>Fine. And if she's the winner you cook me some borsch, with a bottle of your best blue vodka, and I get 9 stars (the 3rd thread title will be started by you: "Terry is omniscient and a great judge of talent" :-)
>
You don't have Russian grocery shops in England? <g> I'm not a good cook anyway... It's interesting that Russian cousine is always associated with borsch and vodka <g>

See this:

(Here is a quote from some Russian women forum, the quote is from the American guy):



I do love it here in Russia but let's face it, Russian cuisine is not up to much, is it?

i'm sorry, are you being sarcastic? If you're serious, then you've never had a meal cooked for you by a Russian babushka.

honestly, the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that are avaliable here in the summer would put ANY American supermarket to shame. try the tomatoes, strawberries or the raspberries, you'll never go back
and if you compare Russian cuisine to American, the quality of the food in Russia beats American prepackaged, tv dinner pizza and hamburgers any day.

anyway, noone has mentioned the smoked fish "kholodnogo kopcheniya" and 'goryachego kopcheniya'. both excellent although i prefer the 'hot smoked.' and eggplant caviar... makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

russians soups are delicious too. and come in a variety (not just borsht!). theres everything from chicken noodle to mushroom to vegetable. even if you didnt eat them in the States, i'd give them another try in Russia. they're excellent for keeping warm in the winter.

No one has mentioned it so far but there are some good open faced sandwiches, can't remember what it's called.

What Russian food do I like? I actually didn't eat much traditionally Russian food. Mostly mashed potatoes, macaroni, and soup. I do love the bread. And they make a spread from eggplant and garlic which is delictable. Blini (pancakes) are great. I never thought of putting sour cream on pancakes. It's not bad.

And I may be the only American who loves salo. Salo is what we hillbillys used to call 'fatback' It is cured pork fat. I prefer the smoked kind myself.

In Moscow you will have more opportunities to eat traditional Russian cuisine.

Things I hated:

Okroshka - this is cold 'soup' made from kvass (a fermented beverage like beer) with meat and veggies.

Kholodets - cold congealed fat mixed with meat. It reminds me of beef jello.

mayonaise - it's not Russian, but for some reason they put it on seemingly EVERYTHING. In a restaurant make sure you tell them no mayonaise (unless of course you like it) otherwise there will be a big wad of it on your entre.

I guess I would say pelmini, which is a Russian dumpling. Poles and Chinese people and even Nepalese eat dumplings.

One thing I don`t like is kefir, and milk I couldn`t drink straight.
Kvas I have never liked.
My favorite beer was Afanasi.

As was mentioned, I'd have to say that Russian bread is among the best in the world, especially the whole-grain black bread, which can be as good as eating cake.

And it would be cruel not to mention that staple of all Russian staples: the cabbage! called 'kapusta' in Russian. Cooked well and with the right spices, it can be a meal in and of itself. I especially like it when it's mixed together with pork and potatoes. Yummy!

Kolbasa, yes !
Mushrooms - all sorts available on any market, and wonderful.
Soup, thin and slurpy - Russians slurp !

Any meal cooked by Lena is a delight.

try Akroschka.... and Iorsch.... although the latter is a drink of a shot of vodka in a pint of beer......

I remember people liking the black label Stolichnaya. Put it in the freezer for a while, and have a taste. With a pickle, of course. Smell the pickle, drink the vodka, then eat the pickle.

Nobody's mentioned kumiss yet. It's fermented horse milk and the Kazaks swear by it. The Russians all hate it. It's not bad. Sort of like eating dog--there's nothing wrong with what you're eating, just with the images in your head of what you're eating.

My favourite ever Russian food, and I'm hoping someone can help me out with the name, was a kind of fried sweet cottage cheese fritter served with sour cream.

I have to echo the people who've talked about shashlik, pilmeni, and plov. I'm not a big mayo or sour cream fan, so I'd always eat pilmeni with butter. Plov is fantastic unless its sweet plov. That is, plov with raisins added. I hate raisins. I loved the mushroom salads, the dishes made with fried eggplant and tomato, and the homemade ice cream that people sold everywhere.

If you can find it be sure to try bishparmak. It's the Kazaks' national dish--a few layers of thick manhole-cover-sized noodles topped with boiled beef and eaten with the hands. One of my students' grandmother made it for me and I still think about it sometimes. Now I've got to go get a towel and wipe the drool off my keyboard.

. Peroshki are like cornish pasties in general shape and purpose. But the outer shell has more of a doughnut texture. Inside, you get potato or whatever. Best home made; street peroshki aren't always that good. Yes, I'll go with other people about the delights of pelmeni and blinnies.Russian vodka is superior to vodkas sold in the west.

Actually, thinking back of Russian food now, once I had this kind of birdleg. Looked like a chickenleg anyway, but it wasn't. Called kokorochik or something, i forget. anyway, it turned out that inside there was minced meat, and there was a little bone added on the end, and the bird skin wrapped around later.

very weird. It tasted great, but it wasn't bird meat. Had a different texture.
To this day I still don't know what creature it was on my plate.
You guys any ideas?

Bliny..ahhhh, if only I could eat THEM every day!

The only times I've ever bothered with soup were when I was a destitute student, & after watching my son play soccer on a filthy winter's day. Russian soups have done nothing to change my attitude, though acroshka is good occasionally.

Toooooo much fish here in Surgut (translates to Fish Town I'm told), however fresh mucsun has my whole-hearted approval. 'Fresh' here means raw ... truly raw, none of that woosy marinating I'm used to!

Like the others, I was shocked that mayo goes with everything, & then even more shocked when I found myself dipping cheeto's into mayo

Almost forgot: cutleta (meatballs to you). Very tasty.


>Tracy, will you hold the ante, please?
>
>What if I'm wrong?

I would now hope for this <g>