Cherished by people who love their land and its fruits, donated by generous black earth and rich forests, simple but tasty and satisfying Ukrainian cuisine will forever remain in the heart of those who took a painted clay bowl of dumplings and a pot of steaming borscht from the hands of a hospitable Ukrainian hostess.
Out of the whole variety of national dishes, international recognition usually overtakes two or three, which become the hallmark of the country and satisfy 80% of the gastronomic requests of tourists. In Ukrainian cuisine, the traditional borscht with donuts and dumplings in sour cream have been marked with recognition. As always, such a choice is not accidental - these two dishes are the quintessence of culinary traditions that have emerged and gained a foothold on the territory of Ukraine due to the centuries-old occupation of its inhabitants by grain growing.
Bread is the main food for a person who cultivates the land for its cultivation, and in Ukraine this rule has found its expression not only in the usual bread, which is baked in ovens, but also in many types of boiled flour products - dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, greechaniki.
In borscht, you can find almost everything that the Ukrainians gave their fertile land besides bread. Borsch is always multicomponent (some regional recipes of this dish include 20 or more ingredients) and is a hot food that restores strength well.
As for meat, in most Ukrainian dishes it is represented by pork. Beef was not eaten here, since oxen were draft thinness - the main assistant in the economy and, because of this, a friend, and sheep breeding is developed only regionally and not widely. In second place after pork is poultry - chickens, geese, ducks - from which dishes with national flavor are also prepared.
History and development of Ukrainian cuisine
The origins of the culinary traditions of Ukrainians date back to the times of Kievan Rus, although many of the old culinary practices were lost during the capture of the state by the Tatar-Mongols and the rule of the Golden Horde. Subsequently, parts of the Ukrainian lands were divided among neighbors, and this also had some influence on the culinary culture: in the western part of Ukraine, dishes are related to Polish and Hungarian dishes, in the east and south - to Russian and Turkic ones, in the north - to Belarusian-Lithuanian ones.
However, in general, throughout the territory of Ukraine, the cuisine is quite homogeneous - such as it was formed in the 18-19th century, when the set of traditional vegetable crops was replenished with new types - potatoes, corn and tomatoes, and the use of sunflower oil came into wide use.
Modern Ukrainian cuisine is replenished with borrowed and adapted dishes of other nations, but today traditions are still very strong and historically established dishes prevail in home cooking.
Features of cooking in Ukrainian cuisine
The peculiarities of cooking in Ukrainian cuisine are largely due to the fact that a closed oven was used to heat houses, in which they cooked. Under it, special dishes were created - pots and glechiki (tall clay jugs with a narrow neck). In such dishes, thanks to its part tapering upwards, as well as due to the heat-insulating properties of baked clay, in a closed hot oven, excellent conditions are created for stewing and quick cooking, so Ukrainian national dishes are mainly boiled, stewed and baked. The frying pan is more used (used) for sauteing onions, carrots, beets and other vegetables before adding them to the main dish.
Also, very often ready-made dishes cooked in a different way are simmered in the oven to give them a complete, delicate taste. For example, cutlets fried in a pan are put in a clay or cast-iron pot and stewed in the oven along with fat and vegetable dressing, and sweet and savory pancakes (unleavened pancakes with filling) are simmered with butter.
In the central regions of Ukraine, the main holiday dish is stewed potatoes, around which the rest of the menu is built. It is a roast of meat and potatoes, with a small addition of carrots and onions. This dish receives an indescribable taste and aroma precisely from the oven, in which the potatoes are stewed so much that they turn brown without roasting.
Despite the fact that most of the national dishes are cooked in the oven, the smell of smoke in them is almost imperceptible, because the oven first heats up and only then food is placed on hot coals (from which there is very little smoke).
Classic Ukrainian dishes
1. Vareniki
If a girl in a Ukrainian vyshyvanka serves you in a restaurant, restaurant or snack bar, you can be sure that you can order dumplings here. Just as Italian cuisine is unthinkable without pasta, so Ukrainian cuisine is unthinkable without dumplings. With cheese, with cabbage, with potatoes, with mushrooms, with liver, with cherries, blueberries and strawberries ... In sour cream or with sour cream, with dressing of cracklings or with cracklings inside, lean with gravy from fried onions or meat, thin or lush, from dough on water or from dough on kefir ... There are so many types of Ukrainian dumplings that you can make an exhibition out of them, and, by the way, the philosophy of varenyky is built on this - small Ukrainian restaurants, in which visitors are offered exclusively varenyky in a variety of ways.
Dough for Ukrainian dumplings
There are two fundamentally different types of dough from which dumplings are made in Ukraine - thin dough on water and soft dough on dairy products (milk, kefir, whey) with the addition of soda.
Dumplings from the first type of dough are boiled in water and are small and rather thin products similar to dumplings, only of a different shape, size and with different fillings.
The second dumplings are phenomenal in some way - they differ in dough, which is suitable for soft baking, and at the same time they are steamed. Very soft, porous, delicate products are obtained, which are as good cold as hot.
It is noteworthy that in different regions of Ukraine, vareniki are traditionally cooked in only one way, and they may not even know about the second. Lush steam dumplings, for example, are made in the Poltava, Chernihiv, Kiev, Sumy regions, but in the Carpathian region they cook exceptionally thin ones.
Stuffings for Ukrainian dumplings
The choice of fillings for Ukrainian dumplings is so large that it seems that you can put everything in them. But in fact, this is not the case - there are quite clear boundaries for the set of products that go into dumplings.
The most typical fillings are cottage cheese (sweet and salty), stewed cabbage and boiled sauerkraut, potatoes, potatoes with cabbage, potatoes with meat, potatoes with liver, potatoes with mushrooms, mushrooms themselves, poppy seeds, cherries.
Less popular, but there are also fillings from berries and fruits - blackberries, mulberries, strawberries, apples, plums.
Sauces and dressings for dumplings
Dressing is an integral and just as important part of dumplings as dough and stuffing. Sweet dumplings with cottage cheese, cherries and other berries are seasoned with sour cream by Ukrainians. Sour cream is also served with dumplings with potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, but in this case it usually acts as a sauce, and the dressing is made from onions fried in lard or sunflower oil, or from cracklings (small pieces of heavily fried lard).
Dumplings with poppy seeds stand apart - this is a festive dish, and it is always seasoned with honey. Honey is also often seasoned with cherry dumplings.
2. Other flour products - dumplings, palyushki, donuts, pies
There are a lot of flour dishes in Ukrainian cuisine. For example, dumplings - relatively speaking, dumplings without filling with dressing, which are made from soft dough (cut into pieces), but boiled in boiling water, not steamed. Dumplings are also added to soups and borscht.
A similar dish in the western part of Ukraine is made with cottage cheese and potatoes and is called palyushki, and mushroom sauce with sour cream is served with it.
Ukrainian donuts are no less famous than vareniki, because they are an inseparable pair with borscht. They are prepared from yeast dough in the oven or deep-fried.
There are many varieties of yeast and unleavened pies in Ukraine, which are prepared with the same set of fillings as dumplings, as well as with peas, beans, jam from viburnum and pears, with fresh fruit. Yeast pies are most often baked in the oven or in the oven, and unleavened ones are fried in a pan.
3. Ukrainian borscht
Borscht is not only a symbol of Ukrainian cuisine, but also the main food of Ukrainians to this day. Since the "range" of borscht covers a huge area, including all regions of Ukraine, there are a lot of recipes for its preparation - from a simple Transcarpathian version to a complex multi-component Kyiv borscht.
The main and indispensable ingredient of borscht is beetroot - Ukrainian borscht is impossible without it. In addition to pieces of the root crop itself, kvass from it is added to borscht - once every housewife had a pot with fermented beets, which were constantly refreshed.
In addition to beets, potatoes, cabbage, onions, tomatoes or tomato juice, meat broth are almost always used. If lean borsch is prepared, then meat broth is replaced with mushroom, fish broth, or only vegetables are used in general, flavoring the dish with dressing from onions fried in vegetable oil.
To give an idea of the diversity of Ukrainian borscht, we will present two very different recipes - borscht of central Ukraine and borscht and Hutsul (Galician).
Borscht of central Ukraine
The selected recipe is just one of the varieties of borscht that are cooked in central Ukraine, because the recipes not only vary from region to region, but can be slightly different even in each village.
Ingredients:
meat broth and meat (pork, chicken, duck or pork with lamb), potatoes, beets, cabbage, onions, carrots, beet kvass, tomatoes (tomato juice or tomato paste), beans, bay leaf, salt, ground pepper and pepper peas, garlic, lard or lard, fresh herbs (dill, parsley, green onions).
Cooking
For the broth, they take pork meat on the bones, pork ribs. If poultry meat is used, then preference is given to a rooster over a chicken, a drake over a duck, etc. (that is, a male). The broth should be rich and moderately fatty.
From the broth carefully remove the foam or filter it at the end of cooking.
To the semi-finished meat put potatoes, cut into large pieces. Grated or chopped beets are sautéed with fat, and 10-15 minutes after adding the potatoes, put the prepared beets in boiling borscht.
After that, it should no longer boil violently in order to maintain a beautiful, rich, dark red beet color.
Together with beets or a little later, put chopped cabbage.
Carrots are sautéed separately with onions and added to borscht after cabbage. Borscht is salted, peppered, put bay leaves, peppercorns, tomato paste, peeled garlic, beet kvass and left to simmer slowly over very low heat.
If fresh tomatoes are used in borscht instead of tomato paste, they are put together with potatoes, and after a while they are taken out, rubbed through a sieve and only gruel without pieces of peel and seeds is returned to borscht.
If borscht is prepared with the addition of beans, then it is pre-soaked and put into the broth almost simultaneously with the meat.
Greens are added to the finished borscht in the pan or directly on the plates.
Sour cream is always served with borscht. They put it on the table separately, and everyone adds it to their plate to taste.
It should be noted that sourness is an important component of the taste of Ukrainian borscht, and it is achieved different ways- by adding beet kvass, pickled apples, pickled tomatoes, sorrel, and in a simplified version - table vinegar or citric acid.
Hutsul borscht
Compared to borscht from other regions of Ukraine, which differ from each other in several components, Galician borscht has a slightly different philosophy. It is prepared exclusively from beets in meat broth and with the addition of a large amount of heavy cream right during cooking. Thanks to the cream, borscht does not have a classic bright beetroot color, but a delicate milky red.
Some housewives add flour dried or fried with fat to this borscht, a small amount of tomato paste and onion sauteed with fat can also be added.
An obligatory and very important component of the Hutsul borscht is a sprig of dried savory, which gives the dish a delicate, refined aroma.
Hutsul (Galician) borsch is served separately with boiled whole "in uniform" or peeled potatoes.
Festive Ukrainian dishes
Festive dishes of Ukrainian cuisine can be divided into two groups: those that are served only on certain, strictly designated occasions, and those that are usually chosen for the festive table, but can also be cooked on weekdays.
The first applies Easter baking, kutya, poppy seeds (shuliki), wedding loaves and cones.
To the second - jellied meat, homemade pork sausage, black blood, cabbage, stuffed cabbage, stewed potatoes, pastries with various fillings, berry jelly, dumplings.
The famous Ukrainian borscht is rarely served on holidays, apparently because it is often cooked on ordinary days.
Easter food in Ukraine
The Easter basket with which they go to church includes paska (Kulich), krashanki (painted or multi-colored boiled eggs), homemade pork sausage or baked pork, horseradish, grated and filled with beet kvass.
The Easter table itself is made up of these dishes - as a rule, no other food is prepared on this day.
In western Ukraine, budz is added to the list - sheep's or cow's cheese, prepared by the method of enzymatic curdling of milk. Sausage, boiled eggs and budza are used here for cutting, which is sprinkled with grated horseradish.
Christmas Ukrainian dishes
The evening before Christmas is called “Holy Evening” in Ukraine, and they try to prepare 12 Lenten dishes for it. The main dish of the holiday is wheat kutya, which in the central regions is always prepared and paired with uzvar (dried apple and pear compote).
In addition to kutya, they make lean dumplings with cabbage, lean cabbage rolls, cook fish, boiled potatoes with onions fried in oil, and serve sauerkraut.
Shuliki (poppies)
Makoviki is a special food that is prepared for the holiday "Makovia" - August 14th. For them, low cakes are baked from unleavened soda dough in the oven, which are then broken (not cut) into pieces, softened with milk, mixed with a large amount of grated poppy seeds and seasoned with honey.
You can try this divine treat exclusively on August 14 - the tradition is so strong that it rarely occurs to any hostess to make shuliki on another day of the year.
Wedding loaves and cones
A wedding loaf in Ukraine is a symbolic meal, which contains a deep sacred meaning. It is prepared from rich yeast dough and carefully decorated with baked ornaments, bunches of viburnum, ears of corn, dried herbs and fresh flowers. A baked loaf for a wedding is requested by a woman who is happy in marriage. With a loaf, parents meet the newlyweds, and at the end of the celebration they distribute pieces of it to all guests.
Ukrainian national drinks
Traditional drinks are almost as wide a topic of discussion as food, but if you try to squeeze it down to the size of one paragraph, you can name three typical Ukrainian drinks - mead (varenukha), kvass and uzvar.
Mead has been known since the time of Kievan Rus and is honey boiled with water and dried fruits, and then left to ferment. It is an alcoholic drink.
Ukrainian kvass can be bread, pear, beet, apple.
Uzvar is a non-alcoholic everyday drink that is brewed from dried pears, apples, plums, blackthorn.
Products that are used for traditional Ukrainian dishes
Meat
For the preparation of traditional meat dishes in Ukraine, pork is most often used. As we have already mentioned, this is historically due to the fact that cows and oxen were domestic livestock used for household needs, so beef was rarely eaten. Chickens were bred more for eggs.
The relatively warm climate of Ukraine, in which the above-zero temperature persists for more than six months, did not make it possible to store meat for a long time in the summer, so the meat in rural farms was only in winter, while in the warm season they were content with dressings on lard, which was stored in a salty form for a long time. This is the reason for the widespread use of lard and cracklings in dishes, and the origins of the slightly exaggerated thesis that lard is a national Ukrainian product.
Pork is used to prepare home-made chopped sausage and black pudding, and in Ukraine, dishes from baked poultry are also popular.
Dairy
Until recently, every Ukrainian farm, which had enough workers, kept a “cow-nurse”, so dairy dishes are very widely represented in Ukrainian cuisine. Dumplings, nalistniks, manniks are prepared from cottage cheese. Sour cream goes to gas stations, gravies, to borscht, it is also used to make very tasty ghee in the oven.
Unlike Western European countries, the production of hard cheeses has not developed in Ukraine and only cottage cheese is used (with the exception of the western regions, where dry feta cheese is made from cow's and sheep's milk - a well-aged crumbly cheese, slightly reminiscent of parmesan in taste).
Fresh whole milk served with pies, potato pancakes and added to cereal porridge.
Eggs
Omelettes, scrambled eggs and other egg dishes are not popular in Ukrainian cuisine, but eggs are often used for baking, they are added to sweet cereals, and boiled eggs are sometimes put in soups and borscht.
cereals
Truly Ukrainian groats are millet. Porridge is prepared from it, in particular, sweet milk porridge with pumpkin, as well as another characteristic Ukrainian Cossack dish “kulish” (kulesh) - field soup, which is cooked on a fire with potatoes, millet, onions and rubbed with lard.
Also often and a lot cooked and cooked from buckwheat - milk porridge, buckwheat, dumplings from buckwheat flour.
Rice is used for cabbage rolls, peas for soups and as a filling for pies.
Soups and cereals are prepared from barley, wheat, oatmeal.
Vegetables
All vegetables that grow in the garden are used for food, except for fodder crops. The most "ancient", which can be considered the most traditional - beets and turnips. Potatoes also took root well in Ukraine and can be called the second bread, although it is not as indispensable here as, for example, in Belarus.
Ukrainians love pumpkin and bake it in the oven in large quantities, then using it for cereals and desserts.
Cucumbers and tomatoes are salted for the winter, cabbage is used both fresh and sauerkraut. In general, the share of vegetables in Ukrainian dishes is very large.
Herbs and spices
Ukrainian dishes are rarely spicy, but they are generously seasoned with the aroma of homemade vegetables and spices. The most spicy dishes and snacks are prepared with thermally unprocessed garlic, onions and horseradish (for example, donuts). Quite rarely, but hot peppers are also used.
From herbs Ukrainians most of all love dill, parsley, green onions, savory, cumin, bay leaf, black and white pepper.
Sweets
The most ancient Ukrainian sweet is honey. Beekeeping was very developed - wild nests were not destroyed here, but apiaries were set up near the house or in the forest, luring bees with "hollows" - wooden logs that were hollowed out from the inside and covered with a thatched roof.
Honey was used independently and various sweets were prepared from it - gingerbread, bagels.
Sweet vegetables and fruits also served as the basis for sweet dishes. Poppy seeds, nuts, dried pears, apples, plums were added to desserts.
Regional differences of Ukrainian cuisine
In terms of cooking methods and products used, Ukrainian cuisine is quite homogeneous throughout Ukraine, however, some regions are more distinguished by their own identity due to their natural conditions and the ethnic composition of the population.
As an example, we will give two of them - the Carpathian region (part of the Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions) and Odessa.
The first region is distinguished by mountains, the second by the sea and an amazing mixture of many nations in one city.
Ukraine can rightly be proud of the fact that it will satisfy the taste of even the most pretentious gourmet. Ukrainian feasts are described by Gogol in his "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" - needless to say, our people know a lot about food and are distinguished by hospitality.
Ukrainian cuisine has traditional dishes through which she is recognized. And if you delve into culinary traditions, then there are such names and recipes that will pleasantly surprise you.
IGotoWorld.com will tell you about the best national dishes of Ukraine. Cook your own or travel around the country to taste original dishes in the areas where they were invented. And, as the Ukrainians say during the feast, “so that you can eat and drink, and want, and be able”!
Borsch
What is a Ukrainian without borscht? Foreigners are sure to be treated to this traditional first course. AT cookbooks we will find more than 50 recipes for borscht, because each region prepares it differently. Rich meat, seasoned with bacon ... Or lean with beans or mushrooms - this is boiled during fasting, and vegetarians will also be pleased. Instead of meat, you can put fish. In addition to the traditional beets, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbages and tomatoes, there are many things that are added to borscht for piquancy! Some recipes even have apples, dried fruits, prunes! Borscht is often served with donuts with garlic.
Borscht festivals are held in the village of the same name Borshchiv in the Ternopil region, as well as in other regions of Ukraine. In October, such a festival was held in Kharkov - for the third year in a row. By the way, choose .
Salo is our everything!
No wonder they say: fat is a Ukrainian drug. Without him, we are simply nowhere. And how many jokes about salo and Ukrainians! One godfather says to another: “Have you heard that sclerosis develops from fat?” And he answered him: “But I think, how to eat a piece of bacon in the morning, so all day long I don’t remember what I want to eat!” There are many recipes for salting lard. The simplest: chop the garlic, mix with pepper, grate the undercut or lard with the mixture and keep in the refrigerator for three days. You can add fragrant spices.
Photo source: varota.com.ua.
The lard festival has already become traditional in Petrikovka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. And in Lviv there is an amazing place where fat parties are held, unique sweets "Salo in chocolate" and sushi lard are served.
Finding housing in Lviv is not difficult: on our website you will find.
Kapustnyak Zaporozhye
If you get to Khortytsya, the region of the Cossack freemen, on holidays or a festival, you will definitely be offered Zaporozhye cabbage. Traditionally, it was cooked rich - with pork and bacon, sauerkraut and millet. If you cook on a fire with smoke - the aroma and taste are delicious. .
There are also plenty of cabbage recipes, and a festival dedicated to it is held in Zbarazh in the Ternopil region.
Photo source: easy4cook.com.
Homemade sausages
“Porridge breast, sausage ring” - remember the line from the Ukrainian carol? The Christmas table of Ukrainians is not complete without homemade sausages.
Delicious sausages are cooked in Transcarpathia - you can hope that you will be offered a "natural product" baked not in gas oven, but in a rural oven, a completely different smell and taste is piquant! Come to Transcarpathia: they are waiting for you. And you can find it on our website.
Volhynia also knows how to cook sausages: in 2015, the longest sausage was made in Lutsk - 5 meters - and the achievement was recorded in the Book of Records of Ukraine.
Photo source: akado.in.ua.
Aspic
Not all foreigners will "understand" our jelly - a jellied snack from different types meat. But the Hungarians will definitely appreciate it: they have jelly - also a national dish, they even hold jelly festivals there.
Ukrainians traditionally serve aspic with horseradish and mustard.
Photo source: happylady.in.ua.
Varya Hutsulskaya
The name is already intriguing with its originality. Varya Hutsulskaya is a salad originally from Bukovina. It is good for fasting - both hearty and tasty. Boiled beets, beans and prunes are taken, seasoned with sunflower oil. If you go to Bukovina, be sure to visit its heart - Chernivtsi, and the accommodation option is possible.
Photo source: ic.pics.livejournal.com.
Meat krucheniki
And now we turn to meat masterpieces. The meat for the rolls (more often beef or pork) is beaten off, and then the filling is wrapped in them, the roll is tied with a thread. You can fry and then stew. In the regions of Ukraine, kruchenyky are prepared with different fillings: rice with onions, eggs, dried apricots, prunes… Minced mushrooms are often used. The scope for experimentation is huge. For example, for hearty Volyn-style krucheniki, the meat is first stewed until half cooked, then a piece of lard is placed on it, covering it from above. stewed cabbage, and wrap.
Photo source: jisty.com.ua.
Polyadvitsa
This dish is from the "tasty and simple" series. The whole secret is in a piece of good pork or beef tenderloin. It was marinated in kvass, rolled in flour, fried in butter - and then baked in the oven until cooked. Polyadvitsa was solemnly prepared for Christmas and Easter. Modern housewives use lemon instead of kvass: they rub a piece of meat with it, and it is convenient to bake in a sleeve.
Photo source: intellect-box.at.ua.
Pancakes from Zhytomyr
Ukrainian Polissya is famous for potato crops and potato dishes. In Korosten in the Zhytomyr region, it was even installed! A festival dedicated to this dish is held here every year. And no matter how many pancakes you try: with meat, and with cheese, and with mushrooms, and with cottage cheese. Where to stay in Zhitomir? Perhaps it will fit.
Photo source: vkusnodoma.net.
Porcini mushrooms in Hutsul style
The recipe for their preparation is very simple: boil, fry in vegetable oil, stew in sour cream or cream, add green onions, parsley. But it's all about the mushrooms themselves! Be sure to go to Bukovina for them, because mushrooms are a real asset of the local forests.
Popular mushroom tours in Transcarpathia. But even if you go in winter, you can buy dried porcini mushrooms or pickled ones. Choose and enjoy the excellent cuisine and wonderful nature of the region! Many travelers believe that the most delicious dishes of Ukrainian cuisine are prepared here.
Photo source: uzumera.if.ua.
Roast with mushrooms
Roast in pots of potatoes with mushrooms is usually served in all restaurants of Ukrainian cuisine, it is easy to cook it at home. But you should definitely try this dish in Western Ukraine, where you will be served it with porcini mushrooms, and not some store-bought champignons! Roast in the Hutsul style is original in that potato pancakes, meat and mushrooms are laid out in layers in a pot. And all this with sour cream!
Photo source: youtube.com.
banosh
Another dish from the Hutsul cuisine is banosh (or banush). It would seem, what can surprise corn porridge? The whole secret is in what it is seasoned with: sour cream or cream is added during cooking, and fried cracklings and cheese are placed on top.
Want to taste real banosh? Then plan a trip to Transcarpathia in May: here in the village of Kostylevka, Rakhiv region, the Berlibash Banosh festival takes place. Rakhiv is a picturesque place for tourists,.
Photo source: sergej_pozhar - LiveJournal.
Poltava dumplings
“Poltava dumplings” is often called the inhabitants of the region of the same name - their regional dish has become so recognizable. Dumplings are both without filling, and with meat, liver, mushrooms.
In Poltava, a festival dedicated to dumplings is held annually, and even installed.
Photo source: bokosmart.com.
Plyatski Lviv
Galicia is famous for its wonderful dessert - dances. A tall whole pie is baked with fillings (they may vary) and then cut into cakes. From above, as a rule, it is poured with glaze. And just try to say “cakes” to Lviv dances - they can be offended.
There is a glorious place in Lviv where you can enjoy this wonderful dessert with a cup of aromatic coffee.
Photo source: nyam-nyam-5.com.
We hope that this mouth-watering review of the best dishes of Ukrainian cuisine will inspire you to cook one of them or go on a gastronomic tour of the country.
In the meantime, you can add to the list of your favorite Ukrainian dishes below in the comments.
Ukrainians are a hospitable and hospitable people who know how to feed in such a way that a generous table is remembered, forced to return or encourages guests to cook national dishes of Ukraine at home. We have thousands of recipes for all sorts of goodies, because even borscht is prepared in completely different ways in different parts of the country. And today IGotoWorld.com will tell you how the traditional dishes of the regions of Ukraine can surprise you.
So let's start our virtual tasting tour. Don't read on an empty stomach!
Satisfying North of Ukraine
In the northern regions of Ukraine, they cook hearty, tasty and thoroughly. These regions are famous for the potato harvest, and this has affected the peculiarities of the local cuisine.
Zhytomyr region: potato pancakes
In Polissya, one of the favorite dishes is pancakes made from grated potatoes - pancakes, or potato pancakes. In Korosten, Zhytomyr region, a brand has been made of this dish: the International Potato Festival is held here every year, where chefs from all over Ukraine and beyond come to show their art. And in the park where it takes place, they even erected a monument to the bully. And, of course, local restaurants are ready to offer you the best variations of this dish. Deruny can be stuffed: traditionally they were made with cottage cheese and stewed in the oven. Now pancakes with mushrooms, meat, grated cheese are popular.
Chernihiv region: roast in pots and pies with viburnum
In the Chernihiv region, they are happy to serve hot dishes - this is a dish in pots, it includes potatoes, sauerkraut and meat. Satisfying and appetizing.
And for dessert - pies with viburnum, because Chernihiv region is rich in berries.
Photo source: pirozochki.com.
Sumy-style roast and borsch on beetroot kvass
Another recipe for roast in pots, which is prepared in the Sumy region, is original in that both meat and liver are laid with potatoes. All this is cooked with bell pepper, sour cream and cheese. Another variation: meat, beans, mushrooms and sour cream.
Photo source: graffin.com.ua.
And borscht is cooked here with pork and beetroot kvass.
The Kiev's cutlets
The multicultural capital of Ukraine is rich in restaurants for different tastes. Here you can try the menu of many countries of the world. But we will remember the old recipe for Kiev cutlets: when inside deep-fried chicken fillet put a piece of butter, cheese, greens, coat with an egg and bread. The cutlet turns out surprisingly juicy and tasty.
Photo source: pro-ukraine.com.
Ear in Nikolaev style
In the Nikolaev region, fish is preserved at home, adding tomato, and boiled fish soup with tomato juice or tomato paste and sour cream. And for spiciness - sauce: chopped garlic mixed with salt and pepper. It is served with potatoes and fish.
Photo source: xvatit.com.
Eggplant in Kherson style and eggplant caviar
The south of Ukraine is also famous for its vegetables. Kherson-style eggplant is a spicy dish. It is prepared by frying blue ones in oil, with sweet and bitter peppers and apple cider vinegar.
Photo source: vkusnodoma.net.
And if you are not a fan of such spicy, then eggplant caviar is for you. By the way, according to the Kherson recipe, peppers and eggplants are not boiled (as many housewives do), but baked - this is how the vegetables retain their flavor.
Crimea: lagman and dolma
Lagman is one of the most popular dishes of the Crimean Tatar cuisine. A cross between the first and second: noodles served with pieces of meat (usually beef) stewed in gravy with vegetables. Sweet and simple! AT classic recipe in local restaurants, the noodles are rolled out themselves. But in everyday life they often use ready-made from the store.
Photo source: top3.events.
And in the spring, when young grape leaves bloom, small cabbage rolls with meat are prepared from them, which are called “dolma”. And, of course, we cannot imagine Crimea without huge pasties.
Kapustnyak Zaporozhye and mlyns
Rich cabbage was prepared in the Zaporizhzhya Sich. It is cooked with pork - traditionally, the Cossacks "to spite the busurmans" used lard and pork.
Photo source: i.ytimg.com.
Another interesting dish is mlins. It is prepared in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. These are not pancakes or pancakes. The yeast dough is thinly rolled out, a layer of cottage cheese filling with butter is placed on top, and then rolled up.
You can try the dishes of real Cossacks.
Dishes of Central Ukraine
It is worth heading to the central regions to try traditional dishes of Ukraine thanks to which our cuisine is recognizable in the world.
Cherkasy region - borscht and donuts with garlic
As already mentioned, in Ukraine borscht is cooked differently everywhere. In the Cherkasy region, it is classically rich, and fragrant dumplings with garlic are served with it.
Photo source: perchinka63.ru.
Kirovohrad region - kruheniki and dumplings
Another favorite dish of central Ukraine is dumplings. They are prepared with different fillings: potatoes, mushrooms, meat, liver, cabbage. And grandmothers know a special recipe for dumplings “with this”: for the filling, lard is overcooked in a pan with flour and onions. Sometimes housewives can surprise you with palm-sized dumplings.
Photo source: vsviti.com.ua.
And from special meat dishes one can name krucheniki - small meat rolls stuffed with minced meat, pate, prunes with nuts.
Photo source: bon-appetit-ru.livejournal.com.
Poltava dumplings and pundiki
The expression "Poltava dumpling" has taken root in everyday life so much that they began to call it not only the signature dish of this region, but also the inhabitants of the Poltava region. And if you have boiled pieces of dough floating in a bowl of soup, in no case believe that these are real dumplings. “In the original” they are not at all like that: dumplings are cooked with fillings, and to see this, you should come to Poltava for the annual festival of dumplings or just visit the local restaurants of Ukrainian cuisine.
Photo source: poltava.to.
Do you know what pundiki are? These are cakes made from dough mixed with kefir and an egg, which are fried in a pan. They can be salty - then they are fried with onions or sweet - with poppy seeds. Poppy cakes are prepared for the holiday of Makovei, served with honey.
Dnepropetrovsk region: mincemeat and branded fish soup
In Dnepropetrovsk, as well as in Odessa, they like to cook a signature Jewish dish - forshmak. Herring is soaked in water with vinegar or in milk, then ground and mixed with boiled potatoes. You can decorate mincemeat with egg and green onions.
Photo source: www.vensky-strudel.com.
And from fresh fish caught in the Dnieper, they prepare a magnificent fish soup in the Dnieper style with lek. Suitable catfish, carp. The ear is cooked as usual, but it's all about the seasoning. As it is used lek - it is garlic, grated with salt, and seasoned with fatty fish broth. You can water the fish with it or add it to the yushka - to taste.
Dishes of Eastern Ukraine
They like to eat here thoroughly and satisfyingly, and this is not surprising, because eastern Ukraine is the land of miners. And real men engaged in physical labor need to well reinforce their strength with lunch.
Donbas-style shank and okroshka
The shank is cooked for several hours in the oven at a temperature of 160-180 degrees. The back of the pork leg is taken, rubbed with salt and spices, and then baked in dough or in foil.
In addition, about 50 okroshka recipes are known in Donbass. So, like borscht, it will be different in every family. This cold soup is prepared with kvass, whey or even mineral water, flavored with sour cream.
Photo source: youtube.com.
Meatloaf in Lugansk
Very satisfying original dish. Minced pork and beef are laid out on a piece of linen, on top - an omelet and large boiled carrots. The roll is rolled up, tightly tied and boiled in salted water, then the sheet is removed, cooled and cut into portions. You can experiment with toppings.
Photo source: recept-vzakladku.ru.
Kharkiv region: Slobozhansky borscht and Greeks
As soon as they cook Ukrainian borscht! In a real Slobozhansky, the recipe of which was told in the Kharkiv region, they put beans and meatballs, usually from beef.
And on the second - Greeks: meatballs with buckwheat, you can add mushrooms.
Photo source: fb.ru.
Bukovyna - chinakhi, hominy and cheese
Second question: what is chinakhi? This is a Bukovinian dish like a roast. Layers are laid out potatoes, beans and smoked ribs with onions. Then it is filled with water and stewed in the oven in a pot.
Photo source: boombob.ru.
In the Chernivtsi region, it is also worth trying delicious homemade sheep's milk cheese and traditional Hutsul food - corn porridge, hominy. Classically, it is boiled in sheep's milk, generously flavored with butter. When frozen, locals can use hominy instead of bread.
In Bukovina they know how to cook, you can be sure of this in Chernivtsi.
Transcarpathia: Zavivans and Bograchs
Question three: how is bograch prepared? This dish comes from Hungarian cuisine. Goulash is taken, and the meat should be of different types. AT original recipe everything is cooked on fire in a cauldron and seasoned with roots, Carpathian herbs and Magyar paprika.
And in Transcarpathia, both large meat rolls and small rolls are called curlers. Small Uzhgorod-style curls are made from thin slices of beef, on which a mixture of finely chopped boiled eggs, pickled cucumber, bacon and raw grated potatoes is laid out. The roll is fastened with a thread, first fried, and then stewed.
Photo source: beaddream.wordpress.com.
Fine meat dishes will be served to you, don't forget about a cup of coffee!
Mazuryks in Volhynia and Polissya Verguns
Question four: what are mazuriki? To learn and try, we go to the Volyn region. Western Ukraine is famous for its variety of homemade sausages. Volynsky Mazuriks are homemade turkey sausages with butter and cheese inside.
Photo source: jjreception.ru.
Lviv region: Galician cheesecake and strudel
Question five: have you tried real strudel? And how does the Galician cheesecake differ from the usual cheesecakes for us?
Delicious Viennese rolls - strudel are well cooked in Lviv. They can be both salty (with cheese, bacon) and sweet (with cottage cheese, apples).
Photo source: relax.com.ua.
And the Galician cheesecake is a symphony of culinary art. The preparation of the curd mass, which is laid out on shortcrust pastry, is a whole ritual. Then the syrniki should stand in the refrigerator for a day ... So it’s better not to try to cook, but savor the syrniki with a cup of aromatic coffee ...
Visit atmospheric cafes and restaurants in Lviv - you will enjoy not only food!
Rivne region - potato growers and matsik
Question six: what is a matsik? This is the name in the Rivne region of dried meat in kendyukha - a boiled pork stomach. As already mentioned, Western Ukraine is the land of homemade sausages, and here they know how to cook them.
In the Rivne region, cartographers (or zrazy) are also popular. Various fillings are put into the dough from crushed boiled potatoes - mushroom, meat, egg and onion, then fried in a pan.
Photo source: patelnya.com.ua.
Ternopil region: machanka and kulesha
Question seven, what is machanka? This is Lemko thick soup with meat, roasted flour, onion, ground sweet pepper. They cook it in the Ternopil region. A variety of machanka is mushroom, generously seasoned with sour cream. And if the mushrooms are chopped, then this is a good sauce for dumplings.
Photo source: sergej-pozhar.livejournal.com.
And for the first course, they serve a rich kulesha of millet with cracklings.
Where to eat deliciously in Ternopil,.
Khmelnytsky region: meat rolls, sausages and buckets
Question eight: what are buckets? We leave for the answer to the Khmelnytsky region. It turns out that this is potato sausage: pig intestines are stuffed with grated raw potatoes, greased with lard on top, baked in the oven.
In addition, excellent meat sausages and rolls are cooked in the Khmelnytsky region - they are baked until golden brown and served with various side dishes.
Photo source: heavycook.livejournal.com.
Waiting for you!
Hi all! Do you like delicious food? For example, I am very)) after all Ukrainian food extremely varied! I can’t refuse a piece of homemade boiled pork or sausage, so I have to constantly lead active image life. As my beloved friend says: - "so that nothing superfluous grows." No wonder the topic of this article came to me at dinner.
Savoring borsch with fresh bacon and a clove of garlic, it dawned on me! How so?! I wrote about traditional Polish cuisine, I cooked pigeons of Egyptian cuisine with Mukhamed, an article was recently published about the cuisine of Montenegro, there are plans for German cuisine, but I forgot about my native, Ukrainian! Until my emotions faded after borscht, I decided to correct myself and write about the most common dishes of national Ukrainian cuisine.
The content of the article:
Tasting Polish and Russian cuisine, I can say that they are similar to Ukrainian, but despite this, each of them is unique, colorful and very rich.
Soups in Ukrainian cuisine
Not a single daily meal of Ukrainians is complete without soup. At least once a day you need to sip thin soup! There are so many soups on the Ukrainian menu! Rassolnik, cabbage soup, pea, rice, buckwheat soup and many, many others. Their range is quite large and varied. . But the most traditional Ukrainian first course is red borscht.
Red borscht
I love borscht and cook with pleasure. My grandmother taught me how to cook it without sautéing vegetables, it turns out much healthier and tastier. Ukrainian red borscht must be cooked in meat broth. It is based on pork.
Ukrainian borscht is best eaten when it is infused. It is served with donuts smeared with garlic sauce on top (suppressed garlic with vegetable oil) and sprinkled with chopped herbs (dill or parsley). Ideally, donuts are baked by themselves, but if there is no time, then you can buy ready-made ones in the market. As a rule, they put a spoonful of sour cream in borscht. It gives the dish a delicate taste.
Salo
What is Ukrainian borscht without bacon. It complements many Ukrainian dishes. Well, to be honest, I also love lard and eat it with pleasure!) Previously, my grandmother often salted lard in jars and it was enough for the whole winter and spring. I haven't eaten this fat in a long time... In those days, the pig was burned with straw, and not with gas, as it is now. Thanks to this, the fat acquired a pleasant aroma and incredible taste. It is often eaten with Ukrainian bread, horseradish, or a clove of garlic or onion. I'm salivating already, and I just started writing...
Dishes of Ukrainian cuisine are quite satisfying and high-calorie. National main dishes are mainly prepared with pork. The entrance goes almost everything and even guts. Yes! It is from them that they make awesome homemade sausage and blood.
homemade sausage
Every Ukrainian housewife has her own secrets of cooking these dishes. I will write how my mother cooks homemade sausage. According to her recipe, this dish turns out amazingly delicious! We take thin pork intestines, clean them thoroughly and wash them. The stuffing of the sausage is minced pork meat and lard. We add the second to make the dish juicy, not dry. The filling should be salted, peppered, add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and 50 gr. vodka. We mix and with the help of a special tube, which is attached to the meat grinder, we fill the prepared intestine. We grease our sausage with sunflower oil, make punctures along the entire length with a needle and send it to the oven. When the aromas fill the whole house, take it out.
Krovyanka
Krovyanka or as people call it "gut" has been prepared in our family for as long as I can remember. On holidays, usually Easter or Christmas, a pig was stabbed and blood was prepared. The basis of the preparation of the "intestine" is fresh pork blood, buckwheat, milk and undercut. It takes a lot of time to prepare blood, since all the ingredients must be cooked and cooled before filling the intestine. Boil buckwheat until half cooked, fry the underline with onions, boil the milk. For the blood we need a large pig intestine. It needs to be thoroughly washed and cleaned, soaked in a light vinegar solution. After that, it is filled with stuffing, put in a saucepan and simmered over low heat for three hours, cooled, fried in a pan on all sides and served.
Despite the fact that porridge is a frequent guest in Ukrainian cuisine, the main side dish is still potatoes. As soon as it is not cooked! Potatoes are boiled in their skins, baked, fried, stewed, mashed. An important addition to the main dishes and side dishes are vegetables. In the warm season - fresh, often plucked from the garden: radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, peppers and juicy greens. In winter, pickles, pickled vegetables and salads rolled up in jars are used
Cookies in pots
A very popular ancient Ukrainian dish is liver with meat. Whoever has tried the liver cooked in the oven at least once will never forget the exquisite taste of meat melting in the mouth. Liver is traditionally cooked with meat. Meat, onions, carrots and potatoes (peeled and cut into small pieces) are fried in a frying pan. They put everything in a pot, add spices, fragrant roots and herbs. Baked in the oven. We often make liver at home, and not only traditionally with meat, often with vegetables, mushrooms, fish. It's always delicious and healthy!
Aspic
The national Ukrainian dish is jelly. It is made from rooster and pork legs. Aspic should languish on the stove for six hours. After that, it is filtered, poured into plates and put in the refrigerator. As a rule, it is served with horseradish.
As for the fuck, there's a joke I got caught once. They told me that grated horseradish smells like gasoline, so I sniffed it))
cabbage rolls
Cabbage rolls in Ukraine are an integral part of the festive table. This dish is prepared in many countries, but the recipe and ingredients are still different. The basis of Ukrainian cabbage rolls includes minced pork or 50/50 (beef pork) and boiled rice. The filling is wrapped in pre-boiled cabbage leaves. Doves are served with sour cream.
pies
Baking has been revered in Ukraine since ancient times. Each hut had an oven in which bread, rolls, cakes and pies were baked. They kneaded the dough with their hands in a large wooden barrel and I will say this, truly hard work. Over time, the ovens disappeared from the huts, instead ovens appeared, but the tradition of baking remained. Remember, in Polish cuisine, I talked about pies. Pies in Ukrainian cuisine look completely different, they are large rolls with cherries, cottage cheese, potatoes, peas and meat. Cooked at home, they have an incredible taste and aroma.
Vareniki
It is not surprising that songs and poems are composed about dumplings, because they are so tasty! Probably in the menu of every restaurant of Ukrainian cuisine, dumplings occupy an honorable place. The range of toppings will put them before the choice of anyone. Because you want to try a lot. Vareniki come with potatoes, cabbage, meat, liver. They are served with cracklings (lard fried in a pan with onions). There are also dumplings with sweet fillings: cherries, strawberries, cottage cheese, etc. They are served with sour cream.
Cracklings in Ukrainian cuisine are especially delicious. In my childhood, there was always a plate of fried on the table. Finely chopped lard with onions was fried in a frying pan. This roast complemented almost all dishes. Especially dumplings, potatoes and porridge. We even spread it on bread.
Banosh is a common dish in the Carpathian region of Ukraine. It is made from cornmeal and sour cream, seasoned with cracklings, mushrooms and cheese. Banosh is served hot. You can feed the whole family with this dish, because a small portion is enough to fill up. Banosh is very sieve, energizing for the whole day. It is interesting that they came up with it when there was nothing to feed the family. Know how the hostess took what she had and cooked a very tasty dish!
Sweets
For lovers of sweets, the Ukrainian menu provides a wide range of pastries: buns, tubes with condensed milk, dumplings, pies with berries and cottage cheese, cakes and rolls.
On the tables of Ukrainians there is often a bowl of jam, jam or honey. These delicacies are spread on bread, cookies or eaten with tea.
As a child, I often helped my mother in the kitchen, I especially liked to bake cakes. The most popular of them: Medovik, Smetannik, Napoleon, Prague, they have not lost their popularity until now.
Drinks in Ukrainian cuisine
From non-alcoholic drinks, Ukrainians prefer compote from fresh, canned or frozen berries, kissel (comote with starch), uzvar - made from dried apples or pears, kvass - especially relevant in the summer.
Regarding alcoholic beverages. The most traditional is moonshine. The name speaks for itself.) Vodka, homemade grape and honey wine, mead and beer.
The most common brands of vodka in Ukraine are Nemirov, Khortytsya, Khlebny Dar, Marosha and First Guild. With beer: "Obolon", "Chernihiv",
This is how borscht inspired me!)) Maybe I missed something, please add it.
You can read about thematic Lviv cafes, as well as what we were fed in Kamenetz-Podolsky by clicking on the links.
Enjoy your meal!
Thanks for reading our blog. See you soon on the pages of our
History of development of Ukrainian cuisine
The history of the development of Ukrainian cuisine has not yet been fully studied, since much was lost as a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasions and not only. Nevertheless, it is known that she is closely connected with the history of her people. It takes its origins during the existence of Kievan Rus. Scientists have discovered numerous writings and archaeological monuments, indicating that already in the 9th - 11th centuries, Ukrainian hostesses prepared a huge amount of delicious meals. Among them: palyanitsi, donuts, kulesh, borscht, dumplings, kalachi, pies, pancakes, grechaniki, uzvar, roast, smazhenina, pike and much more.
Already at that time, their favorite foods included: bacon, pork, wheat and buckwheat flour, garlic, onions, beets and millet. Approximately in the fourteenth century. they tasted rice, and after another 400 years - sweet peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, sunflower oil and corn.
In the XI century. the first professional cooks began to appear at princely courts and at monasteries. They were also in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. It is thanks to them that Ukrainian cuisine has been enriched. interesting recipes flour, fruit and curd dishes based on eggs, which were prepared exclusively for religious holidays, such as Easter.
Ukrainian culinary traditions
AT different periods of its existence, Ukrainian cuisine was influenced by the traditions of the cuisines of other peoples - German, Hungarian, Tatar, Turkish, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, etc. Nevertheless, she managed to preserve her basic national features, while still borrowing only the best from her neighbors or conquerors.
From ancient times beloved meat product Ukrainians had pork. Juicy and tender, it served as the basis for the preparation of many dishes. They made roast, dushenina and gurka, or homemade sausage, from it.
Making their raids, the Mongol-Tatars took everything from the occupied lands, including cattle. But they always left pigs, considering them unclean animals that are completely unsuitable for food. Thanks to this, the Ukrainian people survived in difficult years. And that is why a monument to a pig was erected in Lutsk, at least that's what they say.
And Ukrainians have revered salo for many centuries. At different times, they salted it, boiled it, fried it, smoked it, prepared fillings for homemade sausages from it, made cracklings, and sometimes even decorated sweet dishes with it, for example, verguns. This is evidenced not only by archaeological finds, but also by sayings that were popular among the local population: “ I live well: I eat lard, I sleep on lard and hide myself with lard" or " If I were pan, I would eat lard with lard».
Exquisite meat dishes have always been a decoration of the holiday tables of Ukrainians. This includes jelly (jelly), shpundra (a dish of pork or pork ribs and beets), roast duck with apples, piglet with horseradish. By the way, it was the beet that was called one of the national products of Ukraine, as it was part of many dishes of Ukrainian cuisine.
But even everyday meals included incredibly tasty and original dishes - sicheniki (borrowed from the Germans and are fried cakes made from minced fish, meat or vegetable), kruzhiki (meat rolls stuffed with cheese, cabbage or mushrooms), tovcheniki (a prototype of fritters, poured on top with gravy with meat), meatballs (similar to French medallions). Necessarily on the table there was black pudding and borscht, to which donuts with garlic were served.
Since ancient times, Ukrainians have loved cabbage and porridge. The latter were cooked with meat, beans, dumplings, mushrooms and potatoes and homemade noodles. Millet kuleshi seasoned with fried lard and onions were also revered. Their recipes have survived to this day under the name "field porridge".
In addition, people in Ukraine have always loved fish, which they knew how to cook in a special way. Passed down from generation to generation best recipes stuffed pike, cooked in sour cream or in crucian honey, bream with apples and horseradish, tench with cabbage, pike stew or fish soup.
A separate place was given to dairy products. Desserts were made from them - syrniki, babki, machanki or cheese. Porridge made from milk, pumpkin and millet, beloved by many children, also takes its roots in antiquity.
During the time of Kievan Rus, Ukrainian housewives were famous for their ability to perfectly cook sweet dishes from flour - dumplings, butsiki with honey, succulents, magai, pundiki, honey cakes, pletuns, malts, makorzheniki, etc.
There also lived real masters in the preparation of home-made drinks - beer, kvass, uzvars, sweet liqueurs and tinctures, including varenukhi, palenki, tertukhi, etc.
In the XIV century. there was vodka, or vodka. Later, they learned to make moonshine from berries or fruits and sugar. In the southern regions of the country they traded in winemaking.
Sunflower oil appeared in Ukraine only in the 18th century. along with the sunflower. Prior to that, it was replaced by imported olive or lard. About a hundred years later, eggplants and sugar beets appeared, from which they learned how to make sugar.
Features of Ukrainian cuisine
Ukrainian food has always been rich in crop products and livestock products. This was largely facilitated by the favorable geographical and climatic conditions of the country, as well as the knowledge and skills that its inhabitants inherited. The fact is that already in the period of the Trypillia culture, and this is almost 5,000 years ago, barley, millet and wheat were known here.
In different periods, the Ukrainian people were attacked by invaders, which, on the one hand, brought a lot of inconvenience, and on the other hand, provided a unique opportunity to enrich Ukrainian cuisine with new, tasty and healthy meals. And although today many of them are considered national, in fact they came from neighbors or “adversaries”.
One of the main features of Ukrainian cuisine is its regionality. In different periods, certain parts of Ukraine belonged to different states, the traditions and habits of which left their mark on the culinary preferences of the inhabitants. That is why today in the west of this country they prepare such dishes, the existence of which is not even known in the east, and vice versa.
And, finally, the phenomenon of Ukrainian cuisine is the oven, a kind of hearth in which food was cooked. It was arranged in a special way, thanks to which the dishes cooked in it turned out to be not only incredibly tasty, but also healthy, as they retained a maximum of useful substances.
Basic cooking methods:
The last two were borrowed from Turkic and German cuisines.
Despite the huge variety of dishes, a few stand out in Ukrainian cuisine. Those who form its basis and are revered throughout the world.
Borsch. Today it is difficult to imagine Ukrainian cuisine without it. In fact, he came to Kievan Rus from Byzantium, where it was considered national dish Ancient Rome. Of course, it was very different from modern version, prepared with vegetables with spices and among the locals was called " brew with potion". Later they improved it and, bringing it to the level of a world masterpiece, presented it to the whole world. To date, there are a huge number of recipes for borscht. It is prepared in its own way in each family. There is also an old classic version, which has about 20 ingredients, among which for some reason there was no place for meat. The most delicious borscht is still served with garlic donuts.
Salo. Previously, it was considered a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Today it is part of many dishes, sometimes even original ones. What is worth only "Salo in chocolate" - a real gourmet delicacy called "Bounty", or "Ukrainian Snickers".
Krovyanka. Homemade sausage, which is made from purified veal or pig blood.
Vareniki are unleavened dough products with various fillings. National dish, loved far beyond the borders of Ukraine. Previously, they were made not only with cottage cheese, berries and fruits, but also with mushrooms, meat, cracklings, vegetables and even nettles.
Dumplings. Pieces of dough that are boiled in boiling water and added to soups and broths. Dumplings are a national dish not only in Ukraine, but also in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, as well as Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Zrazy. Filled beef cutlets or meat rolls. Very popular not only in Ukraine, but also in Belarus, Poland.
Kulesh. Thick millet soup with bacon and cracklings, sometimes vegetables are added to it. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it combines the qualities of the first and second courses.
Verguny. Dough products that are fried in oil and served under powdered sugar. An analogue of "brushwood" from the Bashkir cuisine.
Mlyntsi, or pancakes. The symbol of Maslenitsa and simply delicious flour products that can be prepared with various fillings, both salty and sweet, and are called, respectively, pancakes.
Potato pancakes, or potato pancakes. Peculiar potato pancakes, the recipe of which has taken root not only in Ukrainian, but also in Belarusian and Russian cuisines.
Cutlet in Kiev. Cutlet made from chicken fillet, in which a piece of butter is wrapped. Until now, scientists argue about her homeland. Some argue that it was invented by the Frenchman Charles de Montier and brought to Russia during the reign of Elizabeth. Then it was forgotten for some time and remembered only in 1947, when it was cooked by one of the Kyiv chefs, who called it "Cutlet in Kiev". Others say that it came to Ukraine in 1918, and still others that it was created by emigrants from Ukraine to the United States. But be that as it may, it still exists and is associated with Ukraine.
Kutya, or Kolivo. A funeral dish, which was previously prepared from wheat, and today - from rice with raisins and honey. In ancient times, it was believed that kutya on the table is a symbol of prosperity and good luck.
Liver. A dish of potatoes and meat baked in clay pots with spices and sour cream. In the twentieth century they began to add tomatoes, sweet peppers and so on.
Kapustnyak. A vegetable dish based on sauerkraut, which is an analogue of "shchi" in Russian cuisine.
Apples baked with cinnamon and honey. One of the most delicious and fragrant delicacies of Ukrainian cuisine.
Cabbage rolls. A dish that was borrowed in the 14th century. from Turkish cuisine. There it was called "dolma" and was somewhat different from the improved Slavic version. Cabbage was then replaced by grape leaves, rice - millet, and pork - lamb.
Useful properties of Ukrainian cuisine
Ukrainian cuisine has always been considered one of the healthiest. And there are at least three reasons for that.
Firstly, she welcomes the combination of three courses served for lunch. The meaning of each of them was once studied by I. Pavlov. It was found that liquid dishes - soups and borscht, prepare the stomach to receive more satisfying second courses, by introducing into it special substances that provoke an increased production of enzymes. Desserts complement the beneficial effect. In Ukrainian cuisine, they contain a maximum of fruits, due to which they enrich the body with vitamins and microelements.
Secondly, Ukrainians are fasting. For several weeks a year, they deliberately refuse to eat meat, dairy, fish and excessively fatty foods. This helps to cleanse and rejuvenate the body.
Thirdly, in Ukrainian cuisine there are a huge number of recipes for liquid dishes - soups, borscht, pickles, fish soup, etc., which have a beneficial effect on digestion.
The best proof of this is the average life expectancy in Ukraine, which is 73 years for women and 67 years for men.
