Medieval Russian Food
Updated
4 July 2008
The food of Medieval Rus is a frustrating research subject. A Russian equivalent of Form of Curye or von Guter Spise has simply never been found. A household management text called the Domostroi first written in the mid 1500s, with some later addendums, from the late 1500s to mid 1600s, includes some vague (from a modern point of view) recipes for meads, kvas, and a few other foods. But that's all we have for "period" Russian recipes.
Various period Russian written sources mention food items, without giving specific information about their preparation. Much of the Domostroi falls in this category, with detailed lists of foods to prepare at home, feed servants, eat a certain times of year, and provide for weddings, etc. The various Russian chronicles mentions some foods. An article called "Cloister Meal in the 16th Century" analyzes the food items listed in monastic management texts, primarily based on the Volokolamsk monastery, 129 km northwest of Moscow, of the XVI century and the Novospassky monastery in Moscow (1648-1649) which have been published.
Many of the food terms used in period sources survive as "traditional" Russian food items today, so it is very tempting to draw direct correlations. Especially when writers such as G.V. Sudakov say, "The names of the dishes of the cloister meal survived for centuries. Thus, porridge, eggs, pirogi, kvas, cheese, kutiya and honey are known in Rus from the XII century, milk - from the XIIIth, jelly - from the XIVth century. Thus, speech standards passed from epoch to epoch (from Ancient-Russian into old-Russian), especially if in the appropriate sphere (in our case - the sphere of orthodox worship) they were maintained strictly with an etiquette immune to the influence of time."
Many of the foods discussed in Russian sources also have equivalent items in Western European cookery - such as pasties, pies, and pottages. The surviving medieval Western European recipes can provide a useful comparison for understanding medieval Russian foods. I have found the English and German books the most useful. The English ones are good because I understand English. And the German ones seem to be the closest to Russian style.
We know a fair amount about the ingredients available to Russian cooks through household inventories and the Domostroi, merchant accounts, literature, and archeological remains. And through archeology we also know about the cooking utensils and stoves available in period.
Overview (see below)
Food in the Novgorod Chronicle
Stoves
Ingredients
The Prianiki Project
Recipes
Overview
Types of Meals/Dishes:
Let us point out the general names of the finished dishes, which are encountered in the text of the obikhodniki. They include: korm (ordinary, funeral, "on the other holidays of praise") – which signifies "a variety of meals, distinguished by the set of dishes"; pisha - a general name for food, yestva - the general name of different dishes, trapeza - general name for any meal, uzhina i obyed - the name of meals that based on the time of serving: "in the daytime - obyed, in the evening - ouzhina".
[Korm – literally, feed/forage/fodder in modern Russian. Pisha – literally, food. Estva – “diet,” defined in the paragraph above. Trapeza – a monastery meal. Vyti – a word for meal. In modern Russian, obyed means "dinner/lunch/midday meal" and uzhin means "supper".] [Sudakov]
For the monastic meal, the table obikhodniki depicted daily meals and the annual circle of meals for the order of, predominantly, fasting days: during these days, the order of cloister life was especially strict and uniformly required, therefore these limitations are presented in detail. But on a holiday, variety (meat and intoxicating beverages) here was allowed; therefore holiday tables in obikhodniki were described sparingly. The cloister meal is a collective ritual. Monks ate two times a day (dinner and supper), while during the separate (fast) days they ate only one time, and there were days that the formal meal was eliminated completely. The main thing was not the quantity of food, but the quality of dishes (fasting or meat), role in the rites (for example, ritual kut'ya), and the time of eating. The entire life of a monk, including food, was regulated in connection with prayer; therefore alternation of fasts and of meat-eating was sufficiently rhythmical: in the week they fasted themselves on Wednesday and Friday, in the year there were four long fasts and three one-day fasts. [Sudakov]
For the monastic meal, meals were divided into three categories: ordinary, holiday (for Cathedral holidays) and bratchiny. The quantity of dishes for this was not increased significantly, but greater were possibilities of choice, so then that was called: "on obmanu". [The bratchina is an important, ancient “brotherly” feast of clan/family ties. Special engraved bratini (drinking bowls) were presented to guests to commemorate particularly important bratchini among the nobility. So obman apparently refers to days when the monks had fewer restrictions on the foods they were allowed.] [Sudakov]
The special feature of the monastic meal was that during Lent the volume of consumed food was sharply reduced and the calories in dishes was reduced: water was given instead of kvas, instead of baked bread - dough malt (steamed flour from the malt), either buckwheat or “steamed” bread. This was partially prepared food, not a finished food product. [Whatever that means.]
For the monastic meal, the requirements of obikhodnika were not observed with identical strictness. If food reserves were reduced, food shortage began, then cloister custom was strictly managed. This is how it is communicated in the Kirillovski obikhodnike: "Ashche if there are times and years when are scant all required terrestrial fruits, then are minimalized [severity of] violations of rules for eating any rye and honey and fish and all sorts of food, for the sake of the monastery and the village, and then the director for the council of the cathedral senior men and all of the brothers of Christ commands servers to carry out in the traze (Note! Probably an error instead of “meal” [trapeze]. - G. S.) food and drink according to the cloister custom as much as possible for the time, in proportion to what God provides, it can be sufficient for the brothers during the shortage " (p. 61). [Sudakov]
[Kut’ya is sweet kasha with fruit used for special, ritual occasions – Christmas eve in modern Russia, for example.]
The following breakdown of foods into "first course" or "second course" foods is based on Sudakov's article. I'm not sure at the moment if this a period Russian way of classifying foods [see above], but it seems useful for now.
First Course:
Shti - name of the basic first dish, the almost daily "va -riva" for the monastic meal:
- "Into shti, either white cabbage or beet or wood sorrel [or sour cabbage?] with garlic, or with two onions and eggs for shti per brother, either round loaf “beaten” [see discussion of bread below] or lisni [again, see discussion of bread] or round loaf with two fish per brother, and if there is yaishnitsa [omelets], then in shti there are no eggs""
- "shti white with eggs for shti"
- "shti beet with the juice"
- " beet shti with smelt"
- "and food is lenten - beet shti with the wiping".
White shti are soups from fresh cabbage, and borshchevye shti are soups from the garden beet (its ancient name borsch). “Shchti with the wiping” are soups with seasoning prepared from flour with water or with vegetable [fast] oil. There are no other names for first course dishes in the obikhodnike. [Sudakov]
Second Course:
Fish:
For the monastic meal, the list of the second course dishes was long, and in this case fish clearly reigned on the table. "To be without fish is worse than bread/grain-shortage", they said on the Russian north. [In addition, it is my understanding that monks were forbidden to eat meat.] [Sudakov]
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For the monastic meal, the number of dishes supplied distinguished the normal dinner from the lesser dinner (the very same foods were served). If the dinner was normal, then three forms of fish were given during the course for two brothers, but if "korm was less", two forms of fish were given: "and into the average meal for princely and noble and other great people, three fish in the course and two beers for the course, and into the smaller meal, two fish". One form of fish for the evening was particularly described: "and for the evening meal the body of bream are fried fresh with zvarom [see below] and with pepper". [Sudakov]
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For the monastic meal, the collection of names included a variety of fish dishes and took into account the timing of the fish catch and the technique of its preparation (fresh fish, fresh fish fried, baked fish, zhivoprosol'naya [fresh-salted?] fish): "and in the meal fish of three, fresh baked in the frying pans, and for a dish two is good"; "in the meal fresh fish is in frying pans and for a dish two is good with mustard or with horseradish"; "in the meal fish zhivoprosol'naya pike is good with zvarom". The given examples need additional explanation: fish of three or fish of two – means of three or two kinds of fish; fish with zvarom - means fish in fish soup. [Sudakov]
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For the monastic meal, let us name one more fish dish - tavranchyuk: "either round loaf with fish or tavranchyuk or smelt in the frying pans"; "in the frying pans of tavran'chyuk the heads of sturgeon or smelt". Tavranchyuk was prepared from head of sturgeon or smelts.
[tavro – means branded in modern Russian, so perhaps tavranchyuk was grilled?] [Sudakov]
Peas, etc.:
For the monastic meal, the second course dishes continue: peas, cabbage, noodles, oat-flour, omelet, porridge. Designated with the word pea are included: tsezhenoy-tsyzhenyy (grated or strained), beaten (crushed/mashed). This was a dish of boiled peas, seasoned with oil and pepper: "there is another shti – tsezhenoy [strained] peas boiled with oil and noodles"; "another boiled tsyzhenoy [strained] peas with pepper"; "and another food of peas beaten or porridge or porridge in fish soup or tsyzhenoy [strained] peas". [Sudakov]
Porridge/Kasha:
For the monastic meal, the word porridge [kasha] is found in several variations:
- "fish of two types with porridge of dairy kvass";
- "on obmany egg per three brothers or thick porridge or pirogi";
- "and another food of beaten/mashed peas or porridge or porridge in fish soup ";
- "shti with juice and porridge juice"; "thick buckwheat porridge with poppy milk".
The phrase “porridge juice” (boiled vegetables) was synonymous with baked juice: "and syta [a fruit beverage] in bratinkam and baked juice in stavtsem". [“Poppy milk” – I don’t know what that would be. Syta is discussed below with the beverages. The bratinka and stavets are traditional Russian bowls, but a bratinok is an acolyte and a stavets is a monastic elder, according to Paul Wickenden. So the phrase could be, “syta for acolytes and baked juice for elders.” Neither one of us knows which is meant here.] [Sudakov]
Dairy:
For the monastic meal, from the dairy products is known cheese (as was then called “tvorog”). The phrase "cheese vyali" indicated matured/cured tvorog. Cheese is already mentioned in the enumeration of monastic foods in the “Life of Theodosius Pecherskiy” (XII century).
[tvorog – is related to cottage cheese, farmer's cheese, ricotta...] [Sudakov]
Vzvar/zvar:
For the monastic meal, vzvar fulfilled the functions of sauce. One variety of vzvar is described in obikhodnike as: "zvar medven with pepper and with millet". [Zvar is a fish soup. Vzvar is a decoction/sauce made from dried fruit or berries. In modern Russian, medvyanyj means having the taste or smell of honey or something prepared in honey.] [Sudakov]
Breads and Pastries:
Some dishes had complex structure, for example, nuts in juice. “Nuts,” as a pastry in the form of a nut, are mentioned in the Domostroj (XVI century). For pastries made of dough, the first place in frequency of use belongs to pirogi. For the monastic meal, we find other names of bread/dough food items such olad’ya, rogulya, khvorosty, kalach, karavaj, bliny, perepecha.
(See detailed discussion of breads and pastries, below.)
[Sudakov]
Lenten meals:
- The special feature of the monastic meal was that during Lent the volume of consumed food was sharply reduced and the calories in dishes was reduced: water was given instead of kvas, instead of baked bread - dough malt (steamed flour from the malt), either buckwheat or “steamed” bread. This was partially prepared food, not a finished food product. [Whatever that means.]
Breads and Pastries:
Breads:
- For the monastic meal, the commonly used word “khleb” corresponds to the old-Russian saying: "What is for us bread, would that it were pirogi". The word “bread” has its traditional types: monastic or soft or with the indication of sizes (polukhleb, osminka) - it was used not too frequently: "and oil/butter they will give them... and monastic bread"; " for the evening meal is supplied soft bread, polukhleby they place"; "in last day before the fast of Filip for supper, osminka bread and the osminki rolls". [I’m not sure what they mean by “monastic bread” or what exactly “soft bread” is either. Polukhleb means half-loaf. Osminka means an eighth.] [Sudakov]
Some dishes had complex structure, for example, nuts in juice. “Nuts,” as a pastry in the form of a nut, are mentioned in the Domostroj. [Sudakov]
Pirogi:
- Now let us examine pastries made of dough. The first place in frequency of use belongs to pirogi. Pirogi were prepared in different ways: they were baked in the hearth/oven, or fried (pryazhili in oil), and flavored with different fillings: peas, fish, vegetables, tvorog [cheese]. This was expressed in their names:
- "two pirogi - one of egg with pepper and the other with cheese";
- "and both pirogi with cheese and fritters are oiled ";
- "and pryazhenye pirogi with cheese";
- "and pirogi with pea and barley kvass";
- "and pirogi with peas or with juice";
- "pirogi of two types: one with the vyazigoyu and pepper or poppy and the other with peas".
- Pirogi with tvorog had a special name “trudonoshi":
“and on obmanu for three eggs and trudonoshi with cheese".
[Pryazhit’ appears in various grammatical forms in this text and apparently means “to fry.” The modern word for barley is yachmen’. The word here is yachnoj. It is used again below in the discussion of kvas. Vyazigoyu has been translated by Paul Wickenden as “gristle of sturgeon.” Nina Nicolaieff explains that "vesiga" is the marrow of the spine of the sturgeon, used dried or fresh. Trudonoshi means “hard to carry” in modern Russian.] [Sudakov]
Other Pastries:
For the monastic meal, other names of meal articles – olad’ya, rogulya, khvorosty, kalach, karavaj, bliny, perepecha:
- "and olad’ya with the honey kvass is sweet";
- "and roguli are fried";
- "and khvorosty are fried";
- "both fish and monastic kalachi";
- "and commercial district kalachi per brother for kalachi";
- "round loaves beaten", i.e. from rich [egg?] dough;
- "or round loaf with fish for every two brothers";
- "and one fourth kalachi or round loaf with a turnip or a carrot";
- "or pancakes with oil and with onion and others with juice";
- "or the pancakes of one type are toasted wheat and the other of buckwheat with evening kasha tezh with milk";
- "and in the meal on great days [Holy Feast (?) Days] imported white perepechi and kalachi";
- "and in the meal on Monday, imported white wheat perepechi and rye and fish".
[In modern Russian cuisine: olad’ya is a fritter, kalachi are rolls, karavai are large round loaves, and bliny are pancakes. Rogulya, khvorosty and perepecha are discussed below.]
[Tezh, perhaps same as modern Russian teshch which indicates the abdominal part of sturgeon, whitefish, etc. although that doesn’t really fit the context. ]
[Sudakov]
Rogulya, Perepecha, Khvorosty:
- Rogulya – these are fried rolls with protruding horns. [Sudakov]
- Perepecha - special holiday pirogi in the form of mounds made from separately baked flour balls, fastened by honey or by treacle. [Sudakov]
- Khvorosty are pastries of whimsical form. [Sudakov]
[treacle is light molasses. Khvorosty are translated as crumbly fried pastry sticks in my dictionaries.]
Puff Pastries:
- For the monastic meal, puff pastry was prepared in the form of leaves - lisni: "but if round bread or lisni or round bread with fish then there are no kalachi" (p. 40). [Sudakov]
Pryaniki (spice cakes or gingerbread):
-
A wooden spice-cake board [pryanichnaya derevyanaya doska] was found near one "industrial" stove, in a 13th century structure, indicating it may have been a bakery. [Zasurtsev, 1958]
The Novgorod archeology museum has a pryanichnaya doska dated to the 13th century on display, as photographed by Prof. Michael Fuller (Lord Michael of Safita). It is entirely possible that it is the same board mentioned above.
Dairy Products:
Cheese:
For the monastic meal, from the dairy products is known cheese (as was then called “tvorog”). The phrase "cheese vyali" (p. 48) indicated matured/cured tvorog. Cheese is already mentioned in the enumeration of monastic foods in the “Life of Theodosius Pecherskiy” (XII century).
[tvorog – is related to cottage cheese, farmer's cheese, ricotta...] [Sudakov]
Milk:
For the monastic meal, furthermore, they drank fresh milk (cool) or boiled milk (baked). Baked sour milk was called varenets. [So is the milk baked or boiled? I’ve heard that varenets is prepared by leaving the milk on the unique Russian oven for awhile. So in a sense, maybe it’s both.] [Sudakov]
Beverages:
Kvas:
For the monastic meal, let us switch to beverages. Kvas was constantly on the tables, except the days of Lent, when they replaced it with water. The designations of kvas are diverse: "kvass honeyed for dinner, and in the evening sychen, treacle kvass“(p. 48); "and barley kvass perevarnoy" (p. 50). Kvass perevarnoy is watery kvas, kvas of the second pouring on the kvas sediment. In the Novgorod kormchij 1280 we read: "During clean week, stand honey yasti fresh cereal kvas". [Sychen – I could only find a definition for sych, which is a type of owl or a gloomy, unsociable person. Paul Wickenden translates it as “dining.” My dictionaries say kormchij is a helmsman, or more figuratively, a wise leader. Wickenden says it’s a Nomocanon, or book of canon law, which makes much more sense in this context. “Clean week” is the first week of Lent. Yastyk is caviar of sturgeon and other fish, layered. Yastreb is a hawk. Yastvo is food.] [Sudakov]
Brine:
For the monastic meal, during the Lenten days they used also cabbage brine [pickled cabbage] and red brine, i.e. from pickled beet: "and food of soft bread and cabbage brine one per stavtsem" (p. 76 about.); "and red brine and they drink water" (p. 49). [Stavtsem comes from stavets. See above notes.] [Sudakov]
Milk:
For the monastic meal, furthermore, they drank fresh milk (cool) or boiled milk (baked). Baked sour milk was called varenets. [So is the milk baked or boiled? I’ve heard that varenets is prepared by leaving the milk on the unique Russian oven for awhile. So in a sense, maybe it’s both.] [Sudakov]
Jams, preserves, syrups:
For the monastic meal, let us mention what were known even in the times of Kievan Rus - jelly, syta and treacle: "jelly with cream and for supper also jelly and for tomorrow for dinner the same jelly with syta"; "and treacle in the stav"tsem they give in proper measure equally to all ". Syta - water, saturated by honey, was given in separate bratinki or in stavtsi.
[Once again, the bratinka and stavets are traditional Russian bowls.] [Sudakov]
References:
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