Saturday 4 February 2012

Borscht and Pampushky for Anna: Heart of a Peasant


Rachel, the Crispy Cook, combines being a second-hand bookseller with being a keen gardener and cook. The combination of books and food has led to the hosting of the Cook the Books Club, along with Deb and Johanna, for the last three years.

Through the book club we have read and talked about a lot of books, and cooked a lot of recipes inspired by them. It's a great way to combine passions!

Then, before Christmas, Rachel emailed an exciting extra-curricular book proposal. Rachel's mother, Carol Marie Davis, had written a book about her grandmother and Rachel offered copies to read and be inspired by.

Anna Heart of a Peasant is a fictionalised biography of Anna Anisovich Olchick, who was born in a village in Byelorussia in 1886 and emigrated to America in 1914. In some ways, it is an unremarkable story. Tens of thousands of our ancestors did the same thing: Paul's left Lithuania for South Africa, mine left England for Australia.

At the same time it is truly remarkable. That an illiterate peasant woman who spoke no English travelled alone across the world and ended up with her own home, garden and flourishing family shows such extraordinary strength of will that it is hard to imagine almost 100 years later. My favourite passages, though, are in the beginning of the book, where some of the folk-beliefs that Anna grew up with are described. They reminded me of some of the Russian folk tales, like the Baba Yaga stories, that I grew up with (not entirely sure why we had books of Russian folk tales, my mother will have to clarify that one).

There are some of Anna's favourite recipes in the book, but I tried to do some wider research into Byelorussian food. This coincided with my Anthony Bourdain binge and led to me developing a hypothesis. I couldn't find very much at all online about distinctive Byelorussian cuisine and in the No Reservations episode on Prague several people talked about how distinctive local food had almost disappeared under the Soviet Union. They claimed that all restaurants were only allowed to cook from one cookbook and traditional cooking died out. I have a suspicion that something similar probably happened in Byelorussia from 1939 until Belarus declared independence in 1991.

So I decided to make borscht, as it is found in one form or another all over Eastern and Central Europe. The version we prefer is a thick stew containing meat, carrots and cabbage as well as beetroot, so it is much more luxurious than the soups Anna would have eaten as a child. This one had big chunks of beef short-rib in it and was topped with a dollop of sour cream. I made pampushky to serve with it. Pampushky are like little savoury doughnuts, rolled or dipped in garlic and salt. I actually had some blaa dough on hand, so I just formed that into little balls, deep-fried them and sprinkled on garlic crushed with salt, creating what may be the the world's first Irish-Ukranian doughnut. If that isn't a hymn to immigration I don't know what is.


11 comments:

Angie's Recipes said...

The Borscht looks extremely delicious. Don't think I have ever hadd Pampushky...but savoury doughnuts couldn't be bad at all.

leaf (the indolent cook) said...

Love the sound of those savoury doughnuts. And with borscht! Mmmmmm.

Rachel said...

Spasiba! That post is really lovely. Thank you for the kind words in the introduction (I feel so cool to be called "keen" at anything) and for taking all the time and care in reading the book and exploring some Russian food. Those savory pampushky look just great. Savory and doughnut should come together more often, I say.

Hotly Spiced said...

I love the look of your blog with all those hot chillies. What a great and inspiring story of people arriving here with nothing and building up a dynasty. I haven't cooked many Russian dishes and borscht is something I've wanted to try. Yours looks delicious.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Angie - I'd never even heard of pampushky before I made them! But they are good.

Leafy - it was lovely!

Rachel - thank you for the opportunity to read it!

Hotly Spiced - Borscht is great. Even if you aren't entirely convinced by beetroot.

Simona Carini said...

Borscht always reminds me of a Russian restaurant we had in Berkeley: that's where I had borscht and also bulgur for the first time. I am not sure why I have never made it, considering that I like red beets. Your version looks nice. I had never heard of pampushky, so thanks for the addition.

Carol Marie Davis said...

My grandmother prepared a plain borscht using just her garden beets but I recall it not being very tasty.I will try your innovative recipe for a more robust flavor.
Thanks for your kind words about Rachel and her great grandma Anna in your review.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Simona - how interesting, I never would have thought of bulgur as Russian, but I suppose that is what kasha is.

Carol - thank you for your book! Plain beetroot borscht can be a bit hard going, in my experience.

mscrankypants said...

I've never tried borscht even though beetroot is one of my favourite foods. I must give it a go!

Deb in Hawaii said...

Such a great review of the book and that borscht looks so hearty and meaty--Yum! ;-) Love the little savory pampushky too!

Claudia said...

Great review and recipes too. I'd never heard of Blaa or Pampushky, and adding meat to Borscht, all of which I'm looking forward to trying. Oh boy, savory doughnuts!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...