The history of Russian pancakes. Pancakes - the Russian national dish Pancakes are the most famous Russian dish

Pancakes for a Russian person are not just a favorite dish - they are a genetic memory of the Russian village, of cheerful festivities on Maslenitsa, of centuries-old Russian traditions and foundations. Our ancestors treated guests to pancakes, greeted the birth of children with pancakes, giving pancakes to women in labor after childbirth, saw off pancakes on their last journey and commemorated deceased relatives. It is no exaggeration to say that Russian pancakes reflect the thousand-year history of the Russian world, its spirit, traditions, and flavor.

Pancakes in ancient Rus'

The history of Russian pancakes dates back to ancient times. It is believed that the first pancake was baked around 1005 - 1006, so Russian pancakes are definitely over a thousand years old!

Pancakes in Rus' have long been a common dish of Russian cuisine, but in ancient times, pancakes among the Slavs had a special, ritual meaning, and their preparation was a ritual, a whole sacrament, where outsiders were not allowed. Pancake recipes have been passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter, from grandmother to granddaughter. Housewives prepared the dough for pancakes in the evening, secretly from their household, in the light of the moon, saying: “Moon, you, month, your golden horns, look out the window, blow on the dough.”

It is mistakenly believed that among the Slavic peoples, hot, round pancakes were a symbol of the sun. In fact, pancakes were always a funeral dish among the ancient Slavs. They commemorated dead relatives with pancakes, destined them to long-dead relatives, “transferring” pancakes to the “other world”, distributing them to carolers, the first wanderers they met, and beggars. It’s not for nothing that they say from ancient times that “The first pancake is always for the dead.”

They used pancakes to see off not only deceased relatives, but also the winter - on Maslenitsa, pancakes have always been an indispensable attribute of this holiday, because they so correspond to the memorial character of Maslenitsa. Maslenitsa not only saw off winter and welcomed spring, but also saw off the old year and welcomed the new one, because until the 14th century in Rus' the year began in March. It’s not for nothing that Maslenitsa was called honest, wide, gluttonous, because how you greet the year is how you spend it, so the Russians did not skimp on feasting and fun on this holiday.

How pancakes were prepared in Rus'

Many peoples know a variety of ways to prepare pancakes, different in type and consistency, using different types of flour. In the countries of Central Asia and Western Europe, it is customary to prepare pancakes from unleavened dough of various compositions, while in Rus' they preferred yeast pancakes - made from liquid yeast dough, aged until carbon dioxide forms in the dough.

Nowadays, wheat, buckwheat, barley, oatmeal and even pea flour or their combinations are used for baking pancakes, but buckwheat pancakes are considered classic Russian pancakes. They have a pleasant taste and slight sourness. Compared to pancakes made from wheat flour, buckwheat pancakes are more fluffy and loose.

Traditional Russian pancakes are small pancakes the size of a saucer, which in the old days were baked only in frying pans cleaned with salt and well heated (preferably cast iron). Before starting to bake each pancake, the pancake pan was greased with oil using an onion or potato pricked on a fork, or a piece of lard. Pancakes were baked in a Russian oven, which is why they still say “bake” pancakes, not fry.

In Rus' they also baked stuffed pancakes (with seasoning) - the filling is placed in the middle of the frying pan and filled with pancake batter. Ready-made crushed products were used as a baking powder. It could be:

• layer of fried onions or carrots
• boiled eggs
• mushrooms
• minced fish or meat
• cottage cheese, etc.

The finished pancakes are stacked and served hot.

Nowadays, pancakes are no longer perceived as a ritual food, and have long taken their rightful place in the regular Russian menu.

Video about how pancakes are baked in a Russian oven

Guryevskys, "Lace foam" and others

Pancakes "According to my mother's recipe"

Ingredients:
1 liter of milk
5 eggs
1/3 tsp. l. salt
2 table. l. Sahara
Half a spoon of baking soda
A little citric acid (on the tip of a knife)
2-3 table. l. Vegetable oil
One and a half cups of boiling water

Recipe:
1. First, beat the milk with the eggs, add sugar and salt to the whipped mixture, and beat again. Then add soda and citric acid.
2. Add flour to the mixture until it resembles liquid sour cream. The amount of flour will depend on the size of the eggs. Typically takes about 4 cups (at first the batter is a little thicker than regular pancake batter).
3. Add vegetable oil to the resulting mixture and bring to the desired consistency using boiling water.
4. Leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes. Then, as usual, bake the pancakes on both sides.

Cunning: Grease the pan with oil only once. Pour a spoonful, heat it up and pour it into the dough (in addition to what has already been added). Thanks to this trick, the pancakes do not stick to the pan. Which, by the way, should be a special one, a pancake one.

Choose the filling according to your own taste. You can stuff it, sprinkle it with sesame seeds or spread the pancakes with honey.

Guryev pancakes

Ingredients:
wheat flour - two cups
egg - 5 pieces
butter - 100 g
sour milk (kefir) - 2 1/2 cups
salt, sugar to taste.

Recipe:
Pour the egg yolks into the pan and, adding salt and sugar, grind well. Then add flour, add butter, milk and knead into a fairly thin dough. The dough needs to be beaten very well. The better the dough is beaten, the tastier the pancakes will be.

Russian pancakes

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 600 g.
granulated sugar - 1 tbsp. l.
butter - 5 tsp.
eggs - 1 pc.
yeast - 25 g.
salt - 1 tsp.
milk - 4 glasses,
olive oil - 3-4 tbsp. l.

Recipe:
Heat 3 cups of milk, dissolve yeast in it, add 1/2 tbsp. spoons of granulated sugar, salt, yolk and melted butter, mix and add 300 g of flour.

Knead the dough. Cover the bowl with the dough with a towel and place it in a warm place for fermentation (25-30°C). After 2 hours, when the volume of the dough has doubled, dilute it with the remaining milk, heated to a temperature of 50°C, add the rest of the flour and sugar and gradually pour in the well-beaten egg white. Knead the dough again and let it rise. The dough should ferment for about 3 hours in total.

Grease a frying pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil and heat until the smoke disappears. Using a pouring spoon, carefully scoop out a portion of the batter and pour into the pan. When the bottom side of the pancake is browned, dip a brush in vegetable oil, grease the top side and turn the pancake over.

When the second side of the pancake is browned, grease the top side with vegetable oil again and transfer the pancake to a pan covered with a towel. Do not stir the dough during baking.

Serve hot or warm, topped with honey, sour cream, and jam.

Pancakes "Lace foam"

Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 tbsp. Sahara
1 tsp vanilla sugar
100 ml vodka
0.5 tsp salt
1 liter of kefir 1% fat
flour
1 tsp soda
3 tbsp. rast. oils

Recipe:
1. Beat eggs with sugar until foamy. Add vanilla sugar, vodka, salt and beat again.
2. Pour in kefir and stir.
3. Sift the flour and, stirring, gradually pour into the mixture until the dough acquires the consistency of thick sour cream.
4. Add baking soda and vegetable oil to the dough. Stir and let stand for 20 minutes.
Then, while beating the dough, gradually pour in boiling water until the dough resembles liquid sour cream.
5. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Pour in a little batter and spread it throughout the pan in a circular motion. Bake. Turn the pancake over to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Bake all the pancakes.
6. Lightly grease each pancake with butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Fold four times. Place the pancakes in a pan, sprinkle 2 tbsp on top. sugar and put 100 grams of butter.
Cover tightly and place in a warm oven for 15 minutes.

Interesting facts about pancakes

The oldest pancake recipe in English dates back to the 15th century.

The world record for the largest pancake was set in Rochdale in 1994. The pancake was 15 meters in diameter, weighed three tons and two million calories.

The World's Largest Pancake Breakfast is held annually in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. Hundreds of volunteers take part in the event, and since 1999, more than 71,233 meals have been served to more than 40,000 people. If all these pancakes are stacked, it will be higher than 3.5 km.

Ralf Lau from Leipzig set a world record for throwing pancakes into the air - he threw it 416 times in two minutes. And Mike Kutsakre ran a marathon, constantly throwing a pancake, for 3 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.

Pancakes from all over the world

Pancakes, as you know, are baked not only in Russia, although it often seems to us that this is our national dish. However, for example, the French also believe that pancakes are the “horse” of cuisine. Americans who love fast food also appreciate food prepared with their own hands (although the recipe for their pancakes, like everything they create in order to save money, is as simple as possible).
So what other pancakes are there?

Let's start with the Russians, the traditional ones.

Recipe
To prepare pancakes according to this recipe, you need to heat three glasses of milk to 30-35°, dissolve the yeast in it, add 1/2 tbsp. spoons of granulated sugar, salt, yolk and melted butter, mix and add 300 g of flour. Knead the dough. Cover the bowl with the dough with a towel and place it in a warm place to ferment. After 1 1/2 - 2 hours, when the volume of the dough has doubled, dilute it with the remaining milk, heated to a temperature of 50°, add the rest of the flour and sugar, gradually pour in the well-beaten egg white. Knead the dough again and let it rise. The dough should ferment for about 3 hours in total.
Grease a frying pan with a thin layer of oil and heat it until the smoke disappears. Use a spoon to scoop out the batter and pour it into the pan. When the bottom side of the pancake is browned, dip a brush in oil, grease the top side and turn the pancake over. When the second side of the pancake is browned, grease the top side with oil again and transfer the pancake to a pan covered with a towel. Do not stir the dough during baking.

Scottish pancakes

Ingredients:
oat flakes - 100 g
flour - 2 tbsp. spoons
grated cheese (Cheddar is best) - 3 tbsp. spoons
yolk - 1 pc.
milk - 3 tbsp. spoons
butter - 1 tbsp. spoon
soda
salt

Recipe
Mix oatmeal, flour, cheese, salt, soda, butter. Add milk immediately. Knead the dough and roll it into a thin layer. Using a saucer, cut out large circles and cut each into 4 pieces. Brush the edges with yolk. Bake pancakes in the oven.
Cheese can be replaced with sugar, then you get sweet pancakes. You can add 1 tbsp to the dough. a spoonful of flour above the norm, but the pancakes will be tough. You can add ground nuts or poppy seeds for a sweet option.

French pancakes

Ingredients:
flour - 100 g
a pinch of salt
large egg - 1
milk - 300 ml
vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.

Recipe
The main thing here is to observe the cooking ritual.
Place the flour and salt in a large dish and make a well in the center.
Break an egg into this cavity, then add the egg yolk and pour a little milk there.
Whisk together the egg and milk, then gradually stir in the flour from the edges to the center. Add milk until you reach a dough the consistency of half-whipped cream. Beat the dough until smooth, then mix with vegetable oil.
Stir in the remaining milk - the dough should now have the consistency of liquid cream. Cover the dish and leave for 30 minutes. - this will give the finished dough airiness.
Heat the pan. When it is hot, lightly grease it with a little vegetable oil and pour in 25-30 ml of whipped dough. Tilt the pan so that the batter spreads evenly across the bottom. Place on the fire and fry for 1 minute.
Slide a spatula (wide knife) under the pancake, flip it over and fry the other side until golden brown. Transfer the finished pancake to a plate. Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough.

American style pancakes

Ingredients:
(serving for approximately 16-18 pieces)
flour - 2 cups
milk - 1.5 cups
baking powder - 1
sugar - 4 spoons
vegetable oil - 8 tablespoons
egg - 2
a pinch of salt

Recipe
Dilute the dough (the consistency of thin sour cream). Bake like regular pancakes in a dry frying pan. You can't wrap anything in them - they're quite fluffy. Serve with sour cream, honey, jam.

Indian pancakes

Ingredients:
flour - 600 g
eggs - 10 pcs
butter - 200 g
sugar - 4 tbsp. spoon
milk - 1 glass
cinnamon to taste
orange zest to taste

Recipe
Place the yolks in a saucepan, add flour and butter, grind well and dilute with milk. Proteins are introduced into the dough, cinnamon and orange zest are removed. Baked in a frying pan. The finished pancakes are placed on a plate, sprinkled with sugar and placed in the oven.

Pancakes are a Russian national dish that has come to our homes from time immemorial. What varieties of this culinary delight our ancestors did not come up with. In each house, the housewife had her own special recipe, passed down from generation to generation. Of course, it cannot be denied that other nations also have similar flour products. But the most famous have become thin and fragrant, so reminiscent of the gentle spring sun, Russian pancakes. They are served in many restaurants around the world with caviar and sour cream, honey and cottage cheese.

Thin, golden flour cakes are not only a delicious snack, but also one of the most economical meals of their kind. To make pancakes, you need a small amount of flour because the main component is liquid.

Milk is most often used, but it is possible to bake pancakes with both water and kefir. The result is a liquid dough that easily spreads over a heated frying pan, which makes it possible to bake very thin cakes with holes. To make more pancakes, because you can never have too many of them, the ingredients include yeast. According to a borrowed tradition from Europe, they can be replaced with soda, but this is alien to Russian national cuisine.

It is Russian pancakes that are famous for their special consistency, which makes it possible to prepare soft, fluffy, spongy and fluffy culinary masterpieces that look like a light sponge. The method of preparation, regardless of the contents of the dough, is always the same, and to achieve the desired effect, you have to try very hard. But the process of consumption can be different for everyone, differing in variety. Ready-made pancakes can be dipped in melted butter or honey, greased with sour cream or jam, filled with caviar or minced meat, and each of these methods brings constant pleasure to a true gourmet. The original Russian dish was served with many additives, but it was especially common to use it with cottage cheese in various variations. The pancakes intended for filling were baked very thin, but for dipping, on the contrary, they were fluffy.

Classic recipe for Russian pancakes

The classic recipe involves making a dough that must rise at least twice to make soft, airy and spongy pancakes. Modern housewives prefer a faster cooking method and do not add yeast. They can be successfully replaced with soda, which also gives the desired effect. Very often even this baking powder is not used. Then the pancakes turn out thin and full of holes, which is a special chic and indicates the skill of the hostess.

To make truly classic pancakes, you need to know a few basic things.

• The dough should be liquid enough so that it spreads freely in a thin layer over the pan. But the proportions must be strictly observed, otherwise they will be “lumpy”.
• Pancakes must be fried on both sides. Housewives achieve special skill when they turn them over by tossing them in a frying pan. Although this is not the point, the main thing is to learn how to flip the pancakes carefully without damaging the integrity.
• When frying, you need to know when to stop and avoid burning.

Pancakes are a Russian national dish, which has features unique to them in the preparation of the dough.

• First of all, you need to make a dough, which is made using yeast. It must be done in advance.
• In order for the dough to stand and rise, you need to leave it for six hours. The third part of the products goes into it, all the rest are added after. The dough must include the following ingredients: flour, it can be corn, wheat, buckwheat; vegetable oil, salt and sugar. Everything is mixed using milk, you can add eggs to the mixture, but after that you must let the dough sit again.
• The content of liquid and flour should be even, but the proportions can be adjusted as cooking progresses.

In ancient times in Rus' it was believed that a girl who knew how to bake pancakes was ready to become a wife and mother. This speaks of the high skill of the housewife preparing this dish. By the way, male chefs also cook this dish perfectly.

Preparing the dough has several subtleties that every housewife should know.

• Yeast is needed in the dough for sour pancakes. They must be fresh and in sufficient quantity. The important point is that there should not be too many of them, as this can ruin the taste of the dish.
• After adding each ingredient, the dough must be mixed very thoroughly, eliminating lumps and bringing it to a homogeneous mass.
• Some recipes call for scalding the dough with boiled milk. It should be about fifty degrees. To make the dough loose, you can add a mixture of proteins and cream. These subtleties help improve the taste of the dish.

Baking Russian pancakes

A very important point in cooking pancakes is the choice of frying pan. The best option would be medium-sized cast iron cookware.

Baking pancakes is not difficult, but it takes practice. First, you need to pour oil into the pan. There shouldn’t be too much of it, otherwise the pancakes will be thick and uneven, which will ruin their appearance. With a small amount of oil, the dish may burn, which is also unacceptable. You need to stick to the golden mean. To do this, do not pour oil into a frying pan, but spread it with a bunch of feathers or an onion cut in half; you can also use half a raw potato. The dough should spread unhindered in the pan, then the pancake will turn out smooth and thin.

To keep the pancakes soft and fluffy, they should not be overdried. When it is browned on one side, brush it with oil and quickly turn it over. This moment should not be missed so as not to harm the taste of the dish.

Types of pancakes according to ingredients used and cooking methods

There are different types of pancakes, it depends on what kind of flour is used as the base and how the dough is made. Depending on this, they have different names. Semolina pancakes are made with the addition of semolina. They turn out very soft and crumbly. Accordingly, the dough for buckwheat, rye and wheat pancakes is made from the corresponding cereals. You can mix different flours in one dish, then they acquire a special taste and aroma. Pancakes made from different grains differ not only in taste, but also in color.

There are also different recipes for preparing the dough. For example, you can prepare custard pancakes or yeast-free ones.

Each family has its own traditions of eating the dish. Pancakes can be dipped in honey, sour cream, sugar or melted butter. They can be stuffed with salted fish, caviar, eggs and herbs, as well as minced meat or vegetables. The recipe for pancakes with seasoning is especially tasty and complex. In the classic version, the first leaves of green sorrel, finely chopped eggs, onions, cottage cheese or cheese were used as a filling for such a dish.

Pancake pie used to be a very popular dish. To prepare it you need to select the filling and bake several pancakes. Everything is assembled on a baking sheet in layers, the sides are coated with dough and put into the oven for five to ten minutes. It turns out to be a kind of pie with filling.

There is no doubt that pancakes are the Russian national dish, because for centuries the people have so lovingly collected recipes and preserved the traditions of their preparation. No other dish compares to their warmth and unique taste.

Pancakes are rightfully considered the national Russian dish, there is no doubt - they were invented by the Russians. The history of Russian pancakes dates back to ancient times. It is believed that the first pancake was baked around 1005 - 1006, so Russian pancakes are definitely over a thousand years old!

Pancakes are rightfully considered the national Russian dish, there is no doubt - they were invented by the Russians. This is a historical fact. It would be more accurate to say not Russians, but ancient Eastern Slavs, only then there was no clear division into Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. This was a very long time ago, even before the baptism of Rus', when the faith was pagan. They were baked in a round shape, golden in color, so that they looked like the sun. Most often on holidays dedicated to Svarog, the sun god of the Slavs. That is why pancakes are rightfully considered a dish of national Russian cuisine.

For a Russian person, pancakes are not just a favorite dish; they are a genetic memory of the Russian village, of cheerful Maslenitsa festivities, of centuries-old Russian traditions and foundations. Our ancestors treated guests to pancakes, greeted the birth of children with pancakes, giving pancakes to women in labor after childbirth, saw off pancakes on their last journey and commemorated deceased relatives. It is no exaggeration to say that Russian pancakes reflect the thousand-year history of the Russian world, its spirit, traditions, and flavor.

Pancakes in Rus' have long been a common dish of Russian cuisine, but in ancient times, pancakes among the Slavs had a special, ritual meaning, and their preparation was a ritual, a whole sacrament, where outsiders were not allowed. Pancake recipes have been passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter, from grandmother to granddaughter. Housewives prepared the dough for pancakes in the evening, secretly from their household, in the light of the moon, saying: “Moon, you, month, your golden horns, look out the window, blow on the dough.”

It is mistakenly believed that among the Slavic peoples, hot, round pancakes were a symbol of the sun. In fact, pancakes were always a funeral dish among the ancient Slavs. They commemorated dead relatives with pancakes, destined them to long-dead relatives, “transferring” pancakes to the “other world”, distributing them to carolers, the first wanderers they met, and beggars. It’s not for nothing that they say from ancient times that “The first pancake is always for the dead.”

They used pancakes to see off not only deceased relatives, but also the winter - on Maslenitsa, pancakes have always been an indispensable attribute of this holiday, because they so correspond to the memorial character of Maslenitsa. Maslenitsa not only saw off winter and welcomed spring, but also saw off the old year and welcomed the new one, because until the 14th century in Rus' the year began in March. It’s not for nothing that Maslenitsa was called honest, wide, gluttonous, because how you greet the year is how you spend it, so the Russians did not skimp on feasting and fun on this holiday.

Many peoples know a variety of ways to prepare pancakes, different in type and consistency, using different types of flour. In the countries of Central Asia and Western Europe, it is customary to prepare pancakes from unleavened dough of various compositions, while in Rus' they preferred yeast pancakes - prepared from liquid yeast dough, aged until carbon dioxide forms in the dough.

Nowadays, wheat, buckwheat, barley, oatmeal and even pea flour or their combinations are used for baking pancakes, but buckwheat pancakes are considered classic Russian pancakes. They have a pleasant taste and slight sourness. Compared to pancakes made from wheat flour, buckwheat pancakes are more fluffy and loose.

Traditional Russian pancakes are small pancakes the size of a saucer, which in the old days were baked only in frying pans cleaned with salt and well heated (preferably cast iron). Before starting to bake each pancake, the pancake pan was greased with oil using an onion or potato pricked on a fork, or a piece of lard. Pancakes were baked in a Russian oven, which is why they still say “bake” pancakes, not fry.

In Rus' they also baked stuffed pancakes (with seasoning) - the filling is placed in the middle of the frying pan and filled with pancake batter. Ready-made crushed products were used as a baking powder. It could be:

layer of fried onions or carrots

boiled eggs

minced fish or meat

cottage cheese, etc.

The finished pancakes are stacked and served hot.

Nowadays, pancakes are no longer perceived as a ritual food, and have long taken their rightful place in the regular Russian menu.

But of course there are those who attribute the authorship of the pancakes to themselves. But this is of course not true. For example, Chinese pancakes look more like simple flatbreads rather than pancakes. Onions, rice flour, seafood powder and tea leaves are added to the dough of Chinese pancakes. There is another opinion that the ancestral home of pancakes was Ancient Egypt. The question is controversial, and all because the ingredients in the recipe were different, and they looked like Chinese ones. The Bible also contains a mention of a similar dish, but again it’s not the same. This does not mean that foreign pancakes are not tasty - they are just different.

And in Rus', even a thousand years before the principalities, pancakes were baked for ancient rituals or religious holidays. Pancakes were used for fortune telling, they were used for sacrifices, and served to the poor and needy. And nowadays, in many families where the connection with their ancestors is strong, pancakes are still baked at funerals and wakes. The Slavs prepared exactly the same pancakes that we eat today, with the exception, perhaps, of the filling. We have a larger selection of products and therefore we make each filling to suit your taste. From the Slavs, pancakes spread throughout the world. Each chef contributed to the pancake creativity. Strangely enough, the British have especially enriched the world cuisine of pancakes. They loved to experiment with flour and other ingredients, and achieved wonderful results.