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444 recipes

TopfengolatschenSweet quark puff pastry squares

A Topfengolatsche is what Viennese office workers grab from the bakery on the way in, and what grandparents order with a Melange in a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon. The corners of a puff pastry square are folded over a lemony, vanilla-scented filling of Topfen (Austrian quark) with plump raisins, and the top gets a thin white glaze. It is flaky, light and not too sweet. Raisins are sometimes soaked in rum; warm water or orange juice works just as well, and the recipe below is alcohol-free. Wet quark is the classic problem, because it turns the filling runny and it leaks out in the oven. Chef's tip: hang the quark in a sieve lined with a clean cloth for an hour, or squeeze it, until it is as thick as soft cream cheese.

57 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Torta de ricotaLemon ricotta tart

Italian families brought ricotta tarts to Buenos Aires and Rosario, and torta de ricota is now as Argentinian as mate: every panadería has one in the window, with a lattice of sweet, crumbly masa frola over a pale, lemon-scented ricotta filling. It is cut into wedges for the merienda, the late-afternoon snack, or for a birthday where nobody wants a heavy cake. The texture is light and slightly grainy rather than silky, and the pastry tastes of butter and vanilla. Wet ricotta is the biggest risk, giving a weeping, soggy tart. Chef's tip: drain the ricotta overnight in the fridge in a sieve lined with a cloth, and add a few raisins only if they have been soaked, or they draw moisture from the filling.

90 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarta de coco y dulce de lecheCoconut and dulce de leche tart

Ask Argentinians for their favourite tart at a family birthday and this one often wins: a crisp shortcrust spread thickly with dulce de leche, then covered with a coconut, sugar and egg topping that bakes into a golden, chewy crust. Bakeries from Córdoba to Mar del Plata sell it by the slice for the merienda with mate or a café con leche. It is very sweet, so the slices are thin, and it is a good keeper for a few days. Ordinary spreading dulce de leche is the mistake: it runs and bubbles out at the edges. Use the thicker pastry-style kind, sold in Argentina as 'repostero'. Chef's tip: chill the case with the dulce de leche spread on it for 15 minutes before adding the coconut, so the two layers stay distinct.

75 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salat iz ogurtsov i pomidorov (Russian cucumber and tomato salad)

From Moscow dachas to Siberian kitchens, this is the salad that sits on almost every summer table: cucumber, ripe tomato and onion chopped together with dill, dressed either with smetana for a creamy version or with unrefined sunflower oil, whose nutty taste is the flavour of the Russian countryside. It is eaten beside boiled potatoes, kasha or grilled food, and it is made minutes before the meal. The usual mistake is salting it early: the tomatoes and cucumbers release their juice and the salad turns into a watery soup. Chef's tip: if you can find it, use unrefined, cold-pressed sunflower oil; it tastes of toasted seeds and makes the plainest salad sing.

10 minRussianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tvorog so smetanoy (farmer's cheese with sour cream)

Across Russia, a bowl of soft tvorog with a spoon of smetana and a little sugar or jam is the breakfast grandmothers swear by and the supper students live on. The fresh, slightly sour curd and the cool cream make something like a rustic cheesecake you eat with a spoon, high in protein and ready in five minutes; add berries in summer. Tvorog, like quark and cottage cheese, is set with culture rather than rennet, so it suits vegetarians. The mistake is buying the driest block and serving it as it is, which feels chalky; break it up and loosen it with the smetana first. Chef's tip: mash the tvorog with the sugar and let it stand two minutes so the sugar dissolves before you add the cream.

5 minRussianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fideos con mantecaButtered noodles with cheese

Ask anyone from Buenos Aires to Córdoba what they ate when they came home late or felt poorly as a child, and the answer is often fideos con manteca: short pasta tossed with butter and a snowfall of grated queso rallado. It is the plainest dish in the Argentine home kitchen and the one people cook for themselves on a tired weeknight. The mistake that ruins it is draining the pasta bone-dry and adding cold cheese to a hot empty pan, which leaves greasy strands and clumps; a splash of cooking water makes a light, creamy coating instead. Argentine reggianito and Parmesan are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. Chef's tip: grate the cheese very finely, like dust, so it melts on contact.

15 minArgentinianPasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salpicón de aveCold chicken salad

Salpicón de ave is the cold supper of Argentine summers, made in Buenos Aires flats and on estancias alike when it is too hot to cook much, and a favourite way to use the chicken from a puchero or Sunday roast. Shredded chicken is mixed with diced pepper, tomato, spring onion, sweetcorn and boiled egg, bound with mayonnaise sharpened with lemon and mustard, and served chilled with crusty bread or on lettuce. The common mistake is dressing it while the chicken is still hot, which melts the mayonnaise into an oily puddle; let everything cool first. Chef's tip: dress the chicken with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt before the mayonnaise goes in, so the meat itself is seasoned, not just its coating.

30 minArgentinianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Borodinsky breadDark sourdough rye with coriander

Moscow's darkest everyday loaf is said to be named after the 1812 Battle of Borodino, though the recipe bakers follow today was fixed by the city's bread trust in 1933. Borodinsky (Бородинский хлеб) is a dense, moist sourdough rye, sweet-sour from molasses and red fermented rye malt, with whole coriander seeds crackling on the crust. Russians slice it thin for breakfast with butter and salted cucumbers, alongside borscht or herring for meat-eaters, or under a slice of cheese with strong tea. The method looks long, but most of it is the starter and the scald quietly working on their own. The usual mistake is cutting it on baking day: rye crumb needs a full day wrapped in a cloth to set, and a warm loaf is gummy right through. Chef's tip: red fermented rye malt gives the colour and the deep flavour; plain diastatic malt will not do the same job, so look for the reddish-brown 'fermented' kind in Eastern European shops.

1120 minRussianBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kärntner ReindlingCinnamon raisin yeast cake

Carinthia's Easter loaf takes its name from the Reindl, the round, deep pan it is baked in, and in southern Austria no Easter basket goes to church without one. Inside the golden yeast crust is a spiral of butter, cinnamon sugar and plump raisins, so every slice shows a dark swirl. Locals eat it two ways: sweet with coffee on Easter morning, or alongside the savoury Easter platter with horseradish. Many bakers soak the raisins in rum overnight; warm water or tea works just as well and keeps it alcohol-free. A dry, crumbly Reindling usually means too much flour went in during kneading, so keep the dough soft and only lightly floured. Chef's tip: butter the pan well and dust it with sugar, which caramelises into a thin crunchy shell.

180 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KrendelSweet pretzel-shaped bread

Name days and birthdays in old Russia called for a krendel: one huge pretzel-shaped sweet loaf, carried to the table whole and torn apart over tea from the samovar. The shape is said to come from Baltic and German bakers in St Petersburg, but the bread itself is very Russian, a buttery yeast dough rolled around cinnamon sugar so the crumb streaks with spice. Serve it with tea, jam or honey and a bowl of sour cream. The pretzel is made from one long filled roll, slit open down its length so the layers show; forgetting to chill the filled roll before slitting is what makes the filling smear and the shape slump. Chef's tip: shape it straight on the lined tray rather than lifting it afterwards, as a filled rope this long tears easily.

180 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Stolichny keksRaisin loaf cake

Stolichny keks, the 'capital city' cake, was made to a fixed state recipe in Soviet bakeries and sold in waxed paper in every Moscow grocery: a tall, buttery loaf with a cracked top, a fine yellow crumb and so many raisins that each slice is studded with them. People still bake it at home for New Year and for guests, and it keeps well for a week, wrapped, next to the teapot. Some cooks plump the raisins in brandy or cognac; this recipe soaks them in hot water and lemon juice instead, and a spoonful of brandy can go into the soak if you like. Under-creamed butter is the usual problem: the cake comes out heavy and greasy, so beat the butter and icing sugar until really pale. Chef's tip: dry the soaked raisins on a towel and roll them in flour; wet raisins all sink to the bottom.

95 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

BizcochueloPlain whisked sponge cake

Nearly every Argentine birthday torta starts life as a bizcochuelo: a tall, plain sponge of eggs, sugar, flour and cornflour, with no butter and no baking powder, lifted only by long whisking. Grandmothers bake it on Sunday to split into three and fill with dulce de leche and whipped cream, or eat it plain in the afternoon with mate. The crumb is fine, dry-ish and airy, made to soak up syrup. Opening the oven in the first 20 minutes is the classic way to flatten it, so leave the door shut. Chef's tip: whisk until the mixture reaches 'punto letra', thick enough that a ribbon drawn on the surface holds its shape for a few seconds; that takes a good 8–10 minutes with an electric mixer, and warm eggs get there faster.

55 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Grechka s molokom (buckwheat with milk)

Grechka s molokom, buckwheat groats cooked soft and served in a bowl of warm milk with a little butter, is the breakfast or light supper that generations of Russian children have eaten at home and in nursery school. The groats are earthy and nutty and the milk makes them gentle and sweet-tasting, without any sugar. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free (despite its name); the dish contains milk and has no egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: use toasted buckwheat (the brown kind sold for kasha), which has the rounder, nuttier flavour.

25 minRussianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Glazirovanny syrok (chocolate-glazed curd bars)

Glazirovanny syrok, the chocolate-coated curd cheese bar, has been sold in Russian dairy aisles since Soviet times and is still what children across Russia, Ukraine and the Baltics grab after school. Made at home, it is a firm, creamy, gently sweet vanilla tvorog filling under a thin snap of dark chocolate, like a tiny cheesecake bar. This version uses less sugar than shop bars. It contains milk (and may contain soya in the chocolate). Chef's tip: press the tvorog through a sieve first; it is the only way to get the smooth, dense texture of a real syrok.

30 minRussianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Crab stick salad

On 31 December, alongside Olivier and herring under a fur coat, almost every Russian table carries a bowl of crab stick salad. It arrived in the 1980s when cheap crab sticks reached Soviet shops, and it stayed: chopped surimi, hard-boiled egg, sweetcorn, cucumber and rice bound in mayonnaise, eaten through the New Year holidays. Crab sticks are made from white fish, so this salad is not vegetarian; check the label if you need it gluten free, as some brands add wheat starch. The common mistake is dressing it hours ahead, which makes the rice soggy and the cucumber watery. Chef's tip: mix everything except the mayonnaise in advance and stir that in just before the salad goes on the table.

35 minRussianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sweet sorrel pie

In late May and June, sorrel is the first thing to grow thick in dacha gardens around Moscow and Kaluga, and grandmothers turn the sour leaves into a sweet pie that tastes surprisingly like rhubarb. Shredded sorrel is tossed with sugar and a little starch and baked between two layers of soft sour-cream pastry, then eaten in thick slices with tea or cold milk. The common mistake is mixing the sugar into the sorrel too early, which draws out the juice and floods the pastry. Chef's tip: layer the dry leaves into the pie and sprinkle the sugar and starch over them right before you close the lid.

70 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ZefirApple marshmallow

Zefir sits in a paper box on almost every Russian tea table: pale, airy halves of apple marshmallow pressed together in pairs, softer and fruitier than any marshmallow. Factories in Moscow and Belyov made them famous, but home cooks pipe their own from baked Antonovka-style sour apples, sugar, egg white and agar. Agar keeps them vegetarian, unlike gelatine. The common mistake is undercooking the agar syrup; if it doesn't reach 110 °C, the zefir never sets and weeps. Chef's tip: bake the apples rather than boil them; the purée is thicker and the zefir far lighter.

1500 minRussianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MuraveynikAnthill cake

Muraveynik is the 'anthill' that Soviet home bakers built for birthdays when shop cakes were hard to come by: crisp shortbread is baked, broken into crumbs, bound with boiled condensed milk and butter, then heaped into a little mountain and sprinkled with poppy seeds for the ants. It needs no tin and no layering, sets in the fridge, and is still a favourite at children's parties from Moscow to Omsk. The common mistake is crumbling the biscuit too fine, which makes a dense block instead of a craggy, crunchy heap. Chef's tip: break the dough through the coarse holes of a mincer or grater before baking so the crumbs are uneven and crisp.

50 minRussianDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

VarenyeFruit preserve in syrup

Varenye is not quite jam: whole berries or fruit are steeped and cooked in short bursts so they stay intact in a clear, glossy syrup. All summer at dachas around Moscow and Vladimir, copper basins of strawberry, cherry or gooseberry varenye bubble outside, and in winter it is spooned into tiny glass rosettes and eaten with tea, sometimes straight from the spoon between sips. The common mistake is boiling it in one long go, which turns the fruit to mush. Chef's tip: cook it in three short boils with long rests between; the fruit soaks up syrup slowly and stays whole.

780 minRussianBasicsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

PastilaBaked apple sheets

Long before chocolate reached Russia, the merchants of Kolomna near Moscow and Belyov in the Tula region were drying whipped apple into thin, cloud-soft sheets in their stove ovens and selling them in tins at winter fairs. Today pastila is again a souvenir and a tea-table treat: whipped baked-apple purée is spread thin, dried slowly until leathery yet tender, then stacked in layers and cut into bars. It is fat-free and naturally gluten-free. The common mistake is too hot an oven, which browns and cracks the sheets. Chef's tip: dry it with the oven door wedged open with a wooden spoon; it needs gentle warmth and escaping steam, not baking.

480 minRussianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KorzhikiShortbread rounds

Every Soviet schoolchild knew korzhiki, the plump scalloped biscuits sold at the canteen counter for a few kopecks with a glass of milk. Made with sour cream and a little honey, they are firm on the outside and soft and cakey inside, pale gold, with a fork-pricked top. Russians still bake them at home for after-school snacks. The common mistake is rolling the dough too thin, which makes hard biscuits instead of soft little cakes. Chef's tip: roll to a full 8 mm and pull them from the oven while the edges are still pale; they firm up as they cool.

35 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fried potatoes with mushrooms

Every late August, when families come back from the birch woods outside Moscow and Tver with baskets of boletes and chanterelles, the first supper at the dacha is a black iron pan of potatoes fried with those mushrooms. Through the Soviet years the same dish fed students in dormitories and night-shift workers in Ural towns, usually eaten straight from the pan with a jar of salted cucumbers and a spoon of sour cream. The potatoes should be crisp at the edges, the mushrooms browned and the onion sweet. Buy wild mushrooms from a reliable source only; cultivated chestnut mushrooms work very well. The common mistake is crowding the pan and stirring constantly, which steams the potatoes into mush. Chef's tip: fry the mushrooms first and set them aside, then fry the potatoes alone and only combine them at the end.

40 minRussianVegetarianGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

OladyiKefir pancakes

Saturday breakfast in a Soviet flat often began with the sizzle of oladyi: thick little pancakes, no bigger than a saucer rim, made from kefir that had soured a day too long. Grandmothers from Samara to Novosibirsk still drop spoonfuls of the batter into hot oil and stack the puffed, golden rounds on a plate to eat with smetana, honey or a dish of cherry varenye. Unlike blini they are fat and spongy, with a lacy crisp edge. The common mistake is beating the batter after the soda goes in, which knocks out the bubbles and gives flat, rubbery pancakes. Chef's tip: warm the kefir slightly before mixing; the soda reacts faster and the oladyi rise noticeably higher.

30 minRussianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

MannikSemolina cake

In thousands of Russian kitchens, mannik is the cake you make when the cupboard is nearly bare: semolina, kefir, sugar, a couple of eggs and almost no flour. The semolina swells overnight in the kefir, and the result is a plain, damp, slightly springy cake with a golden crust, sliced at the tea table from Smolensk to Vladivostok with a spoon of jam or sour cream. The common mistake is skipping the soak, which leaves the cake gritty with hard grains. Chef's tip: soak the semolina in the kefir for at least an hour, or overnight in the fridge, before adding the rest.

110 minRussianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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