Put on your slippers, put the tomatoes aside. I know that in Russia it was not New Year that was celebrated on a grand scale, but Christmas, nevertheless, Christmas traditions can still be transferred to our New Year's realities - and make the table a little more interesting than usually.
Even the entourage - and that, too, can be adjusted to the theme of the feast.
For example, invite all guests to dress “like a boyar”. Or under the serfs - everyone has rags in the storerooms (on the balconies).
As for the table, here it is necessary to take into account: earlier Russia lived according to the Julian calendar, and before Christmas it kept the fast. Therefore, the main things on the table were not all our vegetable and cheese cuts, along with chocolates and other sweets. No. The main thing is FOOD! That is, meat, birds, all kinds of fish ...
Cooking?
The presence of a noble white fish is a must - sterlet or sturgeon.
I won't write where to buy - there are different places in different cities, I think people already know them. But Avdeeva's old recipe will come in handy for you.
We bake the sturgeon under mustard sauce - it turns out tasty, quite authentic (albeit not the times of the Terrible or the Quiet, but before the revolution - they definitely cooked it)
Cut the carrots, onions into thin slices (just in circles, and do not disassemble), parsley root.
Wash a piece of sturgeon, salt, put on the roots. Then we drown a spoonful of butter, and in it we fry the finely chopped onion, cool it all down, and stir with two beaten eggs. Pour it onto the fish, sprinkle it with grated sieve bread in the original, we can just take bread crumbs. We bake until tender.
We remove the fish from the roots, and pour the roots themselves in the original - ½ glass of table wine, 1½ glass. Krѣpkago ”, but in our reality, in principle, you can take just dry white wine - preferably not too sour. Add to it 1½ glass of fish broth, 2 - 3 tablespoons of vinegar, and a bed of dry mustard. We boil, filter, try (what if nasty?), Then water the sturgeon. On my own I will add - it is better not to use dry mustard, but ready-made - Dijon, for example. For me, dry mustard gives the sauce a bitter taste.
Besides fish, meat is a must.
Since the year of the Ox is approaching, so as not to offend this bull, it is probably better to take pork. And figure out, for example, "Stifled carbonad". That's how it is, of course, stewed - but Avdeeva's is stifling, so who am I to argue with her?
We will smother the carbonade in a smart way - in the oven.
We put a piece on a baking sheet, salt (the most interesting - there is no seasoning in the recipe, so it's better to take care of it yourself and season it with the mixture that you like). Pour water on a baking sheet (a couple of glasses, as for me, is enough), cover (in the twenty-first century, this means we pack it well in foil) and simmer for a couple of hours at a temperature of 220 degrees. About the temperature - this is from experience, with Avdeeva - we bake in the oven until cooked.
When time has passed, we remove the foil, sprinkle it (Avdeeva's - with grated sieve bread, we - with breadcrumbs) and again into the oven... ugh, into the oven! Bake until dark.
If the liquid remains in the baking sheet, you can drain, boil with broth, a little wine and seasonings, thicken with butter or flour (again, an addition from me).
Now I looked - I wrote a lot of beeches, but I have not yet reached the birds and sweets. So I'll leave them for tomorrow. Don't switch!