them. So how can there be beef vareniki?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I suppose I am unenlightened, but it was my understanding that vareniki and pelmeni are distinguished by the fact that pelmeni contain meat and varniki don't. They are different shapes also but that is so you can tell them apart when you see them. So how can there be beef vareniki?

No. Vareniki is distinguished by the thickness of the dough. Vareniki use a thicker dough. It is the Ukrainian version of pel'meni, AND vareniki are not frozen before cooking. Vareniki s Miasom is "beef vareniki"

[Brad and Vika 129]

Vika reports that vareniki can have meat, cheese, or sweet stuff inside. Also that pilmeni do in fact have thin dough because they are smaller. We normally eat blini with sweets or fruit in them, and the pilmeni and vareniki have meat or cheese.

[SMR 368]

No. Vareniki is distinguished by the thickness of the dough. Vareniki use a thicker dough. It is the Ukrainian version of pel'meni, AND vareniki are not frozen before cooking. Vareniki s Miasom is "beef vareniki"

Vika reports that vareniki can have meat, cheese, or sweet stuff inside. Also that pilmeni do in fact have thin dough because they are smaller. We normally eat blini with sweets or fruit in them, and the pilmeni and vareniki have meat or cheese.

Interesting. In Siberia, the only difference I could see at the store was the shape and the fact that vareniki always contained vegetables while pelmeni contained meat. They were all frozen before cooking. If allowed to thaw before cooking the dough becomes sticky and weird things happen. While vareniki sometimes have sweet jams or fruits inside, most of them had mashed potatoes, onions, or cabbage (I don't recommend cabbage). I suppose the thickness may have varied but I didn't notice it. Vareniki s Miasom is really just meat vareniki, literally translated.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Interesting. In Siberia, the only difference I could see at the store was the shape and the fact that vareniki always contained vegetables while pelmeni contained meat. They were all frozen before cooking. If allowed to thaw before cooking the dough becomes sticky and weird things happen. While vareniki sometimes have sweet jams or fruits inside, most of them had mashed potatoes, onions, or cabbage (I don't recommend cabbage). I suppose the thickness may have varied but I didn't notice it. Vareniki s Miasom is really just meat vareniki, literally translated.

Some is due to my bad translation of the cookbook and the recipe calls for beef, so I assumed...anyway, the recipe also states, roughly translated, "unlike pel'mini vareniki are not frozen before cooking" I suppose this is some purist Ukrainian thing...like us Texicans who want to hang people for putting beans in Chili (Chili does NOT have beans!) and in the real world people play fast and losse with the rules and even put macaroni in "chili"...I have to stop now, I am getting all choked up

[slim 1,525]

Texicans who want to hang people for putting beans in Chili (Chili does NOT have beans!) and in the real world people play fast and losse with the rules and even put macaroni in "chili"...

This stuff's made in New York City. New York City?

Get a rope.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Some is due to my bad translation of the cookbook and the recipe calls for beef, so I assumed...anyway, the recipe also states, roughly translated, "unlike pel'mini vareniki are not frozen before cooking" I suppose this is some purist Ukrainian thing...

Vika cooks enough to feed a hungry family of four, so some of the vareniki get frozen. Doesn't seem to hurt 'em though.

[birdnest 0]

I keep promising to cook some of his receipes for Alla, but she is not too wild about spicy food, I guess I can dial back the heat a little. She does not like chili.

He also gave me recipes for really wild sounding casseroles (he made these for hunting camp as they can be cooked all in one pan) "Frogmoor Stew" and "Dragon Stew" are my favorites. He also adopted my father's recipe for "bean casserole". You won't find these on the restaraunt menu though.

Hello everyone with ties to Eastern Europe. I usually am able to avoid the temptation to respond to these strings, but I could not avoid this topic. I love food, good food that is. Reading this string made me salivate. I think I need to make another trip to Kiev. First of all, I saw that salty fish stuff in the grocery stores, I just plugged my nose and picked up the pace. Catch a fresh Walleye to fry.

My vote is for Borsch. My mother make the best, with chunks of beef in it, and dill. I have not had my wife’s yet, she claims she make it often. Someday, but probably not very soon, it seems we may never get through this visa journey. My ancestors are Germans from Russia. (Odessa Area) They did bring to North Dakota some very good recipes. I was impressed by the selection of breads in the grocery stores in Kiev, the meats are big time thumbs down, but very good sausages, I guess that is what you can do with poor quality meats.

The Vareniki is very good, love it with cherries inside. Here in North Dakota Vareniki is known as cheese buttons. Here in North Dakota there is a group of Ukraine women that mass produce it and sell it in the grocery stores, as Vareniki, stuffed with cottage cheese, cabbage or potatoes.

It has been fun reading this post. I hape I responed to this post in the proper way?

birdnest

[slim 1,525]

So far, so good, birdnest. The typical RUB forum way of posting is business first, then guns and pie. Now that you've handled "official business" what's your favorite pie and what kind of guns do you shoot?

Welcome to the forum.

P.S. I had the "joy" of living in Minot for two winters.