The food of the peasants in Tsarist Russia

Peasant life of old times long since become a bargaining chip in idle disputes. The real peculiarity of drowning in the general considerations of good or bad life was the peasantry in the Russian Empire. This is especially true everyday food that accompanies the definition of "lean", "rough", "monotonous". But whether it was - understood "News".

"Register a peasant cook"

"In the old days, in tsarist Russia, the working people always ate badly. Tangible assets produced by the people, battered parasitic, exploiting classes. Desk was poor. The meat was considered a luxury. Dairy products are considered the master's course. Not for nothing were run such sayings as "soup yes porridge - our food," "rye bread - Kalach grandfather", and others in the same spirit. "

These words were exactly 80 years ago in the "Bible" of the Soviet cooking - "Book of tasty and healthy food." Since then, the idea that "the working people always ate badly," is firmly rooted in the mass consciousness. To assess the validity of this thesis, we took two detailed descriptions of the everyday food of the peasants middle of the XIX century: from "non-black earth" and Tver "chernozem" Orenburg provinces.

Excursion into the Russian peasant cuisine, we start with the "Descriptions of the Tver province agriculturally" (1854) Vasily Alexandrovich Transfiguration. At one time, this fundamental work has been awarded the gold medal of the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of State Property.

"Food krestyan sostoit iz hlѣba, ogorodnyh vegetables, milk, meat, and gribov yagod. Vot reestr peasant cook: soup, gruel, potato soup, porridge, fried eggs, milk, cakes, pancakes, cakes, Kulaga, tѣsto, jelly, goroh, thick, fried potatoes, fried and cooked mushrooms. "

"permanent, always required dish"

"Soup, bezsmѣnnoe always necessary dish, dѣlayutsya iz sѣroy sour cabbage and seasoned with a handful ovsyanyh or zhitnyh (yachmennyh) krup. Beef or lamb, and who vodit pigs, pork, at bѣdnyh krestyan put unto the cabbage soup only prazdnikam, winter and autumn; and prosperous ѣdyat meat unto rabochіe days. Gruel has iz krup soup and seasoned fasts unto lukom and unto myasoѣd myasom or sour cream. Hemp or flax oil kladut unto soup on stolѣ, withdrawals ekonomіi. Potato soup iz varenago stolchenago and potatoes seasoned unto post lukom, cereals and odnim iz tѣh masl, and unto myasoѣd cereals and sour cream. Porridge varyat iz krup ovsyanyh, zhitnyh, grechnevyh, kakіya who have. "

Gray soup is brewed from krosheva (sour) - fermented rye flour with a tight head of green cabbage leaves. Taste the difference between "white" and "gray" cabbage fine handed Ivan Shmelev in the "Summer of the Lord": "Your will be sweeter and stronger than we love, with bitterness, much tastier ... and fermented, in the spirit of it and pierced .. . our most famous cabbage, seryachok something. " Soup, writes Basil the Transfiguration, ate with rye breadcrumbs, seasoning in season and taste onions, green onions, garlic, horseradish. In the fasting days poured a spoonful of hemp or flax oil, put in the meat-eater, "a spoonful or two of" sour cream.

The potato soup could be prepared with beef or corned beef (salted beef), with dried mushrooms or smelt. Transfiguration does not mention it, but these recipes leads Ekaterina Avdeeva "Hand book of Russian experienced hostess" (1 ed -. 1842), in "The food for the ministers."

Some products are poor peasants could afford "only on holidays." These included the Orthodox annual celebrations; vysokotorzhestvennye days (birthdays, name day of the Emperor, the Empress and Crown Prince, as well as the day of the coronation); Temple holiday (holy day or sacred events of history, in whose memory is consecrated the temple) and other village festivals. Together with the resurrection of the Transfiguration has 95 of these days, that is the actual holiday was about 43 days a year.

"Pies are baked rye everywhere"

"Eggs have brewed saucer of milk svѣzhago Sh odnim razboltannym unto nem kurinym yaitsem. It is necessary for the dish bo ttom. Milk and ѣdyat prѣsnoe and sour curd pribavlenіem Sh. Cakes baked rye vezdѣ sometimes Zhitnyaya, porridge Sh, Sh lukom, fishes Sh, Sh tvorogom; wheat cakes rѣdki and bogatyh krestyan. Pancakes are baked iz Zhitnaya or oatmeal, and who have, withdrawals buckwheat flour; ѣdyat ih totchas on prigotovlenіi, Sh salom, sour cream, molokom, and if there are sufficient reserves of oil korovyago, the Sh maslom ".

"Boiled" scrambled eggs with milk, we would now call an omelette, but then this word was understood as a dish of eggs alone, and with him to mix with milk. At Basil Levshina a "Russian hut" (1816) "outlet" is named fried eggs, baked ham in clarified butter, and for "fried egg with milk" in the oven baked milk diluted beaten eggs.

Pies Tver peasants made mainly from rye, less barley (Zhitnaya) flour. On Thursdays and Saturdays in wealthy families baked pancakes from barley, oat or buckwheat flour. Rye or barley flour and baked cakes "in the meat-eater with cottage cheese, and in the post with crushed hemp seed." Independently standing Juicy: thin unleavened rye cake, which was smeared cheese, folded in half and baked.

"Jelly is made from oatmeal"

"Kulaga and tѣsto are prepared iz flour vysѣvaemoy iz rzhanago malt and sostavlyayut accessory post. Onѣ differ only tѣm that the first can be rѣzat nozhem and poslѣdnee liquid kak rastvor. Both fermented and unto the two are placed mostly berries or cranberries, or viburnum. Kisel is prepared iz oatmeal; something gdѣ dѣlayut iz otstaivayuschagosya ot rzhanyh vysѣvok starch; pea jelly ѣdyat tѣ that sѣyut goroh. Oatmeal ѣdyat Sh kakim a maslom, Sh sokom konoplyanago sѣmeni or molokom Sh or Sh tsyzhem or Sh sytoyu ". Jelly oatmeal - one of the most significant Russian dishes. The raw materials for its preparation was tsezh - Real oatmeal solution, often fermented, which is strained, boiled until thick and allowed to cool. Similarly, other grains prepared jelly - rye and wheat, in water or milk. In contrast to the sour oatmeal, jelly pea flour was bland.

For help on Coulagot again turn to Vasily Levshin:

"Vzyav rye and mѣlko smolonoy rzhanago malt flour, nalivayut fervent water unto gorshechkѣ and nakryv, uparivayut unto furnace. Berry Kalina razvarivayut unto vodѣ, protirayut judges through a sieve unto gorshok; there is kladut iz gorshechka steamed rastvor, dolivayut water; nakryvayut gorshok mercy, obmazyvayut long unto pechnom volnom spirit of the seam and tѣstom uparivayut ".

A similar description we find Ekaterina Avdeeva. Since the second half of the XVIII century "the best variety Coulagot", as stated in the "Encyclopedic Dictionary" Brockhaus and Efron, took shape in the culinary specialties - Kaluga dough.

"Undo large white potatoes"

"Fried potatoes or skovorodѣ Sh maslom or unto ploshkѣ (latkѣ) Sh molokom and yaitsami; unto poslѣdnem sluchaѣ called potato fried eggs. Boiled potatoes and unto vodѣ podayuschіysya on stol goryachіy sostavlyaet daily zavtrak: it ѣdyat Sh odnim hlѣbom and salt. "

Basil Transfiguration book was written on the material of 1848-1849, that is, the middle of the XIX century, the potato is already firmly entrenched in the peasant diet. The main role was played in its distribution measures of the tsarist government's 1840-1843. However, there are also earlier evidence about the use of potato farmers. In "Economic description of the Perm province" in 1813 notes that farmers grow and sell in Perm "wonderfully large white potatoes," and eating it "baked, boiled, in cereals, and do well out of it with the help of flour your cake and shangi ".

"Mushrooms served in vsѣh vidah: salted, raw and Sh lukom maslom postnym bez or oil; roasted salted with such a Sh same seasonings; raw salty with sour cream and fried Sh her well; svѣzhіe baked Sh salt; svѣzhіe fried Sh tѣmi as condiments; boiled unto vodѣ Sh lukom and spoon krup and oils or cream; Dried fried Sh tѣmi as condiments; dried, cooked Sh holodnym kvasom and hrѣnom. Tyurya iz razmelchennago hands rzhanago cherstvago hlѣba unto kvas, Sh lukom, salt, and if so, spoon postnago oil zanimaet important role unto peasant kuhnѣ for nedostatkom dishes. Prochіya holodnyya dishes are: shredded or rѣdka Sh kvasom or chopped boiled beetroot. Rѣdku ѣdyat also konoplyanym sѣmenem Sh, Sh maslom postnym, narѣzav slices. Pickles and unto Staritskom Novotorzhskom uѣzdah stocking almost vezdѣ; unto drugih uѣzdah they vstrѣchayutsya rѣzhe.

Average obѣd bѣdnago farmer sostoit iz treh blyud: boiling potatoes and something else, and ordinary obѣd zazhitochnago - iz blyud 5: holodnago, soup, broth, potatoes and cereals. Pies are baked at pervago rѣdko; and poslѣdnіy ѣst ih every Sunday. "

"Russian peasants are prosperous foreigners"

On the Upper Volga fast forward to the Southern Urals and turn to the "Description of the Orenburg province in the economic-statistical, ethnographical and industrial relations" (1859) Basil Kravchuk Cheremshansky. Like the work of Basil Transfiguration, this work was awarded the gold medal of the Scientific Committee of Ministry of State Property.

"Tak kak Russkіe peasants zhivut general zazhitochnѣe inorodtsev, then most foods have nih raznoobraznѣe luchshago and quality. Daily food sostoit Skoromniy ih iz sѣryh boiling - this natsіonalnago russkago dishes - Sh svѣzheyu beef, lamb, pork and bacon, the content bѣdnye soup, seasoned or only molokom smѣtanoy. Kromѣ varyat boiling noodles - Sh myasom or milk, porridge, potato sup chicken Sh, Sh soup dumplings, porridge kind raznago - millet, buckwheat, and yachnuyu polbenuyu - lactic or lean which usually ѣdyat Sh maslom, salom polivayut fatty or soup; vecherom cold ѣdyat Sh molokom and fasts unto Sh konoplyanym maslom or kvasom; Milk Sh pshenichnym hlѣbom or sitnikom - prѣsnoe and sour. "

Tver and Orenburg share more than a thousand kilometers, but we are seeing a surprising stability of the traditional Russian peasant diet. What changed? The "meat department" appeared corned beef. Procurement for the future of beef - indirect evidence it more accessible for farmers. For cabbage soup, gruel and potato soup added meat noodles, milk and noodle soup with dumplings, a typical urban and aristocratic cuisine. Nevertheless gray soup still occupy the main place in the peasant diet.

Noteworthy references and millet porridge polbyanoy - spelled (emmer, dvuzernyanku) and millet were cultivated mainly in the eastern part of European Russia. More favorable than in the Tver province, the climatic and soil conditions contributed to the cultivation of wheat. Therefore, together with rye Sitnikov (from rye flour, winnow through a screen) on the table was the Orenburg peasants and wheat bread. Of wheat flour, they also made noodles, dumplings, dumplings, pies and other pastries.

"Be sure to prepare each house dumplings"

"In voskresnym and prazdnichnym dnyam prigotovlyayut the supernatural order cakes fish Sh egg bedding, Zdobnov pies Sh pork, beef and chicken (Kurniki), fried unto maslѣ or smѣtanѣ potatoes, roast lamb, salnik, eggs, jelly iz korovih and baranih nog (unto holodnom Sh hrѣnom and kvasom), cakes, PIROSKA (pryazhentsy) Sh eggs or beef shangi, cheesecakes, Aladov and unto zagovѣne vecherom nepremѣnno gotovyat unto kazhdom domѣ ravioli ".

Meat diet in Orenburg farmers was much more varied than that of Tver. Omentum - a traditional Russian dish, close to hepatic (liver sausages), pâtés or "cheese" (it Leberkäse.). Gives a general definition of the gland, "the Russian Academy Dictionary 'late XVIII - early XIX century" dish, is made from the liver and lung, which, finely chop and lamb wrapped in a membrane or a different kind of, put in a bowl and zaparivayut in the oven. " According to the cookbooks of the time, the stuffing gland is often added to cereals, onions, milk, eggs.

prepared baking cakes and pies - fried in oil, stresses. In Russian North Ural and in Siberia were popular shangi - round rolls of sour dough, barley or wheat with the top glaze (sour cream, cottage cheese or potato). Dumplings were then specialties, typical of the Urals and Siberia. "Siberian" called dumplings with ground beef - this recipe results in a "Hand book of Russian experienced hostess" Ekaterina Avdeeva, 25, lived in Irkutsk.

"Fermentation herbs still unknown German"

"Ordinary prodovolstvіe fasts unto sostoit iz conductive Sh sѣroy or bѣloy cabbage and raznago kind ovoschnyh pohlebok, as well as cabbage, ogurtsov, potatoes, beets, and rѣpy gribov - if there is; varyat goroh, gruel, jelly pea, oat and wheat, oatmeal razvodyat Sh kvasom, prigotovlyayut winter beetroot and lѣtom botvinya, pekut Kalinnikov and prigotovlyayut viburnum Coulagot and jelly; by prazdnikam pekut pies Sh fishes, mushrooms, carrots, kartofelem, gorohom, porridge, Kalina, and so on. n. Bb Shrovetide pekut huge foot blinov, aladev, pryazhentsev, prigotovlyayut Zdobnov orѣshki, Sh fish pies, etc.

Average daily napitok sostavlyaet Kvas, served iz rye and malt; kb prazdnikam varyat beer and unto honey time (unto ispozhinki) Pchelyakov prigotovlyayut med and sour. "

Potatoes, writes Cheremshansky, began to cultivate in the fields, but not in the gardens "very recently":

"Of excess of other agricultural products and the difficulty of his savings during the winter, he has hitherto not enough consumption in the economy." Yet fewer than potatoes, Orenburg peasants ate turnips: "Turnips eat more often raw as a delicacy, and in winter it is cooked, baked and eaten usually hover and kvass, raw and cut, and bake pies with her."

Oatmeal - steamed flour, the dried and toasted oats in the Russian oven. The "Russian hut" Levshina oatmeal served soaked with hot water, with the addition soaked cranberries and erased "similarity slides". Along with oatmeal Orenburg peasants did wheat and cooked jelly viburnum (obviously, potato starch) and baked pies with Kalina - Kalinnikov. "Nuts" called frying balls of biscuit dough.

Beetroot and botvinya were cold soup. According to "Manual register Russian experienced hostess" beetroot prepared from fermented beet its cooked in brine was added crumbling age turnip, poured kvass and by holding for an additional day fermentation, fed in cold. Botwin - a chopped beet tops with the addition of greens and other vegetables (onions, cucumbers, beetroot), also a divorced white sour kvass. Greens botvinya to boil, and sometimes further inoculated in a thick leavened wort.

The author-composer of "New complete cookbook" (. 1st edition - 1780) Ivan Nawrocki wrote:

"Fermented modeled Ruskih krestyan dreams ... Sh beet leaves, turnips Sh leaves rѣdechnye leaves rѣpa Sh leaves lѣsnoy and garden sorrel ... spinat, every cabbage ... and so on. Iz sih dѣlayutsya iz inyh very vkusnyya, kislyya travnyya green soup. For zakvashivanie trav, kromѣ cabbage and beets, all Nѣmtsu still "neizvѣstno.

As you can see, the local climatic conditions are decisive for the diversity of the peasant diet. They played a much more important role than the well-being of rural families. However, despite regional differences, Russian peasant cuisine was holistic phenomenon and had a truly national character.