Turkmenistan

Kulich[a] is the Russian name for Easter bread. For the eastern Slavs, festive bread was round and tall, and dough decorations were made on top of it. The cylindrical shape of the cake is associated with the church practice of baking artos. The Paska bread tradition spread in cultures which were connected to the Byzantine Empire and is a traditional cultural part of countries with an Orthodox Christian population. It is eaten in countries like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia. Kulich is a variant of paska Easter breads and represents not only Easter but also the spring. Easter is a very important celebration in Eastern European countries, even more important than Christmas. Traditionally after the Easter service, the kulich, which has been put into a basket and decorated with colorful flowers, is blessed by the priest. Blessed kulich is eaten before breakfast each day. Any leftover kulich that is not blessed is eaten with paskha for dessert. Kulich is baked in tall, cylindrical tins . When cooled, kulich is decorated with white icing (which slightly drizzles down the sides) and colorful flowers. Historically, it was often served with cheese paska bearing the symbol ХВ (from the traditional Easter greeting of Христос воскрес (Khristos voskres, "Christ is risen").

Qatiq is a fermented milk product from the Turkic countries. It is considered a more solid form of yogurt than ayran. In order to make qatiq, boiled milk is fermented for 6–10 hours in a warm place. Sometimes red beets or cherries are used for colouring. The product may be kept in a cool place for two or three days. If stored longer, it will turn sour; it may still be added to high-fat soups, though. The chalop soup is made from qatiq in Uzbekistan. When sour milk is strained in a canvas bag, the resulting product is called suzma. Dried suzma, or kurut, is often rolled into marble-size balls.

An apple pie is a pie in which the principal filling is apples. Apple pie is often served with whipped cream, ice cream , custard or cheddar cheese. It is generally double-crusted, with pastry both above and below the filling; the upper crust may be solid or latticed (woven of crosswise strips). The bottom crust may be baked separately ("blind") to prevent it from getting soggy. Deep-dish apple pie often has a top crust only. Tarte Tatin is baked with the crust on top, but served with it on the bottom. Noted first in the 14th century, apple pie recipes are a standard part of cuisines in many countries where apples grow. Apple pies are an unofficial symbol of the United States and one of its signature comfort foods.

Sponge cake

Chak-chak[a] is a popular fried dough food in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Chak-chak is made from unleavened dough cut and rolled into hazelnut-sized balls, which are then deep-fried in oil. Optionally, hazelnuts or dried fruit (e.g. apricots and raisins) are added to the mixture. The fried balls are stacked in a mound in a special mold and drenched with hot honey. After cooling and hardening, chak-chak may optionally be decorated with hazelnuts and dried fruits. Traditional wedding chak-chak is larger and is often covered with candies and dragées. The biggest chak-chak weighed 402.4 kilograms (887 lb) and was prepared on 14 June 2018 during start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Kazan.

Кекс — кондитерское изделие, выпекаемое из масляного бисквитного или дрожжевого теста. Первый рецепт кекса можно найти в Древнем Риме, когда гранат, орехи, изюм смешивались в ячменном пюре. Начиная с XVI века, когда из американских колоний стал поставляться сахар, кексы стали очень популярны (высокая концентрация сахара сохраняла фрукты). Кексы распространились по всей Европе, но рецепты их приготовления многообразны в разных странах и зависят от местных ингредиентов.

An éclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with a flavored icing. The dough, which is the same as that used for profiterole, is typically piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside. Once cool, the pastry is filled with custard (crème pâtissière), whipped cream or chiboust cream, then iced with fondant icing. Other fillings include pistachio- and rum-flavoured custard, fruit-flavoured fillings, or chestnut purée. The icing is sometimes caramel, in which case the dessert may be called a bâton de Jacob (lit. 'Jacob's staff'). A similar pastry in a round rather than oblong shape is called a religieuse. The word comes from the French éclair, meaning 'flash of lightning', so named because it is eaten quickly (in a flash); however some believe that the name is due to the glistening of the frosting resembling lightning. The éclair originated during the nineteenth century in Lyon, France where it was called pain à la Duchesse ('Duchess-style bread') or petite duchesse ('little duchess') until 1850. The word is first attested both in English and in French in the 1860s.

Halva is a type of confectionery originating from Persia (now Iran) and widely spread throughout the Middle East and South Asia. The name is used for a broad variety of recipes, generally a thick paste made from flour, butter, liquid oil, saffron, rosewater, milk, turmeric powder, and sweetened with sugar. The word halva entered the English language between 1840 and 1850 from Romanian, which came from Ottoman Turkish: حلوى, romanized: helva, itself ultimately derived from Arabic: حلوى, romanized: ḥalwā, a sweet confection. The root in Arabic: ح ل و, romanized: ḥ-l-w, means "sweet". The original name for the confection was Persian: روغن خورديگ, romanized: rōγn xwardīg, meaning "oil food".

Angel wings are a traditional sweet crisp pastry made out of dough that has been shaped into thin twisted ribbons, deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Common to many European cuisines, angel wings have been incorporated into other regional cuisines by immigrant populations. They are most commonly eaten in the period just before Lent, often during Carnival and on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent—not to be confused with "Fat Tuesday" (Mardi Gras), the day before the start of Lent (Ash Wednesday). There is a tradition in some countries for husbands to give angel wings to their wives on Friday the 13th in order to avoid bad luck. Ingredients used in the preparation of angel wings typically includes flour, water, egg yolk, confectioners' sugar, rectified spirit or rum, vanilla, and salt.

Kulich[a] is the Russian name for Easter bread. For the eastern Slavs, festive bread was round and tall, and dough decorations were made on top of it. The cylindrical shape of the cake is associated with the church practice of baking artos. The Paska bread tradition spread in cultures which were connected to the Byzantine Empire and is a traditional cultural part of countries with an Orthodox Christian population. It is eaten in countries like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia. Kulich is a variant of paska Easter breads and represents not only Easter but also the spring. Easter is a very important celebration in Eastern European countries, even more important than Christmas. Traditionally after the Easter service, the kulich, which has been put into a basket and decorated with colorful flowers, is blessed by the priest. Blessed kulich is eaten before breakfast each day. Any leftover kulich that is not blessed is eaten with paskha for dessert. Kulich is baked in tall, cylindrical tins . When cooled, kulich is decorated with white icing (which slightly drizzles down the sides) and colorful flowers. Historically, it was often served with cheese paska bearing the symbol ХВ (from the traditional Easter greeting of Христос воскрес (Khristos voskres, "Christ is risen").

Medovik is a layer cake popular in countries of the former Soviet Union. The identifying ingredients are honey and smetana (sour cream) or condensed milk. It is a dessert which is known for its lengthy preparation time. It consists of layers of sponge cake with a cream filling and is often covered with nuts or crumbs made from leftover cake. While the thin layers harden shortly after coming out of the oven, the moisture of the filling softens it again over time. There are many recipes and variations of this cake, but, the main ingredient is honey, giving it the characteristic taste and flavor. According to Russian tradition, the cake was created in the 19th century in the Russian Empire by a young chef who sought to impress Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna, wife of Alexander I. Empress Elizabeth could not stand honey, and any dish made with it drove her mad. One day, however, a young new confectioner in the Imperial kitchen did not know the empress's dislike, and he baked a new cake with honey and thick sour cream. Surprisingly, and unaware of the honey content, Empress Elizabeth immediately fell in love with it.

Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food colouring is sometimes added in addition to stabilizers. The mixture is cooled below the freezing point of water and stirred to incorporate air spaces and prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. It can also be made by whisking a flavoured cream base and liquid nitrogen together. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures . It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases. Ice cream may be served in dishes, eaten with a spoon, or licked from edible wafer ice cream cones held by the hands as finger food. Ice cream may be served with other desserts—such as cake or pie—or used as an ingredient in cold dishes—like ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes, and ice cream cakes—or in baked items such as Baked Alaska.

A mille-feuille ,[notes 1] also known by the names Napoleon in North America, vanilla slice in the United Kingdom, and custard slice, is a French dessert made of puff pastry layered with pastry cream. Its modern form was influenced by improvements made by Marie-Antoine Carême. Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), alternating with two layers of pastry cream (crème pâtissière). The top pastry layer is finished in various ways: sometimes it is topped with whipped cream, or it may be dusted with icing sugar, cocoa, pastry crumbs, or sliced almonds. It may also be glazed with icing or fondant alone, or in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) or other colored icing stripes, and combed to create a marbled effect. According to the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, mille-feuille recipes from 17th century French and 18th century English cookbooks are a precursor to layer cakes.

Walnut-shaped cookies filled with caramel, chocolate, nuts

Pastila is a traditional Russian fruit confectionery (pâte de fruits). It has been described as "small squares of pressed fruit paste" and "light, airy puffs with a delicate apple flavor". In Imperial Russia, the "small jellied sweetmeats" were served for tea "with a white foamy top, a bit like marshmallow, but tasting of pure fruit". The first mentions of pastila in Russian written sources date back to the 16th century. The name is probably a loanword from Italian: pastello or pastiglia, or from the cognate French: pastille which in turn comes from Latin: pastillus (a loaf or pie, cf. pastilla). In the 19th century, pastila was made from sourish Russian apples such as Antonovka or mashed Northern berries (lingonberry, rowan, currants) sweetened with honey or sugar and lightened with egg whites. The paste was baked in the Russian oven for many hours, then arranged in several layers inside an alder box and then left to dry in the same oven.

Cookies

Diamond-shaped doughnuts

Pączki are filled doughnuts found in Polish cuisine. A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened ball and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze, or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally rectified spirit) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough. Pączki are commonly thought of as fluffy but somewhat collapsed, with a bright stripe around them; these features are seen as evidence that the dough was fried in fresh oil. Although they look like German berliners (bismarcks in North America) or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast, and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidła (stewed plum jam) and wild rose petal jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry, and apple.

Muhallebi is a milk pudding commonly made with rice, sugar, milk and either rice flour, starch or semolina, popular as a dessert in the Middle East. While the dessert is called Muhallebi in Iraq, the Egyptian variant is called mahalabia and the levantine variant is called mahalabiyeh. Legend has it that muhallebi (Arabic: مهلبية) was introduced into Arab cuisine in the late seventh century by a Persian (Iranian) cook from what was then the Sasanian Empire (224–651), who served it to an Arab general by the name of Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra. He liked it so much, he named it after himself. The earliest recipes, dating to the 10th century, featured three versions: milk thickened with ground rice, milk with rice grains and chicken, and an egg custard without rice. Early recipes for muhallabiyya include a work attributed to Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq of Baghdad and two 13th-century Arab cookbooks, one by al-Baghdadi and another from Al Andalus that have a spiced pudding variation made with mutton instead of chicken. The legend of the pudding's supposed Persian origins comes from the Al Andalus cookbook. In the Middle Ages, muhallebi and its European counterpart blancmange were made with shredded chicken. There are records from the Ottoman Empire for two versions of muhallebi: a version with shredded chicken (tavuk göğsü) served during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror, and a later recipe dating to 1530 for a meatless version flavored with rose water.

Varenye is a popular whole-fruit preserve, widespread in Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus), as well as the Baltic region (Lithuanian: uogienė, Latvian: ievārījums, Estonian: moos). It is made by cooking berries, other fruits, or more rarely nuts, vegetables, or flowers, in sugar syrup. In some traditional recipes, other sweeteners such as honey or treacle are used instead of or in addition to sugar. Varenye is similar to jam except the fruits are not macerated, and no gelling agent is added. It is characterized by a thick but transparent syrup having the natural colour of the fruits. Varenye is an old Slavic word which is used in East Slavic languages in a more general sense to refer to any type of sweet fruit preserve. The word has common etymological roots with the verbs denoting cooking, boiling, brewing, or stewing (Russian: варить, Belarusian: варыць, Ukrainian: варити).

Zefír is a type of soft confectionery made by whipping fruit and berry purée (mostly apple puree) with sugar and egg whites with subsequent addition of a gelling agent like pectin, carrageenan, agar, or gelatine. It is produced in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The name given after the Greek god of the light west wind Zephyr symbolizes its delicate airy consistency. Zefir is derived from the traditional Russian pastila confectionery, but with added egg white foam and a gelling agent. An addition of unwhipped egg whites to the recipe originated in the town of Kolomna sometime during the 15th century, and in the 19th century the zefir dessert most likely emerged in its modern form with whipped egg whites due to a French adaptation on the recipe that was later brought back to Russia. The form typically resembles traditional meringue. However, in contrast to commercial-grade meringue, zefir is never crispy. In contrast to most chocolate-coated marshmallow-like confectioneries; zefirs normally come without layers of cookies/biscuits included.

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , rice, and oats are also used. The fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea.(p 1) Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation. Some of the earliest writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating it, and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, a recipe for it.

Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of aging, and some are produced using a combination of aging and colouring. Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from south-western France. In a broader sense, the term brandy also denotes liquors obtained from the distillation of pomace (yielding pomace brandy), or mash or wine of any other fruit (fruit brandy). These products are also called eau de vie (literally "water of life" in French).

Chal, also shubat or khoormog , is a Turkic (especially Turkmen, Uzbek and Kazakh) and Mongolic beverage of fermented camel milk, sparkling white with a sour flavor, popular in Central Asia — particularly in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In Kazakhstan the drink is known as shubat, and is a staple summer food. Due to preparation requirements and perishable nature, chal has proved difficult to export. Agaran (fermented cream) is collected from the surface of chal. Fermented chal is reputed to possess virucidal and virus inhibiting properties[citation needed] not found in fresh camel or cow milk, both in its liquid and lyophilized form — a characteristic which is (reputedly) unaffected by shelf life. Chal is typically prepared by first souring camel milk in a skin bag or ceramic jar by adding previously soured milk. For 3–4 days, fresh milk is mixed in; the matured chal will consist of one third to one fifth previously soured milk.

Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since then its production and manufacture has spread to other countries in East Asia. Several varieties of green tea exist, which differ substantially based on the variety of C. sinensis used, growing conditions, horticultural methods, production processing, and time of harvest. Tea consumption has its legendary origins in China during the reign of mythological Emperor Shennong.

Kompot or compot, as prepared in Central and Eastern Europe and West Asia, refers to boiled fruits served either as a drink or a dessert depending on the region. When served as a dessert, it is essentially identical to the French compote, which is where the term "kompot" originates from. When served as a drink, it is also known as vzvar (взвар) or uzvar (узвар), from a Slavic root word meaning "to boil". As a drink, kompot is a sweet, non-alcoholic beverage that may be served hot or cold, depending on tradition and season. It is created by cooking fruit such as strawberries, apricots, peaches, apples, raspberries, rhubarb, plums, or sour cherries in a large volume of water, often together with sugar, honey, or raisins as additional sweeteners. Sometimes different spices, such as vanilla or cinnamon, are added for additional flavour, especially in the winter, when kompot is usually served hot. Kompot is popular in Central and Eastern European countries, as well as in Southern Europe.[citation needed] Kompot is part of the cuisine of many countries in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, as well as in the Middle East and West Asia. It is known by a variety of names in these countries, such as компот (kompot) in Russian and Ukrainian, kompót in Slovak and Hungarian, kompotas in Lithuanian, κομπόστα (kompósta) in Greek, and komposto in Turkish. Making kompot was a common way of preserving fruit for the winter in Southern and Eastern European countries; in 1885, Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa wrote in a recipe book that kompot "preserved fruit so well it seemed fresh". Kompot is also popular in many Central Asian countries, such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Kvass is a fermented cereal-based low-alcoholic beverage of cloudy appearance and sweet-sour taste. Kvass originates from northeastern Europe, where grain production was considered insufficient for beer to become a daily drink. The first written mention of kvass is found in Primary Chronicle, describing the celebration of Vladimir the Great's baptism in 988. In the traditional method, kvass is made from a mash obtained from rye bread or rye flour and malt soaked in hot water, fermented for about 12 hours with the help of sugar and bread yeast or baker's yeast at room temperature. In industrial methods, kvass is produced from wort concentrate combined with various grain mixtures. It is a popular drink in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, as well as some parts of Finland, Sweden, and China.

Qatiq is a fermented milk product from the Turkic countries. It is considered a more solid form of yogurt than ayran. In order to make qatiq, boiled milk is fermented for 6–10 hours in a warm place. Sometimes red beets or cherries are used for colouring. The product may be kept in a cool place for two or three days. If stored longer, it will turn sour; it may still be added to high-fat soups, though. The chalop soup is made from qatiq in Uzbekistan. When sour milk is strained in a canvas bag, the resulting product is called suzma. Dried suzma, or kurut, is often rolled into marble-size balls.

Vodka is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is made by distilling liquid from fermented cereal grains and potatoes since the latter was introduced in Europe in the 18th century. Some modern brands use corn, sugar cane, fruits, honey, and maple sap as the base. Since the 1890s, standard vodkas have been 40% alcohol by volume (ABV) (80 U.S. proof). The European Union has established a minimum alcohol content of 37.5% for vodka. Vodka in the United States must have a minimum alcohol content of 40%.

Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit. Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made from grapes, and the term "wine" generally refers to grape wine when used without any qualification. Even so, wine can be made from a variety of fruit crops, including plum, cherry, pomegranate, blueberry, currant, and elderberry. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are major factors in different styles of wine. These differences result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the grape's growing environment , and the wine production process. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine. These typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production.

Caspian sea fish

Vegetable stew, made with tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, onion, potatoes

Large flat noodles topped with meat sauce, spinach

Peremech is an individual-sized fried dough pastry common for Volga Tatar and Bashkir cuisines. It is made from unleavened or leavened dough and usually filled with ground meat and chopped onion. Originally, finely chopped pre-cooked meat was used as a filling, but later raw ground meat became more common. Alternatively, peremech can be filled with potato or quark. Peremech is usually shaped into a flattened sphere with a circular "window" in the middle. In contrast to doughnuts, the hole does not go all the way through, but is only made at the top, such that the filling is visible in the middle. The shape is thus somewhat similar to Russian vatrushka. However, dough neatly kneaded around the hole gives the classical peremech its distinctive shape. Peremech is traditionally served with broth, qatiq (yogurt) or ayran.

Börek or burek is a family of pastries or pies found in the Balkans, Turkey, Armenia, Levant, Northern Africa and Central Asia. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. They are usually baked but some varieties can be fried. Borek is sometimes sprinkled with sesame or nigella seeds, and it can be served hot or cold. It is a custom of Sephardic Jews to have bourekas for their Shabbat breakfast meal on Saturday mornings. It is commonly served with ayran in Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia and Romania.

Soup with dumplings

A camel from Ancient Semitic: gāmāl) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (camel milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from camel hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The wild Bactrian camel is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel, and is now critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals. The word camel is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña, which belong to the separate tribe Lamini. Camelids originated in North America during the Eocene, with the ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrating across the Bering land bridge into Asia during the late Miocene, around 6 million years ago.

Cheburek[a] are deep-fried turnovers with a filling of ground or minced meat and onions. A popular street dish, they are made with a single round piece of dough folded over the filling in a crescent shape. They have become widespread in the former Soviet-aligned countries of Eastern Europe in the 20th century. Chebureki is a national dish of Crimean Tatar cuisine. They are popular as a snack and street food throughout the Caucasus, West Asia, Central Asia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Russia, Eastern Europe, as well as in Turkey, Greece and Romania. A cheburek is a half-round-shaped börek, filled with a very thin layer of ground beef or lamb which has been seasoned with ground onion and black pepper.

Chorba or shorba is a broad class of stews or rich soups found in national cuisines across the Middle East, Maghreb, Iran, Turkey, Southeast Europe, Central Asia, East Africa and South Asia. It is often prepared with added ingredients but served alone as a broth or with bread. The word chorba in English and in many Balkan languages is a loan from the Ottoman Turkish چوربا çorba, which itself is a loan from Persian شوربا šōrbā. The spelling shorba could be a direct loan into English from Persian or through a Central or South Asian intermediary. The word is ultimately a compound of شور šōr meaning 'salty, brackish' and با bā meaning 'stew, gruel, spoon-meat'. The former is from Parthian 𐫢𐫇𐫡 šōr meaning 'salty', and the latter from Middle Persian *-bāg meaning 'gruel, spoon-meat'.

Shredded meat and bread stew

Dolma is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, typically made with a filling of rice, minced meat, offal, seafood, fruit, or any combination of these inside a vegetable or a leaf wrapping. Wrapped dolma, specifically, are known as sarma, made by rolling grape, cabbage, or other leaves around the filling. Dolma can be served warm or at room temperature and are common in modern cuisines of regions and nations that once were part of the Ottoman Empire it is also popular in Iran. Stuffed vegetable dishes have been a part of West Asian Cuisine for centuries.[better source needed] Recipes for stuffed eggplant have been found in Medieval Arabic cookbooks and, in Ancient Greek cuisine, fig leaves stuffed with sweetened cheese were called thrion. The word dolma, of Turkish origin, means "something stuffed" or "filled". (A Turkish share taxi is called a dolmuş for similar reasons). In some of the former Ottoman countries, native names have been retained or have blended with Turkish language terms, for example, in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf and Damascus, stuffed leaves are called mahshi yabraq or mahshi brag, a combination of the Turkish word for leaf (yaprak) and the Arabic term for stuffed (mahshi). The origins of dolma, as suggested by The Oxford Companion to Food, likely stem from Armenian culinary traditions before becoming integrated into Turkish cuisine. William Pokhlebkin, a specialist on culinary history and cookbook author, contends that the dish's inception traces back to Armenian culinary heritage. Several dolma recipes were recorded in 19th-century Iran by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar's chef, including stuffed vine leaves, cabbage leaves, cucumbers, eggplants, apples, and quinces, with varied fillings prepared with ground meat, sauteed mint leaves, rice and saffron. Iraqi Jewish families have a version of dolma with sweet and sour flavors that were not found in other versions. Dolma are part of cuisine of the Sephardic Jews as well. Jews in the Ottoman Empire used locally grown grape leaves and adopted the Turkish name of the dish.

Croquettes filled with meat

Goat meat is the meat of the domestic goat . The common name for goat meat is "goat meat", while meat from young goats can be called "kid meat", capretto (Italian), and cabrito (Spanish and Portuguese). In South Asian cuisine, mutton refers to goat meat. The culinary name "chevon", a blend of chèvre "goat" in French and mouton "sheep" in French, was coined in 1922 and selected by a trade association; it was adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1928,: 19  however the term never caught on and is not encountered in the United States. "Cabrito", a word in Spanish and Portuguese, is the meat of a young, milk-fed goat. It is also known as chivo meat. Goat meat is both a staple and a delicacy in the world's cuisines. The cuisines best known for their use of goat include African cuisine, Middle Eastern, Indian, Indonesian, Nepali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Abruzzese, Mexican, Caribbean (Jamaica), Haitian cuisine, Dominican cuisine and Ecuadorian. Cabrito, which is baby goat, is a very typical food of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico; in Italy it is called "capretto". Goat meat can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as being stewed, curried, baked, grilled, barbecued, minced, canned, fried, or made into sausage. Goat jerky is also another popular variety.

Qutab is an Azerbaijani and Tat dish made from thinly rolled dough that is cooked briefly on a convex griddle known as a saj. When the weather gets warmer, the number of dishes made from wild plants increases. Qutab belongs to Azerbaijani cuisine and later on, it was popular in other South Caucasian cuisines as well. Qutab is made by creating a stiff dough from flour, water, eggs, and salt. The dough is rolled into a thin circular layer and the middle of each circle filled with stuffing before finally being folded into a crescent shape. The resulting patties are griddled on both sides and served by pouring over butter on top. Qutab is usually served with yoghurt with green coriander, fennel and sumac. There are many variations of qutab: usually, pumpkin and greens are used as fillings. There are also Shamakhy qutab, Yashyl Qutab and Qarın qutabı, quzu qutabı (lamb), deve qutabi specific for Jorat settlement. They are regional variations of qutab in Azerbaijan.

Meat pie, stuffed flatbread, cooked in a clay oven or in hot sand

Marinated lamb that is cooked directly on hot coals and covered with a lid and wet sand

Kebab , kabob (North American), kebap, or kabab (Kashmir) is a variety of roasted meat dishes that originated in the Middle East. Many variants of kebab are popular around the world, including the skewered shish kebab or the doner kebab with bread. Kebabs consist of cut up or ground meat, sometimes with vegetables and various other accompaniments according to the specific recipe. Although kebabs are typically cooked on a skewer over a fire, some kebab dishes are oven-baked in a pan, or prepared as a stew such as tas kebab. The traditional meat for kebabs is most often lamb meat, but regional recipes may include beef, goat, chicken, fish, or even pork (depending on whether or not there are specific religious prohibitions).

Savory dumplings filled with minced meat such as lamb, or pork and beef, herbs, spices

Creamy chicken soup

Kuyrdak , transliterated with various spellings, is a traditional meat dish made in Central Asia. The name comes from a nominalisation of the word "roast", "fried", referring to how the food is made. It is described as "stewed brown meat". Kuyrdak is known in Turkish cuisine as kavurma usually made from lamb, mutton, beef, or sheep liver, or sometimes with vegetables.

Manti is a type of dumpling mainly found in Turkish cuisine, Armenian cuisine and Central Asian cuisine but also in West Asia, South Caucasus, and the Balkans. Manti is also popular among Chinese Muslims, and it is consumed throughout post-Soviet countries, where the dish spread from the Central Asian republics. The dumplings typically consist of a spiced meat mixture, usually lamb or ground beef, wrapped in a thin dough sheet which is then boiled or steamed. The size and shape of manti vary significantly depending on geographic location. Manti resemble the Chinese jiaozi and baozi, Korean mandu, Mongolian buuz and the Tibetan momo. The dish's name is cognate with Chinese mantou, Korean mandu, and Japanese manjū, though the modern Chinese and Japanese counterparts mostly refer to different dishes. The name, depending on the language, can refer to a single dumpling or to more than one dumpling at a time; in English, it is often used as both a singular and plural form.

Sheep meat is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the domestic sheep, Ovis aries, and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in their second, and mutton, from older sheep. Generally, "hogget" and "sheep meat" are not used by consumers outside Norway, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, and Australia. Hogget has become more common in England, particularly in the North often in association with rare breed and organic farming. In South Asian and Caribbean cuisine, "mutton" often means goat meat. At various times and places, "mutton" or "goat mutton" has occasionally been used to mean goat meat.

Pirog is a baked case of dough with either sweet or savory filling. The dish is common in Eastern European cuisines. The name is derived from the ancient Proto-Slavic word pir, meaning "banquet" or "festivity". The Russian plural, pirogi (with the stress on the last syllable), should not be confused with pierogi (stress on "ro" in Polish and English) in Polish cuisine, which are dumplings similar to Russian pelmeni or Ukrainian varenyky. Pirogi come in different shapes and forms: they are often oblong with tapering ends, but can also be circular or rectangular. They can be closed or open-faced with no crust on top.

Pirozhki[a] are Eastern European baked or fried yeast-leavened boat-shaped buns with a variety of fillings. Pirozhki are a popular street food and comfort food in Eastern Europe. The stress in pirozhki is on the last syllable: [pʲɪrɐʂˈkʲi]. Pirozhok[b] (Russian: пирожо́к, romanized: pirožók, IPA: [pʲɪrɐˈʐok] ⓘ, singular) is the diminutive form of Russian pirog, which means a full-sized pie.[c] Pirozhki are not to be confused with the Polish pierogi (a cognate term), which are called varenyky or pyrohy in Ukrainian and Doukhoborese, and vareniki in Russian.

Pilaf , pilav or pilau ( UK: /ˈpiːlaʊ, piːˈlaʊ/) is a rice dish, usually sautéed, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat,[note 1][note 2] and employing some technique for achieving cooked grains that do not adhere to each other.[note 3][note 4] At the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, such methods of cooking rice at first spread through a vast territory from India to Greece, and eventually to a wider world. The Valencian (Spanish) paella,[note 5] and the Indian pilau or pulao,[note 6] and biryani,[note 7] evolved from such dishes.

Meat preserved in its own rendered fat

A samosa (listenⓘ) from the Persian word Sambosag (سنبوسگ) (Meaning triangular pastry) is a fried South Asian and West Asian snack. It is a pastry with a savory filling, mostly vegetables, spiced potatoes, onions, peas, also non-vegetarian meat, or fish. It is made into different shapes, including triangular, cone, or crescent, depending on the region. Samosas are often accompanied by chutney, and have origins in medieval times or earlier. Sweet versions are also made. Samosas are a popular entrée, appetizer, or snack in the cuisines of South Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, East Africa and their South Asian diasporas. The English word samosa derives from the Hindustani word samosa (Urdu: سموسہ, Hindi: समोसा), traceable to the Middle Persian word sanbosag (سنبوسگ) 'triangular pastry'. Similar pastries are called sambusak in Arabic; medieval Arabic recipe books sometimes spell it sambusaj, which are all borrowed from Persian sanbosag.

Seafood is the culinary name for food that comes from any form of sea life, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs . The harvesting, processing, and consuming of seafoods are ancient practices with archaeological evidence dating back well into the Paleolithic. Findings in a sea cave at Pinnacle Point in South Africa indicate Homo sapiens (modern humans) harvested marine life as early as 165,000 years ago, while the Neanderthals, an extinct human species contemporary with early Homo sapiens, appear to have been eating seafood at sites along the Mediterranean coast beginning around the same time. Isotopic analysis of the skeletal remains of Tianyuan man, a 40,000-year-old anatomically modern human from eastern Asia, has shown that he regularly consumed freshwater fish. Archaeology features such as shell middens, discarded fish bones, and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival and consumed in significant quantities. During this period, most people lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and were, of necessity, constantly on the move. However, early examples of permanent settlements (though not necessarily permanently occupied), such as those at Lepenski Vir, were almost always associated with fishing as a major source of food.

Dough layered with a meat and vegetable mixture

Shashlik, or shashlyck , is a dish of skewered and grilled cubes of meat, similar to or synonymous with shish kebab. It is known traditionally by various other names in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and from the 19th century became popular as shashlik across much of the Russian Empire and nowadays in the Russian Federation and former Soviet Union republics. The word shashlik or shashlick entered English from the Russian shashlyk, of Turkic origin. In Turkic languages, the word shish means skewer, and shishlik is literally translated as "skewerable". The word was coined from the Crimean Tatar: "şış" ('spit') by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and entered Russian in the 18th century, from there spreading to English and other European languages. Prior to that, the Russian name for meat cooked on a skewer was verchenoye, from vertel, 'spit'. Shashlik did not reach Moscow until the late 19th century. From then on, its popularity spread rapidly; by the 1910s it was a staple in St Petersburg restaurants and by the 1920s it was already a pervasive street food all over urban Russia. Shashlik was originally made of lamb, but nowadays it is also made of pork, beef, chicken or venison, depending on local preferences and religious observances. The skewers are either threaded with meat only, or with alternating pieces of meat, fat, and vegetables, such as bell pepper, onion, mushroom and tomato. In Iranian cuisine, meat for shashlik (as opposed to other forms of shish kebab) is usually in large chunks, while elsewhere the form of medium-size meat cubes is maintained making it similar to brochette. The meat is marinated overnight in a high-acidity marinade like vinegar, dry wine or sour fruit/vegetable juice with the addition of onions, herbs and spices.[better source needed]

A samosa (listenⓘ) from the Persian word Sambosag (سنبوسگ) (Meaning triangular pastry) is a fried South Asian and West Asian snack. It is a pastry with a savory filling, mostly vegetables, spiced potatoes, onions, peas, also non-vegetarian meat, or fish. It is made into different shapes, including triangular, cone, or crescent, depending on the region. Samosas are often accompanied by chutney, and have origins in medieval times or earlier. Sweet versions are also made. Samosas are a popular entrée, appetizer, or snack in the cuisines of South Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, East Africa and their South Asian diasporas. The English word samosa derives from the Hindustani word samosa (Urdu: سموسہ, Hindi: समोसा), traceable to the Middle Persian word sanbosag (سنبوسگ) 'triangular pastry'. Similar pastries are called sambusak in Arabic; medieval Arabic recipe books sometimes spell it sambusaj, which are all borrowed from Persian sanbosag.

Rice porridge or soup

Chorba or shorba is a broad class of stews or rich soups found in national cuisines across the Middle East, Maghreb, Iran, Turkey, Southeast Europe, Central Asia, East Africa and South Asia. It is often prepared with added ingredients but served alone as a broth or with bread. The word chorba in English and in many Balkan languages is a loan from the Ottoman Turkish چوربا çorba, which itself is a loan from Persian شوربا šōrbā. The spelling shorba could be a direct loan into English from Persian or through a Central or South Asian intermediary. The word is ultimately a compound of شور šōr meaning 'salty, brackish' and با bā meaning 'stew, gruel, spoon-meat'. The former is from Parthian 𐫢𐫇𐫡 šōr meaning 'salty', and the latter from Middle Persian *-bāg meaning 'gruel, spoon-meat'.

Noodle soup

Pot roast, made with beef and potatoes

Ajika or adjika, is a Georgian hot spicy, but subtly flavored dip, often used to flavor food. In 2018, the technology of ajika was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia list. Common varieties of ajika resemble Italian red pesto in appearance and consistency. Though it is usually red, green ajika is also made with unripe peppers.

Bryndza or brynza is a sheep milk cheese made across much of East-Central Europe, including in Ukraine and Slovakia. Bryndza cheese is creamy white in appearance, known for its characteristic strong smell and taste. The cheese is white, tangy, crumbly and slightly moist. It has characteristic odor and flavor with a notable taste of butyric acid. The overall flavor sensation begins slightly mild, then goes strong and finally fades to a salty finish. Recipes differ slightly across countries. Brynza is an essential ingredient in preparing Ukrainian cornmeal dish called banosh.

Herb-roasted pork, commonly served cold as an appetizer

A Caesar salad is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon mustard, Parmesan and black pepper. The salad was created in July 1924 by an Italian immigrant to the US, Caesar Cardini, at his restaurant Caesar's in Tijuana, Mexico, when the kitchen was overwhelmed and short on ingredients. It was originally prepared tableside.

Chal, also shubat or khoormog , is a Turkic (especially Turkmen, Uzbek and Kazakh) and Mongolic beverage of fermented camel milk, sparkling white with a sour flavor, popular in Central Asia — particularly in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In Kazakhstan the drink is known as shubat, and is a staple summer food. Due to preparation requirements and perishable nature, chal has proved difficult to export. Agaran (fermented cream) is collected from the surface of chal. Fermented chal is reputed to possess virucidal and virus inhibiting properties[citation needed] not found in fresh camel or cow milk, both in its liquid and lyophilized form — a characteristic which is (reputedly) unaffected by shelf life. Chal is typically prepared by first souring camel milk in a skin bag or ceramic jar by adding previously soured milk. For 3–4 days, fresh milk is mixed in; the matured chal will consist of one third to one fifth previously soured milk.

Tsoureki also known as šurēk (شُريك, Arabic), čöreg, čʿorek, katʿnahuncʿ (Armenian չէօրէկ, չորեկ, կաթնահունց), çörək (Azerbaijani), çyrek (Albanian), kozunak (Bulgarian козунак), cozonac (Romanian) or paskalya çöreği (Turkish) is a sweet holiday bread made with flour, milk, butter, eggs, and sugar and commonly seasoned with orange zest, mastic resin, or mahlab. Lampropsomo, a variation of tsoureki commonly called "Greek Easter bread," is made by Greek communities during Easter, not only in Greece, but also in other countries with Greek communities. It is also called Armenian Easter bread and gets eaten during Easter in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. The Greek word tsoureki is derived from the Turkish word çörek, meaning "round bread" in Old Turkic. Some dictionaries claim that this is derived from the Old Turkish root çevir- 'turn' or 'to make it round'.[better source needed] The ancient Armenian name was "bsatir - պսադիր" ("bsag պսակ" - "crown" and "tir դիր", is the root of "tnel դնել" verb: "to put"). This Armenian name is in allusion to Christ’s crown of thorns. There are different variations of the Greek tsoureki holiday breads including a round Christmas loaf with a cross decoration called Christopsomo, a braided Easter bread with whole dyed eggs pressed into the dough called lampropsomo, and a loaf with a coin hidden inside for good luck called vasilopita that is baked for St. Basil's Day (New Year's Day).

Dressed herring, colloquially known as herring under a fur coat or furry herring , is a layered salad composed of diced spekesild covered with layers of grated boiled eggs, vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beetroots), chopped onions, and mayonnaise. Some variations of this dish include a layer of fresh grated apple while some do not. A final layer of grated boiled beetroot covered with mayonnaise is what gives the salad its characteristic rich purple color. Dressed herring salad is often decorated with grated boiled eggs (whites, yolks, or both). Dressed herring salad is popular in Russia, Belarus (Belarusian: Селядзец пад футрам, romanized: Sieliadziec pad futram) and other countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, (Lithuanian: Silkė pataluose, Latvian: Siļķe kažokā). It is especially popular for holidays, and is commonly served as a "zakuska" at New Year (Novy God) and Christmas celebrations in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized because of its sweet taste, nutritive value, and long shelf life. Today, dried fruit consumption is widespread. Nearly half of the dried fruits sold are raisins, followed by dates, prunes, figs, apricots, peaches, apples, and pears. These are referred to as "conventional" or "traditional" dried fruits: fruits that have been dried in the sun or in heated wind tunnel dryers. Many fruits, such as cranberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and mango are infused with a sweetener prior to drying. Some products sold as dried fruit, like papaya, kiwifruit and pineapple, are most often candied fruit. Traditional dried fruit such as raisins, figs, dates, apricots, and apples has been a staple of Mediterranean diets for millennia. This is due partly to their early cultivation in the Middle Eastern region known as the Fertile Crescent, made up of parts of modern Iran, Iraq, southwest Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and northern Egypt. Drying or dehydration also happened to be the earliest form of food preservation: grapes, dates, and figs that fell from the tree or vine would dry in the hot sun. Early hunter-gatherers observed that these fallen fruits took on an edible form, and valued them for their stability as well as their concentrated sweetness.

Apricots, grapes, melons, pomegranates, plums

Cabbage rolls, filled with minced meat, vegetables, rice and spices

Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of Brassica oleracea, is a leafy green, red , or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage (B. oleracea var. oleracea), and belongs to the "cole crops" or brassicas, meaning it is closely related to broccoli and cauliflower (var. botrytis); Brussels sprouts (var. gemmifera); and Savoy cabbage (var. sabauda). A cabbage generally weighs between 500 and 1,000 grams (1 and 2 lb). Smooth-leafed, firm-headed green cabbages are the most common, with smooth-leafed purple cabbages and crinkle-leafed savoy cabbages of both colours being rarer. Under conditions of long sunny days, such as those found at high northern latitudes in summer, cabbages can grow quite large. As of 2012[update], the heaviest cabbage was 62.71 kilograms (138 lb 4 oz). Cabbage heads are generally picked during the first year of the plant's life cycle, but plants intended for seed are allowed to grow a second year and must be kept separate from other cole crops to prevent cross-pollination. Cabbage is prone to several nutrient deficiencies, as well as to multiple pests, and bacterial and fungal diseases.

Qatlama , qattama (Kazakh: қаттама, romanized: qattama; Kyrgyz: каттама, both pronounced [qɑttɑmɑ]), katmer (Turkish: katmer), katma (Bulgarian: катма), qator, gambir (Mongolian: гамбир, pronounced [ɢæmʲbʲĭɾ]) is a fried layered bread common in the cuisines of Central Asia and Pakistan. The word katlama in Turkic languages means "folded", which comes from the verb katlamak "to fold", likely referring to the traditional method of preparation.

Aspic or meat jelly is a savory gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as aspic gelée or aspic jelly. In its simplest form, aspic is essentially a gelatinous version of conventional soup. According to one poetic reference by Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who described a version of a dish prepared with Iraqi carp, it was "like ruby on the platter, set in a pearl ... steeped in saffron thus, like garnet it looks, vibrantly red, shimmering on silver". Historically, meat aspics were made even before fruit- and vegetable-flavoured aspics. By the Middle Ages, cooks had discovered that a thickened meat broth could be made into a jelly. A detailed recipe for aspic is found in Le Viandier, written in or around 1375.

Tandyr nan is a type of Central Asian bread cooked in a vertical clay oven, the tandyr or tandoor. It is circular and leavened with yeast, and typically has a crisp golden surface. They are often decorated by stamping patterns on the dough, and can be topped with ingredients like sesame seeds, nigella seeds, or thinly sliced onion. Large tandyr ovens used to bake nan as well as cook meat are typically located outdoors. Unlike Indian tandoor ovens, in Central Asia the tandyr can be used in a vertical or horizontal position, although the bread is always baked in the fashion of a vertical oven, with the bread stuck onto the inner walls of the oven. The leavening can derive from sourdough starter, as is traditional, or from brewers yeast. Several filled variants of the bread exist, such as Uyghur gosh nan and Turkmen atli nan. Bakers of nan are called nonvoys. Nan is often decorated with a central design in the shape of a circle consisting of patterned dots. This design is created with a stamp known in Uzbekistan as a chekich or in Turkmenistan or by Uyghurs in Xinjiang as durtlik. In addition to giving each bakery's nan a distinct design, the holes created by the chekich allow steam to rise from the flattened interior part of the nan. A radial pattern of slashes or dots can also be added with a bosma, a tool often made with reused bicycle spokes. Other bakers may use a chekich several times on the surface of their nan. Nan for festive occasions may have more elaborate designs or color added. Nan for engagements is often colored pink and yellow.

A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων , meaning "melon", itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), "apple", treefruit (of any kind)" and πέπων (pepōn), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes. Melons were thought to have originated in Africa, however, recent studies suggest a Southwest Asian origin, especially Iran and India, from where they gradually began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Western Roman Empire. Melons are known to have been grown by the ancient Egyptians. However, recent discoveries of melon seeds dated between 1350 and 1120 BCE in Nuragic sacred wells have shown that melons were first brought to Europe by the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia during the Bronze Age. Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in the Old World and among the first crop species brought by westerners to the New World. Early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. A number of Native American tribes in New Mexico, including Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Navajo, Santo Domingo and San Felipe, maintain a tradition of growing their own characteristic melon cultivars, derived from melons originally introduced by the Spanish. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these and other heritage seeds. Melons in genus Cucumis are culinary fruits, and include the majority of culinary melons. All but a handful of culinary melon varieties belong to the species Cucumis melo L.

Cornmeal dressing or spoonbread, serve as a side with meat

Olivier salad is a traditional salad dish of Russian cuisine. Its creation is generally attributed to Lucien Olivier. It is also popular in other post-Soviet countries and around the world. In different modern recipes, it is usually made with diced boiled potatoes, carrots and brined dill pickles (or cucumber), together with optional vegetable or fruit ingredients such as green peas, eggs, celeriac, onions and apples, optional meat ingredients such as diced boiled chicken, cured sausage, ham, or hot dogs, with salt, pepper and mustard sometimes added to enhance flavor, and dressed with mayonnaise. In many countries, the dish is commonly referred to as Russian salad, in a few Scandinavian countries (Denmark and Norway) it is called italiensk salat (Italian salad, to acknowledge the popularity of this dish in Northern Italy - where however the common name is Insalata russa) and in Dutch it is called huzarensalade (hussars' salad). In former Yugoslav countries it is called ruska salata (Russian salad) or francuska salata (French salad). In Romania it is known as "salata (de) boeuf." which means beef salad in French. In France, it is referred to as macédoine de légumes, whereas the Polish version, in which there's usually no meat, is simply known as sałatka jarzynowa, or vegetable salad. In Russia and other post-Soviet states, as well as in Russophone communities worldwide, the salad has become one of the main dishes on zakuski tables served during New Year's Eve ("Novy God") celebrations. In Poland it is commonly served at Christmas and Easter.

Salo or slanina[a] is a European food consisting of salt-cured slabs of pork subcutaneous fat with or without skin and with or without layers of meat. It is commonly eaten and known under different names across Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It is usually dry salt or brine cured. The East Slavic, Hungarian and Romanian variety may also be cured with paprika or other seasonings added, whereas the South and West Slavic version is often smoked. The Slavic word "salo" or "slanina" as applied to this type of food is often translated to English as "bacon", "lard" or "fatback" in general, depending on context. Unlike bacon, salo contains more fat than lean meat and unlike lard, salo is not rendered. It is similar to Italian lardo, the main difference is that lardo is sliced for curing. For preservation, salo is salted and sometimes also smoked and aged in a dark and cold place, where it will last for a year or more. The slabs of fat are first cut into manageable pieces, typically 15×20 cm. Then layers of fat slabs topped with one-centimetre layers of salt go into a wooden box or barrel for curing. For added flavouring and better preservation, the slabs of salo may be covered with a thick layer of paprika (usually in the more Western lands; in Russian salo with paprika is called "Hungarian"), minced garlic, or sometimes black pepper.[citation needed]

Farmer's cheese, an acid-set cheese, similar to yogurt or cream cheese, serve with sugar, honey or jam

Vinegret or Russian vinaigrette is a salad in Russian cuisine which is also popular in other post-Soviet states. This type of food includes diced cooked vegetables (red beets, potatoes, carrots), chopped onions, as well as sauerkraut and/or brined pickles. Other ingredients, such as green peas or beans, are sometimes also added. The naming comes from vinaigrette, which is used as a dressing. However, in spite of the name, vinegar is often omitted in modern cooking, and sunflower or other vegetable oil is just used. Some cooks add the brine from the pickled cucumbers or sauerkraut. Along with Olivier salad and dressed herring, vinegret is served as zakuska on celebration tables in Russophone communities. Despite the widespread popularity in Russia and Ukraine, the basic mixed salad recipes were adopted from Western European cuisines as late as the 19th century. Originally, the term vinegret denoted any mixture of diced cooked vegetables dressed with vinegar. Later the meaning changed to any mixed salad with beetroots. Modern Russian and Ukrainian cookbooks still mention the possibility of adding mushrooms, meat or fish, but this is rarely practiced.