Everyday Foundation Dish (Otvarnoye) — Boiled Meat of the Daily Meal
Empress's Boiled Beef with Water Vegetables
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A piece of beef long-poached in a broth fragrant with aromatics, served with vegetables cooked in the same stock and a bit of salted pickle. The secret is slowness: meltingly tender meat and a clear broth drunk separately.
Why this dish? Contemporaries marveled at Catherine's frugality: while her court teemed with splendor, she herself loved simple boiled beef, water vegetables, and fruit. This dish embodies her private table, the opposite of the banquets she gave.
They marvel at my table to see me prefer boiled beef to the stews my French cooks take such art to compose. What can I say: I govern an empire all day, I have no leisure to govern my stomach as well. So cook your meat very gently, skim it carefully, and add your roots and a brine cucumber; you will have enough to feed a philosopher without weighing him down. I have seen courtiers yawn before mountains of game — I, I rise from table with my mind as sharp as before.
Ingredients
- •Piece of beef (shin or chuck) — a good piece (meat to poach)
- •Onion, parsley root, carrot, turnip — according to the pot (aromatics and vegetables)
- •Bay leaf, peppercorns — a pinch (broth flavor)
- •Salted cucumbers (barrel) — a few (tangy garnish)
- •Coarse salt — by hand (seasoning)
How it was made : Long poaching was the queen of Russian pot cooking, where from a single piece one drew a broth (the base for shchi) and a meat. Barrel-salted cucumbers and cabbage replaced fresh vegetables during winter.
Sources : Memoirs of Catherine II · W. Pokhlebkin, A History of Russian Cuisine (Национальные кухни наших народов)