Back to the future: how the New Year's table changed in Russia
New Year's Eve in Russia is an important holiday which is necessarily accompanied by a sumptuous feast. Of course, every family has its own traditions of serving the New Year's table, and the recipes for their preparation are passed down from generation to generation. And of course, this feast is not without iconic dishes, many of which appeared in Russian gastronomic culture more than a hundred years ago. "Izvestia" found out what treats decorated the festive table before the revolution, what appeared in the Soviet era, and what was added in the current century.
What was customary to eat on New Year's Eve before the revolution
In the Russian Empire, winter holidays were held in an order that differed from the modern one. This was due to the use of the Julian calendar throughout the country (according to which the Russian Orthodox Church still lives today), replaced by the Gregorian calendar in 1918. The main holiday was Christmas, which was celebrated on December 25, but the New Year, which followed it, was also not forgotten, although it was celebrated more modestly.
- New Year's Eve was celebrated on December 31, but it was called Vasily's Evening, in honor of St. Basil of Caesarea," chef Oleg Olkhov told Izvestia. - The obligatory dishes were prepared for the table - non-fasting kutya "generous" and "Caesarean pig" (if it was affordable for the family). They also served homemade sausages and ham, jelly, pancakes, pies and porridge.
"Herring on coat" of potatoes, carrots and beets with marinated Baltic herring, green apple and bottarga caviar
According to our interlocutor, "bountiful kutya" (it was also called "rich" or "fat" kutya) was made in peasant houses from rice or wheat with milk and butter with nuts, honey, raisins, poppy seeds. Kesaret pig was roasted whole, no matter how big it was. Breaking the pig into pieces was called "Kesaret's breaking", because it was not cut with a knife, but was necessarily broken with hands. The holiday pig belonged not only to an individual family, but to the entire peasant community. In the central provinces of Russia, fellow villagers could go into any hut where a festive dish was prepared and help themselves. However, each guest had to give the host as much money as he could for the piglet. The proceeds were taken to the parish church the next day.
Sprat sandwich
On the peasant table on Vasily's evening the treats were served in the following sequence: first the cold (ham or okroshka), followed by the soup and porridge, then the roast (piglet or chickens, geese, ducks) and at the very end the pies, which then were often collectively called "pirozhnoye".
- In addition to the traditional dishes for the whole All-Russian cuisine there were also regional specifics, - continues our expert. - Pomors always met the New Year with fish, in Malorossiya there was fried pork sausage on the table, in Belarus - potato babka and machanka. In the Arkhangelsk region they baked dough kozuli for Christmas, in the Tver region - cookies korovki. In Finland and Poland, which were part of the Empire, Catholic Christmas traditions with their own dishes were observed.
Sausage mix
What New Year's treats were prepared in the USSR
Modern for most Russians New Year's table was established in Soviet times. The main innovation of that time - dense mayonnaise salads, with which even now the feast begins. Back in the first half of the XX century, vegetable salad in Russia was considered a side dish for hot food. As such, this appetizer is described even in the first edition of the "Book of Tasty and Healthy Food", published in the USSR in 1939. And only after the war, hearty salads are moved to the beginning of the meal and still remain an obligatory component of the winter holiday feast.
- The New Year's table in the Soviet period was filled with dishes and products in accordance with the realities of the time, it can be divided into two parts, - shares his opinion - Fedor Verin, the chef of the restaurant of the Central House of Writers (CDL). - The first part consisted of what was easy to buy or grow yourself - various pickles (several kinds of pickled mushrooms, cucumbers, pickled tomatoes, sauerkraut, apples). The second part included scarce products, which were given in the order desk or managed to get through "good friends": black and red caviar, Finnish cervalat, cheese, etc.
Many dishes after the revolution passed the stages of simplification and standardization, says our interlocutor. So, bay from different fish turned into cold cream on gelatin. Beef à la kotolet (meat on a bone) was transformed into cutlets with a large content of bread, and baked roast beef and boiled pork ham - into various carbonates and similar meat products. The pre-revolutionary Olivier salad was simplified beyond recognition, where, in particular, instead of crayfish necks they began to add carrots similar to them only in color.
- As far as I know, herring under a fur coat also appeared in the Soviet period, and the recipe for salad "Mimosa" appeared in the 1950s, when the country began to produce canned fish and began to promote it, - adds our expert. - Ham appeared, and they started making rolls with cheese, which are still a basic holiday treat.
Restaurant cuisine in the USSR was different from the traditional home cuisine, but they cooked according to standards and cookbooks, so there were fewer opportunities for creativity for cooks. Only a small part of the country's population had the opportunity to "peek" at restaurant treats, so cunning culinary treats were born in home kitchens thanks to the imagination and skill of the hostesses and from the products they could get.
- To set a decent New Year's Eve table, people started to get and save canned food in advance, two or three months in advance," recalls Maxim Tarusin, the chef of the Voskhod restaurant. - Fish under marinade, which is almost forgotten today, was very common. Hake or pollock were usually used for its preparation, as it was hardly possible to get more expensive fish. Poultry such as duck or goose was also hard to get (although many families had duck pots and goose pots), so most often they cooked baked or roasted pork with potatoes, as well as chops and "French-style meat" with onions, cheese and mayonnaise.
Broth cholodets on beef tails, hooves, with beef cheeks and pulp
Culinary differences in recipes for the most popular dishes in different parts of the country depended not only on the skills and skill of home cooks, but also on regional traditions and the availability of certain local products. In the more northern territories, the emphasis was on pickles, various preparations, fish, and boujenina. Dumplings or manty were often prepared for hot meals. In the central and southern regions of Russia there were more meat treats on the tables, including lard, various homemade sausages, and smoked fish. Pickles included tomatoes, apples and watermelons.
- If we take Siberia, there were already northern fish and venison, and in the Far East it was easier with red caviar, although in general it was in short supply there too,- our expert continues. - In big cities, smoked sausages, balik and sandwiches with sprats were served. On the sweet table there were expensive sweets - "Bear in the North", "Karakum", "Gulliver", "Grillage", and orange jelly was considered a special holiday dessert.
Pike-perch and salmon casserole
How the New Year's table has changed in our time
With the end of the Soviet period, which was remembered not only for the shortage of products, but also for a certain culinary isolation, our compatriots plunged into gastronomic self-education. In the few decades after perestroika, we became acquainted with the entire evolution of the world cuisine of the 20th century. Naturally, among its achievements there were many things that came in handy on the festive table.
- In the new century, marinated mushrooms, profiteroles with salty fillings, Parma ham, various cheeses with and without mold, as well as exotic fruits, especially pineapple and mango, have become popular," says Chef Verin. - Also in recent years, salads and other appetizers with crab meat have been increasingly prepared. Salmon, sturgeon, duck or lamb shoulder are often baked for a hot meal.
Salted Siberian-style salty chestnuts
According to the expert, olivier, herring under a fur coat, red caviar and cold cream remain the symbols of the New Year. Pickles, especially mushrooms, are gradually leaving the table, and sausage is no longer as important as it used to be. Dishes with lightly salted salmon, cheese and crab appetizers, pates, eggplant or ham rolls have become common. More complex salads such as "Pomegranate Bracelet" and "Grouse's Nest" are gaining popularity.
- The key traditional dishes have remained the same, only new ingredients have been added more often," says Chef Turusin. - For example, an olivier salad will turn out very tasty if you make it with smoked eel.
Rasstegay "Moskovsky" with salmon
In addition to updated New Year's dishes, Russians are increasingly discovering traditional treats from the past.
- For New Year's banquets I am constantly ordered ducks, turkeys, geese, sterlets, piglets, as well as mutton flank," admits Chef Olkhov. - We prepare these dishes according to old recipes with minor tolerances in the replacement of some products. This has been going on for many years, so you could say that for me this historical tradition has never been interrupted.
