Blini

Blini
Blini
Alternative namesblin, bliny
Typepancake
Place of originRussia, Ukraine, Belarus
Main ingredientswheat, eggs (optional), milk, water
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Blini (also blinis or bliny; Russian: блины; sing. blin; Russian: блин) are Russian pancakes, often made with a yeast-raised batter of buckwheat, or wheat flour and milk. They may be served with smetana, cottage cheese, caviar and other garnishes, or simply smeared with butter. They are a traditional dish in Russian cuisine.

In the English language, 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.

Blintzes, called blinchiki ('little blinis') in Russian, are an offshoot of blini or crêpes. They are basically rolls based on thin pancakes usually made of wheat flour, folded to form a casing for various kinds of filling, typically cheese, fruit, or (in Russian cuisine) fried minced meat, and then sautéed or baked.

Etymology

The Proto-Slavic term for the slavic pancakes was probably mlinŭ ('to mill'), which was transformed in Old Russ into млинъ, mlinŭ, and блинъ, blinŭ (cf. млинець, mlynets, Ukrainian for blin). Max Vasmer, in his Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language, notes that a similar word is used in many Slavic languages, as well as in Latvian and Lithuanian. While the modern Russian word блины, bliny (plural of блин, blin), also refers to foreign-introduced pancakes in general, the term русские блины, russkiye bliny ('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.

History

Blini have a history dating to the Middle Ages. In Slavic culture, blini were traditionally prepared at the end of winter during Maslenitsa ('butter week') as a treat eaten twice a day. There were also other occasions for eating blini, such as at funerals and during prayers for the dead.

Traditional Slavic blini are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with milk, soured milk, and cold or boiling water. When diluted with boiling water, they are referred to as zavarnye bliny (the Russian term zavarnoe testo corresponds to "choux pastry"). A lighter and thinner form made from unyeasted batter (usually made of flour, eggs, milk, or soured milk, kefir, ryazhenka, varenets) is also common in Russia. All kinds of flour may be used, from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet, although wheat is currently the most popular. Historically, blini have been baked in a Russian oven, which was used for heat processing of all kinds of food. Even though blini are nowadays pan-fried, like pancakes, preparing blini is still referred to as "pech bliny" (i.e., "to bake blini") in Russian, and the word for "Russian oven" is a cognate, "(russkaya) pech".

The influence of French cuisine in the 19th century may have led to the development of lighter blini. According to Lesley Chamberlain: "In a full Russian obed, blini are served after the cold zakuski. They may be followed by consommé, then pies and then the main meat course. For all this you would need a gargantuan appetite..."

Varieties

The preparation of bliny

Some ways that blini are prepared and served include the following:

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.

Similar pancakes are eaten in neighboring countries, such as nalistniki in Belarus, although blini are also widely eaten.

Aside from referring to pancakes, the word blin (блин) is used in Russian as a "minced oath" for the Russian swear word "блять" blyat', used as an interjection to express a negative emotion, akin to the words "damn!" or saying "Holy Moly!" while meaning "Holy shit!".

There are many Russian proverbs involving blini. 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 the person who failed the first try. An English equivalent would be "You must spoil before you spin".

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Attributed to the following references:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ayto, John (18 April 2013). "Blini". The Diner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-19-964024-9. Blinis are small thick Russian pancakes made with buckwheat flour. They are usually served with salt herring, caviare, or smoked salmon, and sour cream and melted butter.
  2. 1 2 Sundaram, Susmita (28 October 2013). "Bliny". In Smorodinskaya, Tatiana; Evans-Romaine, Karen; Goscilo, Helena (eds.). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-136-78785-0. Russian version of crepes. Although there are several varieties of bliny, the most common consist of all-purpose wheat flour, eggs, milk, and butter
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hudgins, Sharon (9 September 2013). "Russian Federation". In Kraig, Bruce; Sen, Colleen Taylor (eds.). Street Food around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 292–298. ISBN 979-8-216-15026-8. Bliny (singular blin) are a type of Russian pancake traditionally made from a batter of buckwheat flour and yeast... Most contemporary street-food bliny are actually blinchiki, the easier-to make, nonleavened Russian version of French crepes...
  4. 1 2 "blini". The American Heritage Dictionary: Fifth Edition (5th ed.). National Geographic Books. 26 June 2012. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-553-58322-9.
  5. ↑ Sinclair, Charles (October 2005). A Cook's Dictionary: International Food and Cooking Terms from A to Z. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-904970-18-7.
  6. 1 2 Bender, David A. (28 October 2005). Dictionary Of Food & Nutrition. Oxford University Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-19-567787-4. Russian; small yeast pancakes made from buckwheat flour, served with salt herring, smoked salmon, or caviar, and sour cream.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mason, Laura (2014). "Blini". In Davidson, Alan; Jaine, Tom (eds.). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7.
  8. ↑ "It's Russian Mardi Gras: Time For Pancakes, Butter And Fistfights". NPR.org. 14 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "blintze". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871. "a thin, usually wheat-flour pancake folded to form a casing (as for cheese or fruit) and then sautéed or baked"
  10. ↑ Raţă, Georgeta (3 January 2013). The English of Tourism. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-4438-4486-4.
  11. ↑ близорукий блинд. "блин - это... Что такое блин?". Dic.academic.ru. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  12. ↑ "blini definition and synonyms". Macmillan Dictionary. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  13. 1 2 3 Marks, Gil (2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Wiley. pp. 56–58. ISBN 978-0-470-94354-0. Retrieved April 18, 2012. ISBN 978-0-470-39130-3
  14. ↑ "Shrovetide indulgence with babushka's tvorog blini". www.rbth.com. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  15. ↑ Kraig, Bruce (9 September 2013). "Belarus". In Kraig, Bruce; Sen, Colleen Taylor (eds.). Street Food around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 47–48. ISBN 979-8-216-15026-8. The most popular are bliny, originally a Russian dish (the Belarusian nalistniki is similar).
  16. 1 2 3 "Blin - Meaning in Russian - Translation and audio". Learn Russian Daily. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  17. ↑ ПОСЛОВИЦЫ И ПОГОВОРКИ О БЛИНАХ
  18. ↑ Русские пословицы и поговорки о блинах и масленице