Food I love.. eating or cooking

[Sculpto]

So I got to try a few different things on this trip.  I had my first solyanka, cold borsh, a variety of Georgian dishes and something in the bazaar called samsa.  Solyanka was good but the cold borsh was excellent, especially given the heat.  But, my favorite thing of all was the samsa.. in Indian cooking they are samosas.. the indian version is smaller and less savory.. the ones I bought in the bazaar were incredibly flaky pastry with potato stuffing.  I loved them so much I made it a habit to walk through the bazaar almost every day just to get one or two.  They were filling and cost less than a buck.  I never actually figured out where the ladies who were selling them came from.. I guessed they are Uzbek mountain people but maybe someone can expand on that.

[SANDRO43]

the cold borsh was excellent, especially given the heat.

Have you ever tried a gazpacho andaluz or manchego ?

   

What we have here for a vegetable summer soup is the cold variant of pasta e fagioli:

The above image shows it made with the white Tuscan fagioli cannellini, in the North we prefer the darker fagioli borlotti. Tradition claims that if you dip a spoon into a proper pasta e fagioli, it should remain upright . 

[ECOCKS]

I'm taking this more as a the FSU food review section (liked AND disliked):

Pros:

Vareniki (w/ meat, mushrooms or potatoes) and deurney (w/ mushrooms) were my two favorites dinner dishes from the FSU. Of course that's a starch-heavy diet but it makes the most out of scanty helpings of meat and stretches the sweets when used with fruits and jams for desserts.

Speaking of their sweets and pastries, I am more in step with Austria, Italy and Germany, but Napoleans, Smetanik (with raspberries, strawberries or blackberries rather than cherries) and Medovik are right up there with Applie Pie, Red Velvet Cake, Cream Horns and Tiramisu now. If Mama could get here easily I would go into the bakery business.

Cons:

I couldn't stand borscht (not really into beets) although the liquid was sometimes pretty good when used as a marinade/sauce for the meat.

Breakfast in the FSU was an area where they could use serious improvements.  

The salads were neither "tasty" nor appealing in appearance. Not sure why lettuce is so hard to get (must be something in their soil or general ag base that explains the problem) but they seem to have no difficulty switching to western-style salads after relocation.

Potatoes are poor quality and small. Don't quite get why they are not so into baked unless it is because theirs are so small. My wife never understood why I kept asking about them and insisted the pictures I showed her of Idaho bakers were photo-shopped and enlarged. She was visibly surprised when she saw them in restaurants and even more shocked when she saw them in the produce sections of grocery after grocery. Next to salmon, her preferred meals now involve a healthy baked potato with mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower topped with a dash of olive oil.

I wish they had better grades of flour for baking, I missed biscuits and the pancakes and waffles, even when you could find them, were of uniformly poor quality.

Why is corn meal so rare in the FSU? I would think it would be much more common yet never saw cornbread or cornmeal based battering or dusting on fried foods.

[SANDRO43]

Why is corn meal so rare in the FSU? I would think it would be much more common yet never saw cornbread or cornmeal based battering or dusting on fried foods.

I guess because it requires a warmer climate to grow, after all we got it from Central America .

[ECOCKS]

Yes, well we grow corn in Idaho and they sell corn in the rinoks there, so there goes that thought.

[Boethius]

Cornmeal is not rare in Ukraine, it's very common.  

I never had problems with potatoes there.  They have all types and sizes.

Flour is of excellent quality.  However, when you bake with flour, you need to adjust for different moisture contents.  That's not only the case with Ukraine.  I once knew a baker from France who moved to Canada.  It took him 14 attempts until he made what he deemed "acceptable" ladyfingers.  Everything is different - the butter, the flour, the milk.

Loved having syrnyks for breakfast - you can't find cottage cheese like that here.

[Sculpto]

Ed this can be any food.. but.. should be FSU oriented..

I have not had the same problems with food you have.. but I have not been to Kiev so maybe things that are readily available in Moscow or St P are not in Kiev?

About a week in I discovered the Teremok chain and had several quick meals there.  They are basically Russian fast food joints but the blini were acceptable cheap and filling.  Perfect for daytime meals when I was on my own.  It was actually Miss Kiev that turned me on to them and she was perfectly happy to eat in such places every meal.  Seeker had some sort of an incident in one so I know he wasn't as enamored.. but.. they are all over the place in St P.

What I really loved though was the Georgian food.  I had satsivi and lovely Georgian bread several different meals.  That was also filling and not expensive.

[Sculpto]

I had this for breakfast a few too many times.. but it was 40 degrees at 9 am so...

[ECOCKS]

Cornmeal is not rare in Ukraine, it's very common.  

I never had problems with potatoes there.  They have all types and sizes.

Flour is of excellent quality.  However, when you bake with flour, you need to adjust for different moisture contents.  That's not only the case with Ukraine.  I once knew a baker from France who moved to Canada.  It took him 14 attempts until he made what he deemed "acceptable" ladyfingers.  Everything is different - the butter, the flour, the milk.

Loved having syrnyks for breakfast - you can't find cottage cheese like that here.

I know a guy (Canadian) who owns 5 pizzerias in Kyiv. He said they shipped a couple of hundred pounds of Ukrainian flour back to some Canadian University which operated a culinary training program and worked on figuring out how to do Western/North American type pizza crusts using Ukrainian flour and got it right on the 14th major revision of the recipe. His comment was that the flour was difficult to aerate properly due to being too coarsely ground and possibly some other difference in processing. Moisture content could explain part of it but then again no one seemed to enjoy the attempts at waffles or western-style pancakes there. The oladne (sp?) in the restaurants was "heavy" for lack of a better term and the flours several of us (expats) tried just didn't seem to take to whipping up (for that light and fluffy texture). I know one American expat who asks guys coming back to slip in boxes of Bisquick so he can treat himself and his family to American pancakes and biscuits a few times each year.

[ECOCKS]

I had this for breakfast a few too many times.. but it was 40 degrees at 9 am so...

Looks like a strudel with clotted cream on the side.

[SANDRO43]

Yes, well we grow corn in Idaho and they sell corn in the rinoks there, so there goes that thought.

Your map shows that its cultivation is limited to Ukraine, so maybe it's appreciated only locally .

Here corn/maize is mostly used for animal feed, except for polenta:

 
It used to be a mainstay food for hill or mountain villagers, who used chestnut flour before the arrival of corn. In either case, causing some health problems:

The overreliance on maize as a staple food caused outbreaks of pellagra throughout much of Europe until the 20th century and in the American South during the early 1900s.

[ECOCKS]

AHHHH! ICE CREAM for BREAKFAST?!?   

You Pervert! 

[Sculpto]

AHHHH! ICE CREAM for BREAKFAST?!?   

You Pervert! 

I only go to the FSU for the ice cream.. I confess.. I am an ice cream tourist

[acctBill]

On the business side of Russian food, IMHO and the opinions of most other Russians that I've met who've been in the west a while, Russia and its former satellites don't have a reputation for great food.  There are people in the FSU who are great cooks and chefs and can create a meal that is superb, but in general Russian cooking and baking quality is far behind European and even North American cuisine.  Undoubtedly the quality of the ingredients and the processing of the ingredients has something to do with it.

I think more importantly that cooking and baking is not viewed with the same importance as it's viewed in the west.  In England which is not well known for great food there are a number of internationally acclaimed chefs.  France and Italy are overflowing with superb restaurants and their chefs are celebrities.  The rest of Europe may not do as well as France and Italy but each country has some superb restaurants and chefs that are at least nationally recognized.  In the US and Canada there are many great restaurants and chefs.  Cooking shows in North America have international audiences.  In Russia the restaurant industry is treated as a commercial product to be exploited for money.  With few exceptions the quality restaurants that I've eaten in in Moscow might be owned by a Russian but the creative influence and chef(s) are usually foreign, usually European.  With this type of business climate in the Russian restaurant industry quality and creative Russian foods are never going to emerge.

[SANDRO43]

In a cold-weather country, agricultural produce does not have much flavour. This could explain a rather limited culinary tradition locally.

[Boethius]

I know a guy (Canadian) who owns 5 pizzerias in Kyiv. He said they shipped a couple of hundred pounds of Ukrainian flour back to some Canadian University which operated a culinary training program and worked on figuring out how to do Western/North American type pizza crusts using Ukrainian flour and got it right on the 14th major revision of the recipe. His comment was that the flour was difficult to aerate properly due to being too coarsely ground and possibly some other difference in processing. Moisture content could explain part of it but then again no one seemed to enjoy the attempts at waffles or western-style pancakes there. The oladne (sp?) in the restaurants was "heavy" for lack of a better term and the flours several of us (expats) tried just didn't seem to take to whipping up (for that light and fluffy texture). I know one American expat who asks guys coming back to slip in boxes of Bisquick so he can treat himself and his family to American pancakes and biscuits a few times each year.

There are different qualities of flour in Ukraine.  Pastry flours, for example, are lighter and more refined than a bread flour.  If all the flour were coarse, there would be no pastries or cakes available in Ukraine.

[ECOCKS]

I only go to the FSU for the ice cream.. I confess.. I am an ice cream tourist

Confession is good for the soul....

Do you tell the women about this?

[Sculpto]

I confessed my weakness for all desserts here..

Whoever said baking is not advanced.. umm.. i would have to disagree with that..

[ECOCKS]

I agree the baking largely sucked.

The famous Kyivskiy torte could put you in a sugar coma as did several other of their "famous" tortes and pastries. Like so much in the FSU they spent a lot of effort on making it look pretty but the taste left a lot to be desired.

Their ice cream was okay but nothing special.

[kievstar]

I have to agree with Boethius getting all kind of potatoes, corn, and flour not hard at all in Kiev or Kharkov. 

My wife hates American salads and not a big fan of lettuce.  Her opinion lettuce is good if your rabbit or you over weight and need help in controlling your weight as lettuce has little nutritional value and calories but makes people fill-up faster.

Sculpto, you really should go to Georgia and try the food there in all regions.  IMHO the best food in the FSU.   

[Sculpto]

Kiev back in art school we had one prof that had spent some time in Georgia.. must have been in the 70s I guess.. he described the country as champagne and chocolate.  I have wanted to visit ever since.. I think about that description and the general fondness with which he described the country and am often dismayed by the "black ass" comments I have heard from Ukrainians and Russians in respect to Kavkaz people.

Anyway.. its clear their kitchen is more highly evolved than the Russian kitchen.  I am sure I could eat my way across Georgia just like I do in Mexico.  Plus.. I saw a very cool topo map when I was in St P and the entire region including Azerbaijian and Armenia looks fascinating. 

[philb]

I am a little curious.  Does anyone else get a little gastroenteritis during their trips?  It seems like every trip I eat something I shouldn't at least once.  This time it was some sausage I bought at a gastronome in Crimea.  I have learned to avoid eggs if possible unless I am very certain of the origin.  I should also mention that in general I will eat about anything.

My wife can eat the same things and it doesn't phase her.  Me it is a different story.  I never get seriously ill but... a little GI distress and well... I am sure you get the picture.

I asked one of the Gastroenterologists I work with when I could expect to develop immunity similar to my wifes and he basically told me never.

By the way,  while in Crimea my wife and I hiked a trail in the "Big Canyon".  At the trail head there were some Tatar Women selling various foods and drinks.  My wife got a little something to eat.  I was recovering from the above mentioned sausage and so declined.  The women asked why I did not eat.  My wife explained the situation.  The women brewed up some tea and told me it would be good for my stomach.  I drank it and it did seem to settle things down.  They called it Kezeal sp.? tea.  It had some dried berries in it and was quite tasty.

[philb]

By the way, in regards to potatoes,  the new potatoes that are generally available in the FSU put what are described as new potatoes in the USA to shame.

[kievstar]

My wife likes to invent dishes and recently has made borscht into a spicy Mexican version with chicken and shrimp and various Mexican peppers.  She also has a cold green milk version or sometimes with real coconut juice.   

She also mixes Indian, Thai, and Georgian.  I like very hot and spicy which she will make but not eat herself.  We have a foreign market she can get vegetables and spices from all over the FSU and almost every other country as well.

[OlgaH]

Potato.