Day two of Maslenitsa, the Russian Pancake week.
Have you tried crepes the Russian way - with fillings? Some of typical fillings are tvorog (curd), apples, berries, minced meat, eggs with chives, liver, mushrooms, cabbage.
This blog is about old postcards, book illustration and all kinds of paper whimsy from the Soviet Union. I'm a long time collector, and this blog is 7 years old. I have an etsy shop for cards, books, pins and vintage finds from Russia.
March 4 marks the first day of the Pancake Week in Russia!
(Postcard from 1988.)
Making pelmeni.
Pelmeni were usually made in massive batches and frozen for the winter.
Russian milk-based breakfast foods: pancakes, syrniki, baked cheesecake.
Russia has Monday and Tuesday off this week (June 12 is the Russia Day), so I made Russian salad. :) The beauty of it is, if you add kvass you can have it as cold summer soup, or if you add mayo you can have it as salad.
“Siberian Pelmeni” - vintage ad from the 1950s
Every day this week
(Image from Krestyanka 1969)
“Come visit us!” - vintage postcard by Irina Iskrinskaya, 1968
Notice the stack of pancakes on the table :)
Day 3 of Maslenitsa. They say every household has their own pancake recipe. Here’s my (secret!) recipe of perfect blinis.
0.5 l kefir
1 egg
3-4 spoons sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
flour
Mix everything but flour (use whisker or electric mixer). Then add flour incrementally to get the desired consistence (the more flour, the thicker blini will be). Fry blinis on a well heated frying pan.
A little tip: for best results I use kefir that’s gone sour (I buy it about a week ahead and let it go sour). It gives blinis a tingly sour taste and also more bubbles. :)
The key ingredient in this is of course kefir. It’s a type of fermented milk. I know that you can get it in Germany and Austria. Hopefully in other countries too (maybe in Russian food stores?) In Austria I tried , I bought it for the Matryoshka packaging and it turned out surprisingly good!
If you try this recipe you must share your results with me. ;)
This week, February 12 to 18, is Maslenitsa—the Pancake week! It’s one of the biggest celebrations of old time Russia and my personal favourite, a very festive time that marks the turn of winter to spring. I’m sooo getting stuffed with pancakes and crepes this week!
I have some fun post ideas for this week, let’s celebrate Maslenitsa together!
9x13 PRINT Soviet advertising poster Pelmeni (Russian meat dumplings) 1936, USSR vintage reproduction
This week in Russia is Maslenitsa — the Pancake Week, and the week we say “goodbye” to winter and “hello, finally” to spring. Also the week that we get stuffed with all sorts of pancakes and crepes. Good times, good times. Join in if you ilke pancakes and springs too! ;)
(Postcards here are from various postcard sets, published in 1987, 1989 and respectively.)