SC - Buckwheat-sca-cooks V1 #645

[david friedman]

At 2:47 PM -0900 3/16/98, Anne M. Young wrote:
>Greetings, List, from one of your lurkers-
>I had to comment on the buckwheat topic. Having worked with unroasted
>buckwheat for russian kasha (which is generic for grain) but is made as a
>porrige of pilaf style grain dish, ...

Domostroi is an end-of-period russian household management book with a very
few recipes; it was translated by Carolyn Johnston Pouncy, Cornell
University Press: Ithaca 1994.  Here is one using kasha, with our version
out of the Miscellany.

Russian Cabbage and Greens
Domostroi  pp. 162-3

Chop cabbage, greens, or a mixture of both very fine, then wash them well.
Boil or steam them for a long time. On meat days, put in red meat, ham, or
a little pork fat; add cream or egg whites and warm the mixture. During a
fast, saturate the greens with a little broth, or add some fat and steam it
well. Add some groats, salt, and sour cabbage soup; then heat it. Cook
kasha the same way: steam it well with lard, oil, or herring in a broth.
[end of original]

Note:  the ingredient translated as "sour cabbage soup" turns up elsewhere
in the Domostroi in lists of things to brew: "For brewing beer, ale, or
sour cabbage soup, take malt or meal and hops. Beer from the first grade
makes good sour cabbage soup. You can make vinegar, too, from a good mash."
This suggests that it may really be something like alegar (beer vinegar).
We therefore substitute malt vinegar.

Version 1
 2 3/4 lb green cabbage (1 head)
3/4 lb turnip greens
3 c water
meat: 1 1/2 lb beef or lamb
6 egg whites
1 c dry buckwheat groats (kasha)
2 t salt
"sour cabbage soup": 4 t malt vinegar

Version 2
2 lb green cabbage (1 head)
5/8 lb mustard greens
2 1/2 c water
1 1/4 lb pork butt roast
1/2 c cream
4/3 c dry buckwheat groats (kasha)
1 1/2 t salt
"sour cabbage soup": 1 T malt vinegar

Chop cabbage and greens very fine.  Bring water to a boil, add cabbage and
greens and simmer 30-40 minutes covered.  Cut meat into bite-sized chunks.
Add meat and simmer another 25 minutes (this time probably depends on the
cut of meat).  Add groats, salt and vinegar, and cook another 15 minutes
uncovered on moderate heat, until the liquid is almost absorbed.  Stir in
egg whites or cream, heat for a minute or two, and remove from heat.

These are two possible interpretations of a recipe with lots of
alternatives.  In particular, it is not clear whether the groats, salt, and
"sour cabbage soup" belong only to the fast-day version or to both meat-day
and fast-day versions; we have assumed the latter.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook


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