... But it would be interesting.
I was wondering: what was it like, Russian street fast food, if ever? What we now have on sale on the street is not shawarma, falafel, to Russian culinary traditions, pasties, belyashi... In some places pancakes flicker, but pancakes are more "imported", with wrapped fillings than Russians.
Here we can say that we had few traditions of street food, and nod to the climate - they say, the cold season for the most part territories of the Russian Empire was not conducive to tradable trade, but this is not so: in winter, knockers and kalashniki.
Others will remind that, according to Gilyarovsky and many contemporaries, street trade specialized exclusively in low-quality and super-cheap products... But this is also nonsense: street vendors were based not only on Khitrovka, the same Landrin (Russian monpencier, sold by the craftsman Landrin, and then opened the factory, the history of the appearance of these sweets is also mentioned by Gilyarovsky).
The fact that the majority of the population of Russia did not live in cities is already a more significant reason. Like the widespread peasant poverty, the peasants ate mainly what they raised themselves, and grocery purchases were kept to a minimum.
But in the cities, street trading flourished.
Personally, I would really like to try a few "dishes" of Russian fast food from pre-revolutionary times.
Kalachi
Until the 18th century in Russian chronicles this bread product was called "kolach", later it became "kalach". I will not retell the origin of the name, I will add - they distinguished ordinary, large and rich rolls, and a little earlier they were divided into white and local. White rolls were considered to be of the highest quality, while local ones were made from different varieties of flour and were cheap food.
The shape of the roll made it easy to eat right on the street - see the bow?
Now rolls are baked, but the recipes have changed a lot since then.
Buckwheat
If it is more or less possible to find authentic kalach, then everything is difficult with buckwheat.
Buckwheat is mentioned by many pre-revolutionary authors, they are one of the obligatory attributes of street festivals, festivities, fairs. But here's the problem - now nothing like them can be found. and in general, what it is is not clear.
The Dictionary of the Russian Academy of 1790 says:
Sinner - baked bread made from sinful flour, with a view of a cut off cone, similar, which is baked in clay bowls
Several times I tried to find a recipe for at least something similar, but... What is now called buckwheat does not even remotely resemble the buckwheat of those times, eaten, by the way, with vegetable oil.
Kaluga dough
This point is the most mysterious for me. Kaluga dough is often mentioned in the literature, but I could not find its recipe. And what kind of beast it is is almost impossible to find out.
Look, this is a fairly well-known work by Ivan Terebnev - a caricature of the Treat to Napoleon in Russia.
Do you see the inscription on the barrel in which the soldiers dip Napoleon? That is, we can assume that it was some kind of fairly liquid substance, but at the same time it had a certain viscosity, since it was not drunk, but eaten, and in general it was called a dough.
A certain recipe found by local historians is now circulating on the Internet:
2 cups ground rye breadcrumbs, 1 cup sugar syrup, add spices - cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom
However, right there, on the Internet, you can find this excerpt (they write that it is from the magazine "Urania" for 1811:
- 23137 people live in Kaluga, there are about a thousand merchants. The Gribanovs, Korobkovs, Slobozheninovs, Perekalins, Larins, Faleevs, Mashoshins, Vereitinovs are engaged in leatherworking. Bristle business - Zolotarev and Borisov, iron foundry - Zasypkins, Lavrovs, Kiselevs, Baranovs. Some also make sinful dough ("Kaluga") with special art, which is sold for 6 thousand rubles. rub.
And in the "Complete cookbook of the Russian experienced hostess" by Ekaterina Avdeeva, a recipe for a long cake, with which you fiddle so much that your hair stands on end) only "beat" the dough is continuously offered one and a half hours.
So think, what is actually Kaluga dough, and what is so - stood nearby.
How do you like these dishes?