Subject: Re: SC - Anthro and cooking

[Jenn/Yana]

In our experience blini _are_ made using yeast, but they are _definitely_
able to be rolled up per experience with the Maslenitsa (Butter) Festival
in Moscow, and are sized to fit right inside a standard 8" to 10" tortilla
warmer (a friend in Moscow spent a few years in El Paso and was delighted
to find that the "Americans" had made something so perfect for keeping
blini at the right temperature).  They have the thickness of French crepes
but not the sweetness.  And they are not always made of buckwheat, although
that seems to be the flour most Americans associate with them.


A little light Russian food porn for you all:

>From "On Human Fraility: An Object Lesson for the Butter Festival" by Anton
Chekov

"Risking a severe burn, Semyon Petrovich grabbed at the two topmost (and
hottest) blini, and deposited them, plop, on his plate.  The blini were
deep golden, airy, and plump--just like the shoulder of a merchant's
daughter...Podtikin glowed with delight and hiccupped with joy as he poured
butter all over them.  Then, as if to further inflame his appetite with
pleasurable anticipation, he slowly, painstakingly, spread them with
caviar.  To the few patches not covered with  caviar, he applied a dollop
of sour cream...Podtikin gazed down at his own creation and was still not
satisfied.  He reflected a moment and then piled onto the blini the fattest
piece of salmon, a smelt, and a sardine, and only then, panting and
delirious, he rolled up the blini, downed a shot of vodka, and opened his
mouth."

Adamantius wrote:
>Blini are usually made with both yeast _and_ beaten egg yolks and
>semi-stiff beaten egg white folded in at the end, so they're quite a lot
>higher or thicker, and less dense, than blintzes. They'd be impossible
>to roll up as they usually are, since they're so thick, if it weren't
>for their inherent sponginess and a near-soaking in melted butter
>traditionally applied before the sour cream, caviar, etc.
>
>Blini are also generally _much_ smaller than blintzes, perhaps two or
>three inches across, in my experience. You don't roll them up and tuck
>in the ends as you might with a blintz, more often you fold it either in
>quarters, or, as with a cornmeal "hard" taco, just over the filling.

*************************************************************************
Ilyana Barsova (Yana)  jdmiller2 at students.wisc.edu
http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~jdmiller2 
Slavic Interest Group http://www.uwplatt.edu/~goldschp/slavic.html
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