How and why Russian cuisine changed in the 19th century. What did Russian aristocrats eat at the beginning of the 19th century?
It would be wrong to think that the peasant 19th century food- these are only uncomplicated garden vegetables and fish, and on the table of rich people were served entirely exquisite overseas dishes and delicacies. In fact, it is in 19th century food began to differ significantly from the one that was served back in the 18th century, the main emphasis was on the national Russian cuisine. The boundaries between the cuisine of the nobility and the representatives of the lower class were erased. But at the same time, some foreign traditions appeared and successfully took root.
Let's go in order.
If we analyze the cooking of an earlier period, then, of course, it meets its time and the needs of people. In places where fishing was developed, fish was the main dish, where livestock was raised, meat was eaten, in areas with fertile soils, they gathered vegetables and fruits, and even learned how to preserve them.
Gradually, the food became more diverse, people adopted the experience of their neighbors, shared their own. Moreover, this was typical not only for the lower class, until some time I did not see any special frills and know.
In the 16-18 centuries, the cuisine of the peasants mainly differs in lean (the one that was eaten during fasts) and modest (for the rest of the days), the upper classes introduce new traditions, due to the fact that some never seen before penetrate into Russia. Such innovations include simple tea with lemon. However, for some time they are not crushed and mixed, even the fillings for pies were laid in layers.
There is also a tradition of cooking certain types of meat: beef, for example, is boiled and salted, pork is used for ham, and poultry is fried. The boyar estate strives not only for diversity, but also for the special pomp of serving, as well as for long feasts. The nobles borrow European traditions in cooking, write out French chefs, due to which there are significant differences between the cuisine of the common people and the nobility.
In the 18th century, dishes borrowed from French cuisine appeared in Russia, such as the cutlets and sausages we all know. They began to cook omelettes from eggs, and cook compotes from fruits.
IN 19th century food ceased to be divided into peasant (traditional Russian) and the cuisine of noble persons (with elements of European). However, soups imported from France have firmly come into use. In Rus', they still knew hot liquid dishes called "stews", while soups differed not only in name, but also in cooking technology.
A special place for the Russian people in 19th century occupied food, which was supposed to be eaten with a hangover. These were mainly liquid hodgepodges and pickles, including fish.
An attempt to accustom the Russian nobility to French delights in the form of frog legs and other things failed during this period - even the nobility, greedy for innovation, did not agree to exchange hearty Russian pancakes for dubious delicacies.
In the middle of the 19th century, a new type of cuisine appeared - the tavern. Russian national dishes were prepared in taverns and taverns, both simple peasant dishes and those that were favored in rich houses, there were also overseas dishes on the menu. Both representatives of the lowest strata (coachmen, clerks) and rich people stopped to eat here. And the owners tried to treat the guests from the heart.
A little earlier, a tradition of preparing fish snacks appeared, in the 19th century the cuisine was supplemented with fish salads. In the peasant version, these were various vegetable dishes with the addition of herring.
Of the fish, the sterlet was considered the most expensive and delicacy, which was used for aspic, fish soup, and other snacks. Eel was in high esteem. By that time, fish was not only salted and boiled, but also fried, smoked and even preserved with the addition of vinegar and spices.
Black caviar was considered a very simple and affordable product, especially in the southern regions. It was eaten not only by rich people, but by ordinary peasants. IN In the 19th century, it was fairly cheap food..
The famous Ukrainian borsch with donuts also appeared in Russia, and it was in the 19th century that the restaurant chefs of St. Petersburg made some changes to the recipe in the recipe. Borscht began to be cooked not only on pork belly and veal, but also on bone and meat broths. The recipe also included sour apples, beans, turnips, zucchini.
Both rich and poor families had no shortage of cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, herbs, beets and onions. Knowledge of fermentation processes made it possible to prepare products for the future. Mushrooms were very popular and available, which at that time were mainly cooked baked in sour cream.
But still, the main dish on the tables was fish, and after it - meat and everything else. Served in noble houses and various desserts: fruits, cakes, as well as French dishes with hard-to-pronounce names.
Popular food in the 19th century there was a delicious lamb with porridge, which successfully migrated to the capital's establishments from the landowner's rural kitchens. Especially this dish was liked by the military.
Meat in pots has been cooked in Rus' for a long time. In the 19th century, these dishes remained relevant. At the same time, a completely new dish appeared - Georgian shish kebab. By the way, at first they were traded almost clandestinely, and only a few years later a tradition was established to eat shish kebabs and drink them with good wine.
Now many traditions of past centuries have long been lost, we cannot cook five types of hodgepodges and have no idea what a nanny, salamata and kokurka are. Many expensive restaurants try Russian traditions and cook 19th century food using old recipes and cooking in a real Russian oven.
However, it seems to me that modern vegetable growing, meat harvesting and other things significantly affect the taste and quality of the dish, and even after eating royal fish soup in the most pretentious institution, it is hardly possible to say with certainty that we tried real 19th century food.
Alexandra Panyutina
Women's magazine JustLady
Soup was an indispensable dish of the dinner table. Well, the main soup in Russia both then and now is cabbage soup. Take cabbages, beef, ham, a handful of oatmeal, onions, pour it all with water and cook until it deliberately rots. Then, having sloshed a little flour with cow's butter on the same millet slurry in a special cup, dip it into ashti and then whiten it with sour cream. . When serving, pour pepper on the table and put finely chopped onion and crackers. Shchi in Russia is more than soup. Frozen cabbage soup in skating rinks was taken by travelers on the road. Russian soldiers in foreign campaigns, for lack of cabbage, cooked cabbage soup from grape leaves. And sour cabbage soup is a drink more like kvass, two centuries ago it was even used to treat colds. During formal dinners, the soup was served by lackeys. And in the estate at the home table the soup was poured by the hostess herself.
Fresh cabbage soup was served either with pies or kulebyaks. Dinner at the estate was usually limited to four courses. The soup was followed by some cold dish of your choice. Beads under cabbage, boiled pork under onions, beef studio with kvass, sour cream and horseradish. During the second break, fish dishes were often served. . Fried, steam, salted, smoked, dumped fish were included in the daily menu of a Russian nobleman. Fortunately, the Russian rivers and seas then abundantly supplied the master's tables with seven, sturgeon, salmon, beluga and sterlet. Boiled crayfish were often added as a side dish to the fish dish.
Caviar was not considered a special delicacy. The main thing in fish was its freshness. As true gourmets of the 19th century claimed, fish should be cooked when the guests are already eating soup. Count Stroganov gave dinner to another famous hospitality Naryshkin. How the fire happened. Only Naryshkin did not lose his head and shouted: save the sterlets and the beluga. The third course consisted of hot dishes: duck under mushrooms, calf's head with prunes and raisins, Little Russian dumplings, brains under green peas. During the fourth course they served mainly roasted game: turkeys, ducks, geese, hazel grouses, partridges. For garnish: pickles, olives, salted lemons and apples. . However, along with game, fried sturgeon with snits and lamb side with buckwheat porridge could also appear on the table. Just listen, it sounds like poetry. And how can you refuse the hostess, who puts another piece on your plate, another and another ...
As a matter of fact, there might not have been dinner at the estate. The process of eating sometimes did not end until late in the evening. Dessert followed dinner. Two types of cake were served at the table: wet and dry. Wet cakes included: compotes, cold kissels with cream, berry soufflé, biscuits and ice cream. These dishes were called wet cakes because they were eaten with spoons. Dry cakes, respectively, were taken by hand. These are puff pies, marshmallows, pancakes, macaroons. . And how to resist these gastronomic temptations? Gluttony, although it is one of the biblical sins, but the Russian landowners indulged in it with pleasure. And there were gluttons and simply legendary. The fabulist Ivan Andreevich Krylov could swallow up to 30 pancakes with caviar in one sitting, eat three plates of pasta at once, he destroyed oysters 80 pieces at a time, although doctors claimed that the human stomach was not able to accept more than 50. The roof received all the guests. In thousands and thousands of Russian estates, the day ended with evening tea. . Drinking tea in Russian meant drinking it with food and sweets, and of course, with the invariably favorite delicacy in Rus' - jam. The number of varieties of jam in manor cellars sometimes reached several tens. For evening tea, you need to think about preparations. After all, when winter comes, the gentlemen will have to move to the city, they will carry with them a whole convoy of various food, they will take with them everything that their estate is rich in, so that there is enough food until the future
For a modern person, his menu still depends on the thickness of his wallet. And, moreover, it was so in the Middle Ages. Already by the clothes of the owner of the house, it was possible to say with certainty what would be served at his dinner.
Peter Brueghel, Peasant Wedding.
Many poor people have never in their lives tasted the dishes that the aristocrats devoured almost daily.
The main and vital product was, of course, grain, from which bread was baked and porridge was cooked. Among many types of cereals, buckwheat was also popular, now almost forgotten in Germany. Bread was eaten in huge quantities - up to a kilogram per day per person. The less money there was, the more bread in the diet.
The bread was also different. White and barley bread was intended for the rich, artisans ate oat bread, peasants were content with rye bread. For reasons of austerity, monks were not allowed to eat wheat bread; in exceptional cases, the content of wheat in flour should not exceed a third. In difficult times, roots were used for baking: radish, onion, horseradish and parsley.
In the Middle Ages, they ate relatively few vegetables: only in spring and summer. Basically, these were cabbage, peas, garlic, onions, celery, beets and even dandelions. They especially loved onions, which were considered useful for potency. It must be served at any holiday. Salads began to be made in Germany only in the 15th century; vegetable oils, vinegar and spices were brought from Italy as delicacies.
The cultivation of vegetables also began relatively late, for a long time only monks were engaged in this. Apples, pears, plums, nuts, grapes, strawberries began to enter the menu only in the late Middle Ages. However, eating raw vegetables and fruits was considered unhealthy. To avoid pain in the abdomen, they were first boiled for a long time, stewed and richly flavored with vinegar and spices, while raw juice caused, according to a medieval person, a disease of the spleen.
As for meat, it was eaten quite often, but game (and the right to hunt) was the privilege of the nobility. However, ravens, eagles, beavers, and ground squirrels were also considered game. Peasants and artisans ate beef, pork, lamb, chicken and horse meat. Meat dishes were served with sauces, for which there were a huge number of recipes. Especially popular was the "green sauce" of plants, spices and vinegar. Only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday should meat be given up. The quality of the meat that was imported into the city was strictly controlled.
Spices were the most important ingredient in medieval cuisine. They were added not only to food, but even to beer and wine. Poorer people used local spices: dill, parsley, green onions, fennel, rosemary, mint. The rich allowed themselves goods from the east: pepper, nutmeg, cardamom, saffron. The prices for such spices were very high. For example, one nutmeg sometimes cost as much as seven fat bulls. Healing qualities were also attributed to spices.
From the 14th century, raisins and dates, rice and figs began to be brought from the east. No trade was as profitable as trade in goods from distant countries. Of course, the poor could not afford these exotic products. Fortunately, the favorite seasoning of the Middle Ages - mustard - was enough at home. In addition, merchants often cheated: for example, they mixed black pepper with mouse excrement, wild berries and grain. A case is known when a Nuremberg merchant had his eyes gouged out for counterfeiting saffron. But rich people had to buy spices to maintain their status. No wonder the proverb of that time said: the spicier the food, the richer the owner.
A woman carries water from a well. Tacuinum sanitatis, 15th century.
But the choice of sweets was quite small. To put it bluntly, the only sweetness was honey, and it was expensive. I had to make do with dried fruit. Sugar appeared in Germany only in the late Middle Ages, although in Asia it has long been eaten. Marzipans were considered a delicacy, they were sold in pharmacies.
Spicy food, dried meat, salted fish - all this caused intense thirst. And although milk satisfied her, people preferred beer and wine. Raw water from rivers and wells was undrinkable, it was boiled with honey or boiled with wine.
Sale of sugar. Tacuinum sanitatis, 15th century.
Beer is one of the most ancient drinks. In the 8th century, only monasteries and churches received the right to brew beer. The most popular was wheat and oat beer. Spices, herbs and even spruce cones were added to some varieties. Especially loved in the north of Germany, Gagelbier beer, an integral ingredient was the wax plant, the use of which could lead to blindness and even death, but this beer was banned only in the 18th century.
In 1516, the variety of varieties was finished. In Germany, a law on the purity of beer was introduced everywhere, which is valid to this day (by the way, in Nuremberg such a law was adopted as much as 200 years earlier).
General rule. The dishes served on the tables of gentlemen: aristocrats, landowners, people convicted of power, both spiritual and secular, were very different from what ordinary people who worked on their lands and depended on ate.
However, when in the XIII century, the boundaries between the classes began to blur, the powers that be took care of how to keep the workers, and decided to play on the love of the "hearth", allowing the peasants to feast on food from their table.
Bread
In the Middle Ages, white bread, which is made from wheat flour of the highest grinding, was intended exclusively for the master's and prince's tables. The peasants ate black, primarily rye bread.
In the Middle Ages, this often fatal disease grew to epidemic proportions, especially in lean and famine years. After all, it was then that everything that more or less fell under the definition of cereal was collected from the fields, often ahead of schedule, that is, just at the very time when ergot is most poisonous. Ergot poisoning affected the nervous system and in most cases was fatal.
It wasn't until the early Baroque era that a Dutch physician discovered a relationship between ergot and "Saint Anthony's fire." Chlorine was used as a remedy for the spread of the disease, although despite it, or even thanks to it, the epidemic raged even more.
But the use of chlorine was not universal and was rather determined by the type of bread: some cunning bakers bleached their rye and oat bread with chlorine, and then sold it at a profit, passing it off as white (chalk and crushed bone were willingly used for the same purposes).
And since, in addition to these very unhealthy bleaching agents, dried flies were often baked into bread as "raisins", the extremely cruel punishments that were punished by fraudulent bakers appear in a new light.
Those who wanted to make easy money on bread often had to break the law. And almost everywhere it was punishable by significant monetary fines.
In Switzerland, fraudulent bakers were hanged in cages over a dung-pit. Accordingly, those who wanted to get out of it had to jump right into the fetid mess.
To stop bullying, to prevent the spread of notoriety about their profession, and also in order to control themselves, bakers united in the first industrial association - the guild. Thanks to her, that is, due to the fact that representatives of this profession cared about their membership in the guild, real masters of baking appeared.
Pasta
There are many legends about cuisine and recipes. The most beautiful of them has been described Marco Polo, who in 1295 brought from his trip to Asia a recipe for making dumplings and “threads” from dough.
It is assumed that this story was heard by a Venetian cook who began to tirelessly mix water, flour, eggs, sunflower oil and salt, and did this until he achieved the best consistency for noodle dough. It is not known whether this is true or whether noodles came to Europe from the Arab countries thanks to the crusaders and merchants. But the fact that European cuisine soon became unthinkable without noodles is a fact.
However, in the 15th century, there were still bans on the preparation of pasta, since in the event of a particularly unsuccessful harvest, flour was needed for baking bread. But since the Renaissance, the triumphal march of pasta across Europe has been unstoppable.
Porridge and thick soup
Until the era of the Roman Empire, porridge was present in the diet of all strata of society, and only then turned into food for the poor. However, it was very popular with them, they ate it three or even four times a day, and in some houses they ate exclusively on it alone. This state of affairs continued until the 18th century, when potatoes replaced porridge.
It should be noted that the porridge of that time differs significantly from our current ideas about this product: medieval porridge cannot be called “porridge-like”, in the sense that we attach to this word today. It was… hard, hard enough to be cut.
In one Irish law of the 8th century, it is clearly spelled out which segments of the population, what kind of porridge should be eaten: “For the lower class, oatmeal cooked on buttermilk and old butter to it is quite enough; members of the middle class are supposed to eat porridge made from pearl barley and fresh milk, and put fresh butter in it; and royal offspring should be served honey-sweetened porridge made from wheat flour and fresh milk.”
Along with porridge, since ancient times, mankind has known a “one-course lunch”: a thick soup that replaces the first and second. It is in the cuisines of various cultures (Arabs and Chinese use a double pot for its preparation - meat and various vegetables are boiled in the lower compartment, and rice “reaches” steam on the rise from it) and just like porridge, it was food for the poor, until no expensive ingredients were used for its preparation.
There is also a practical explanation for the special love for this dish: in medieval cuisine (both princely and peasant), food was cooked in a cauldron suspended on rotating mechanisms over an open fire (later in a fireplace). And what could be easier than throwing all the ingredients that you can get into such a cauldron and making a rich soup out of them. At the same time, the taste of the brew is very easy to change by simply changing the ingredients.
Meat, fat, butter
Having read books about the life of aristocrats, impressed by the colorful descriptions of feasts, modern man firmly believed that representatives of this class ate exclusively game. In fact, game made up no more than five percent of their diet.
Pheasants, swans, wild ducks, capercaillie, deer... It sounds magical. But in fact, chickens, geese, sheep and goats were usually served at the table. Roast occupied a special place in medieval cuisine.
Talking or reading about meat cooked on a spit or a grill, we forget about the more than insignificant development of dentistry at that time. But how to chew hard meat with a toothless jaw?
Ingenuity came to the rescue: the meat was kneaded in a mortar to a mushy state, thickened by adding eggs and flour, and the resulting mass was fried on a spit in the form of an ox or a sheep.
The same was sometimes done with fish, a feature of this variation of the dish was that the “porridge” was pushed into the skin skillfully pulled off the fish, and then boiled or fried.
It seems strange to us now that fried meat in the Middle Ages was often also cooked in broth, and the cooked chicken, rolled in flour, was added to the soup. With such a double treatment, the meat lost not only its crispy crust, but also its taste.
As for the fat content of food and ways to make it fat, the aristocrats used sunflower oil, and later butter, for these purposes, and the peasants were content with lard.
canning
Drying, smoking and salting as methods of food preservation in the Middle Ages were already known.
They dried fruits: pears, apples, cherries, they also acted with vegetables. Air-dried or oven-dried, they kept for a long time and were often used in cooking: they were especially liked to be added to wine. Fruits were also used to make compote (fruits, ginger). However, the resulting liquid was not consumed immediately, but thickened and then cut: something like sweets was obtained.
Smoked meat, fish and sausage. This was due to the seasonality of livestock slaughter, which took place in October-November, since, firstly, in early November it was necessary to pay a tax in kind, and secondly, this made it possible not to spend money on animal feed in winter.
Sea fish imported for consumption during fasting was preferred to be salted. Salted also many varieties of vegetables, such as beans and peas. As for cabbage, it was fermented.
condiments
Spices were an integral part of medieval cuisine. Moreover, it makes no sense to distinguish between seasonings for the poor and seasonings for the rich, because only the rich could afford to have spices.
It was easier and cheaper to buy pepper. The import of pepper made very many rich, but also many, namely those who cheated and mixed dried berries into pepper, led to the gallows. Along with pepper, the favorite spices in the Middle Ages were cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg.
Saffron must be specially mentioned: it was even several times more expensive than the very expensive nutmeg (in the 20s of the 15th century, when nutmeg was sold for 48 kreuzers, saffron cost about one hundred and eighty, which corresponded to the price of a horse).
Most cookbooks of that period do not specify the proportions of spices, but based on books of a later period, one can conclude that these proportions did not correspond to our today's tastes, and dishes seasoned, as was done in the Middle Ages, might seem to us very sharp and even burn the palate.
Spices were not only used to show off wealth, they also masked the smell of meat and other foods. Meat and fish stocks in the Middle Ages were often salted so that they would not deteriorate for as long as possible and would not cause illness. And, consequently, spices were designed to drown out not only smells, but also taste - the taste of salt. Or sour.
Sour wine was sweetened with spices, honey and rose water so that it could be served to the gentlemen. Some modern authors, referring to the length of the journey from Asia to Europe, believe that spices lost their taste and smell during transportation, and essential oils were added to return them to them.
Greenery
Herbs were valued for their healing power, treatment without herbs was unthinkable. But in cooking, they occupied a special place. Southern herbs, namely marjoram, basil and thyme, which are familiar to modern man, did not exist in the Middle Ages in northern countries. But such herbs were used, which we will not remember today.
But we, as before, know and appreciate the magical properties of parsley, mint, dill, cumin, sage, lovage, fennel; nettle and calendula are still fighting for a place in the sun and in the pot.
Almond milk and marzipan
Almonds were always present in every medieval kitchen of the powerful. They especially liked to make almond milk from it (crushed almonds, wine, water), which was then used as the basis for preparing various dishes and sauces, and during fasting they were replaced with real milk.
Marzipan, also made from almonds (grated almonds with sugar syrup), was a luxury in the Middle Ages. This dish is considered a Greco-Roman invention.
The researchers conclude that the small almond cakes that the Romans sacrificed to their gods were the forerunners of the sweet almond dough (pane Martius (spring bread) - Marzipan).
honey and sugar
Food in the Middle Ages was sweetened exclusively with honey. Although cane sugar was known in southern Italy already in the 8th century, the rest of Europe learned the secret of its production only during the Crusades. But even then, sugar continued to be a luxury: at the beginning of the 15th century, six kilograms of sugar cost as much as a horse.
Only in 1747, Andreas Sigismund Markgraf discovered the secret of sugar production from sugar beets, but this did not particularly affect the state of affairs. Industrial and, accordingly, mass production of sugar began only in the 19th century, and only then did sugar become a product “for everyone”.
These facts allow us to take a fresh look at medieval feasts: only those who possessed excessive wealth could afford to arrange them, because most of the dishes consisted of sugar, and many of the dishes were intended only to be admired and admired, but in no way were used for food.
Feasts
We read with amazement about the carcasses of hazel dormouse, storks, eagles, bears and beaver tails, which were served at the table in those days. We think about how tough the meat of storks and beavers must taste, about how rare such animals as push dormouse and hazel dormouse are.
At the same time, we forget that numerous changes of dishes were intended, first of all, not to satisfy hunger, but to demonstrate wealth. Who could be left indifferent by the sight of such a dish as a peacock, “spewing” a flame?
And the fried bear paws flaunted on the table were definitely not to glorify the hunting abilities of the owner of the house, belonging to the highest circles of society and hardly earning his living by hunting.
Along with amazing hot dishes, sweet baked works of art were served at feasts; dishes made of sugar, gypsum, salt, human height and even more. All this was intended mainly for visual perception.
Especially for these purposes, holidays were arranged, at which the prince and princess publicly tasted dishes from meat, poultry, cakes, and pastries on a hill.
colorful food
Multi-colored dishes in the Middle Ages were extremely popular and at the same time easy to prepare.
Coats of arms, family colors and even whole pictures were depicted on pies and cakes; many sweet foods, such as almond milk jelly, were given a wide variety of colors (in the cookbooks of the Middle Ages you can find a recipe for making such a tricolor jelly). Meat, fish, chicken were also painted.
The most common colorants are: parsley or spinach (green); grated black bread or gingerbread, clove powder, black cherry juice (black), vegetable or berry juice, beets (red); saffron or egg yolk with flour (yellow); onion peel (brown).
They also liked to gild and silver dishes, but, of course, this could only be done by the cooks of the masters, who were able to put at their disposal the appropriate means. And although the addition of coloring substances changed the taste of the dish, they turned a blind eye to this in order to get a beautiful “picture”.
However, with colored food, sometimes funny and not so funny things happened. So, at one holiday in Florence, guests almost got poisoned by the colorful creation of an inventor-cook who used chlorine to get white and verdigris to get green.
Fast
Medieval cooks also showed their resourcefulness and skill during fasting: when preparing fish dishes, they seasoned them in a special way so that they tasted like
meat, invented pseudo-eggs and tried by all means to circumvent the strict rules of fasting.
The clergy and their cooks especially tried. So, for example, they expanded the concept of "aquatic animals", including the beaver (its tail passed under the category "fish scales"). After all, fasting then lasted a third of a year.
Four meals a day
The day began with the first breakfast, limited to a glass of wine. Approximately at 9 o'clock in the morning it was time for the second breakfast, which consisted of several courses.
It should be clarified that these are not modern “first, second and compote”. Each course consisted of a large number of dishes, which were brought to the table by the servants. This led to the fact that anyone who arranged a banquet - whether on the occasion of christenings, weddings or funerals - tried not to lose face and serve as many goodies to the table as possible, not paying attention to their abilities, and therefore often getting into debt.
To put an end to this state of affairs, numerous regulations were introduced that regulated the number of dishes and even the number of guests. For example, in 1279, the French king Philip III issued a decree stating that “not a single duke, count, baron, prelate, knight, cleric, etc. has no right to eat more than three modest meals (cheeses and vegetables, unlike cakes and pastries, were not taken into account). The modern tradition of serving one dish at a time came to Europe from Russia only in the 18th century.
At dinner, it was again allowed to drink only a glass of wine, biting it with a piece of bread soaked in wine. And only for dinner, which took place from 3 to 6 pm, an incredible amount of food was again served. Naturally, this is a "schedule" for the upper strata of society.
The peasants were busy with business and could not devote as much time to eating as the aristocrats (often they managed to have only one modest snack during the day), and their incomes did not allow them to do so.
Cutlery and crockery
Two eating utensils were hard to win recognition in the Middle Ages: a fork and a plate for individual use. Yes, there were wooden plates for the lower strata and silver or even gold ones for the higher strata, but they ate mainly from common dishes. Moreover, instead of a plate, stale bread was sometimes used for these purposes, which slowly absorbed and did not allow to stain the table.
The fork also "suffered" from the prejudices that existed in society: its shape earned it a reputation as a devilish creation, and its Byzantine origin - a suspicious attitude. Therefore, she was able to “break through” to the table only as a device for meat. Only in the Baroque era, disputes about the merits and demerits of the fork became fierce. On the contrary, everyone had their own knife, even women wore it on a belt.
Tables also featured spoons, salt shakers, rock-crystal glasses, and drinking vessels—often richly decorated, gilded, or even silver. However, the latter were not individual, even in rich houses they were shared with neighbors. Crockery and cutlery for ordinary people were made of wood and clay.
Many peasants in the house had only one spoon for the whole family, and if someone did not want to wait until it reached him in a circle, he could use a piece of bread instead of this cutlery.
Behavior at the table
Chicken legs and meatballs were thrown in all directions, dirty hands were wiped on a shirt and trousers, food was torn apart, and then swallowed without chewing. ... So, or approximately so, we, having read the records of cunning innkeepers or their adventurous visitors, imagine today the behavior of knights at the table.
In reality, everything was not so extravagant, although there were also curious moments that amazed us. In many satires, rules of conduct at the table, descriptions of the customs of eating, it is reflected that morality did not always take a place at the table along with its owner.
For example, the prohibition against blowing your nose on a tablecloth would not be so common if this bad habit were not very common.
How they cleared the table
There were no tables in their modern form (that is, when the tabletop is attached to the legs) in the Middle Ages. The table was built when there was a need for it: wooden stands were installed, and a wooden board was placed on them. Therefore, in the Middle Ages, they did not remove the table from the table - they removed the table ...
Cook: honor and respect
Powerful medieval Europe highly valued its cooks. In Germany, since 1291 the chef has been one of the four most important figures at court. In France, only noble people became cooks of the highest ranks.
The position of the chief winemaker of France was the third most important after the positions of chamberlain and chief equerry. Then followed the manager of bread baking, the chief cupbearer, the chef, the restaurant managers closest to the court, and only then the marshals and admirals.
As for the kitchen hierarchy - and there a huge number (up to 800 people) of interdependent workers were employed - the first place was given to the head of the meat. A position characterized by the honor and trust of the king, for no one was immune from poison. At his disposal were six people who every day chose and prepared meat for the royal family.
Teilevant, the famous chef of King Charles VI, had 150 people under his command.
And in England, for example, at the court of Richard the Second, there were 1,000 cooks, 300 lackeys, who daily served 10,000 people at the court. A dizzying figure, demonstrating that it was important not so much to feed as to demonstrate wealth.
Cookbooks of the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, along with spiritual literature, it was cookbooks that were most often and willingly copied. Between about 1345 and 1352, the earliest cookbook of this time, Buoch von guoter spise (The Book of Good Food), was written. The author is considered to be the notary of the Bishop of Würzburg, Michael de Leon, who, along with his duties to mark budget expenditures, was involved in the collection of recipes.
Fifty years later, the "Alemannische Buchlein von guter Speise" (Alemanian little book on good food) appears, by Master Hansen, a Württemberg cook. This was the first cookbook in the Middle Ages to have the name of the compiler on it. A collection of recipes by the meter Eberhard, the cook of Duke Heinrich III von Bayern-Landshut, appeared around 1495.
Pages from the Forme of Cury cookbook. It was created by the chef of King Richard II in 1390 and contains 205 recipes used at court. The book is written in medieval English, and some of the recipes described in this book have long been forgotten by society. For example, "blank mang" (a sweet dish of meat, milk, sugar and almonds).
Around 1350, the French cookbook "Le Grand Cuisinier de toute Cuisine" was created, and in 1381, the English "Ancient Cookery". 1390 - "The Forme of Cury", by the cook of King Richard II. As regards the Danish collections of recipes from the thirteenth century, it is worth mentioning Libellus de Arte Coquinaria by Henrik Harpenstreng. 1354 - Catalan "Libre de Sent Sovi" by an unknown author.
The most famous cookbook of the Middle Ages was created by the master Guillaume Tyrell, better known by his creative pseudonym Teylivent. He was the cook of King Charles the Sixth, and later even received the title. The book was written between 1373 and 1392, and was published only a century later and included, along with well-known dishes, very original recipes that a rare gourmet would dare to cook today.
Alexander Pushkin was a well-known connoisseur of gourmet snacks and drinks. His hero Eugene Onegin also entered the history of literature as a gourmet. In the novel in verse, the poet mentioned more than 30 different dishes, many of which not even every aristocrat could afford. We recall what secular lions of the early 19th century liked to eat, including the dandy Eugene Onegin.
IN PETERSBURG
After the morning toilet and lazy reading of invitations to balls and evenings, Onegin went for a walk. Around four o'clock it was time for dinner. This time was considered "European" for lunch - in winter it is already dark at four o'clock. Unmarried young people who lived in the city rarely hired a cook - a serf or a foreigner. So they went to restaurants for dinner.
In gastronomic terms, the nobles were guided by European and especially French cuisine - a recognized trendsetter in culinary fashion. It is not surprising that Eugene Onegin went to the French restaurant Talon for lunch.
The institution really existed in St. Petersburg. In the restaurant of the Frenchman Pierre Talon in the house number 15 on Nevsky Prospekt, the dandies of that era gathered. Its chefs fed socialites until 1825.
Alexander Pushkin himself often visited this fashionable place. The restaurant was not only one of the most popular, but also one of the most expensive in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 19th century.
Entered: and a cork in the ceiling,
The fault of the comet splashed current ...
Here, of course, Pushkin wrote about champagne - the usual drink of the Russian aristocracy of that era. The poet was referring to 1811 champagne. After a stuffy and dry summer that year, a mild and warm autumn came to Central Europe. The grape harvest was unusually good, and the wine from it turned out to be simply excellent. At the same time, in August, a bright and large comet appeared in the sky, which was also observed by the inhabitants of St. Petersburg.
This year's champagne was stoppered with a comet stopper. Connoisseurs highly appreciated the rare wine for its taste. Because of the war between Russia and France in 1813, only 100 bottles of 1811 champagne were officially imported into Russia - worth 600 rubles.
“Before him, a bloody roast-beef…”
In 1819–1820, the fashion for the English roast beef dish came to Russia. It was prepared from a good bull tenderloin. In order for the fillet to remain tender inside, it was kept in milk for several hours before cooking. After that, they were fried for three minutes on each side in a pan, poured with dry white wine and cooked for another 15 minutes.
The center of the meat piece had to remain half-baked - a bright pink color. From above, the dish was covered with an appetizing ruddy crust. Roast beef was usually eaten cold. The juice from under the meat was drained and served in a gravy boat. Roast beef was served with fried potatoes or baked vegetables.
And truffles, the luxury of youth,
French cuisine is the best color…
Truffles are another product that only wealthy nobles could afford. Expensive fragrant mushrooms, the famous French chef Jean Antelme Brillat-Savarin called "diamonds of the kitchen."
Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote two volumes of comments on Eugene Onegin, described them as follows: "These delicious mushrooms were so highly valued that we, in the tasteless color of artificial flavors, can hardly imagine." During the time of Eugene Onegin, truffles were brought to Russia from France.
Mushrooms grow at a depth of about 20 cm underground in oak and beech groves in France, Italy, Germany and some other European countries. Now, like 200 years ago, special trained pigs and dogs are looking for them by smell.
A kilogram of truffle mushrooms costs about 1000 euros. It is unlikely that they were cheaper before, if Pushkin called them "the luxury of youth."
"And Strasbourg's imperishable pie..."
The dandies of the Pushkin era loved the Strasbourg goose liver pate - a very fatty and expensive dish. Often, chefs added those same delicious truffles to it. In Russia, the pie was not prepared. How could Onegin's contemporaries eat it in Petersburg?
The dish was brought here canned - straight from France. That is why Pushkin called him "incorruptible." Preservation of products to extend their shelf life was invented just during the Napoleonic Wars.
So that the pate would not disappear on the road, it was baked in dough, placed in a deep bowl, filled with lard (fat) and hermetically packed. For reliability, ice briquettes were placed between the boxes of pies.
They cooked goose liver pie not all year round, but only from the end of September to the beginning of December. The pate prepared at the end of the season was considered the most exquisite: the aroma of the truffle mushroom is fully revealed only after the first frosts.
"Between Limburg cheese alive ..."
The next item on the menu of the Talon restaurant is the famous cheese from the Belgian Duchy of Limburg. This soft cow's milk cheese has a tangy flavor and runny texture. That is why the poet called him "alive". Due to the pungent smell, Limburg cheese was not eaten before going out or dating.
They usually served it with dry red wines, shading its spice. In addition to this caustic but tasty Limburg cheese, parmesan, stilton, chester, Neuchâtel, Dutch, Swiss and other cheeses were popular in Russia.
"And golden pineapple"
Exotic fruits were another way to spend money with glamor and glamor. Foreign travelers were especially impressed that Russian aristocrats bought fruits in winter, when they were especially expensive.
During the time of Pushkin, many Moscow estates had their own greenhouses in which fruit trees were grown. The memoirist Katherine Wilmont, who came from England to Russia to visit a relative, wrote:
“Greenhouses here are an urgent need. There are a great many of them in Moscow, and they reach very large sizes.<…>In each row there were a hundred palm trees in tubs, and other trees grew on the beds of the greenhouse.
There were no such greenhouses in St. Petersburg, so pineapples, melons, peaches, oranges and watermelons were brought either from Moscow or from abroad. Pineapple, for example, was sold at 5 rubles apiece.
More glasses of thirst asks
Pour the hot fat over the meatballs...
Eugene Onegin, who tasted roast beef with blood, Belgian cheese, goose liver pie, fruit and washed it all down with champagne, did not eat enough. Next, cutlets were served on the table.
The word "cutlet" came into Russian from French. Cotlett translates as "rib". If today we cook this dish from minced meat, then in Onegin times cutlets were made from pork and veal ribs.
According to the recipe from the Newest Complete Cookbook of 1828, they were recommended to be marinated for about an hour with peppercorns, mushrooms, onions, parsley, garlic and warm oil, and then sprinkled with bread crumb and fried over low heat.
Beef-steaks and Strasbourg pie
Pouring a bottle of champagne…
Here Alexander Pushkin for the second time remembered the goose liver pie and mentioned the steak - the English national dish, which became a frequent guest on the tables of young Russian nobles. Chefs cooked it from beef fillet.
The meat was cut into large cubes and fried over high heat without salt and seasonings. Then they covered the dish with celery, parsley and dill. Served on a large plate with a piece of chilled butter on top.
During his trip, Eugene Onegin tasted the restaurant's signature dish - oysters - in the fashionable Otona restaurant in Odessa.
What are oysters? come! O joy!
Gluttonous youth flies
Swallow from sea shells
Recluses fat and alive,
Lightly sprinkled with lemon.
Noise, disputes - light wine
Brought from the cellars
On the table by the obliging Otho;
Hours fly, and a formidable score
Meanwhile, it grows invisibly.
Fishermen delivered freshly caught oysters to rich Odessans and Petersburgers. It is not surprising that Pushkin wrote about the "terrible account", growing invisibly. This pleasure was not cheap: for a hundred oysters they gave 50, and sometimes 100 rubles. As the poet described, they were eaten fresh, sprinkled with lemon juice. Light white wine was served with oysters.
Moscow meets Onegin
With its arrogant vanity,
He seduces with his maidens,
Sterlet treats the ear ...
Unlike Petersburg with its English, Belgian and French delicacies, in Moscow Onegin preferred Russian cuisine with its rich assortment of soups. Sterlet ear is a traditional Russian dish. In addition to fresh gutted and cleaned fish, vegetables and vodka were added to the soup. The ear was boiled in clear chicken broth, and celery was added for flavor.
Of the hot soups in the 19th century, besides the fish soup, cabbage soup was popular, and of the cold ones, botvinya. The taste of Russian cabbage soup was admired by many travelers who visited Russia.
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