How to cook in a Russian oven: tips and recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The Russian stove is a massive adobe construction that was in every village hut. She performed several important functions at once, so no housewife could do without her. With its help, not only warmed the house, but also fed large families. Today's publication will tell you what and how they cooked and baked in the Russian oven.

General recommendations

The Russian stove is a universal device in which you can cook soups, cook meat, make bread and dry mushrooms at the same time. It is important to know how to properly distribute pots of food in it. So, products that require long-term heat treatment are located in the depths of the oven. And containers with fast-cooking ingredients are placed closer to the damper.

Various porridges are surprisingly tasty in the Russian oven. Thanks to the evenly distributed heat, they come out very fragrant and crumbly. And to enhance their taste characteristics, the housewives of that time supplemented cereals with vegetables, fruits or mushrooms.

Soups cooked in a Russian oven deserve no less praise. It produces amazing borscht, pickles, meat and lean cabbage soup.

Prudent housewives were able not only to properly cook everyday lunches and dinners in a Russian oven, but also to dry mushrooms. Better than others, whites, swamps and aspen mushrooms are suitable for these purposes. The collected raw materials are not washed, but carefully wiped with a dry, damp cloth, cut into small pieces, laid out on an oiled baking sheet and sent to a pre-melted oven, the mouth of which is covered with a damper. You can store such mushrooms in clean cotton bags. Apples, bird cherry, wild rose, blueberries and other gifts of the forest used to be harvested in the same way

How to melt?

Inept or careless handling of this structure may cause burns or fire. Therefore, when working with it, you must be extremely careful and adhere to safety regulations. In addition, any housewife should know not only how to cook in a Russian oven, but also how to heat it.

You need to start the process with laying firewood. It is advisable to place them as close as possible to each other and throw them up only after the previous batch has burned out. It is extremely important to ensure that the valve of the furnace is in the slightly open position, and the damper is in the closed position during the kindling process.

To ensure the access of oxygen, it is enough to turn the firewood with a poker. As soon as they are completely burned out, you can start cooking. In the Russian oven, food does not boil, but languishes, therefore the dishes must be filled with liquid notmore than a quarter of the total. It is advisable to put and pull out containers using a special tong or a wooden shovel.

Requirements for dishes

Kitchen utensils intended for use in the Russian stove should be as reliable and safe as possible. The best for these purposes are dishes made of aluminum, clay or cast iron. It is important that it has thick walls and a relatively small bottom area.

Various clay pots are suitable for cooking cereals, soups, stews and baked dishes. Their specific pot-bellied shape ensures uniform heating of products and eliminates burning. In addition, earthenware has such important properties as strength and resistance to high temperatures. But at the same time, it is less durable compared to cast iron containers.

Millet porridge

For lovers of hearty and he althy breakfasts, the simple and popular recipe discussed below will be a real find. Any housewife who lived in the village could cook crumbly and tasty porridge in a Russian oven. Now this technology is almost forgotten, but it will be interesting to learn about it for those who want to study the history of domestic cuisine. To make this dish you will need:

• 100 g millet.
• 1 liter of milk.
• 1 tbsp l. sugar.
• ½ tsp s alt.

Carefully washed and dried millet is poured into a suitable cast iron. They also add to its alt, sugar and milk. All this, without stirring, is covered with a lid and sent to a pre-melted oven.

Chicken with potatoes

The method described below will attract the attention of young housewives who do not know how to cook a delicious and hearty dinner in a Russian oven. To feed your loved ones a flavorful, nutritious meal, you'll need:

• 1.5kg chicken thighs.
• 7 potatoes.
• 2 large onions.
• 2 carrots.
• S alt and seasonings.

Onion half rings are laid out at the bottom of a suitable container and covered with washed chicken thighs. Slices of potatoes and carrot slices are evenly distributed on top. All this is s alted, seasoned and sent to the oven for a couple of hours. If it is too hot, then it is better to cover the contents of the dish with foil so that it does not char.

Varenets

This fermented milk product has long been prepared in Russian villages. In the oven, it turns out much tastier and he althier than what is sold in modern stores. Therefore, if you have the opportunity, be sure to make your own varenets. For this you will need:

• 3 liters of homemade full fat milk.
• 250 g thick rustic sour cream.

Milk is poured into a pot and sent to a melted oven for the whole night. During this time, it will not only become melted, but also decrease in volume. Then it is cooled to a temperature of 37 0C and topped with sour cream. All mix well and place in any warm place. Afterfourteen hours, the finished varenets is cooled and served.

Pork roll

This option will not go unnoticed by those who seek to find out what can be cooked and how to cook pork in a Russian oven. Our great-great-grandmothers knew the answer to this question well. But over time, most of the recipes were lost or forgotten, and only a small part of them has survived to the present. To make a flavorful meatloaf you will need:

• 2 kg boneless pork belly.
• 2 carrots.
• 2 bulbs.
• 3 garlic cloves.
• S alt, water and seasonings.

It is necessary to start the process with meat processing. It is washed, dried, beaten off, rubbed with s alt, spices and garlic, and then rolled up and tied with a thick thread. The resulting product is placed in a cast iron. Peeled vegetables and water are also added to it. All this is placed in a melted oven and left for three or four hours.

Barley porridge

According to some reports, this particular dish was Peter I's favorite dish. It was cooked in a Russian stove in a cast-iron pot mainly on weekdays and served with a lunch or evening meal. To make delicious crumbly porridge yourself, you will need:

• 2 cups barley grits.
• 1 liter of milk.
• 50g butter.
• S alt.

S alted milk is poured into a pot and brought to a boil. As soon as it boils, grits are poured into it and simmered in the oven until fully cooked. Before eating porridgeflavored with melted butter.

Spelled porridge

The technology discussed below will be a real discovery for those who are trying to find out what and how was cooked in a Russian oven from a semi-wild wheat variety, actively cultivated until the 18th century. The porridge made in this way turned out to be very tasty, he althy and had a pleasant nutty flavor. To cook it you will need:

• 1 cup spelled.
• 100 g butter.
• ½ cup each of curdled milk, water and milk.

First of all, you need to do spelling. It is soaked in a mixture of water and curdled milk and left for at least six hours. At the end of the designated time, it is washed, poured with milk, boiled until tender, wrapped in a blanket and left for forty minutes. Before eating, porridge is flavored with oil.

Borscht

In the Russian oven, not only porridges, rolls and roasts were cooked, but also amazingly delicious first courses were cooked. To make borscht similar to what the villagers ate, you will need:

• 500g chicken.
• 1 beets.
• 1 carrot.
• 1 onion.
• 3 potatoes.
• ½ cabbage fork.
• 1 tbsp l. tomato paste.
• 2 tbsp. l. vinegar.
• 1 tbsp l. sugar.
• S alt, vegetable oil, spices and water.

First we need to do the chicken. It is washed, poured with water, supplemented with peeled beets and boiled for an hour and a half. Then the vegetable and bird are removed from the broth and cooled slightly. Beets are grated, stewed with vinegar and sugar, and then sent to a frying pan, which already has sautéed onions and carrots. All this is supplemented with tomato paste, a small amount of broth and simmered for a short time under the lid. The resulting frying is transferred to a ceramic container, poured with chicken broth, supplemented with potatoes, cabbage and pieces of meat. The future borscht is s alted, seasoned with spices and cooked in a pre-heated oven.

Krupenik

This classic hearty Russian-oven dish is a casserole perfect for a family lunch or dinner. To treat your family to such a krupenik, you will need:

• 1 cup barley.
• 50g dried porcini mushrooms.
• 100 g butter.
• 1 parsley root.
• 1 carrot.
• 1 celery root.
• Water and s alt.

It is advisable to start cooking krupenik with barley processing. It is washed and boiled in s alted water. As soon as it softens, it is thrown into a colander, and then sent to the cast iron, not forgetting to flavor with half of the available oil. All this is supplemented with pre-soaked and chopped mushrooms, grated carrots and chopped roots. The future krupenik is poured with the remaining melted butter and cooked in a Russian stove.

Lean cabbage soup

Vegetarians will surely enjoy another simple recipe. Any modern housewife who has minimal knowledge in cooking can cook real fragrant cabbage soup in a Russian oven. Foryou will need this:

• 850 ml of water.
• 20 g pearl barley.
• 250 g sauerkraut.
• 2 bulbs.
• 1 carrot.
• 1 parsley root.
• 6 dried mushrooms.
• S alt, vegetable oil and seasonings.

S alted water is brought to a boil and topped with a stir fry made from roots, onions and mushrooms. Washed barley, stewed cabbage and spices are also sent there. All this is placed in a heated oven and cooked for about forty minutes.

Pie with blueberries

This sweet pastry with fragrant berry filling will impress both big and small eaters. For its preparation you will need:

• 200g butter.
• 3 cups of baking flour.
• 4 eggs.
• 1 cup regular sugar.
• 2 tbsp. l. sour cream.
• ¼ tsp soda.
• ¼ tsp citric acid.
• ½ tsp s alt.
• 2 cups fresh blueberries.

The butter is thoroughly ground with flour, and then combined with three eggs beaten with sweet sand. Sour cream, s alt and soda quenched with citric acid are also added there. Everything is thoroughly mixed and put in the refrigerator. After a couple of hours, the dough is divided into two parts and rolled out in layers. One of them is distributed along the bottom of a round shape and covered with a layer of washed berries. Spread the remaining layer of dough on top and grease it with a beaten egg. A berry pie is being prepared in a preheated oven.

Rye bread

This soft andfragrant pastries will be not only an excellent addition to the soup, but also a good basis for making sandwiches. Having found out what was cooked and baked in the Russian oven, you need to figure out what is needed for this. To make real homemade bread you will need:

• 2 cups of rye flour.
• 1 glass of water.
• 1 cup wheat flour.
• 1 tsp s alt.
• 1 tsp sugar.
• ½ tsp yeast.
• Vegetable oil (for greasing).

Yeast, sugar and half a cup of wheat flour are diluted in heated water. Everything is gently shaken and cleaned for a couple of hours in a warm place. The dough that has increased in volume is supplemented with s alt and the remaining flour, and then thoroughly kneaded, covered with a towel and briefly sent to a secluded corner, away from drafts. The risen dough is laid out in a greased form and left to proof. After some time, it is placed in a melted oven and waited for it to cook. Before serving, it must be cooled and only then cut into slices and consumed with soup, borscht or other dishes.