Blini

Blini (plural blinis or blini, rarely bliny;^[1][2] Russian: блины pl.), singular: blin, are an Eastern European pancake made from various kinds of flour or buckwheat, wheat, etc. They may be served with smetana, tvorog, caviar and other garnishes, or simply smeared with butter. They are considered to be a traditional Russian dish.^[3]

In the West, blini traditionally refers to small savory pancakes made with leavened batter. In modern Russian, the term most often refers to pan-sized leavened thin pancakes, although smaller leavened pancakes are also called blini. Smaller and thicker pancakes (with several of them baked on one larger pan) are called oladyi.

The Proto-Slavic term for the Russian pancakes was probably mlinŭ, which transformed in Old East Slavic into mlinъ, blinъ (млинъ, блинъ), (cf. mlynets’ (млинець), Ukrainian for blin). It is derived from the verb моло́ть, "to mill ", "to grind". Max Vasmer in his Etymological Dictionary of Russian language notes that a similar word is used in many Slavic languages, as well as in Latvian and Lithuanian.^[5] While the Russian word блины́ bliný (plural of блин blin) refers in modern Russian also to the introduced foreign pancakes in general; meanwhile the term ру́сские блины́ rússkiye bliný (Russian pancakes) is often emphasized in Russia for differentiation.

Some English dictionaries record usage of the forms blin as singular and blini or bliny as plural, which corresponds to the original Russian forms, but other dictionaries consider this usage so rare in English that they do not mention blin at all and only record the widespread modern regular usage of blini for the singular and blinis for the plural.^[6]

History

Blini were considered by early

• Blini made from
  raisins.^[7] Such blini are quite common in Eastern Europe and are more solidly filled than the spongy pancakes usually eaten in North America
  .
• Blini covered with
  jam, honey or caviar (whitefish, salmon or traditional sturgeon
  ).

They may be folded or rolled into a tube with sweet or salty fillings such as varenye, fruit, berry, mashed potatoes, tvorog, cooked ground meat, cooked chicken, salmon, chopped boiled eggs with green onions or chopped mushrooms.^[9]

• Blini made by pouring batter over chopped vegetables, meat, or mushrooms put on a frying pan beforehand are called "blini s pripyokom."
• Caviar is a popular filling for blini during Russian-style
  cocktail parties
  .
• Buckwheat blini are part of traditional Russian cuisine.^[7] They are also widespread in Ukraine,^[7] where they are sometimes known as hrechanyky (Ukrainian: гречаники), and Lithuania's Dzūkija region, the only region of the country in which buckwheat is grown, where they are called grikių blynai.

Gallery

• 
  An old woman prepares blini in a

  Russian oven for Maslenitsa
• 
  Blini served with red caviar
• 
  Russian stamp with blini and other stereotypes of Russian cuisine
• 
  Blini fried in an oven in the Mari El Republic, Russia
• 
  Belarusian commemorative coin with Maslenitsa theme and the accompanying blini
• 
  Blini rolled up
• 
  A pre-1917 Maslenitsa congratulation postcard
• 
  Blini shop in Novosibirsk, Russia
• 
  Lithuanian Blini (blynai or sklindziai)

In popular culture

Aside from referring to pancakes, the word blin (блин) is used in Russian as a "

There are many Russian proverbs involving blini.[11]^[12] For example, "Первый блин комом" ("The first blin is lumpy") is a figurative saying that the first attempt to do something is expected to be unsuccessful, said to calm down of the person who failed the first try.^[10] And English equivalent would be "You must spoil before you spin".^[10]

See also

References