Kashi was cooked from crushed whole and crushed grains of rye, wheat, barley, oats, millet (millet). in Rus' until the 18th century. cultivated an ancient type of wheat - spelt, using it for cooking cereals.
Chronicles testify to the use of four cereals in Ancient Rus': wheat, barley, millet and rye. The first three date back to the Paleolithic era. Of course, they were also used for making cereals - the simplest cereal dishes. So, Theodosius of the Caves wrote: “Yes, having boiled wheat and mixed it with honey, presenting the brethren at the meal.” And the Byzantine writer and politician Pseudo-Mauritius (VI century) reported that millet was once the main food of the ancient Slavs.
In the table of rich people already in the XVI century. rice began to appear - Saracen millet. In addition to this name, it is found in the sources of the 16th-17th centuries. the word “bryntsy” (“smoking under the brynets with saffron”, “hearth pies with brynets and brushwood” - “Serve books all year round at the table”). The word "brynets" comes from the Persian "burinj". Obviously, there were two names for rice, depending on where it came from.
For cooking cereals, not only cereals from whole and crushed cereals were used, but also flour from them. A very long time ago, hydrothermal treatment (according to modern terminology) of oats was also used. Oatmeal was made from it, dishes from which are considered the oldest Slavic dishes. To obtain oatmeal, oats were steamed, dried and crushed. After such treatment, the content of soluble easily digestible substances in the cereal increases and it can be eaten without additional heat treatment, diluted with water or milk. Oatmeal contains more sugar than oatmeal, it has a sweetish taste and is used to prepare sweet dishes (oatmeal with berries).
Green groats were made from unripe grain. Green porridge was cooked in times of famine, when supplies ran out in the house, and vegetables and rye were not yet ripe. Unripe rye grains were dried, ground and boiled porridge from the resulting flour. Of course, green porridge appeared in peasant life due to a lack of food, but, obviously, it fell in love with its delicate and peculiar taste, and then entered the arsenal of professional culinary dishes. Already V. Levshin writes that such porridge was served with melted cow butter, and includes it in the list of common Russian dishes. Green porridge was cooked in rich houses, even in the 19th century. Here is how it is described by E. Molokhovets:“When rye or wheat is poured, but not yet ripe, squeeze the sheaves, dip the ears in boiling water for a few minutes, then dry them in the oven, grind them like every cereal, and boil in water or milk, putting salt and butter.”
Cereals were used to make cereals, soups, fillings for pies and pies, sausages with porridge, loaves, pancakes and others. culinary products(krupenikov, casseroles). Along with cereals from grain crops, cereals were prepared from legumes (in general form and from pea flour). There was no clear distinction between cereals and flour: porridge was cooked from both cereals and cereal flour.
Buckwheat appeared in Russia much earlier than in other countries, and cereals from it surprised foreigners who visited our country. The companion of Patriarch Macarius P. Aleppsky, who traveled around Russia in the 17th century, left interesting notes about the cereal crops of Muscovy: “The fifth sowing is Mazar (a kind of pea), it is boiled instead of lentils ... the seventh sowing is hrishka (buckwheat), the fruit is like a grain of millet , but it is white and soft and goes into the filling instead of rice, which they do not like”; “they have purple and white beans for the price of a pound 3 kopecks”; "Lentils and sheep's peas can only be found in the house of the Franks at a price more expensive than pepper."
This passage needs clarification. Indeed, mash (golden beans, sheep peas), so popular in the East, the Russians did not know. As for the lentils, there was a clear mistake. The fact is that lentils were widely used in Rus' as early as the 13th-14th centuries. It was widely used by the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Theodosius of the Caves), but the companions of Macarius, obviously, knew fine-grained lentils, and our plate-shaped (coarse-grained) was probably unusual for them.
Eastern guests, of course, knew well the "Tsargrad horns" - beans with sweet juicy fruits. In Rus' they were known and simply called "horns", but they were gourmet delicacy. Therefore, the attention of the guests was attracted by the so-called "Russian beans" with large black (purple) and white fruits. Subsequently, in Russia they were pushed aside by beans, dishes from which taste similar to dishes from ancient beans, so they quickly entered our everyday life.
Russian cuisine is characterized by the following features: the extreme constancy of the composition of dishes and their flavor range, strict canons of cooking. The origins of Russian cooking begin with the creation of cereal cereals, primarily oatmeal, rye and national Russian kvass (that is, sour) bread from rye flour.
Already in the middle of the 9th century, that black, rye, porous and baked bread made from leavened sourdough appeared, without which the Russian menu is generally unthinkable.
Following him, other types of national bread and flour products were created: dezhni, loaves, juicy, pancakes, pies, pancakes, bagels, baika, donuts. The last three categories are almost a century later, after the introduction of wheat flour. 
Adherence to kvass, sour was also reflected in the creation of kvass proper, the range of which reached two to three dozen types, very different in taste from each other, as well as in the invention of primordial Russian oatmeal, rye, wheat kissels, which appeared almost 900 years earlier than modern berry starch jelly.
At the very beginning of the Old Russian period, all the main drinks were formed, in addition to kvass: all kinds of perevarovs (sbitni), which were a combination of decoctions of various forest herbs with honey and spices, as well as honey and honey, that is, natural honey, fermented with berry juice or simply diluted with juices and water to a different consistency.
Porridges, although they were insipid according to the principles of their manufacture, were sometimes acidified sour milk. They also differed in diversity, subdivided according to the types of grain (spelt, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, millet, wheat), according to the types of grain crushing or its running (for example, barley gave three cereals: barley, Dutch, barley; buckwheat four: core , Veligorka, Smolensk, I did it; wheat is also three: whole, korkot, semolina, etc.), and, finally, by the type of consistency, for porridges were divided into crumbly, slurry and gruel (quite thin) 
All this made it possible to vary from 6-7 types of grain and three types of legumes (peas, beans, lentils) several dozen different cereals. In addition, various flours were made from the flour of these crops. flour products. All this bread, mainly flour food diversified mainly with fish, mushrooms, forest berries, vegetables, and less often with milk and meat.
Already in the early Middle Ages, a clear, or rather, sharp division of the Russian table into lean (vegetable, fish, mushroom) and stern (milk meat, egg) arose. At the same time, the Lenten table included far from all plant products.
So, beets, carrots and sugar, which were also classified as fast food, were excluded from it. Drawing a sharp line between fasting and fasting tables, fencing off each other with an impenetrable wall of products of various origins and strictly preventing their mixing, naturally led to the creation original dishes, For example, various kinds fish soup, pancakes, kundums (mushroom dumplings). 
The fact that most days in a year are between 192 and 216 in different years were lenten, caused a completely natural desire for a variety of lenten table. Hence the abundance of mushroom and fish dishes in the Russian national cuisine, the tendency to use various vegetable raw materials from grain (cereals) to wild berries and herbs (snotweed, nettle, sorrel, quinoa, angelica, etc.).
At first, attempts to diversify the Lenten table were expressed in the fact that each type of vegetable, mushroom or fish was cooked separately. So, cabbage, turnip, radish, peas, cucumbers (vegetables known since the 10th century) were cooked and eaten raw, salted (pickled), steamed, boiled or baked separately from one another.
Salads and especially vinaigrettes were not characteristic of Russian cuisine at that time and appeared in Russia only in the middle of the 19th century. But they were also originally made mainly with one vegetable, which is why they were called cucumber salad, beetroot salad, potato salad, etc. 
Mushroom dishes were even more differentiated. Each type of mushrooms, milk mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms, ceps, morels and stoves (champignons), etc., was not only salted, but also cooked completely separately. The situation was exactly the same with fish consumed boiled, dried, salted, baked, and less often fried. 
Sigovina, taimenina, pike, halibut, catfish, salmon, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, beluga and others were considered each individually a special, different dish, and not just fish. Therefore, the ear could be perch, ruff, burbot or sturgeon. 
The taste variety of such homogeneous dishes was achieved in two ways: on the one hand, the difference in heat and cold processing, as well as through the use of various oils, mainly vegetable hemp, walnut, poppy, wood (olive) and much later than sunflower, and on the other hand, the use of spices .
Of the latter, onion and garlic were more often used, and in a very large quantities, as well as parsley, mustard, anise, coriander, Bay leaf, black pepper and cloves, which have appeared in Rus' since the 11th century. Later, in the 11th and early 12th centuries, they were supplemented with ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, calamus (iry root) and saffron. 
In the ancient period of Russian cuisine, liquid hot dishes also appeared, which received the general name Khlebovak. Especially widespread are such types of bread as cabbage soup, stews based on vegetable raw materials, as well as various zatiruhi, zaverihi, talkers, straws and other types of flour soups, which differed from each other only in consistency and consisted of three elements of water, flour and fat. , to which sometimes (but not always) was added, onion, garlic or parsley. 
They also made sour cream and cottage cheese (according to the then terminology, cheese). The production of cream and butter remained unknown until the 14th century, and in the 14th-15th centuries these products were rarely prepared and were of poor quality at first. Due to imperfect methods of churning, cleaning and storage, oil quickly goes rancid. 
National sweet table consisted of berry-flour and berry-honey or honey-flour products. These are gingerbread and different types unbaked, raw, but specially folded dough (Kaluga dough, malt, kulagi), in which a delicate taste effect was achieved by long, patient and laborious processing.
"Promother of bread" is popularly called porridge. Somehow an ancient culinary specialist cooked porridge and inadvertently poured cereals more than expected. In short, the mistake turned into a cake. People, having properly scolded the negligent cook, nevertheless tried a new dish and, apparently, they liked it. Over time, cakes began to be baked from flour. So, according to a folk saying, bread was born from porridge.
In Rus', porridge from time immemorial has occupied an important place in the nutrition of the people. It was cooked from millet (millet), oats, barley, buckwheat and other cereals on weekdays and holidays. Interestingly, in ancient Rus', porridge was called not only cereal dishes, but in general all dishes that were cooked from crushed foods. So, in ancient sources, bread porridges, which were cooked from crackers, as well as a wide variety of fish porridges are mentioned: herring, whitefish, salmon, sturgeon, sturgeon, beluga. Apparently, this fish was finely chopped and, possibly, mixed with boiled cereals.
According to some reports, meat was also added to such porridge in fast days. They also prepared porridge from a mixture of different cereals. In the 18-19 centuries, cereals were boiled together with potatoes. Seasoned with onions and vegetable oil, this dish is called kulesh. They also prepared pea, juice (on hemp oil), church, turnip and many other cereals.
And in ancient times, and in the recent past, porridge was the main meal of both poor and rich people. Hence the Russian proverb: "porridge is our mother".
The great importance that porridge and other cereal dishes had in the nutrition of the Slavic peoples, including the Russian people, could not but affect their use as ritual dishes.
For example, in ancient Rus', "porridge" was called a wedding feast. The Novgorod chronicle of 1239, reporting on the marriage of Alexander Nevsky, says that the prince was married in the Trinity, that (there - ed.) porridge was repaired, and another in Novgorod.
But what a story came out with the "porridge" of Prince Dmitry Donskoy. Deciding to marry the daughter of the Nizhny Novgorod prince, he, according to the custom existing at that time, had to go "for porridge" to the father of his bride. However, the prince of Moscow considered it below his dignity to celebrate his own wedding on the land of his future father-in-law and invited the latter to come to Moscow. But the Nizhny Novgorod prince would have fallen in his own eyes and in the eyes of his neighbors, had he agreed to such an “insulting” proposal.
And then they chose the golden mean. The porridge was cooked not in Moscow and not in Novgorod, but in the city of Kolomna, which lies almost in the middle of the road between glorious cities.
In general, the organization of a wedding feast in those days, however, as today, was a rather troublesome business, and it was not without reason that the saying “brew porridge” was born.
Porridge was also cooked at the conclusion of a peace treaty between the warring parties. Then, as a sign of alliance and friendship, former opponents sat at the same table and ate this porridge. If the parties failed to reach an agreement on peace, they said: "You can't cook porridge with him." This expression has survived to our time, however, its meaning has changed somewhat. Today we more often address this phrase to an inept person than to an enemy.
How porridge was cooked in Rus'
Christmas holidays, homelands, weddings, funerals and many other events in the life of the people could not do without porridge in Rus'.
On Vasily's Day in many Russian provinces, porridge was cooked in accordance with a certain ritual. It happened like this. Cooked porridge "until light". Groats from the barn (at night) were brought by the eldest woman in the house, and water from the river or well was brought by the eldest of the men. And they put water and cereals on the table and God forbid anyone touch them until the stove is heated.
But now the stove is heated, the whole family sits down at the table and the older woman, stirring the cereal, says: “We sowed, grew buckwheat all summer; our buckwheat was born and large and blush; called-called buckwheat to Tsargrad with princes, with boyars, with honest oats, golden barley; they waited for buckwheat, they waited at the stone gates; princes and boyars met buckwheat, planted buckwheat at an oak table to feast; buckwheat came to visit us. Probably, if porridge was cooked from other cereals, she was also praised. But buckwheat has always enjoyed special respect among the Russian people. It is no coincidence that she was called the princess.
After this lamentation, everyone rises from the table, and the hostess, with bows, puts the pot of porridge in the oven. Then the family sits down at the table again and waits for the porridge to cook.
Finally, the porridge is ready, and here comes the crucial moment. With the words: “You are welcome to our yard with your good,” the woman takes the porridge out of the oven and first of all examines the pot in which it was cooked. There is no greater misfortune for the family if the porridge gets out of the pot, or worse, the pot will be cracked. Open the gates for future troubles. But that's not all. If the porridge turned out to be red, well boiled - to be a happy family in the new year, with a good harvest. The pale color of porridge is a harbinger of alternative consequences.
In general, there were a great many ways of divination on porridge. At the same time, the future harvest was most often the object of fortune-telling. For example, in Galician Rus', kutya was eaten at dinner on the eve of Christmas. And it was distributed unusual way harvest predictions. The owner of the house, having scooped up a full spoonful of porridge, threw it under the ceiling. The more grains stick to the ceiling, the richer the harvest.
Kutya
By the way, about kutya. It was prepared from wheat, rice, barley and other cereals with raisins, honey, poppy seeds, etc. As a rule, kutya everywhere had a ritual memorial significance. But in Rus', as we noted above, it was also prepared for Christmas.
Here is what M. G. Rabinovich writes about Kutya: “Kutya was mentioned for the first time at the beginning of the 12th century (in the chronicle source - The Tale of Bygone Years - author).
Initially, it was prepared from wheat grains with honey, and in the 16th century - with poppy seeds. In the 19th century, rice and raisins were already taken for kutya, as they do now. If the ancient kutya, apparently, is of rural origin, then the later one (completely from imported products) is of urban origin. The charter of the meals of the Tikhvin Monastery distinguishes between kutya and “kolivo, that is, wheat is boiled with honey and raisins”. Apparently, at the end of the 16th century, raisins were just added to kutya, and for distinction they used the name kolivo, which meant the same as kutya.
Porridge in rituals in Rus'
An integral part of wedding ceremonies in Rus' was the feeding of young porridge. She was considered a symbol of sowing and fertility. Apparently for the same reason, the women who took birth cooked a special porridge for women in labor.
Everywhere in Rus', the custom of sprinkling the bride and groom with cereals and grains was also widespread. The young were sprinkled before going to the crown, when leaving the church, before entering the house. In some provinces, this was not limited. Even the next day, when the young people came out of the bath, they were greeted with a rain of grain.
The meaning of sprinkling the young was twofold: so that good bread was born and the beauty (health) of the young was preserved. Therefore, in the sentences that accompanied sprinkling, wishes for a good harvest and health are often repeated.
Usually sprinkled young with oats, barley, wheat. True, in different areas they used different cereals and grains. Sometimes the groom was sprinkled with hops, as hops are a symbol of masculinity.
Porridge was often the main treat at the festivities on the occasion of the end of the harvest, especially if the work could not be done without the help of hired workers. When hiring, on the other hand, the worker often, as important condition pronounce obligatory porridge for lunch. The Karelians were especially scrupulous in this respect, as they considered millet porridge a great delicacy.
In the Kholmogory district, millet porridge was an obligatory treat after christening.
The so-called "votive" porridge was eaten on the day of Agrafena Kupalnitsa (June 23) upon returning from the bath or after bathing. This porridge was prepared with special rituals. Often, girls from different houses gathered to crush cereals for porridge, while each brought her own cereal. They also cooked "worldly porridge" on this day, which was fed to the poor.
Any collective work, whether it was harvesting or building a house, could not do without artel porridge. Sometimes the artel itself was called porridge. “We are from the same porridge,” the artel workers said.
As you can see, porridge for Russian people in the past was much more important than it is today. But above all, it was valued as the main dish of the national table. Kasha accompanied a person all his life from birth to the last day.
Few other cuisines can offer as many varieties of cereals as Russian. They differ primarily in the types of cereals. The most common cereals for cereals in Russia have always been millet, barley, oats, buckwheat, rice, etc.
Each cereal, depending on the type of processing, was divided into types. So, they made a core from buckwheat and did it, from barley - pearl barley (large grains), Dutch (smaller grains) and barley (very small grains). By the way, it is believed that barley porridge was the favorite food of Peter I.
Millet porridge was cooked from millet, from solid wheat groats- semolina, from whole crushed oats - oatmeal. Green porridge was widely distributed in some provinces. It was brewed from young, unripe, half-filled rye.
Since childhood, we all know the fairy tale of A.S. Pushkin, in which the priest fed his worker Balda with boiled spelled. What is this spelled? Some believe that this is such a porridge, others confidently attribute it to vegetables. In fact, spelled in Rus' was called a spike plant, something between wheat and barley. Porridge and stew were cooked from crushed cereals. This food was considered coarse, but nutritious, therefore it was intended mainly for the poorest segments of the population.
In general, porridge was cooked from raw grains, crushed and finely ground cereals.
Porridge has been known since ancient times to all agricultural peoples. In Russian written monuments, this word is found in documents of the end of the 12th century, however, archaeological excavations find pots with the remains of porridges in the layers of the 9th - 10th centuries. The word "porridge" comes, according to linguists, from the Sanskrit "porridge", which means "crush, rub".
Why is porridge always treated with such reverence in Rus'? The roots of the ritual attitude to such a seemingly simple food lies in our pagan beginning. It is known from manuscripts that porridge was offered to Mother Earth, to the Saints in the hope of prosperity, to the gods of agriculture and fertility, in order to ask for a good harvest for the next year. The gods, as you know, were offered only the best. And to be able to eat every day what the Gods can afford once a year, you see, is nice.
Porridge is a very healthy, nutritious, tasty and, importantly, inexpensive product. It was impossible to imagine any celebration or holiday without traditional Russian porridge on the table. Moreover, a certain ritual porridge was necessarily prepared for various significant events. This is reflected in the proverbs:
"Porridge is our breadwinner"
"You can't feed a Russian peasant without porridge"
"Without porridge, lunch is not at lunch"
"Schi and porridge are our food"
"Borscht without porridge is a widower, porridge without borscht is a widow"
Among some peoples of our country, porridge, which was called "babkina", met a newborn. At the wedding, the bride and groom certainly cooked porridge, which was an obligatory part of the wedding ceremony - "The hostess is red - and the porridge is delicious". Kasha was cooked for christenings and name days, porridge (kutya) was used to commemorate a person, seeing him off on his last journey to a funeral or commemoration.
Without porridge of your own original preparation guests were not allowed. Moreover, each hostess had her own own recipe which was kept secret.
Porridge was always prepared before big battles, and even at victorious feasts it was impossible to do without "victorious" porridge. Porridge served as a symbol of a truce: in order to conclude peace, it was necessary to cook "peaceful" porridge.
In ancient Russian chronicles, the feasts themselves were often called "porridge": for example, at the wedding of Alexander Nevsky, "porridge was repaired" twice - one at the wedding in the Trinity, the other during the national festivities in Novgorod.
Porridge was necessarily prepared on the occasion of the beginning of a big business. This is where the expression "to brew porridge" came from.
Porridge in Rus' "determined" even the relationship between people. They said about an unreliable and intractable person: "You can't cook porridge with him." When they worked as an artel, they cooked porridge for the whole artel, so for a long time the word "porridge" was synonymous with the word "artel". They said: "We are in the same mess," which meant in the same artel, in the same brigade. On the Don even today you can hear the word "porridge" in this sense.
Spelled porridge was popular in Rus', which was cooked from small grains made from spelled. Spelled is a semi-wild variety of wheat, which was grown in large quantities in Rus' back in the 18th century. Or rather, spelled grew by itself, was not whimsical and did not require any care. She was not afraid of pests or weeds. Spelled itself destroyed any weed. Spelled porridge was coarse, but very healthy and nutritious. Gradually, "cultivated" varieties of wheat replaced spelt, because. she didn't peel well. Spelled grain fuses with the flower shell, creating an almost integral whole with it. In addition, the yield of spelt was much lower than that of cultivars of wheat.
Spelled, or dvuzernyanka, is the oldest type of cultivated wheat (Triticum diciccon). Now it has almost been replaced by more productive varieties of soft and durum wheat, but now there is a revival in the production of spelt, because spelt has a huge advantage over other varieties of wheat - drought tolerance. There is a lot of protein in spelled, from 27% to 37%, and there is little gluten, so people who are allergic to gluten can eat this porridge safely. Spelled is richer in iron and B vitamins than regular wheat and has a pleasant nutty flavor. Spelled is grown in the Caucasus: its crops have been resumed in Dagestan and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Here it is called "zanduri". Sold today in Russia and American spelled. It's called "spelt". Sometimes you can find spelled grown in Europe. All this introduces some confusion, but also "spelt", and "zanduri", and "spelt", and "kamut", the names of the same plant, the old Russian spelled. Moreover, it came to America and Europe from Russia.
In ancient times, dishes prepared not only from cereals, but also from other crushed products (fish, peas, bread) were called porridge. The huge variety of Russian cereals was determined, first of all, by the variety of cereals that were produced in Russia. Several types of cereals were made from each grain crop - from whole to crushed in various ways.
The most favorite and popular porridge among Russians was buckwheat (sinful, buckwheat, buckwheat, sinful) and already in the 17th century. was considered a national Russian dish, although it appeared rather late - in the 15th century. There is also a proverb about her: "Our woe - buckwheat: I would eat like this, but no, not any. "In addition to whole grains - cores, going for cool ones, crumbly cereals, they also made smaller groats - “Veligorka” and very small ones - “Smolensk”.
Porridge made from whole or crushed grains of barley was called: barley, barley, wheat, crushed rye, thick, glaze, pearl barley. Zhitnoy this porridge was called in the northern and Central Russian provinces, where, with the word zhito, barley was designated. Zhito crushed, barley - porridge made from finely crushed grain. The word thick in the Novgorod, Pskov, Tver provinces was called steep barley porridge from whole grains. She was so popular there that Novgorodians in Rus' were even called "guts-eaters". The term "glazuha" was used to refer to porridge cooked from barley with peas. Peas in porridge were not completely boiled soft, and "eyes" - peas - were visible on its surface. Perlovka is a porridge cooked from whole grains, the bluish-gray color of which and a slightly oblong shape slightly resembled "pearl grain" - pearl. Three types of groats were made from barley: pearl barley - large grains were subjected to weak polishing, Dutch - smaller grains were polished to white, and barley - very small groats from unpolished (whole) grains. barley porridge were the favorite food of Peter the Great. He recognized "barley porridge as the most spicy and delicious."
Oat porridge (oatmeal, oatmeal) could be cooked from both whole and crushed grains. She liked her nutritional value and speed of preparation. It could be cooked on a light taganka without melting a Russian oven or stove.
barley and oatmeal have been brewed since ancient times throughout Russia, both in villages and in cities, and were served mainly on weekdays.
Millet porridge (millet, white - made from millet) has been known to Russians for as long as oatmeal and barley. The word millet was first mentioned in written documents of the 11th century. Millet porridge was consumed both on weekdays and during festive feast.
Wheat, turned into very fine grits, was used to make semolina porridge. The word "manna" is Old Slavonic and goes back to the Greek word "manna" - food. It was served only to children and was usually prepared with milk.
Rice porridge appeared in the 18th century, when rice was brought to Russia, and was used mainly in cities. It entered the diet of peasants very slowly and was called porridge from Sorochinsky millet. In rich houses, it was used as a filling for pies. In addition, over time, they began to cook kutya from it.
Along with porridges made from whole or crushed grains, “flour porridges” were traditional for Russians, i.e. flour porridge. They were usually called mukavashi, mukaveshki, mukovinki, mukovki. Some of these porridges also had special names, which reflected the methods of making porridge, its consistency, the type of flour used for making: bearberry, (bearberry, bearberry), straw (salamat, salamata, salamakha), kulaga (malt, jelly ), pea, zavarikha, zagusta (goose, goose), etc.
Toloknyakha was prepared from oatmeal, which was a fragrant, fluffy flour made from oats. Oatmeal was made in a peculiar way: oats in a bag were dipped into the river for a day, then languished in the oven, dried, pounded in mortars and sifted through a sieve. When making porridge, oatmeal was poured with water and rubbed with a whorl so that there were no lumps. Toloknyakha has been around since the 15th century. one of the most popular folk dishes.
Solomat - gruel from rye, barley or wheat flour, brewed with boiling water and steamed in the oven, sometimes with the addition of fat. Solomat is an old food for Russians. It is already mentioned in written sources of the 15th century. The word "straw" was borrowed by the Russians from the Turkic languages. Gorokhovka - porridge made from pea flour. Kulaga - a dish made from rye malt- germinated and steamed in the oven grain and rye flour. After cooking in the oven, a sweetish porridge was obtained. Zavariha - porridge made from any flour, poured into boiling water during cooking with continuous stirring. Gustiha - thick porridge from rye flour.
Kashi was prepared in every house, both for everyday and for a festive meal. They could be consumed with milk, cow's or vegetable oil, fat, honey full, kvass, berries, fried onions, etc. On festive table they usually put three porridges: millet, buckwheat and barley.
Plants are endowed by nature with the ability to accumulate sunlight (energy) and extract nutrients from the earth. Only plants have the ability to synthesize and accumulate in themselves the nutrients and biologically active substances necessary for a person (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.). That is why, since time immemorial, man has been growing plants for food. The most valuable and biologically important of them are cereals. Without them, our existence is unthinkable.
Cereals are the compressed light of the Sun.
Eat porridge and be healthy!
RUSSIAN KITCHEN
Educational culinary quiz about Russia
What is in the oven
–
all swords on the table.
Schey ate as if he put on a fur coat.
(Russian proverbs.)
Before the revolution in Russia, there were up to 300 of its names, and each Russian drank an average of 200 liters per year. What are we talking about?
(About kvass.)
What full-fledged and tasty "taiga lunch" can be prepared in summer or autumn from only one plant - Ivan tea?
(From the roots of willow-chai, you can get flour for bread. If you boil its roots, you get a second dish. Young shoots of willow-tea will replace cabbage. fresh leaves go for salad. Dried leaves will give a fragrant tea leaves - not without reason the plant is called Ivan-tea.)
What is the name of the drink that our ancestors called "sour cabbage soup" in our time?
(Kvass.)
ancient Russian dish"Kundyums" - dumplings with mushrooms and buckwheat - were served at the table on such days. Which?
(Lenten.)
What is a tasty, simple and economical dish that is almost forgotten in our time? But once in Rus' it was not without reason that it served as a measure of cheapness.
(Steamed turnip. “Easier than steamed turnip”, “Cheaper than steamed turnip, nowhere cheaper.” But turnip is not so simple. Hearty porridge from steamed turnips with oatmeal, soup with turnips, jelly from turnips fed the Russians when they had not yet heard of potatoes.)
What vegetable in Rus' before the appearance of potatoes was considered a "second bread"?
(Turnip. In ancient times, it occupied the most important place in the nutrition of peasants.)
What jelly existed in Russia before the appearance of sweet jelly in the early 20th century?
(Bread.)
In the old days in Rus', it was customary to cook oatmeal jelly, which, when solidified, became so dense that it could be cut with a knife. It is not surprising that in folklore he was used as a building material. What was "built" from jelly?
(Banks for milk rivers.)
Fermented in Belarus Birch juice called Berka, but what about in Russia?
(Berezovitsa. Birch trees for a penny, and forests for a ruble, - V. Dahl said about this drink.)
When did butter appear in Russia?
(In the 19th century.)
What was called beer in Rus'?
(The thirst-quenching liquid that was drunk, as opposed to the drink that was supposed to satisfy hunger and which was eaten.)
The current Russian expression "a mixture of French and Nizhny Novgorod" appeared in a speech after the Patriotic War of 1812 and meant a kind of two-component drink. Name its composition.
(We are talking about champagne in half with kvass.)
When did they start serving vinaigrettes in Russia?
(In the 19th - early 20th centuries)
What word is now called disorder, confusion, and earlier they called the dish that Russian soldiers prepared by mixing cabbage, fish, flour and crushed crackers?
(Mess.)
The word "soup" appeared in Russia in the era of Peter I. And what was the original name of liquid dishes in Rus'?
(Bread, brew, stew, ear.)
What did Russian soldiers cook cabbage soup from during the war of 1812 far from their homeland?
(They fermented grape leaves and cabbage soup was cooked from them.)
What soups are consumed more in Russia: cold or hot?
(Hot, due to our cold climate.)
Tell me the recipes for poor people's prison, children's prison and medical prison.
(Poor prison - pour kvass over stale bread. Children's prison - white wheat bread pour hot milk. Therapeutic prison for those with a cold - pour warm wine over bread.)
French writer Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, also wrote a cookbook. The recipe of what very favorite dish of Russian cuisine did he include in it?
(Russian cabbage soup.)
What vegetable tops are used for cold Russian soup botvinya?
(Beets.)
Finish the old proverb with the name of a dish of Russian cuisine: "What Aksinya is, such is ...".
(Botvinya. This cold soup from kvass with boiled beet tops, onions and fish.)
Which product, according to the Russian proverb, is the head of everything?
(Bread. Bread is the head of everything.)
What product did people in Rus' talk about - "create" and not "cook"?
(About the test.)
This method of cooking products has long been known to Russians, they only called it yarn.
(Deep frying.)
What did the word "pie" originally mean in Rus'?
(The name "pie" is believed to have come from the word "feast" and meant festive bread.)
And bread dough, and wooden tub, in which it was prepared, were called the same. How, if we now call a sluggish, fat, clumsy person that way?
(Korshnya.)
Serving fish pies with an open top on the table, the fish was certainly smeared with just that. How?
(Caviar.)
How is the Moscow kulebyaka different from all the others?
(As many as three types of filling are made for it, one of which is necessarily fish. Each layer of the filling is separated with pancakes and only then placed in the dough.)
How is the name of the favorite bakery product of Russians - kalach - immortalized on the map of our country?
(Kalach is a city in the Voronezh region, Kalach-on-Don is a city in the Volgograd region, Kalacheevsk is a city in the Omsk region of the Russian Federation.)
What kind of bread was baked in Russia from cakes, oat flour, flour dust and hydrocellulose?
(Besieged Leningrad bread. Such was the wartime recipe. The blockade norm of such bread for employees and children was 125 grams per day.)
Who came up with the "Guryev porridge"?
(The serf cook Zakhar Kuzmin, whom Count Guryev and his family bought from Major Yurisovsky of the Orenburg Dragoon Regiment. The Count really liked the porridge served to him for dessert.)
Porridge from which cereal was called black porridge in Rus'?
(From buckwheat.)
What grain did Russian soldiers call "shrapnel"?
(Pearl.)
Depending on the density, porridge in Russian cuisine could be steep, thin or viscous. What other name did viscous porridge if we use this word ironically to call a sluggish, indecisive person?
(Muddle.)
Most of our contemporaries know about the existence of what old peasant porridge only from Pushkin's fairy tale about the priest and his worker Balda?
(Spelled porridge from spelled wheat - spelled. Although considered nutritious, it was rough in taste and was in demand only among the poor.)
A.S. Pushkin gave the priest the nickname "oatmeal forehead." And what was called oatmeal in Rus'?
(Oatmeal in Rus' was called oatmeal of special preparation.)
What product was called “dried grass” in 17th century Rus'?
(Tea.)
IN pre-Petrine Rus' fresh apples were the traditional New Year's treat of the festive feast. Why?
(After all, before the calendar reform of Peter I New Year celebrated on September 1 - at the time when they picked apples.)
Day of the week Wednesday in the Orthodox Church is considered fasting or fast?
(Lent.)
In Rus' they baked kalachi. The rolls had a small device for those whose hands were dirty. From this device came the saying: "I got to ..." What did you get to?
(The device is the handle of the kalach. When they ate the kalach, they said: “I reached the handle.”)
In 1912, in the year of the centenary, Russian chefs came up with a new dish. What form was it?
(Triangular - cake "Napoleon".)
What type of enterprise Catering appeared thanks to the Russian Cossacks stationed in Paris in 1814-1815?
(Bistro - diner, small restaurant.)
Jam from which berries adored A.S. Pushkin and for some reason despised A.P. Chekhov?
(Gooseberry.)
Why in the old days fruit and berry jam Cooked using not sugar, but honey?
(In Russia, sugar became widespread only in the 16th century. Candy sugar began to appear in rich houses. Common people used cheap honey instead of expensive sugar.)
In Georgia, this most popular meat dish is called mtsvadi, in Armenia - khorovats, and in Azerbaijan - kebap. What do the Russians call it?
(Skewer. This word is used only by Russians, who borrowed it from the Tatars back in the 18th century to designate dishes on a spit. They called the skewer "shish". Hence "shishlik", and in our opinion - "kebab".)
Name the “tasty” ridge in Transbaikalia, named “in honor” of the soup beloved by Russians, which came to us from Ukraine.
(Borshchovochny Range, length about 450 km, height up to 1498 m, gold mining.)
On October 26, 1976, a special resolution of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers was adopted. What announcement appeared in pursuance of this decision in all public catering outlets?
(“Thursday is fish day.”)
The name of which famous lake in our country is the tonic drink?
("Baikal".)
What was the name of stable and durable utensils for circular healthy drinking at Russian feasts?
(Brotherhood is one of the oldest Russian vessels. It served as a symbol of the strength and stability of friendly relations of all participants in the “brotherly” feast.)
When did people start using forks in Russia?
(The fork was one of the innovations of Peter I. The first forks had two prongs and were available only to the richest people. Ordinary people got acquainted with this device only in the 19th century.)
About what kitchen utensils says in a Russian folk riddle: “A duck in the sea, and a tail on a fence”?
(About the bucket.)
Which of the following is the ancient Slavic name for bread?
a) loaf;
b) Tyurya;
c) Flatbread;
d) Life.
What was the name of the brazier with coals in Russia in the 16th century, which was placed in the center of the table during the feast?
a) rock
b) Mountain;
c) Hill;
d) Kurgan.
(Mountain. Remember the fabulous "mountain feast".)
In the old days, Russian peasants did not have:
a) breakfast
b) lunch;
c) dinner.
(“Domostroy” spoke of two obligatory meals - lunch and dinner. There might not have been breakfast. There was an idea among the people that the day's food must first be earned.)
What did the Slavs eat?
a) potatoes;
b) tomatoes;
c) corn;
d) Turnip.
What was the wedding ceremony called in the old days in Russia?
a) "Shi";
b) "Porridge";
c) "Okroshka";
d) Kulebyak.
(Maybe this is where the Russian proverb “You can’t cook porridge with him” comes from?)
What dish of Russian cuisine is otherwise called jelly?
a) Okroshka;
b) studen;
c) Ice cream;
d) cabbage soup.
Which of these dishes cookbook, maybe "black", "red" and "white"?
a) Okroshka;
b) Borsch;
c) pickle;
d) ear.
(“Color” depends on what kind of fish the ear is made from.)
Which of these Russian soups is NOT cold?
a) Okroshka;
b) Botvinya;
c) pickle;
d) Beetroot.
What products in Rus' were given to wish health and wealth. Choose the ones that you think are correct.
a) Sugar
b) honey;
c) Bread;
d) Milk;
e) Salt.
(Bread symbolizes health, and salt symbolizes wealth.)
What flour were used to bake traditional Russian pancakes?
a) from wheat;
b) From rye;
c) From buckwheat;
d) From rice.
(She gave them great friability and splendor, and even a slightly sour taste.)
Pancakes were baked at Shrovetide, and Easter cakes were eaten at Easter. How did you celebrate spring?
a) swallows;
b) Starlings;
c) larks;
d) Rooks.
(Larks are special gingerbread, sweet buns shaped like birds.)
At Russian weddings, there was a custom: when the celebration ended, small gingerbread cookies were handed out to the guests. What were they called?
a) roam;
b) Accelerate;
c) chant;
d) Scared.
(Thus, the guests were transparently hinted that it was time to go home.)
What are the famous Tula gingerbread?
a) printed;
b) Written;
c) oral;
d) virtual.
(Gingerbread with a pattern embossed on it.)
What was the character of the famous Russian fairy tale Kolobok?
a) bread
b) Pie;
c) gingerbread;
d) Damn.
(Gingerbread, only spherical. Remember well the fairy tale: “mixed with sour cream.”)
What kind of pies exist in Rus'?
a) Pie;
b) unharness;
c) unsettled;
d) Spread.
(A large, round, open-topped pie with a filling; generally a pie with an open filling.)
Which of these is Russian food?
a) Kulebyak;
b) Bully;
c) Kalyaka;
d) Malaka.
(Large oblong pie stuffed with meat or fish, cabbage, porridge.)
Which of these words means the same as carpet?
a) loaf;
b) Loaf;
c) Gorbushka;
d) Baton.
What is the name of a large cone-shaped wedding cake with various layers of fillings, one of which was necessarily made from chicken meat?
a) Kurnik;
b) Chicken coop;
c) Curiosity;
d) chicken.
What, according to a Russian proverb, is a red hut?
a) caviar (red);
b) Fish (red);
c) pies;
d) borscht.
What cereals are used to prepare the legendary Guryev porridge?
a) buckwheat;
b) millet;
c) Manna;
d) oatmeal.
Without which DO NOT cook kulesh?
a) flour;
b) Meat;
c) pasta;
d) groats.
Which hot drink for a long time replaced the Russians and tea, and coffee? After all, they were not known in Rus'.
a) studen;
b) Sbiten;
c) mulled wine;
d) Kryushon.
(Hot drink made from honey and spices.)
What kind of tea do the British call "Russian tea"?
a) with milk
b) with lemon
c) with honey;
d) with salt.
Choose the correct ending of the Russian proverb: "The first pancake ..."
a) stake;
b) lumpy;
c) you can’t spoil with oil;
d) give to the enemy.
Which of these dishes is NOT Easter?
a) Easter
b) Kulich;
c) eggs;
d) Pancakes.
What healthy drink has “taken root” in Russia since light hand Pavel Yakovlevich Pyasetsky, writer, historian, traveler, artist and doctor?
a) Kissel;
b) Kefir;
c) cocoa;
d) carbonated water.
(On a trip to the Caucasus, this drink attracted him. Pyasetsky made a presentation at the Society of Russian Doctors with a proposal to introduce kefir into medical practice.)
What is the appetizing name of the famous Soviet culinary historian and author of cookbooks.
a) Pokhlebkin;
b) Borshchev;
c) Okroshkin;
d) Blinov.
What is the name of admiration for the backward forms of life and life of one's country, falsely understood as love for the fatherland?
a) Kissel patriotism;
b) leavened patriotism;
c) Pancake patriotism;
d) Turnip patriotism.
