New Year's table in Russian style. Treating Guests: 19th-Century Dinner

The fashion for themed weddings continues to gain momentum. Stylized celebrations are much more interesting to arrange than just an ordinary faceless holiday. Being a participant in a wedding ceremony that is decorated in a certain way is also very exciting. The organization of such a celebration requires attention to detail. All of them should correspond to the chosen topic. This article will offer a menu for a Russian-style wedding.

Wedding feast in the old days

The feasts associated with the wedding lasted quite a long time. They began in the bride's house during the matchmaking, bachelorette party and ransom, and continued and ended in the groom's home. After the wedding, the guests and the newlyweds came to the parental home of the young husband and the main feast began. It lasted the rest of the day and the wedding night.

In the following days, the feast continued in the house of the groom and other relatives who participated in the wedding. All such treats had special names and ritual meanings.

Wedding dishes in Rus'

In those distant times, food was not easy for people to get, so they took it very seriously. It was not customary to arrange weddings in the summer, as everyone was busy harvesting.

In many wedding ceremonies, specially prepared dishes were used. For example, for matchmaking, a fish pie was prepared in the groom's house, which was then brought to the house of the future bride.

For the main feast, they took a specially decorated tablecloth. The amulets of the newlyweds were encrypted in patterned embroidery. The bride and groom were seated at the head of the table. According to the then rules of the Russian wedding, they did not eat during the feast. A plate with tied or crossed spoons and a piece of bread with salt was placed in front of the young.

Loaf

There was always a loaf or kurnik on the table, which was placed in front of the bride and groom. They baked such a pie from unleavened dough. It was filled with meat and grains. You could add millet, mushrooms or turnips.

Kurnik was covered with crosswise embroidered towels. There was a rite in use that involved breaking this pie over the young. The more stuffing was waking up on their heads at that moment, the better life was waiting for them. Pieces of loaf were treated to guests, who in return gave money or gifts.

Cold snacks

Most often, fish and vegetable dishes served as cold appetizers on the festive table. Smoked, salted and boiled fish were offered in order to whet the appetite of guests before the main treat. Jellied fish was also on the wedding table. Black and red caviar is becoming a table decoration even today.

Our ancestors liked not only cold fish dishes. Beef jelly was popular at feasts.

Hot dishes

For hot dishes, most often noodles or porridge were cooked. Noodles for the feast were boiled in pork broth. The pig was considered a symbol of prosperity. Chicken noodles were also sometimes prepared for holidays. Roast was the main dish at the wedding. It was made from poultry, pork or beef.

Dessert

The usual sweet table today did not exist in those distant times. Guests were treated to various pies and pancakes. Usually not even on the day of the wedding, but on the following days.

The wedding feast of our ancestors may seem very modest by today's standards. The choice of products was really small. But it was accepted to treat the guests wholeheartedly, sparing nothing.

In addition to food, low-alcohol traditional drinks made from honey or grain were placed on the tables. It was believed that the guests should be drunk drunk.

Modern wedding feast in Russian style

At the very beginning of the holiday, dishes with fresh vegetables, pickles and marinades should be on the table. Tartlets with red and black caviar will look great on the wedding table. Jellied fish and beef jelly are always liked by guests.

For the first, you can cook fish soup or borscht. On the second, meat or fish dishes are suitable. To decorate a table in the Russian style, you should order a whole roasted pig or goose. A side dish for hot dishes can be either cereals, or dishes from potatoes or other vegetables. A good choice for a wedding feast would be meat in pots. This dish looks delicious and colorful.

On the festive table in the Russian style, various types of pies should be presented. It can be ordinary pies or pies. The filling can be cabbage, potatoes, mushrooms, fish or meat.

Drinks for a wedding in the national Russian style should also be chosen special. There should be kvass on the table. In this case, mead, sbiten, tinctures on herbs or berries are suitable. In winter, they will especially please the guests.

Sweet treats on the Russian-style table are gingerbread, pies, cheesecakes with berries and seasonal fruits, or pancakes with a sweet filling. You can make a pancake.

Baked and fresh fruits and berries, candied nuts should also be placed at the wedding samovars for tea drinking at the end of the celebration.

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December crept up unnoticed again, but this will not prevent us from celebrating the New Year fully armed - fun and tasty! This will help you traditional selection of holiday recipes, which is preparing to celebrate with you. Both classic dishes of the festive table and the best New Year's recipes that were released in the past year are waiting for you. Plus, a weighty selection of ready-made New Year's menus for the festive table, and all this is in the next December issue.

For many of us, the New Year is the start of something new and always good. To mark it properly, plan the menu of the New Year's table menu in advance, add the selected recipes to your bookmarks and write out the shopping list and schedule in detail. This traditional collection of New Year's recipes is my gift, which I present to you with best wishes. Meet the New 2019 at a fresh and unusual holiday table, and he will definitely repay you in the same coin!

Salads

If you have not subscribed to the site's newsletter yet, I advise you to do it right now, before you go headlong into reading New Year's 2019 recipes for the next couple of hours. Each new subscriber receives three of my books as a gift, including Book of homemade delicacies, which will help in preparing the New Year's table, and will be the first to learn about all new recipes and articles:

New Year's table is impossible to imagine without salads. Its absolute kings are salads Olivier and Herring under a fur coat, but if you wish, you can cook them without my help. New Year 2019 clearly deserves something more original, but we will start with classics.

fresh salads it is difficult to cook for the New Year, they will quickly get soaked from dressing. But there are a couple of tricks.

Vegetables in winter are inconspicuous and not as tasty as in season, but there are some. vegetables, which before the new year in abundance.

New Year's table - new flavors! Prepare something unexpected, and you will be the center of attention, not Santa Claus!

Cold snacks

On the New Year's table, cold appetizers are usually waiting for guests along with salads, because when everyone has gathered, the holiday should begin immediately. We have another old year to see off! One of the most delicious cold appetizers - fish, we'll start with them.

We close the fish theme caviar appetizers which can also be prepared at home.

An important section of vegetable snacks - caviar from various vegetables, which can be put on the table or served in the form of small canapes.

Canapes and sandwiches- these are not quite bruschettas, but they are just as suitable for an informal meeting of the New Year or its introductory part.

Cheese snack section- small, but not worth passing by.

Hot appetizers

Hot appetizers are, in essence, a prelude to the main course of the New Year's table, which means that they should whet the appetite, and not muffle it. So let's start with recipes for one bite.

A bit more baking, which will also look more than appropriate on the festive table.

Of course, we cannot ignore vegetable snacks, which can be served on the festive table both hot and cold.

So we come to the central dish of the New Year's table. Unlike salads and appetizers, as a rule, only one main course is prepared, so take your choice seriously - and for your convenience, I have divided recipes from meat and fish.

Main meat dishes

The most common, most understandable, most budgetary meat that almost everyone loves - chicken. You can cook a lot of festive chicken dishes for the New Year's table.

Rabbit Dishes are considered the most dietary, but can be very tasty.

Pork is loved by many, and not by chance: it is easier to buy this high-quality meat from us than beef, and there are just as many festive pork dishes.

Main fish dishes

Festive fish dishes are a way out for those who do not like to get up from the New Year's table with a feeling of suffocating satiety. They can be prepared with both fresh and frozen fish, and most of these dishes are easy to prepare. The simplest option is cook whole fish.

There is a whole cohort of fish dishes, the names of which immediately indicate that now there will be something insipid and boring. Use one of these recipes to to surprise everyone.

side dishes

A side dish on the New Year's table, in general, is not necessary - as a rule, everyone gorges themselves even at the stage of salads and snacks. However, it is still worth preparing a side dish in case if someone comes especially hungry.

If one of the guests is fasting or does not eat meat, you can cook a side dish that is quite can be the main course.

Bread

If you serve at the New Year's table delicious and fragrant bread, which they baked themselves (and not necessarily just - it can be baked the day before the holiday), everyone will appreciate it!

Pair Italian varieties of bread, which will perfectly fit into the New Year's extravaganza.

Dessert

As long-term practice shows, not everyone will last until dessert at the New Year's table, but if you or your guests are from the sweet tooth, this item of the program cannot be ignored. Let's start with the simplest - cupcakes and muffins.

. - the basic recipe for your favorite pastries.
. - portioned muffins that someone will probably want to take with them.
. Another classic cupcake recipe.

More Holiday Dessert Recipes You Can Do serve in portions.

. - the original recipe for a simple and not the most harmful dessert.
. - Prepare in advance and add bright colors at the end of a festive dinner.
. A simple yet delicious dessert.
. - in case you couldn't find it in the store.

We continue the theme of baking with several recipes very, very simple desserts.

. - delicious and healthy pastries for a festive tea party.
. - An excellent recipe for homemade buns.
. - in case you've already baked pecan buns and now want something new.
. - a classic French apple pie, which is obtained by absolutely everyone.

A party in Russian folk style is a great choice for those who want to have fun from the heart and go back several centuries. This evening, which is sure to be remembered and enjoyed by everyone, can be organized by your own efforts, you just need to take into account some points.

Interior decoration in folk style

In order to create an atmosphere of ancient times in the room and turn it into a kind of old hut, the room should have a minimum of modern furniture and appliances. On the floor, you can lay a carpet with patterns and bear skins. The walls should be decorated with embroidered towels, Vologda lace products, pictures depicting scenes from folk life. There can also be shelves with clay figures and pots on the walls. In one corner of the room, you need to place a model of a Russian stove, which is easy to make from ordinary cardboard and then paint with patterns. In another corner of the room, an iconostasis should be hung and a large table placed near it. It should be covered with a beautiful tablecloth and dishes decorated with decorative patterns in the style of Khokhloma or Gzhel painting should be placed on it. There must be a samovar on the table.

Traditional Russian costumes

Girls invited to a party in Russian folk style should dress up in traditional clothes of those times. It can be a white loose shirt with embroidery on the sleeves, a bright spacious sundress, and red or dark shoes or boots on your feet. A colored ribbon or kokoshnik should be put on the head, which can be cut out of cardboard and covered with a beautiful fabric. Hair should be neatly gathered at the back or braided. Accessories should be bright and catchy: large beads, earrings, bracelets and brooches made of wood, stones and beads. Men are best to wear white shirts with red ornaments, tied with scarlet belts with tassels at the ends, dark trousers and shoes. On the head there should be a cap, decorated on the side with a bright live or artificial flower.

Folk food and drinks

The menu of a Russian folk-style party should have a lot of delicious traditional dishes and drinks. For the first, you should serve cabbage soup, pickle or okroshka. Homemade pickles, mushrooms, herring, jellied fish, baked meat are suitable as snacks and meat dishes. From the main dishes, you can cook dumplings, potatoes, a baked goose with apples or a pig. There should also be a lot of pies with various salty and sweet fillings, pancakes with cottage cheese and red caviar on the table. From drinks, it is better to choose compote, kvass and beer. After guests have tasted these dishes, they can be served dessert: fragrant tea from a samovar with honey, jam, dryers, gingerbread and pancakes.

Entertainment and festivities

As an entertainment, you can arrange fun dances for guests to folk music. All guests will enjoy performing traditional dances: “Lady”, “Kamarinskaya”, “Yablochko”, “Kazachok”. You should also arrange a competition for the best performance of folk songs and ditties, and award the winners with sweet or other interesting prizes. Guests can also play funny traditional Russian games: fanta, brook, cat and mouse, burners and others. Men can boast of their heroic strength by participating in arm wrestling and tug of war.

A party in Russian folk style will surely please your guests with delicious dishes and drinks, easy communication and fun games and fun.

There is no doubt - the festive table should burst with dishes! But any diligent hostess understands that this year it is somehow unprofitable to put foie gras, black caviar and marbled beef filet mignon on the table. As for Olivier and “fur coats”... With all the advantages of post-Soviet cuisine, during the holidays you will come across it a good dozen times, visiting all your relatives and friends. Do you want to set the New Year's table in an original way, surprise guests with new dishes and at the same time save the family budget? A super-idea from Domovyonok - a New Year's table in the Russian traditional style!

As you know, the New Year was not celebrated in Rus'. But our ancestors had Christmas, Epiphany, Christmas, Candlemas, Shrovetide ... From these and other holiday traditions, we will draw ideas for our New Year's table.

Pickles
Unlike modern housewives, Russian peasants did not buy either Turkish cucumbers or Dutch tomatoes (in which, however, by the end of December there is neither taste nor smell - only nitrates). Therefore, traditional Russian cuisine is rich in all kinds of pickles, pickles and urine. Crispy pickles, mouth-watering tomatoes with juicy pulp and cracked skin, with snow-white garlic cloves, sauerkraut, strong mushrooms and milk mushrooms in sour cream - all these are affordable and absolutely delicious snacks for the New Year's table. With the only condition: the quality must be first-class. No store marinades, only real homemade preparations!

pies
Large pies and small ruddy pies, shaneshki and kalitki, pies and kulebyaks, with cabbage, mushrooms, fish - this is the aroma for the whole house and the childish delight of your guests. Believe me, the result is worth the effort, because through home baking you can convey to your loved ones the enormous energy of your love and care.

Bouzhenina
Do you know what is tastier, more natural and much cheaper than the usual store cuts of sausages and hams? Homemade boiled pork on the bone, marinated in sour kvass with honey and spices for a day and baked in the oven. Meat take on the market, never frozen. And you don't have to spend exorbitant money on a Christmas goose!

Guryev porridge
Surprisingly, in traditional Russian cuisine, you can find desserts no worse than “all kinds of” cheesecakes. This is a luxurious semolina porridge, layered with foams from homemade heavy cream stewed in the oven, decorated with nuts and fruits stewed in caramel syrup. Peaches, grapes, pineapples, kiwi will add exotic notes without destroying the folk flavor of the dish. Your loved ones haven't tried this yet!

hop honey
Set drinks are another wonderful folk tradition that has been lost in the last hundred years. You can prepare hop honey in just 5 days. One part of honey is diluted in five parts of water, boiled for at least an hour, and after straining it is fermented with sourdough or yeast. Berries and hops are added for taste. Here it is, our answer to mulled wine and grog!

Samovar
It sounds proud, it looks impressive! And for some reason, tea from a samovar always seems much tastier...

ear
Here it is, the morning salvation for those who celebrated too hard. A good, rich Russian ear is praised by everyone, from the first Russian princes to the presidents of the 21st century. To make the fish soup festive but economical, combine noble varieties of fish (sturgeon, salmon) with more affordable fish such as crucian carp, ruff, whitefish and burbot. You will not believe it, but in Rus' the ruffed ear was valued so highly that they lightened it with pressed black caviar. They threw away the caviar, and ate the fish soup with pleasure.

Stylized serving
Of course, not every home has wooden spoons, painted ladles, Khokhloma tubs, bowls and urns. However, creating an atmosphere is entirely up to you. Table setting should be simple and rustic: a linen tablecloth and napkins, as many earthenware or wooden utensils as possible. Fluffy spruce branch and more candles. Beauty!

And good mood!
Even in "Domostroy" it was said that at any feast, sweetness can become bitterness, since the behavior of the participants in the feast affects the taste of the prepared dishes. Mutual respect, gratitude, a sincere desire to rejoice and please others - the key to a good holiday!

Here are the Russians! - wondered the foreigners who were lucky enough to be at a festive dinner hosted by the Russians. For example, the American delegation in the summer of 1866 at the Moscow Naval Assembly was treated to sterlet soup, kulebyaki, English roast beef, Gatchina trout, stuffed snipes, punch a la Victoria, artichokes a la Lyonnaise, young grouse, quails and hazel grouse, pudding from fruits and a dozen more gourmet treats. It is unlikely that you will be able to reproduce in detail a similar historical menu, but it is quite possible to try to cook an ordinary festive dinner of the 19th century. Usually it consisted of 7-8 dishes, which were laid out on the table in turn. Soup was always served first, then something cold (okroshka, jelly), then roast meat or poultry. After the hot meal, there was a body (hot fish), unsweetened pies like kulebyaki, porridge (more often Guryevskaya), and the meal ended with “snacks” - pies, ice cream and fruit desserts.

“Shti and porridge is our food”

Today, we rarely eat soups on holidays, but in the 19th century, a liquid hot dish was a must-have treat. Guests were offered fish soup, beetroot soup, cereal soup or real Russian shti. The latter were prepared in different ways: from fresh or sauerkraut, lazy - without potatoes, empty - without meat, green - from sorrel, nettle or spinach, Ural - with pearl barley, Don - with fish, Neva - on mushroom broth. If you want to arrange a proper historical evening, give cabbage soup, for example, from merchants, for the first time. First, pour cold water over 300-400 g of beef on the bone and 300 g of smoked pork ribs and cook for about an hour along with black pepper and bay leaf. When the meat becomes softer, put 0.5 kg of sauerkraut chopped into strips or checkers in a saucepan and cook for about 30 more minutes. Then add fried carrots, celery, onions, 4-5 tomatoes in their own juice to the broth and put the potatoes chopped into cubes. As soon as the last boils, put the greens. Then pour the cabbage soup into clay pots and cover with dough - to do this, mix 50 g of butter, 1 egg, 3 tbsp. spoons of sour cream and flour. Make a cake, cover the necks with it (do not forget to grease the pot with vegetable oil) and bake in the oven.

Taste punch

For the second in Rus', a cold treat was served - okroshka, botvinya, jellied fish or corned beef. After that, the guests were offered a frozen punch - it was believed that it perfectly cleanses the receptors of the mouth, beats off the taste of the previous dish and prepares a person for a new treat. For ceremonial receptions, the Imperial drink was often made. To prepare it, grind 1/2 kg of apricots with 2 cups of sugar, dilute the mixture in 1/2 bottle of white table wine and beat with crushed ice. After the guests have drunk the punch, they can be offered a roast meat, such as pork. Cut the piglet fillet into pieces, first boil until cooked, and then put in the sauce. To make it, mix 2/3 cup flour, 3 cups broth and 1 cup sour cream, bring to a boil, salt and, at the very last moment, add a glass of semi-dry white wine.

Sturgeon in Russian

The main action of the Russian dinner party was the solemn removal of a dish with a gigantic sturgeon. For example, guests of one of the receptions of the famous rich man Vsevolzhsky recalled how “four hefty kitchen men were dragging a huge fish on some platform.” If you can't find the elite royal sturgeon, you can cook its relative, the sterlet. The main thing is to bake it whole and serve it on the table in this form. First, clean the fish of mucus, remove the gills, entrails and spinal cord. Then rub the carcass with salt and pepper, pour plenty of lemon juice and put dill, parsley and basil in the belly. After that, remove the sterlet on a baking sheet filled with dry white wine and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Put the finished fish on a dish and garnish with slices of boiled egg and lemon, olives, capers, cherries and plums.

Without kulebyaki - nowhere

In addition to cold and hot dishes, the Russian dinner party included a lot of pastries: pancakes with black caviar, cheesecakes and the famous kulebyaki - closed pies stuffed with eggs, fish, chicken, meat or several layers of different minced meat separated by pancakes. Typically, this kind of treat was made in an elongated shape or molded taking into account the contents - if there was pork inside, the pie was given the appearance of a pig. To prepare salmon and mushroom fish pie, first knead the dough - sift 600 g of flour, add 2 eggs, 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar, 70 g of melted butter, a pinch of salt and 10 g of yeast diluted in a glass of warm water. Mix everything and let rise for about an hour. In the meantime, prepare the filling: fry pieces of salmon fillet in one pan, soaked mushrooms with onions and olives in another, then mix everything and season with mustard, salt, pepper and sour cream. When the dough has risen, roll it into a layer about 5 mm thick, put the minced meat in the center and pinch the edges on top, closing the pie. It takes about 25 minutes to bake.

Ice cream from ... bread

The perfect dessert for a 19th century party would be ice cream served on a bed of shortcrust pastry with fruit and berry jelly. True, in ancient times, an ice dessert was not at all like a modern one. For example, the famous St. George ice cream, which was treated to the military at an official reception in the Winter Palace in 1889, was made from black bread whipped with butter. Another version of the dessert, described in a 1794 cookbook, is more familiar. Take heavy cream and put jam in them (one by one). Beat the mass thoroughly and put it in the freezer - after a couple of hours, ice cream can be served on the table.

Expert opinion

Sergey Khomyakov, chef of the restaurant-museum "Red Square, house 1"

If in England of the 19th century it was customary to immediately put all the dishes on the table, then in Russia treats at receptions were served in turn - a plate was taken out and the name of its contents was loudly announced. The Russian form of filing was recognized as the best, so many countries borrowed it. Historical evenings are regularly held in our restaurant and dishes for them are prepared according to recipes preserved in the funds of the Historical State Museum. For example, last year we restored the Ceremonial Dinner in honor of the coronation of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna, which took place on September 4, 1856. Then the royalty ate grouse a la reine soup, truffle poulard, steamed sterlet, quails in gratana, Milanese artichokes, roast turkey, fruit jelly and ice cream.

Menu for seven people

french chicken soup

Boil the chicken broth, strain the liquid. Add soaked peas and beans to it and cook for about 40-50 minutes. Cut carrots and turnips into strips and fry in vegetable oil. Separately, save onions. Then put the vegetables in the broth, add chopped sorrel and parsley and cook the soup for another 5 minutes. Serve it with sour cream.

Pie with cabbage

Prepare yeast dough and make thin cakes out of it. Then put the filling in the center of each - fried cabbage with chopped boiled eggs, sautéed onions and carrots. After that, bend the edges of the dough (pie - an open pie), let it stand for 15 minutes, brush with a slightly beaten egg and send it to the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Roast beef

Prepare the marinade: finely chop 1-2 onions, 2-3 carrots, 80 g of celery root and parsley, add 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil, bay leaf and a pinch of black pepper. Put the beef tenderloin in this mixture and put it in the refrigerator for a day. After 24 hours, bread the meat in flour and fry in pork fat. Then for 15-20 min. Put the beef pan into the oven.

Sterlet in champagne

Gut the fish, remove the spinal cord from it, scald it with boiling water and peel off the skin. After that, put in a saucepan, pour 2 glasses of champagne, salt, add leeks, carrots, dill and parsley, allspice and simmer under the lid for 10-15 minutes. Take out the carcass, and prepare the sauce based on the broth. Evaporate it by half, add a glass of cream and 20 g of butter.

cherry pudding

Beat 50 g butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 4 egg yolks. Then add a glass of sweet ground crackers, a glass of melted fresh-frozen pitted cherries, mix everything and combine with whipped whites from 4 eggs. Bake the pudding in a greased pan for 30 minutes.

Material provided by the magazine "AiF PRO Kitchen" No. 1-2