Russian Cuisine?

[Nick_Moscow 2]

"Returns will not be accepted on the basis of "I did not like the taste" reasons"

This is the hilarious note I saw at the bottom of the receipt of my first ever purchase in a Russian grocery store here in the US. There are many Russian dishes I love, and a few I can't stand. Obviously, if the owner put this phrase on her receipts, many, many people complained about the taste of Russian dishes!

I'll be honest - some of the dishes still shock me - xolodets, shuba, other mayonnaise-and-fish salads, and ukha (fish soup) are some of the standouts. And it's funny how so many "salads" can have cheese, mayonnaise, and meat.

Since my local Russian grocer took the trouble to add this message to her receipts, I'm guessing many Americans don't like Russian dishes? Do you in general like Russian food? What dishes are your favorites? Does your Eastern European wife still cook her native favorites, or does she now craft American cuisine?

[BatmanUSA 105]

she often tells me of all the different foods she will prepare... most sound good and I am willing to try them all.!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

You know what a Ukrainian 6 course meal is? Pork, potatoes, pork, potatoes, pork, potatoes.

As a native Texican I find Russian/Ukrainian food to be very mild, even bland. However most of it is very tasty! I like most of the salads, but not the fish salads or the salads made with beets/cabbage.

I love the Ukrainian meatballs (for lack of better term) blini with just about anything but my favorite is a Texan-ized version with pulled pork!

I do not care for most of the fish, but Alla loves fish and seafood so I often bake/broil shrimp, scallops, fish in a more normal American fashion. I leave the "stinky fish" to her by herself. I like Borscht which Alla makes often with meat, and she likes clam chowder! She is not a big fan of chili and in order for her to eat it, I have to leave out all the spices. No thanks! Some things just cannot be compromised!

Yes, we have a local Russian store and the proprietor is very good about knowing what his customers buy. If I am ever in there and forget which brand of something Alla buys, I can just ask him..."Oh, your wife likes this one" and hands me a can of stinky fish.

Try the Vereniki with cherries sometime! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Russian food tends to be very simple and natural, but NOT low fat/low starch. If you do not like pork, potatoes, onions and mayonnaise...do NOT marry a RUB woman!

[Dave&Roza 748]

Russian food tends to be very simple and natural, but NOT low fat/low starch. If you do not like pork, potatoes, onions and mayonnaise...do NOT marry a RUB woman!

Yes, marry a Kazakh instead as they do not eat Pork. They eat mostly Lamb with some beef and horse thrown in. Monti is a Lamb "ravoli" cooked on/in a mantovarka. Besbarmak, Lagman , Shashlik are all very good foods. The Kumiss (mare's ilk) is a bit much for me and I can only drink one glass--it it about like buttermilk to me. Shubat (Camel's milk) is a bit too acadic fir my lkiking, but the wife LOVES it. The best are the samsas as they are cheap, but if you buy them on the street they cost about 90 KTZ (less than a cent) but we typically call them mystry meat as you do not know what type of meat they use--and they are very greasy.

Dave

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

"Returns will not be accepted on the basis of "I did not like the taste" reasons"

This is the hilarious note I saw at the bottom of the receipt of my first ever purchase in a Russian grocery store here in the US. There are many Russian dishes I love, and a few I can't stand. Obviously, if the owner put this phrase on her receipts, many, many people complained about the taste of Russian dishes!

I'll be honest - some of the dishes still shock me - xolodets, shuba, other mayonnaise-and-fish salads, and ukha (fish soup) are some of the standouts. And it's funny how so many "salads" can have cheese, mayonnaise, and meat.

Since my local Russian grocer took the trouble to add this message to her receipts, I'm guessing many Americans don't like Russian dishes? Do you in general like Russian food? What dishes are your favorites? Does your Eastern European wife still cook her native favorites, or does she now craft American cuisine?

Russian food sucks, at least the way my wife cooks it. I even went with my wife to the local Russian restaurant and tried the pelmeni and I was disappointed with how it tasted. The only Russian dish that is palatable for me is Borscht.

[misha_ 8]

Honey, I can lose myself in your borscht, your pelmeni turn me on like a radio, and I can eat your potato salad all night long!

Edited March 17, 2013 by misha_

[Nick_Moscow 2]

Yes, marry a Kazakh instead as they do not eat Pork. They eat mostly Lamb with some beef and horse thrown in. Monti is a Lamb "ravoli" cooked on/in a mantovarka. Besbarmak, Lagman , Shashlik are all very good foods. The Kumiss (mare's ilk) is a bit much for me and I can only drink one glass--it it about like buttermilk to me. Shubat (Camel's milk) is a bit too acadic fir my lkiking, but the wife LOVES it. The best are the samsas as they are cheap, but if you buy them on the street they cost about 90 KTZ (less than a cent) but we typically call them mystry meat as you do not know what type of meat they use--and they are very greasy.

Dave

My wife is actually from Uzbekistan (lived there during USSR times), so she told me that she's familiar with every one of those dishes except Shubat! Her comment on the samsa's (which I really like too) is that the common trick is to put more onion than meat in them to cut down on costs.

Which reminds me of how great the xachipuri tasted (pita-like bread baked in a stone oven (called a tandir) with cheese filling)! I bought them all the time as a quick meal in between English lessons in Moscow; I'm sure they weren't too healthy but boy did they taste good! You can find them all over in Moscow in the street-vendor carts near the Metro stations.

And my comment on the manty (monti) should be handled wisely: yes they taste good but if you mix up the "t" with a "d" (as I did often), you're pronouncing not the name of tasty ravioli but a slang term for a part of a woman's anatomy. Which of course made for great fun when a girl in our group named Amanda would introduce herself to the Russians by her nickname Mandy

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Fortunately, my wife mostly loves Russian cuisine, so we often cook Russian meals at home. Well, anyway, even if she wouldn't like it, I still would cook it often, I just would eat it all on my own. Amy doesn't like just some specific food like holodetc or boiled beef tongue. But she loves borscht, Russian potato and tuna salad and many other meals, even marinaded herring and beetroot! Sometimes we also cook US cuisine, I love some meals from it - like pulled pork one of my favorites, I also like scalloped corn, stuffing, but of course I have meals I'm not excited about too, like green beans casserole and some others.

- Victor from Russia

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Fortunately, my wife mostly loves Russian cuisine, so we often cook Russian meals at home. Well, anyway, even if she wouldn't like it, I still would cook it often, I just would eat it all on my own. Amy doesn't like just some specific food like holodetc or boiled beef tongue. But she loves borscht, Russian potato and tuna salad and many other meals, even marinaded herring and beetroot! Sometimes we also cook US cuisine, I love some meals from it - like pulled pork one of my favorites, I also like scalloped corn, stuffing, but of course I have meals I'm not excited about too, like green beans casserole and some others.

- Victor from Russia

Да, Russian food is awesome. I've always been a seafood fan myself (which makes me an oddball in the Midwest), so I love all the "stinky fish" dishes. Love, love, love pelmini, shuba, shaurma (which, yeah, I know it's not really Russian, but it's super popular there), shashlyik (what's not to love about grilled meat on a stick?), borsch, bliny, Napoleon (which is impossible to find here and hard to make ), honey cake...Russians know how to eat. Yeah, the only thing I didn't like was holodetc and tongue, but it's more the texture of those things than the flavor. I'd say the biggest difference in our palates is that I love spicy food and he's not a big fan of it. We make both Russian and American food at home. We make chili sometimes too, but I just cook it mild and add my own hot sauce to mine, and it works fine.

~ Amy

Edited March 18, 2013 by Amy_and_Victor

[Hollyday 122]

What's the 'stinky fish'? (o.O)

My husband's tried a number of Eastern European foods (Russian/Ukrainian) and there's stuff he likes a lot like vareniki (dumplings) with mushrooms and potatoes and salted fish but he is kind of suspicious about tongue and holodets.

As for me, I actually don't like Borsch, but have any of you tried Solyanka? It's an awesome soup with many kinds of meat, lemon and olives in it.

[USSR 1]

Having spent quite a bit of time in Ukraine and Russia, I have no problem with most of the ethnic food. My one exception is, the Ukrainian national vegetable is the cucumber, and I HATE CUCUMBERS!!!

Don

[SMR 368]

What's the 'stinky fish'? (o.O)

My husband's tried a number of Eastern European foods (Russian/Ukrainian) and there's stuff he likes a lot like vareniki (dumplings) with mushrooms and potatoes and salted fish but he is kind of suspicious about tongue and holodets.

As for me, I actually don't like Borsch, but have any of you tried Solyanka? It's an awesome soup with many kinds of meat, lemon and olives in it.

Having been on the forum for a while, I have gathered that the 'stinky fish' is pickled herring or селедка. Personally I like it. Селедка под шубой is especially tasty. As far as Russian 'salads,' you just have to think of it like a macaroni or potato salad, not a green salad. Solyanka is good; I agree.

[Hollyday 122]

Having been on the forum for a while, I have gathered that the 'stinky fish' is pickled herring or селедка. Personally I like it. Селедка под шубой is especially tasty. As far as Russian 'salads,' you just have to think of it like a macaroni or potato salad, not a green salad. Solyanka is good; I agree.

Ohhh. I see. I do like it too. Maybe it's what lutefisk is to Norwegians for us.

PS: for all those travelling to/from Kiev: in Borispol there's a restaurant in terminal B called "Khutorok" (Хуторок), second floor (first if you count ground floor as zero) near departures' check-ins, - they used to have best solyanka i ever had (and great little pancakes stuffed with cherries). Not been there for 2 years but i'd give it a try again.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

What's the 'stinky fish'? (o.O)

My husband's tried a number of Eastern European foods (Russian/Ukrainian) and there's stuff he likes a lot like vareniki (dumplings) with mushrooms and potatoes and salted fish but he is kind of suspicious about tongue and holodets.

As for me, I actually don't like Borsch, but have any of you tried Solyanka? It's an awesome soup with many kinds of meat, lemon and olives in it.

Solotka. Also canned mackerel is not smelling too good!

Alla warns me about the son of the Russian store owner..."Do not buy solotka from him, he sold me a bad solotka, he should know better"

There is a "bad" solotka?

Edited March 18, 2013 by Gary and Alla

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Having been on the forum for a while, I have gathered that the 'stinky fish' is pickled herring or селедка. Personally I like it. Селедка под шубой is especially tasty. As far as Russian 'salads,' you just have to think of it like a macaroni or potato salad, not a green salad. Solyanka is good; I agree.

That too! Let's not leave any stinky fishes out!

If the salads do not have beets, cabbage or fish...I LOVE THEM

Also, you can expect your Russian wife to make enough food for 40 people and put it in the refrigerator in the pots and pans. I love the Amer/Rus parties with Amer/Rus couples that we have a couple times per year. We are up to 10 couples now, one is a Rus/Rus couple. Great fun, usually a "shashlik" outdoors with so much food it would feed an army! We have a big backyard and that has been a great place to have one, always lots of food, lots of drink (I end up being a "designated driver" to get people home)dancing, music and "blah, blah, blah" followed by the obligatory de-briefing afterward as Alla fills me in on all the Russian woman gossip and OMG! they gossip! (What was that Woody Allen movie where they go on about Masha and Dasha or some such?) The sun is usually coming up when we clean up the backyard.