SC - Re: Ruzzige cake

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Nanna Rognvaldardottir wrote:
> 
> Isn´t there some mix-up here? (I´m sorry if this has been discussed already
> but my server has lost a bunch of messages I never saw.) I could be wrong
> but I´ve always understood that blini and blintz are two different things.
> Blin means "pancake" in Russian and can be either a small pancake or a crepe
> but the blini best known outside Russia, at least, are small (10 centimeters
> or less in diameter and 6-8 millimeters thick), leavened with yeast, and
> usually eaten hot with butter and a savoury filling, frequently caviar and
> sour cream. Traditionally they ara made of buckwheat, although there are
> flour-only versions.

It sounds like we're talking around two different foods whose names
happen to have the same etymology. Thank you, Nanna, it never even
occurred to me that references to blini with cheese and fruit might in
fact be references to blintzes; I just assumed it was a presentation of
blini I'd never encountered before.

Yes, I agree with Nanna. Blini and blintzes are different, although
related, animals, in that they are both pancakes, and both probably
originated by Russians, but then Russia is large and ethnically diverse,
hence the differences.

The blini recipes I've seen tend to be what I would imagine are the
deluxe version, normally involving a yeast-raised buckwheat-flour
batter*, sometimes also containing cream, and into which beaten egg
white is sometimes carefully folded at the last minute before cooking. I
imagine there are simpler versions, but when I think of blini I think of
the Russian Tea Room on New Year's Eve, and the complicated version
seems the closest to that sort of presentation. 

[*Note that this is an exception to all I've said in the past about
yeast-raised products being more often made from doughs, rather than
batters. I think my basic comment on the frequency of yeast-raised
doughs versus egg-or-chemical-raised batters still stands, though.]   

Blintzes seem to be more along the lines of a sweet or almost-sweet
version of canneloni: an eggy pancake, usually much larger than blini,
made from wheat flour and eggs, milk, etc., normally rolled around a
filling, sometimes fried after rolling and sealing. Not unlike a spring
roll filled with fruit, jam, cheese, etc.

As for the question of whether a crepe-like layer is likely to have been
the substrate for ruzzige cake, I don't know. I'd like to experiment
with a slightly tougher _dough_ made from flour and eggs, like a pasta
but without the added water. I know Mistress Caterina Sichlingen (Alia
Atlas) was able to work with a dough for the German pies whose recipes
she translated that consisted largely of flour and egg yolks; the theory
was that the yolks, undiluted with water, contained enough shortening to
make such a pastry palatable. I found it to be a lovely yellow,
reasonably tender, but never quite crisp enough for my taste. It seemed
to go immediately from a state that most 20th-century Americans would
regard as soggy or underdone, to burnt. I don't really know why
Caterina's adapted recipe calls for pizza or bread dough, unless she was
simply applying a stop-gap measure for feast use, bulk presentation, etc.

Or, as someone might say outside the East Kingdom, it wasn't for an A&S
entry or anything... ;  ) . 

Adamantius, hearing the fluttering of Trouble's wings in the air 
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com