[Sca-cooks] Zakuskas

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Thu Jul 20 09:35:51 PDT 2006


> I am a bit ignorant of much Eastern European development around the 1600 to
> 1800 era.   am asking in the hope of gaining further knowledge.  Did
> technology, science, trade and transportaion lag as far behind fashion and
> social reform?  Some things that I see as indicators to me of significant
> cookery/cuisine change include additions of new world foodstuffs, change in
> the construction and techniques of food preparations, and access to
> information and knowledge from already advanced cultures.  I certainly can
> understand that the choke-hold of info and literature can lag a
> nation/culture behind others parts of European development.  I can also see
> that the nobility class that we focus on (in general) has greater resource
> pool and greater access to "stuff".  If new foods are coming in and making
> impact on cuisine, the rennaisance techniques and dishes are sneaking in,
> and/or ccoking technology is appearing, then we may have to consider that
> the culture has moved into Early Modern era ahead of the rest of the
> culture.

Well, there aren't a lot of recipes out there before the Domostroi, 
of which one part dates from before 1600 and the majority of recipes to 
a longer part written before 1650. However, both the Domostroi and the 
foodstuffs mentioned in Olearius's Travels (circa 1615-1640) seem to be 
in the same category as, say, Rumpolt or other texts from the 1500s. 
There does not seem to be widespread adoption of new world foods...

Ok, here's more from Olearius from The travels of Olearius in 
Seventeenth-Century Russia, ed. Samel H. Baron (Stanford, CA: Stanford 
University, 1967):
"We recieved daily 62 loaves of bread, each worth a kopek; a quarter of 
beef; four sheep, 12 chickens, and two geese; a hare or a partridge; 50 
eggs; ten kopeks for candles, and five kopeks for the kitchen. In 
addition, we recieved weekly a pud ([36] pounds) of butter, a pud of 
salt, three buckets of vinegar, two sheep, and a goose. We daily 
recieved 15 tankards for the ambassadors and hofjunkers; three small 
ones of vodka, one of Spanish wine, eight of various meads, and three of 
beer. In addition, they provided for our attendants one barrel of beer, 
a small cask of mead, and another small cask of vodka.
These provisions were furnished in double measure on the day of our 
arrival and also on Palm Sunday, Easter, and the young prince's 
birthday...." (p.96)

Ok, again from Olearius, from The travels of Olearius in 
Seventeenth-Century Russia, ed. Samel H. Baron (Stanford, CA: Stanford 
University, 1967):
"In some places, especially in Moscow, there are also fine garden 
plants, such as apples, pears, cherries, plums, and red currants. Thus 
the actual situation here is very different from the one depicted by 
Herberstein, Guagnino, and others, who contend that, because of the 
extreme cold, there are no fruits or delicious apples to be found in 
Russia. Among other good apples, there is one kind whose flesh is so 
tender and white that if you hold it up to the sun you can see the 
seeds. However, although they are of excellent appearance and taste, 
they cannot be stored long, unlike German apples, because of their 
extremely high water content.
They also have all sorts of kitchen vegetables, notably asparagus as 
thick as a thumb, which I myself sampled in Moscow at the home of a good 
friend of mine, a Dutch merchant. Besides, they grow good cucumbers, 
onions, and garlic, in great quantities. The Russians have never planted 
lettuce or other salad greens; they paid them no attention and not only 
did not eat them but even laughed at the Germans who did, saying that 
they ate grass. Now some of them are beginning to try salad. They grow 
melons everywhere in enormous quantities, thus providing an important 
article of trade and nutriment. The melons grown here are great not only 
in number but also in size, and are so delicious and sweet that they may 
be eaten without sugar. In 1643 a good friend sent me a pud of these 
melons when I left Moscow."

-- 
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net 
"History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it screams
'Why don't you ever listen to me?' and lets fly with a club."



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