Re: Golupsti (Stuffed Cabbage Leaves)
Originally Posted by
Silver Tabby
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How would they serve a meal in Russia?
Recipe sounds delicious - will definitely try it. Thank you.
Hi ST, She said that even if they have for example, a beautiful joint of beef, they would slice it before cooking and make it into a dish with several other ingredients and then cooked in either a sauce or gravy. They would never normally cook a joint first, slice it and place it on a plate individually as we do with a roast dinner.0
Dinner apparently is a family affair in Russia, it's the one family meal that every member sits down to and no-one eats until every member of the family is home, so they don't usually eat until late, 7-8 pm in the evening.
She says that their dinners are heavier than British dinners, (the women usually cook far more than is required as it is thought extremely rude to any guest if they are potentially still hungry after eating dinner)
Dinner usually starts with soup, usually Borsche, which as a meat-based soup complete with sour cream, can sometimes be as filling as a regular meal, and that is just the starter!.
Then, to accompany the meat course that follows, there is almost always one or two side salad dishes which can be rather heavy, usually containing mayonnaise potatoes, beetroot, onion, pickles and sliced meat, then comes the meat dish itself, usually a chicken dish, or meatballs usually in a tomato based sauce, served with mashed potatoes, buckwheat or pasta..
No Russian family ever serves a dinner without a huge platter of Rye bread on the table.
And.........on top of that, TEA is usually the dessert, alcohol is always served with dinner, usually wine or vodka. My brother said that it is considered the height of insult not to have a drink if offered. How she has stayed lovely and slim I will never fathom out!. I guess they have to eat heavy food to combat the bitter cold there.
Oh, almost forget to mention. Most Russian people do not usually go out to dinner in restaurants. That is rather a new concept in the cities there and most people's budgets do not take eating out into account unless quite wealthy. They do go to each family dinners often though and once seated at the table, it's usually a minimum 3 to 4 hours! Again, she told me that it is considered extremely rude for any guest not to take a gift to the hostess for the evening. (flowers or chocolates).
It's very interesting the things I learn each time we have a good chinwag about her home country.