Category: Traditional Recipes
Recipes cooked the way they are actually cooked, without the shortcuts that get added when a dish travels. That means the long braise where a long braise is the point, the fat the dish was built around, and the step everyone skips explained rather than removed.
Each of these has a lighter counterpart in Healthy Adaptations. The pair is the format of this site: read the traditional version to understand what the dish is, then decide what you want to change.
By kitchen. Ukrainian, built on beets, cabbage and soured milk. Polish, built on sour rye, sauerkraut and smoke. Ashkenazi Jewish, built around a calendar that decides when cooking can happen. Lithuanian, built almost entirely on the potato.
Where they overlap. The same dish keeps reappearing across borders under different names, and the differences are usually smaller than the arguments about them. Four comparisons: holubtsi and golabki, pierogi, varenyky and uszka, three borschts, and latkes, placki and deruny.
Terms that come up repeatedly have their own short entries in the glossary: schmaltz, zakwas, salo, kasha, farmer cheese.
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~50 minutes | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Mix a simple dough from flour, eggs, water, melted butter, and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1 hour | Total time: ~2½ hours, including rising | Makes: about 12 pies | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Stir yeast, sugar, and salt into warm…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~20 minutes | Total time: ~26 hours, including soaking and marinating | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Soak the salted herring fillets in cold…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~50 minutes | Total time: ~3½ hours | Serves: 12 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Choose the version: a lenten dough of flour, water, oil, and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Prep: 20 minutes | Cooking: about 1 hour 10 minutes | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Cut carrots and sweet potatoes into even chunks so they…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~25 minutes | Total time: ~3 days, mostly soaking and marinating | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Soak salted herring fillets in cold water…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes (plus 8–12 hours soaking) | Total time: ~13 hours | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Soak carp steaks overnight in milk to…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~25 minutes | Total time: ~1 hour (includes cooling) | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Simmer cranberries in water until they burst and release…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~3 hours (includes dough rising) | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Proof yeast in warm water, then mix a…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: about 20 minutes | Marinating time: 6–8 hours or overnight | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Peel the skin off the herring fillets if…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Prep: 20 minutes (plus 1–4 hours soaking) | Cook: about 50 minutes | Total: about 1 hour 10 minutes, plus soaking | Serves: 5 | Difficulty: Easy Quick…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~45 minutes | Total time: ~2 hours 30 minutes (with rising) | Serves: 6 (12 kibinai) | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Make a soft yeast dough…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1 hour 15 minutes | Total time: ~2 hours 15 minutes | Serves: 6 (14–16 rolls) | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Simmer a whole cabbage and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~45 minutes | Serves: 4 (about 14–16 pancakes) | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Grate floury potatoes and an onion finely Drain…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: about 1 hour 15 minutes | Total time: about 1 hour 45 minutes | Serves: 8 (about 80–90 small dumplings) | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Knead…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: about 1 hour 30 minutes | Total time: about 2 hours 10 minutes, plus cooling the boiled potatoes | Serves: 4 (8 dumplings) | Difficulty: Advanced…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: about 25 minutes | Total time: about 2 hours 15 minutes, including cooling and chilling | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Cook the beets,…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~15 minutes (plus steeping) | Total time: ~4.5 hours | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Rinse the dried fruit and raisins under cold water…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Shchedra Kutia Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes (plus overnight soaking) | Total time: ~4.5 hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Soak whole wheat berries…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~13–17 hours, plus soaking the beans | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Soak pinto and white beans overnight Brown…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~2½ hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Pound thin slices of beef and season them with salt and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1 hour | Total time: ~3 hours (including two rises) | Serves: 9 (about 18 doughnuts, 2 per serving) | Difficulty: Moderate Quick Overview Bloom the…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~5½ hours (including rising and cooling) | Serves: 16 (2 loaves) | Difficulty: Moderate Quick Overview Make a sponge of yeast,…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: about 45 minutes | Total time: about 4½ hours (longer if the poppy seeds soak overnight) | Serves: 16 | Difficulty: Moderate Quick Overview Soak the…
