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Three days in Moscow


chefmd

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Lunch at home.  It is centered around vegetables as you can see.  Interestingly, mid day meal in Russia is called dinner and it is the main meal. Although a lot of restaurants and fast food joints advertise "lunch".  Evening meal is called supper.

cukes from the market

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few cold dishes: pickles, pickled mushrooms, salted herring, eggplant stew, green salad with tomatoes, very tasty turkey hamimage.jpg

 

Borsch with sour cream

 

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wonderful and so interesting.

 

are the prepared meats  ( rolled 'sausage-like' ) from Russia ?

 

is there a any local concern that the meats in the next picture are not refrigerated ?

 

thank you for taking the time to include us on your  trip !

 

PS  any Wine ? from Georgia or elsewhere ?

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My son stayed with grandparents for another day but I am back in Moscow, going back home early tomorrow.  I do not like eating alone so I got cold cuts and a very nostalgic Russian beverage to consume in the hotel room while watching Russian TV.  I took a picture of my glass against white background so you can see that it is kinda beige.  It tastes sour and savory at the same time.

Ryazhenka (UkrainianряжaнкаRussianряженкаIPA: [ˈrʲaʐɨnkə])[1] is a traditional fermented milk product in BelarusRussia and Ukraine.[2][3][4] It is a variety of yogurt which is made from baked milk by lactic acid fermentation.[5]

 

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My ex mother in law continues to introduce me as her daughter in law, no ex there.  She is very nice. So I got brave and asked her if she is still using her cast iron skillet.  After trying to give me her aluminum pan she became very thoughtful and eventually produced cast iron piece from somewhere in the shed.  It is not the cast iron skillet that I was asking about but it's the only one that she found. It came from her mother. It's badly damaged but I will try to rehab it.  Can't imagine what customs are going to think. It has no handle but I took a nice little gadget from my Dad's apartment that is a pan grabbing device.  Something from my mother in law, something from my late Mother.  The thought brought tears to my eyes. 

 

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What a wonderful two items to bring back to life !

 

please let us know somewhere how this works out.

 

good for you and good for you not-so-ex MIL

 

this put a smile on my face.

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16 minutes ago, rotuts said:

wonderful and so interesting.

 

are the prepared meats  ( rolled 'sausage-like' ) from Russia ?

 

is there a any local concern that the meats in the next picture are not refrigerated ?

 

thank you for taking the time to include us on your  trip !

 

PS  any Wine ? from Georgia or elsewhere ?

Routs, prepared meats are from Russia.  They really do not export much these days due to political and economical concerns.

 

Lack of refrigeration is not apparently a concern for locals.  My MIL bought a piece of beef and was disappointed after my son and I decided to make sautéed wild mushrooms with boiled new potatoes with lots of parsley, dill, and cilantro instead.  Interestingly, my husband also asked about lack of refrigeration on our recent trip to China. I think people buy a small piece of meat and cook it right away. Traditionally meat in Russia is cooked Weldon, then over cooked, and after that cooked some more for a good measure. Think beef stroganoff.

 

Personally, I make beef stroganoff with prime cuts of beef and cook it med rare (cooking the base of onions, mushrooms, sour cream separately) and people rave about it.

 

i did have Georgian wine with our fancy dinner.  It was dry, mineral, very much like Chablis.

"KONDOLI" VINEYARDS, MTSVANE - KISI. MARANI 2014
 
 

 

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beef stroganoff

 

is one of the finessed dishes ever invented.   I have not made it in a while.  the beef used was < med-rare

 

back in the days pre-SV

 

this has got me thinking in the Now Days of SV  :  Beef Strog  with meat SV'd  then added at the last minute to the 'sauce'

 

nice.  Im sure this is done all the time this way by the B.S. cognoscenti  Why Not ?

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I cook onions, mushrooms, sour cream in pressure cooker and flash sear beef in super hot skillet, mix it with the base and serve right away.  Meat is cut in thin strips and cooks quickly in a skillet.  SV will allow one to use cheaper cuts of meat with the same superb results. Brilliant!

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So, no apparent food shortages? I recall hearing so much about food shortages in Moscow, particularly. Cold War propaganda, I suspect.

 

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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Thanks for taking us along on your Russian sojourn, chefmd. And thanks so much for taking all those pictures of the vegetables. I like meat but vegetables are so much more colourful and when included on the plate the meals look so much more appetizing to me for some reason. Sad that that market was so empty - I hope people are growing vegetables at home and aren't just going without when times are tough.

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Been a couple of times after The Stanislavsky & Bolshoi and really rated Zhivago's on the corner of the hotel you stayed in.

 

because of the collapse in the price of oil and sanctions & counter sanctions on EU food due to their military adventurism in their closest neighbours; many Russian chefs and restaurants have had to go back to refining Russian classics rather than apeing generic international cuisines. (I once saw in Kazan many menus in Russian composed entirely of well worn int'l classics ...scallops with Cauliflower puree, Nobu's Black Cod, a Ramsey Beef Weelington with Robuchon's pomme puree.... Sticky Toffee Pudding etc, etc, you wouldn't know you where in Tartarstan except for the bracing blast of the Kazanka & Volga rivers).

 

Zhivago's for me, is the best example of this newly refound confidence...

 

http://www.drzhivago.ru/en/gallery/91-food-2

 

I even like Moo-Moo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moo_Moo_Restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by adey73 (log)
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Couple more pictures.

few shrooms that nylon and I found while taking a walk along the small creek.  They were very sandy and needed a quick rinse.

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cooking purchased and foraged mushrooms in a (horror) non non stick skillet!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 10 months later...

Back in Moscow to take care of my father. 

breakfast this morning in a fancy tourist trap restaurant Dr Zhvago.  But it serves breakfast starting at 6 AM (jet lag wake up call came at 4), is located next to my Hotel, and they are playing Soviet era songs loudly!  

 

Few other people were eating already.  A trio of young women drinking red wine.  Did I mention it's 6 AM?

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Poached egg with porcini mushrooms.  

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beef cheek pie (pirog, пирог).  Served with weak broth and sour cream.  Pretty much any Russian dish is served with sour cream.

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