[Sca-cooks] Russian recipes- kotleti

Stephanie Ross hlaislinn at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 20 13:15:14 PDT 2006


KOTLETI (Russian meatballs)

Kotletki is another word for meatballs (cutlets). The average meat-eating
Russian eats them at least 4 days out of 7. Foreigners visiting Russia for
the first time nearly always get the impression that Russians eat kotletki
every day. Kotletki means "little kotleti" in Russian, but the differnce in
size is quite slight. It is true that kotletki and kotleti are faithful
stand-bys to which Russian cooks resort more than half the time, year in
and year out - so a smart Russian cook dresses them up by serving them with
various sauces. The standard sauce, as in the recipe below, is made by
stirring sour cream into the pan-thickened gravy. Variations of this are
made by adding any one of the following: sliced mushrooms simmered in
butter, finely chopped cooked celery, creamed onions with a strong
flavoring of thyme, onions simmered in butter with a little bit of sugar
and vinegar, or chopped raisins with vinegar and sugar.

1 1/2 lb ground beef
3 slices stale bread
1 small onion, grated
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs yolks or one whole egg
4 tbsp butter
sifted dry breadcrumbs

The stale bread gives the best results when at least 2 days old. Remove the
crusts. Soak the bread in a little cold water, squeeze dry, and add to the
meat. Mix thoroughly until there are no lumps whatsoever. Add the grated
onion, salt, pepper and egg and stir at least 3 minutes. Now shape the
mixture into meatballs. You should have 12 of them. Roll them in the
breadcrumbs and flatten them into an oval shape. Criss cross them with the
back of a knife. Heat 3 tbsp of butter very hot. Brown the koleti quickly,
about 6 minutes on each side. They will be best if you only fry 4 of them
at a time. As they get done, take them up and put them on a hot platter.
When all are done, put the rest of the butter in the frying pan in one
lump. Heat quickly. Add 2 tablespoons consomme, water or sour cream. Boil
up and pour over the kotleti. Serve at once.

Alexandra Kropotkin

I made the sour cream gravy for mine and added a little thyme to it. I
reheated it in a crock pot for the luncheon. These meatballs were the first
thing emptied on the table.

~Aislinn~
Et si omnes ego non.

"The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the
first and only legitimate object of good government." --Thomas Jefferson to
Maryland Republicans, 1809.





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