A Taste of Russia: A Cookbook of Russian Hospitality

by Darra Goldstein

A definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine, "A Taste of Russia" layers superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context. With over 200 recipes on everything from borsch to blini, from Salmon Coulbiac to Beef Stew, from Marinated Mushrooms to Black Bread, Goldstein shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer.

Genres: Cookbooks, Russia, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking, History, Food and Drink

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Assaph Mehr]

This book provides both a culinary summary of traditional Russian cuisine and plenty of recipes.

Expect sections about various aspects of Russian cuisine: starters, classic (Tsarist), home-cooking, regional specialities, etc. Each section starts with an explanation about that aspect, its unique features and idiosyncrasies, and is followed by many recipes. Each recipe is again explained for background and place in the overall cuisine. There are certainly a lot to learn from and to try, with so much information and a wide C.

Do note that the book, while recently revised, is over 30 years old and is written by an émigré. This slants the selection of recipes into the more traditional and soviet eras (some of my Russian friends raised eyebrows at a few recipes and techniques, leading to spirited discussions and a rabbit-hole of food history), and the recipes have been adapted to a western environment (which isn't always bad, especially for those of us not having the whole day to cook).

Lastly, the thing I missed the most were the pictures. While dense in text that immerses you in the culture and provides very clear instructions to follow, a cookbook needs pictures of the final products to engage more of the senses and tantalise you with mouth-watering images.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Russian cooking. One cannot take away from the amount of information and range of recipes, even if a passing exposure to the cuisine would help.
--
Assaph Mehr, author of Murder In Absentia: A story of Togas, Daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Murder Mysteries, and Urban Fantasy.

[margaret]

really fun reference for 19th cent and soviet era food, with lots of references to food in chekhov and gogol, and occasionally tolstoy (not very much dostoevsky though - not even the blini recipe, which was too bad!).

[Daisy]

I think I have to buy this one. It's an inventive resource.

My library copy keeps opening itself to the recipe for Russian Hot Chocolate -- which has an egg yolk in it!

Some things I intend to try:
Rose Petal Jam
Homemade Sour Cream
Russian-Style Mustard
Barrel-Style Dill Pickles
Casserole of Mashed Potatoes
Russian Black Bread
Sourdough White Bread
... and lots more

Each recipe is accompanied by a cultural lesson or paragraph with tips, all interesting stuff. I think I might need to own this book.

[Grace Krilanovich]

yeah I read this cookbook too and it's really good -- lots of culinary history in addition to a wide variety of recipes of various degrees of difficulty. The author's voice is idiosyncratic (literary?) without being too patronizing/precious, as can often be the case. Maybe it's just me.

[Aimee]

This is possibly the best cookbook of Russian recipes I've ever used. Although the recipes may be more pre-revolutionary/first wave Russian emigre, the directions are so great that everything I've made has been fantastic.

[Joyce]

I've been cooking from this cookbook for over 30 years. The recipes are excellent especially, the hot chocolate, walnut crescents, apple cake with chocolate glaze & salade bagration. When winter comes, this cookbook comes out and we have some wonderful meals.

[Kathleen]

Interesting organization. Lots of background on Russian food traditions. A cookbook that is also a satisfying read before bed.

[Darren]

This is a book that has a lot of promise, masses of information yet sadly might only "preach to the converted" due to its somewhat reduced accessibility.

Here is a veritable bible of Russian cuisine, featuring a very comprehensive introduction to a relatively unknown, pre-judged subject and over 200 recipes that you can make at home using locally-acquired ingredients. This is a new "30th Anniversary edition" of this classic book yet, sadly, things have not been brought up to typical production standards for 2013.

There are no photographs of the finished recipes to encourage you to try something possibly unknown or unfamiliar. So you need to be either very open to try new things based on a textual description alone or do some additional research to first learn about a given dish, possibly see a picture elsewhere and then look the recipe up in this book. This is such a let down as this book is more than capable of being the "go to" book, a central part of your reference library, a thing to look through to get inspiration. One feels rather let down by this rather unforgivable omission.

Other than that, everything just goes swimmingly. It is one of those books that you really should read, at least once, sequentially to get the most out it as well as any dipping in and out you may do to get a certain recipe. You really do get a fairly comprehensive education about Russian cuisine by the end and you will want to start cooking. You might even learn a little Russian along the way (or get help should you ever travel to Russia) as the recipes also feature their name in cyrillic.

The recipes are fairly clear to understand and sufficiently detailed but the measures are only given in U.S. units (a strange oversight). With a little more spit and polish to the book's design and the presence of photographs showing the finished dishes this would have been a clear five YUM (star) book, a clear example of a "go to" book for a given cuisine, a great surprise gift for a foodie friend or family member who likes to try something new. As it stands, sadly it is still a very good book but you need to be a bit more determined, more adventurous and open to a bit of external research to really get the most out of it.

A Taste of Russia: A Cookbook of Russian Hospitality, written by Darra Goldstein and published by Russian Information Services. ISBN 9781880100677, 278 pages. Typical price: USD25. YYYY.







// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //

[erl]

This cookbook has a lot of pros and cons. The pros: Just about every recipe I tried was amazing. The only exception was a cold soup made with black bread kvass, and Darra Goldstein even warned me it would not appeal to my American palate. The cons: Rather than dividing the recipes into chapters by course (soup, salad, mains, desserts, or something similar), Goldstein does something much less conventional. The first chapter is for small plates called Zakuski, which are similar to Spanish tapas or American bar apps: tasty little nibbles to enjoy with an alcoholic beverage among friends. I found many winners in this chapter. The next chapter is called "At the Tsar's Table" and focuses on the extravagant dishes of the Russian nobililty in the pre-revolutionary era. These dishes were as silly and fussy as the chapter title implies, and I only tried one or two of them. But in all fairness, the ones I tried were tasty. The next chapter, "At the Dacha," focuses on Russian country style home cooking. This, to me, is the highlight of the book. I wish Goldstein would devote an entire tome to this topic. Like good home cooking anywhere, true Russian homestyle cooking is amazing. Every recipe was worth making. The last two chapters are devoted to the pantry, i.e. home preserving, and sweets ("Around the Samovar"). Another con is that Goldstein gives each dish a descriptive name in English, with the actual name written in Russian below. But if you want to look up a recipe in the index, it’s only listed by the Russian name in transliteration. Very impractical.

Russian cooking is not always easy to find here in the US, but this book is a great resource for anyone looking for it. It's what my mother would have made, had she been a good cook.

[Linda]

I first discovered Darra Goldstein's "The Vegetarian Hearth" a cold weather collection of delicious vegetarian savory pies and root veggies. I accidentally stumbled on "A Taste of Russia" at the library and just couldn't put it down. The intro offers a brief history of Russia, which I found very interesting. I used several recipes for my holiday parties and all of them were big hits.

Marinated Mushrooms, the leftovers just keep getting better and better! My only regret is that I did not have time to bake black bread or find any good German black bread in Southeast Ohio to slap some of these mushrooms on.

Open-Face Radish Sandwiches, were a thumbs up for the vegetarians in the room. I served with gluten-free free or cocktail party pumpernickel. I know of at least one adult child that would never eat a radish, loved this spread. (The coarse salt is the secret ingredient - don't substitute). Very simple to make.

Frosted Cranberries, absolutely hands-down the conversation piece of the buffet table.

This cookbook is on my list to purchase.

[Lina]

Technically this is a cookbook, but it's a great bedtime read. Lots of references to food in Russian literature, which I appreciated.

[Donald]

Wonderfully written and complete with excellent traditional recipes of the Russian culture. I grew up eating many if these recipes and have eaten many more when I was working all over, the former CCCP a.k.a. Soviet Union, including Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, etc. Wonderful anecdotes from Darra make this a treasure of a cookbook!