Tatar cuisine
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
| Part of a series on |
| Russian cuisine |
|---|
 |
Tatar cuisine is primarily the cuisine of the Volga Tatars, who live in Tatarstan, Russia, and surrounding areas.
History
The cuisine of the
Tatar cuisine was influenced by the surrounding peoples –
Geography and nature were also instrumental in the shaping of the Tatar cuisine. The location of the Tatars at the border of two geographical zones—the northern forests and the southern steppe—and also in the basin of two large rivers—the Volga and the Kama—encouraged trade and considerably enriched the national cuisine. The Tatars became acquainted early in their history with rice, tea, dried fruits, walnuts, seasonings, and spices.
The Tatar cuisine relies heavily on the main agricultural products of the region—cereals and livestock. Fruits and vegetables were much less developed in the region's agriculture, although the relative importance of the potato began to increase from the end of the 19th century. Local vegetables included
Traditional Tatar cuisine
The dishes in Tatar cuisine can be subdivided into the following categories:
- hot soups,
- main courses,
- baked items with a savory filling (also eaten as main course),
- dough-based dishes (pasta),
- sweet baked items and other sweets, usually served with tea.
Soups
Depending on the broth (şulpa) used as the soup base, soups are divided into meat, chicken, fish, vegetable, mushroom, etc. The soup may be thickened with noodles, grains, or vegetables – separately or in combination. Particularly popular is noodle soup served with toqmaç (homemade noodles) and enriched with pieces of boiled meat or chicken from the broth.
Soups are often served with meat balls or stuffed
Main courses
Main dishes are usually based on meat, grains, and potatoes. Meat or chicken boiled in the broth is cut into small pieces and served as a main course, sometimes quickly fried in oil with onions, carrots, and bell peppers. Boiled potatoes are a favorite side dish, with grated horseradish served as an accompaniment. A chicken stuffed with eggs in milk (tutırğan tawıq) is a special dish for holidays.
Bäliş is the oldest traditional dish combining meat and grains. Pieces of fat meat (mutton, beef, goose, or goose and duck innards) are combined with grains (millet, spelt, rice) and baked in a crock. Tutırma, an intestine filled with finely cut or chopped liver and millet or rice, is another combination of meat and grains.
Pilaw (
Poultry
Grains are made into a variety of porridges: millet, buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, peas, etc.
Baked foods
A wide variety of dough dishes is a feature of the traditional Tatar cuisine. Unleavened dough is traditionally used for buns, both sweet and savory, flatbreads, and biscuits. Leavened yeast dough is used to make bread (ikmäk, ipi), which is always served with meals. Bread was traditionally baked from rye flour, and only the wealthy could afford wheat bread. Today, both wheat and rye bread are found in stores.
Qabartma is a kind of yeast dough pancake that may be prepared in different ways: baked in a pan in front of an open oven fire, or fried in boiling oil in a cauldron. Qabartma is eaten hot, thickly spread with butter.
Liquid batter is also prepared with and without yeast.
Various baked items with a savory filling are specific for the Tatar cuisine. The oldest and simplest is qıstıbí, also called küzikmäk. This is an unleavened pancake folded into two and filled with cooked
Bäkkän (or täkä), particularly widespread in rural areas, is an individual oval or crescent-shaped pie (like large
Sweets
The Tatar cuisine offers a variety of baked sweets, usually served with tea: çelpek (deep-fried pancakes), qatlama (a baked roll with a variety of fillings – poppy seeds, sesame seeds,
Beverages
Äyrän (ayran) is a dairy drink made by diluting qatıq (katyk, sour milk) with cold water. Quas (kvass) is a beverage made from rye flour and malt that the Tatars have borrowed from the Russians. A kompot of dried apricots is a popular dessert at dinner parties.
Another non-alcoholic sweet beverage is sherbet (Tatar: şirbät) made from honey. In the 19th and early 20th century it was a purely ceremonial drink, served to wedding guests as the "bride's sherbet" in the bridegroom's home.
Tea is a typical hospitality beverage among the Tatars. They drink hot, strong tea, usually with milk. Tea with baked sweets (qabartma, pancakes) sometimes replaces cooked breakfast.
Cooking methods and utensils
Food is prepared in traditional Tatar cuisine mainly by boiling, frying, and baking. Frying is primarily used for dough-based foods, much less for meats, which are typically boiled (except meat for pilaw, which requires quick frying). Both boiling and frying were traditionally done in a cast-iron cauldron built into the side of the large kitchen stove. Baking was done in an oven. Cooking over an open fire was not common. This method was used for making pancakes (täçe qoymaq) and fried eggs (täbä).
Cast-iron utensils and crock pots were commonly used in the oven. Large deep cast-iron pans served to bake bäleş and göbädiä. Wooden utensils were widely used for various tasks. Bread dough was kneaded in wooden troughs and then allowed to rise in wooden or wicker bowls. Butter was made in wooden churns. Honey and qatiq were stored in wooden containers. Commercially manufactured kitchen utensils, including metallic and enameled pots and pans, china, and glassware, became increasingly accepted starting in the middle of the 19th century.
Tea service has always been the subject of special attention among the Tatar. Tea is drunk from small cups (so that it remains hot). Typical Tatar cups are small and low, with a rounded bottom and a saucer. The traditional Tatar tea service invariably includes a samovar.
The introduction of modern gas stoves and microwave ovens has led to the adoption of new cooking techniques, mainly increasing the popularity of frying (meat, fish, vegetables). The modernization of kitchenware has deprived cauldrons, cast iron pans, and many wooden utensils of their traditional role. The average family now uses a wide range of aluminum and enameled cookware.
Modern cuisine
The Tatar cuisine, while preserving the national traditions, has undergone substantial changes. Economic and cultural changes have introduced many new dishes, enriching the traditional cuisine. More fruits and vegetables are now used than traditionally, fish has become more popular, mushrooms, tomatoes, and pickles are in common use. The opening up of international trade has given access to fruits and vegetables that were previously regarded as exotic, including bananas, kiwi, mangoes, and eggplant.
Anglicized names of Tatar dishes
- Äyrän – ayran
- Bäleş – belesh
- Bäkkän – bekken
- Bawırsaq– bavyrsak
- Börek – burek
- Çäkçäk– chakchak
- Chee-börek – chiburekki
- Göbädiä – gubadia
- Öçpoçmaq– echpochmak, ochpochmak
- Pärämäç – peremech
- Pilmän – pilmen
- Qıstıbí– kystybyi
- Şulpa – shulpa
- Toqmaç – tokmach
- Tutırğan tawıq – tutyrgan tavyk
- Tutırma – tutyrma
- Ulish – өлеш
See also
References
- My Home - Tatar cuisine recipes
References imported from Tatar cuisine on Russian Wikipedia
- Tatar Cuisine, by Yunus Akhmetzyanov (in Russian)
- Tatar cuisine: recipes on gotovim.ru (in Russian)
- Tatar cuisine: recipes on tatar.com.ru (in Russian)
- Wedding dishes in Tatar cuisine (in Russian)
Other references
- Isai Feldman, Cuisines of the Peoples of the USSR, digitized version downloadable from bookz.ru (in Russian). Retrieved on 11 May 2009
- Tatar cuisine recipes, from V.V. Pokhlebkin, National Cuisines of the Peoples of the World, Moscow, 1990 (in Russian). Retrieved on 11 May 2009
- "The Tartars eat raw meate, and most commonly horse-flesh, drinke milk and blood as the Nomades of old." Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 1, Sect. 2, Memb. 2, Subs. 3, lines 21-22
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
