SC - Russian "krupnik" pie

[Jenn/Yana]

Some time ago someone on the Cook's List wrote about a dish she had at an
SCA feast:

> (one dish, a Russian krunik (sp?), was quite something. It had
> three different fillings separated by blini in a large free 
> standing pastry coffin. It may not have been period but it sure looked
> that way). 

I think that I have found a recipe (and name) for it!  It is a
"kurnik/kournik" (you were real close).  It is a wedding pie.  The Russian
woman who sent me this recipe said that chicken is the preferred meat to
use because a chicken is a symbol of fertility.  She also states, "Kournik
was  baked in the houses of the groom and the bride. The groom’s pie was
decorated with little  human figurines and the bride’s Kournik had flowers
- - beauty and feminity [sic] symbols."

I haven't tried this recipe, so I don't know how it will turn out, but the
original questioner should be able to tell from the ingredients and
construction if this was similar to what she had at the feast.  The
directions are a bit choppy (I have found that trying to cook from modern
Russian recipes translated into English can be similar to "redacting"
medieval recipes), but I'm sure no one will have any big problems.  ;)

If anyone likes, feel free to ask me for clarification and a
re-translation, this translation is by the Russian woman.  I will be trying
out this recipe as soon as I get enough people to feed it to.

- --Yana  


MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Title: Kournik
Category: Russian
Yeld: 6 servings

Dough:
3 c flour
3 tb butter
2 eggs
1 tb sugar
1/2 ts baking powder
2 tb sour cream
1/2 c milk
salt to taste

Pancakes [bliny]:
1/2 c flour
1 ts sugar
1 egg
1/2 c milk
salt to taste

1st Filling
1/4 c rice
1 egg
1 tb butter
3 tb green parsley chopped

2nd Filling 
500 g chicken meat
2 tb butter 
1 ts flour
4 chicken broth

3rd Filling
150 g fresh mushrooms
1 tb butter

Dough-making: Melt sugar, salt in warm milk, put a half of flour. Stir
very well and add another half of flour and baking powder, mix very
quickly.  Add sour cream and melted butter and stir very well. Divide
dough into two parts.  One part must be smaller than another one. Roll
out the dough in a round (25-30cm in diameter and thick 1/2 cm).

Pancakes baking: Make a pastry for pancakes. The pastry must liquid.
Bake very thin pancakes. 

1  Filling: Boil rice, add chopped hard boiled egg, greens, butter and
salt. Mix thoroughly. 
2  Filling: Boil chicken. Chop chicken meat finely. Fry flour on the
pan  until light brown.  Add butter and a little of chicken broth. Put
chicken pieces on the pan and fry in the sauce for 10 minutes.
3 Filling: Chop mushrooms and fry in butter, add the sauce from chicken.

Kournik baking:  Put some pancakes on the dough round, then put
chicken meat.  After that goes another layer of pancakes and put
mushroom filling on them.  Then - another layer of pancakes and at
last rice filling. This "construction" must look like a little hill.

Put last pancakes on the top. 

Roll out the second round  (35-40 cm in diameter). Make four radial
cuts and cover the hill with it.  Pinch the edges of two rounds and
edges of four radial cuts on the top.  Make different decorations for
the top.  Grease the top with egg and make some piercing with fork.
Bake in the oven with heat 200-210 C.
MMMMM