Pairings

An ideal partner
«Gastronom» №1(36) January 2005

Before sitting down for a meal, our ancestors would have a shot of vodka.

All in all, a Russian meal is based entirely on the ceremony of serving ‘tsar wine’ with food.

Let’s begin from starters. Perhaps, no other country in the world can offer such a variety of starters for vodka. First of all, these are all sorts of pickles: cabbage, cucumbers, mushrooms and garlic, apples. These dishes feature salt and vinegar in considerable proportions which makes them incompatible with most wines. For vodka though, they are ideal partners which also neutralize the alcohol.

Continuing on the vegetables theme, we’ll dwell on salads. Any spicy or fatty salad dressings, be it garlic in tomato and cucumber salad, vinegar in vinaigrette salad or mayonnaise in the Russian salad, are again very strong flavours. They can easily kill delicate wine, whereas vodka will be able to stand up to such strong companions.

Our national drink feels very much at home with fish starters. Combinations of vodka with black or red caviar and with rare smoked fish are nothing less but a royal treat. Fresh ossetr, or sturgeon, caviar and a small glass of icy, crystal clear vodka is one of the gastronomic delights that makes this pairing a truly gourmet experience. Another less aristocratic, but classic and highly popular with the Russian people match is herring with onions drizzled with oil and served with vodka. Salted, smoked and cured fish will also be wonderful with the spirit. Don’t forget about ukha, the Russian fish soup. All ukha recipes, from a simple one to the tsar version, have one thing in common. The spices that are used there — bayleaf and black pepper — are winners with vodka.

Meat starters are not far behind from the fish ones in terms of compatibility with vodka. Fatty smoked sausage that once was considered to be a symbol of prosperity is made for vodka — again, thanks to its strong flavours. Kholodets, or jellied meat, with horseradish and horseradish-flavoured vodka or infusion will be in perfect harmony. Boiled tongue, ham and pork fat are well accompanied by pure vodka.

Bread and baked products deserve a special mention. In Russia bread was historically treated as one of the most important matches for vodka. Five hundred years ago meals with tsars started from serving guests with big slices of bread. While aristocracy always chose wheat bread, commoners preferred karavai, big round rye bread. From the Middle Ages was left a tradition to smell rye bread after drinking a glass of vodka. Even nowadays a garlic-rubbed, salt-sprinkled slice of rye bread is a favourite choice for vodka. Blinis, or pancakes, open pastries and pies with mushroom, fish and meat filling are nothing but great with our spirit.

Soups in Russia take an intermediate position between starters and main courses. On the one hand, they will be followed by a hot meat dish and on the other — they are so filling that can often be a meal in itself. Rich borsches and soups traditionally rely on vodka. The choice can be more than one. Vodkas pepper, garlic or horseradish flavours are among the best.

After heavy starters it is time to move on to the main course. Meat, poultry and fish — these are the main alliances with vodka. Best matches are achieved with rich, spicy or fatty dishes. Any meat can be used — pork, beef, lamb. Fried and stewed, baked and grilled, ragouts, pelmeni, or dumplings with meat filling, and mince meat cutlets — these are the most typical vodka-loving meat dishes. Of poultry and feathered game, you should go for fried quail and chicken, baked pheasant or fried swan, a jewel of the tsar meal. By the way, any game will be well matched with juniper vodka or infusion. The choice of fish is also very wide — from fine salmon, sturgeon and starlet to more common cod, gudgeon, pike, perch, carp and bream. It is best to have fried or grilled fish, and to serve it with lemon vodka.

For dessert it is best to have fruit-based vodkas and infusions. They will match rich pastries and pies with similar fruit filling. A special dessert is fruit macerated in vodka. ‘Drunken’ plums, grapes, cherries are a good accompaniment for chocolate and are often used as a filling for chocolate sweets.

If there is no room left for desserts, then vodka can be drunk simply as digestive which in Russia is known as ‘pososhok’, or one for the road. This digestive can, by the way, be combined with a treatment of sore throat by adding a pinch of black ground pepper and a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce to 50 grams of heated vodka. Once you get a burning feeling, have a slice of lemon and then go to sleep to get up in good health the next morning.

If you do feel rough the next morning (and the throat has got nothing to do with it), then you should treat yourself to some ‘pokhmelka’, or hangover dish. Preparation is simple. Take cold boiled veal, add finely chopped pickled cucumbers, some marinade and vinegar and pepper. The dish must be served with a small glass of icy cold vodka. They say that after such meal life is beautiful again.