Another striking distinction between English and Russian cultures is the culinary traditions. Russian cuisine is well-known for being deliciously tasty and very unusual to non-Eastern European cultures. It’s true, there are plenty of the national Russian meals that Englishmen would sell their souls to try again.
On the other hand, some of the traditional Russian dishes can indicate very strange ingredients and look extremely unattractive to the English nation. Most likely, the majority would never-ever dare to try these culinary masterpieces.
For instance:
1. Herring Under The Fur Coat
It’s an irreplaceable meal course for the New Years Eve. There’s a famous Russian saying, “If there won’t be a “Fur Coat” served, there won’t be the New Years Eve!”. This is how important this meal is for every Russian.
The “Coat” is covered with a beetroot shell, under which you will find a layer of egg and boiled carrot. The following layers will include smashed potatoes and onions. Beyond all the ingredients, of course, you are going to discover the sine qua non element of the dish – the herring!
Although, this dish is not recommended to eat if you are sharing it with your other half. Kissing someone after this concoction will cause some inconveniences!
2. Okroshka With a Bread Juice
Okroshka is a traditional cold summer soup. Russians believe that there’s nothing better than Okroshka to cool down the body on the warm day. So instead of drinking beer, Russians prefer to take up a cool dish.
The ingredients are; boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, radish, fresh cucumber, doctor’s sausage, mustard and sour cream, followed by the addition of bread juice.
Alternatively, if you feel very panicked by the idea of adding a bread juice to the meal, use a kefir instead (a fermented milk drink).
3. Kholodets
Kholodets is another Russian traditional winter dish. It’s a perfect appetiser to drink vodka with. That’s why you will always find it on the big Russian feast, and especially on the New Years Eve.
Kholodets it’s a jellied meat dish. To make it taste more acute, Russians usually eat it with either mustard, horseradish or with spicy adjica sauce.
Again, if you have decided to kiss your special someone after eating Kholodets, you better watch out.
4. Olivier Salad
Another irreplaceable meal course for the New Year Eve. To be served cold.
For this simple work of art, Russians tend to chop doctor’s sausage, pickles, boiled potatoes, carrot, canned peas and finally, the ingredients are mixed together with mayonnaise.
Girls, you better stay away from this meal. Mayonnaise is known for being an enemy for people trying to keep in good shape.
5. Pig’s Fat
Broadly known as “salo” across Eastern Europe.
The best appetizer for vodka you could ever imagine. Usually being consumed with the traditional Russian brown bread (not brown English bread).
It’s a traditional meal to have during the Russian males sauna sessions. Basking, pig’s fat and vodka – all that Russian men need in their life.
Find Out More About The Fat Here
Indeed, some of Russian meals don’t look very appetising. Although, if the meal course doesn’t look appealing, this doesn’t mean it won’t taste delicious. For example, the traditional English black pudding looks no better than any of the mentioned Russian dishes above. Nevertheless, you will find plenty fans of black pudding in the UK, even though it looks like a scab.
”England is merely an island of beef swimming in a warm gulf stream of gravy.”- Katherine Mansfield
“Russia is a land, where all the good tasting foods are placed into one dish.” – Unknown
Don’t be a p*ssy and try Russian cuisine. Honestly, it tastes beautiful (providing you have a good chef), but you will need to grow some balls before you try it. Go for it!
Brits & Russkies 
Kristina, your posts become more and more interesting to me. I’ve eaten Okroshka or something very similar when I had the pleasure of visiting Russia, while I also ate what you call Olivier salad when I was there, and I thought both dishes were delicious. A few years ago, I had kholodets with very hot horseradish sauce when I went to a Russian restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and while I can’t be certain about it, I had a lot of vodka that I seem to remember was called Bison vodka – anyway, it had a faint bronze colour and I just loved it, as well as the food. I’ve not yet eaten Herring under the Fur Coat, but I’ll try to make it later this week because it looks fantastic, although I’ve definitely eaten mountains of pig’s fat with vodka in Russia and also in Greece, where I once spent one of my holidays with some sailors from Odessa who introduced me to this. When you say that Russian cuisine tastes beautiful, you are preaching to the converted as far as I’m concerned, but thank you very much for posting these wonderful recipes 🙂
Oh, I appreciate a lot that you enjoy my posts! I believe then, that the Welsh people are more courageous than the English, ha-ha. I’m gratefully surprised, that you have actually tried those meals. Therefore, you won’t regret trying herring – Russians believe, it’s one of their the most remarkable dishes. By the way, I read your post yesterday. It must be your birthday today, isn’t it?
Yes, I like your posts, but I particularly enjoyed this one, thank you, for the reasons I gave. I don’t know if the Welsh are more courageous than the English and I wouldn’t want to upset my English neighbours by saying so, but we’re certainly better at rugby than them and this is what really matters 🙂 I really enjoyed all the Russian meals I mentioned and I’m sure I’ll like the Herring Under a Fur Coat, if only because I ate mountains of herring when I was in Finland and I have to say the Finns were very good at preparing and cooking them. Otherwise, yes, it is my birthday today and it’s been made all the more enjoyable by you reminding me of Russian food and vodka I’ve had over the years, while I’m glad I’ve replied to your posts now because I intend to celebrate with a *lot* of vodka later tonight and I won’t be in any fit state to write, hopefully 🙂
Best Birthday Wishes from me then! Hope, you will enjoy your vodka session tonight xx By the way, as far as I’m from Estonia originally, I would really recommend you to try the Estonian herring as well, if you will ever have a chance. I bet it tastes nothing worse than the Finnish one, or it does even better! Speaking of the English, so far I’ve never seen anyone trying the meals I’ve described in my blogpost – that’s why I believe that the Welsh (you particularly, Dennis) must be very courageous to do it! Once again, happy birthday! 🙂
And while I remember, I’m a Welshman, not an Englishman, if that makes any difference.
I’m sure that Estonian herring is vastly superior to any and all other forms of this dish, so as soon as I get the chance, Kristina, I will very happily try some. I’m sure there must be other Brits apart from myself who have eaten the delicious food you’ve described, but I must admit I’ve not yet met any of them. I honestly had the time of my life when I was eating and drinking with my friends in Russia and elsewhere, so I would always, always try food and vodka like this whenever I get a chance. This is one reason why I loved seeing your post and thank you very much as well for your generous compliments and kind birthday wishes 🙂
You have chosen well – i am not sure i would enthusiastically eat any of these. But how fab to have so many interesting new year and eating traditions. Nicola http://islingtonfacesblog.com
It’s not all them mentioned here! We do have lots of meals on the NY night, just because Russians while drinking shots of vodka, take with it some appetizers to feel the whole taste of this spirit (we never mix it with coke though)! Thank you for a wonderful reply, Nicola! 🙂
A very interesting read. As a person who loves foreign food I would be very interested in trying almost all of these dishes. I would mainly just remove cucumber from the soup. I can’t stand cucumber lol
Wow, nice to hear it! Well, the cucumber is not the crucial factor in this dish. Looking forward for your food reviews then if you will have a chance to try! 🙂
Haha, not so bad! That pig’s fat sounds a bit too daring for me though. 😄🐷😱
You won’t probably believe me, but it tastes delicious! 😛
Well, I’m a vegetarian at home but I do make exceptions on the road – it’s difficult to get to know the culture of a country if you don’t get to know the food. So, I may try pig’s fat some day. Oh my. 😄😉
Then I wish you to have a wonderful trip to Russia in nearest future! Good luck with trying the pig’s fat, it won’t disappoint you, I promise 🙂