Blini

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Blini (plural blinis or blini, rarely bliny;<ref name=ahd>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=macmillan>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Langx; singular: blin) are Russian crêpes, often made with a yeast-raised batter of buckwheat or wheat flour and milk.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Bender">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Mason">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Ayto">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They may be served with smetana, cottage cheese, caviar and other garnishes, or simply smeared with butter.<ref name="Bender"/><ref name="Ayto"/> They are a traditional dish in Russian cuisine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the West, 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) pre-fried minced meat, and then sautéed or baked.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Etymology

The Proto-Slavic term for the Russian pancakes was probably mlinŭ ('to mill'), which was transformed in Old Russian into Template:Langx, and Template:Langx (cf. Template:Langx, Ukrainian for blin).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While the modern Russian word Template:Langx (plural of Template:Langx), also refers to foreign-introduced pancakes in general, the term Template:Langx ('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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Ayto"/>

History

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

Traditional Russian 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, "(russkya) pech".

The influence of French cuisine in the 19th century may have led to the development of lighter blini.<ref name="Mason"/> 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..."<ref name="Mason"/>

Ukraine

Blini, or as they are known in Ukrainian, mlyntsi, are a highly popular dish around Ukraine, the simplicity of making the thin pancakes as well as the basic ingredients yet highly favourable taste have led to the popularity of the dish. Mlyntsi have been eaten in Ukraine since pre-Christian times. Mlyntsi tend to be served in Ukraine with sour cream (Ukrainian: smetana) as well as with caviar; they can also be served as a sweet dish by serving them alongside a fruit preserve or a sweet cream. The thin pancakes can also be stuffed with cottage cheese, chopped boiled eggs, mixed green onions, stewed cabbage, minced meat, mashed beans, mushrooms, fruit and berries and raisins. However upon being stuffed the dish acquires a new title (Ukrainian: Налисники, nalysnyky), a fundamental dish of Ukrainian cuisine that is served all around the country with a number of regional varieties, for example the Chernihiv style nalysnyky are marked by their mushroom and cabbage filling. The most popular form of nalysnyky served in Ukraine is those stuffed with cottage cheese and served with sour cream. Nalysnyky as well as mlyntsi are also served for special occasions such as Masnytsya, which may originally have been a pagan festival that celebrated the end of winter and the arrival of spring (the round yellow pancake most likely symbolising the sun), but has for a millennium been the time for using up dairy products before the beginning of Great Lent. Nalysnyky can be formed out of mlyntsi in a number of different shapes including; tubes, envelopes and even triangles. Some recipes call for the stuffed mlyntsi to be placed in an oven proof dish and cooked in an oven.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Varieties

File:Preparation of blins or blini.jpg
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

  • Blini made by pouring batter over chopped vegetables, meat, or mushrooms put on a frying pan beforehand are called "blini s pripyokom."
  • Caviar is a popular filling for blini during Russian-style parties and in foreign Russian-style restaurants.
  • Buckwheat blini are part of traditional Russian cuisine.<ref name="Encyclopedia" /> They are also widespread in Ukraine,<ref name="Encyclopedia" /> where they are sometimes known as Template:Transliteration (Template:Langx), and Lithuania's Dzūkija region, the only region of the country in which buckwheat is grown, where they are called grikių blynai (which is in fact literally "buckwheat blini").

Similar pancakes are eaten in neighboring countries, such as nalistniki in Belarus, although blini are also widely eaten.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Aside from referring to pancakes, the word Template:Transliteration (Template:IPA) is used in Russian as a "minced oath" for the Russian swear word "блять" Template:Transliteration, used as an interjection to express a negative emotion, akin to the words "damn!" or saying "Holy Moly!" while meaning "Holy shit!".<ref name=leru>Template:Cite web</ref>

There are many Russian proverbs involving blini.<ref>ПОСЛОВИЦЫ И ПОГОВОРКИ О БЛИНАХ</ref><ref>Русские пословицы и поговорки о блинах и масленице</ref> 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.<ref name=leru/> An English equivalent would be "You must spoil before you spin".<ref name=leru/>

See also

References

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