Merry Orthodox Christmas!

[Daveman]

So I sit here yet again stuffed with more food that is humanly possible. Another great celebration here in Ukraine.

I learned something new with this experience. Two words which I never thought would coexist in the same sentence actually reside next to each other quite nicely.

Chicken Jello. Whoda thunk it?  A surprising dish of what appears to be Jello filled with different meats (the recognizable one is chicken, thus "Chicken Jello".  If I followed the conversation correctly, this dish is called "Kholodyets" in Ukrainian and "Studyens" in Russian.. though really, at the time my concentration and comprehension was far from perfect as the alcohol was flowing again rather liberally. But another delicious, albeit surprising, traditional dish.

Happy Holiday for those celebrating it..
Dave

[Simoni]

We are in a festive mood today, as we were last night on Christmas Eve!  We celebrated with breakfast out this morning, and Marina is going shopping with friends now. 

Me, I gotta go to work. It's only Christmas here in our condo--elsewhere here in Florida it's simply Jan. 7 

[Shadow]

Holodiets is also the word used in Russia. I do not know where they got the chickens from, but the main ingredient come from pork knees being cooked for about 5 hours to turn in to jello. You should eat it with Gren, to get some spice in it.

Its one of my wifes favourites, and if it were passible to get pork legs here she would even venture the 5 hour cooking process.

[Tamara]

Merry Christmas!  Unfortunately, no special plans or shopping for me today.  Work, work, work!  But festive dinner at night for sure.  And call my family in Russia now.

You should eat it with Gren, to get some spice in it.

Shadow, you are so right about Holodiets! You probably mean to eat it with Hren, not Gren.

[mendeleyev]

Chicken Jello. Whoda thunk it?  A surprising dish of what appears to be Jello filled with different meats (the recognizable one is chicken, thus "Chicken Jello".  If I followed the conversation correctly, this dish is called "Kholodyets" in Ukrainian and "Studyens" in Russian..

Холодец (kholodets) is the name in Russian.  'Studyents' is the Ukrainian name. There is very little jello--its a jelly of almost pure fat, that's what makes it transparent and wiggly/squiggly like jello.  One can just feel those arteries hardening!     It's a member of the "headcheese" family and often done in lamb, goat, pork, beef, chicken or fish.


Daveman, it probably was chicken if in Ukraine.  Here is link with the recipe and some photos: http://*Unapproved Link*.com/78tuy5

MODIFICATION: Opps...the administration didn't like that link, probably cause it was a google link.  Try this instead: http://www.russia-ukraine-travel.com/russian-food.html, then go down half a page to "Cold starters" and you'll see the link for the recipe.


Here is the recipe for Ukrainian version with pork: http://www.brama.com/yonkersukrainianfest/recipe_studynets.html


Ukrainians also do this dish with Fish.  Here are tons of recipes: http://www.ukraine-today.com/culture/food/food.shtml

[SANDRO43]

You probably mean to eat it with Hren, not Gren.

And you both probably mean horse radish :

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana, syn. Cochlearia armoracia) is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to southeastern Europe and western Asia, but is popular around the world today. It grows up to 1.5 metres (five feet) tall and is mainly cultivated for its large white, tapered root.

The horseradish root itself has hardly any aroma. When cut or grated, however, enzymes from the damaged plant cells break down sinigrin (a glucosinolate) to produce allyl isothiocyanate (mustard oil), which irritates the sinuses and eyes. Once grated, if not used immediately or mixed in vinegar, the root darkens and loses its pungency and becomes unpleasantly bitter when exposed to air and heat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_radish

Variously called cren, kren, krein, raifort, etc. depending the language (it's rafano in Italian).

[mendeleyev]

I'm in the USA right now but my family is in Moscow and last night they went to church which started at 11pm and ended in the wee hours of morning.  Then off to Aunt Lyuba's apartment for a great meal.

My wife took two carloads of relatives to church and then back to Lyuba's.  I told her that she was a budding marshrutka driver at that rate!  

They finally made it to our home about 10:30am after a meal that sounded good to me over the phone.  Much better than my run for fast food.  Other than the "wish you were here" stuff she sounded tired but happy.

Рождество - это так прекрасно!