Russian Offal Dishes

Cooking time —
Complication —

Russian cuisine is characterized by a variety of foods used in a great number of original dishes bringing fame to the national cuisine. Among them are dishes made from leavened pastry, cereals and fish. The huge range of soups, in particular dressing soups (shchi, borscht, rassolnik, solianka, etc.), has existed for many ages and has always delighted people from other countries. Shchi alone numbers over 60 varieties: sour shchi with meat, fish, jowl, mushrooms, whitebait, daily shchi, lazy shchi, green shchi, nettle shchi with beef, etc. There is also a considerable number of borscht (Moscow-style, with mushrooms and prunes, Siberian, etc.), fish and meat solianka, ukha, etc. Cold soups based on kvass or beetroot broth are also extremely diverse: okroshka, svekolnik, botvinia.
Offal dishes are also typical of Russian cuisine – aspics, dishes from liver, tongue, kidneys or hearts. These are the dishes we are going to present today. Offal is not only tasty, but also very good for health. For example, liver contains a lot of easily digested iron, kidneys are rich in vitamin В, and hearts apart from B contains a little vitamin С. Besides, all kinds of offal are used in a number of highly nutritious and delicious dishes.

Bull Tails with Celery Root

200g rinsed spick
1kg bull tails (sliced about 3cm wide)
salt, pepper
4 celery roots
1 onion
1 garlic
250ml (1/4L) white wine
1kg tomatoes (tinned)

Cooking:
Dice spick and fry until transparent. Rinse and dry tails, fry in heated fat, season with salt and pepper, take off the heat. Clean, rinse and cut celery about 2cm wide. Peel onions and garlic, slice fine. Simmer the onions, garlic and celery in the meat sauce. Add wine and stew together, add meat. Cut tinned tomatoes in quarters into four parts, add to the meat with juice. Stew 2 hrs covered turning periodically. Add hot instant meat bouillon as it evaporates. Garnish: fried potatoes with celery, lettuce mix.

Lamb Kidneys Roasted

(serves 6)
3 lamb or veal kidneys
750g lamb (back side fillet)
500g potatoes
2 carrots
1 small kohlrabi
1 big onion
1-1.5 tsp salt
two knife-tips black pepper
1/2L meat stock
butter for brushing

Cooking:
Put kidneys in cold water for 30 min. Rinse and dry meat, cut in thick slices. Dice kidneys. Slice peeled potatoes and carrots coarsely. Peel and dice kohlrabi, cut onions into rings. Heat the oven to 175 C. Put half the sliced potatoes in a stew pan, then kohlrabi and carrots, then lamb. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put half the sliced onions and kidneys on the meat, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then put the sliced onions and cover with the remaining potatoes. Add meat stock and stew 2 hrs covered in the oven. Remove the lid and roast 30 min until brown and crisp.

Pot Roast

150g beef liver
100g milk
200g lamb
200g kidneys
100g melted butter
100g fresh mushrooms
100g sour cream
800g potatoes
100g onions
200g stock to taste
salt, pepper, fresh herbs

Cooking:
Leave liver in milk for 2 hrs, fry until half-ready, separately fry kidneys and lamb, put everything in pots, add mushrooms fried in sour cream, fried onions, cubed potatoes, meat stock, butter, salt, pepper, fresh parsley and celery. Roast until ready.

Russian Kidneys

700g kidneys
50g animal fat
125g carrots
50g parsley
125g onions
175g cucumbers
5g garlic
500g tomato sauce
500g potatoes
bay leaves, peppercorns, fresh herbs

Cooking:
Soak beef kidneys and boil at low heat until soft. Rinse. Halve them lengthwise then slice crosswise about 5 mm thick. Put in a bowl and add hot red sauce. You can optionally add sour cream. Slice carrots, parsley and onions finely and simmer. Cut pickled gherkins into thin circles. Add gherkins and simmered vegetables to kidneys, add bay leaves, black peppercorns, mix and stew stirring 20-25 min. After stewing, stir in garlic rubbed with salt. Serve kidneys with sauce and vegetables sprinkled with fresh parsley or dill. Garnish – fried or boiled potatoes.