Unfortunately, it's not the gastronomy that's raising Ukrainian issues these days. But for me it does. I am currently working with three Ukrainian chefs. Misa from the Czech Republic's knedli, Igor from London's powdered sauces and souvidol steaks, and Tomi came straight from a Hungarian restaurant in Transcarpathia. Despite their young age, they are cosmopolitan people who have been to French, Portuguese, Czech and Italian kitchens. But I was curious about Ukrainian gastronomy. In this article, I will try to give you a general idea of how Ukrainian gastronomy goes far beyond the Kiev yerevan pastry.
Let's start with the basics of Ukrainian gastronomy
First of all, I wanted to know how much there is a discrepancy between home cooking and restaurant food in Ukraine. Misa started with a passion, showing me pictures from her phone, which proved that of course international trends had arrived in Ukraine. It is nowhere behind other countries, and the latest technologies are being happily integrated into traditional catering.
The ingredients are of better quality, and it's not just the top restaurants that cook with local, farm-grown produce. The quality of meat is particularly good, but the choice of vegetables is not nearly as good. Traditional Ukrainian gastronomy is dominated by cabbage, potatoes, beetroot and corn. Due to the abundance of cooking oil, roasts and breaded dishes are cooked separately, even in the kitchens of larger restaurants. You don't see tired, burnt-out, black-oily frying there.
If starter, salad, soup...
The guys were talking, they were getting into all sorts of stories, so I asked them, I asked them, if you were to sit down in a Ukrainian restaurant right now, what would be the first thing you would order?
In Slavic countries it is common to bring out the salad in advance. This is not so common in Ukraine. The meal starts with soup, the most common and popular traditional soup is peppercorns, which is nothing other than beetroot soup. It is dominated by fresh beetroot, not over-spiced. Instead, dried and ground spices are used and relatively few half-and-half. From okroska a cold, pickled, cucumber, yoghurt, capros soup that you with potatoes served with eggs. How interesting that cold and acidified soups have not become established in our country, although they might be more refreshing after a kayaking trip on Lake Tisza in the heat. If you ask for a salad, you are likely to get a thinly shredded white cabbage, which you can flavour yourself with the table's own dressing.
Main courses, side dishes
Just like here, red meats and the chicken dominated by roasts, which are mostly eaten before the meat in the bun. Igor interjects and proves that, despite the poor seasoning, their food is still succulent thanks to the good ingredients. The dishes are not nearly as fatty, but the nutritional value of the side dishes is poor and unfortunately rather monotonous. Potatoes are everything and sauces are poorly represented in Ukrainian gastronomy. Traditional meat dishes are Kiev stuffed meatballs, which I didn't really understand what it was, but it certainly wasn't some kind of meat loaf or a Stefania slice with a boiled egg in the middle. A kremlzéké is also very popular. It is a very substantial toffee, which is also eaten on its own. How is it different from our toadstools? Nothing, because this simple and filling potato dish has come to us through Polish mediation.
Also popular is the vareniki, the Polish equivalent of which is pirog. It is a cooked pasta stuffed with potatoes, cabbage, possibly meat or cottage cheese. Mostly used in for ravioli either put in the oven or rolled in a pan with bacon crumbs on some fat, then served with sour cream. Tomi waved softly to the bacon and beware of using the words Ukrainian together, because there's something nasty about the Russians, which is quite offensive to them.
Light meals, dessert (instead)
Meals are closed less often dessert sled, like us Hungarians - „that's for the children”. However, thanks to a Transcarpathian pastry chef, the Uzhhorod cake, made without flour, has become quite famous all over Ukraine peanuts cake. As a final course, perhaps the meat-rich jelly is the most popular choice. In Ukraine, sturgeon and sturgeon are consumed all year round. cheek meat, bottom leg of pork, strong from broth jelly, which, unlike us, is not sprinkled with with paprika, but much meatier and more substantial than our New Year's Eve meal. There were some differences of opinion between the guys on some topics, but they agreed that the „real” end to the meal was brandy, and the starter and accompaniment was vodka.#
