This round of Cook the Books is hosted by Simona (briciole) and features Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food & Longing by Anya Von Bremzen.
“So what happens when some of your most intense culinary memories involve foods you hadn’t actually tasted? “(2). You listen to your mom reading Proust endlessly simply because it’s about really delicious palatable cookies.
On page two, Anya Von Bremzen sums up her family tradition of longing for food and growing up in the USSR where communal kitchens with multiple pots of bubbling, collective, meager, mystery soups were the norm.
My sister and I both read this book. She loved it and thought it was hilarious. I wanted to love it and think it was hilarious. Although I enjoyed the book and am glad it was a CTB feature, I felt like I was reading more of a history book than a memoir of “food and longing.” The food described in Von Bremzen’s book is not only from the Soviet era, but also examines Tzarist Russia. Van Bremzen includes recipes from each era of Soviet history starting with the 1910s and she does include personal family hednotes for many.
I had a difficult time perusing through the first few chapters of the book as Von Bremzen retells the stories of her grandparents and mother. It might have been the third-party retelling or it might have been the more than dismal portrayal of WW II, but I couldn’t connect with the author’s tale.
As her story becomes her own and she and her mother emigrate to the US, I became more responsive. I even thought her description of her early childhood in the USSR as a bit witty, ironically enough. There were moments where I still thought I would love the book.
I could have done borscht or madeleines or gefilte fish or a number of the other recipes mentioned in the book.
But instead….drum roll, please….you know I made a cocktail. (How many times have I written that?)
I also couldn’t get past the need to make something with beets, hence the following Red Wine Pickled Beets recipe.
Notice the play on RED?
For the Moscow mule, you must first make the Red Pepper Infused Vodka.
Red Pepper Infused Vodka
Besides making Moscow Mules with a kick, use this for a spicy Bloody Mary.
Ingredients
- 2 c. vodka
- 2 dried Thai chiles, broken up a bit
- 1 pint size mason jar with lid (sterilized)
Instructions
- Place vodka and chiles in the jar and screw on lid.
- Put jar in a cool dark place (like a cabinet) for at least 3 days and up to a week. Shake once every day.
- After 2-3 days, strain the vodka. You may place the strained vodka back in the same jar.
I was at the liquor store counter with our favorite local (sort of) vodka when the owner told me she had a sale going on another vodka that the staff enjoyed much more—Hammer & Sickle.
How could I refuse and what serendipity.
After your spicy vodka is infused, whip up your cocktail. (For the skinny on the Moscow Mule, check out John’s (Kitchen Riffs) history lesson on the marketing ploys to increase vodka and copper cup sales.)
Moscow Mule with Red Pepper Infused Vodka
This mule packs a kick. Tired old joke I know….how about “You can’t have just one, comrade.”
Ingredients
- 2 oz. Red Pepper Infused Vodka (see above recipe)
- 1 oz. fresh lime juice
- 3-4 oz. ginger beer (The hard kind.)
- garnishes: lime slice and dried chile pepper
Instructions
- Add ice to a copper cup (or whatever serving vessel you desire).
- Add the red pepper infused vodka and lime juice.
- Then top up with ginger beer.
- Stir.
- Add the garnishes.
- Drink
За здоровье!
I was going to leave well enough alone with just a cocktail for this round of CTB, but I could not get beets out of my mind. I had one lone jar of pickled beets left in the pantry that needed used up and I did want to share this fantastic recipe. (In fact, I’m not sure why I hadn’t shared it before.)
Red Wine Pickled Beets with Rosemary
This is a slightly adapted recipe from The Preservation Kitchen by Paul Virant.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. beets
- 2-3 T. olive oil
- fine sea salt
- 2 c. red wine vinegar (at least 5% acidity)
- 1 c. red wine
- 1/2 c. filtered water
- 1/4 c. local honey
- 1/3 c. brown sugar, packed
- 1 T. Kosher salt
- 2 t. black peppercorns
- 4 rosemary sprigs (about 3 inches long)
- 4 pint jars with lids, sterilized
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Wash and dry the beets and trim away the greens. Toss the beets with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Place in a 9 x 9-inch baking dish and cover with foil. Roast 1 hour or until tender. Let cool.
- Once the beets are cool enough to handle, rub off the outer skin and slice into 1/4-inch thick slices or wedges. (Your preference).
Prepare a water bath for canning.- In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, wine, water, honey, sugar and salt to a boil. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. Keep hot.
- Remove sterilized jars from oven or boiling water (your preference on sterilization). Place 1/2 t. peppercorns and 1 rosemary sprig in each jar. Pack in beets. Carefully pour the hot brine over the beets, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Check the jars for air bubbles and use a wooden skewer if necessary to remove air pockets. Add more brine as needed.
- Wipe the rims clean, seal with the lids and bands.
- Place the jars in a water bath, covered by 1 inch of water. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the water for a few minutes.
You can use any leftover roasted beets that might not fit into your jars for a salad.
I know my sister (a Poli-Sci professor AND someone who actually traveled to the USSR when it was the USSR) is more cerebral than I and perhaps that is why she enjoyed this book so much.
As for me, I’m glad CTB and Simona (briciole) introduced me to the material, but I just couldn’t connect with the author. Instead of a personal journey, I felt like I was reading history, even as she was telling her own tale.
I will also fully admit that I copped out in some ways with my cocktail and beets. As I finished the book and read of Van Bremzen’s father heroically inviting her and her mother (the ex) to a soirée of gratinéed cheese toast with adzhika ( spicy Georgian chile paste), satsivi (creamy walnut chicken), and borscht “painstakingly” extracted from the fresh juices of beets and carrots, I felt a little bit remorseful I didn’t do something more authentic and challenging.
But still, I present a cocktail and pickled beets.
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking closes out this round of selections for Cook the Books. We have chosen the next four books for August 2017 through March 2018.
That chili infused vodka sounds really interesting, Deb, but what I love the most is that red wine pickled beets! Can I use honey instead of sugar in the recipe?
I would definitely give honey a try.
Vodka is definitely my alcohol, I cannot stand whiskey. I love mules and put this in my notes to try!
Good. Let me know what you think.
I love that you used hammer & Sickle vodka! Perfect. LOL! I normally drink whiskey, but I’ve been know to enjoy a mule. The spice infusion sounds so good!
I didn’t even tell them what I was working on. They just offered up the H&S. This is the same store that helped me get inspired for the Singleton Cosmo.
I’m a bourbon and gin drinker but would definitely try this mule. Sounds good and worth a try, but not sure about the book. However, the pickled beets need to be made! Thanks for the recipe!
You are welcome. Yes, I’m not sure about the book either. Glad I read it though.
Love pickled beets! Yours look great. And you know me — I can never resist a cocktail! That vodka looks amazing. Good stuff — thanks.
Thanks for the inspiration. I am in love with this infused vodka.
Love Moscow mules, nice twist. And too funny but for anothe rpost I just pickeld cucmbers wit beets lol. I also found the book very scholarly in history but loved it as it is part of my heritage. but did not expect that kind of a read.
Cucumbers and beets sound interesting. I can’t wait to see that post.
Your reaction to “Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking” couldn’t be more different than mine and that of my daughter as well. We’re much more in agreement with your sister . We quite enjoyed the historic and family background in each chapter. I can see how not everyone would be on the same page with us, though.
Your recipe choices are interesting. Beets, I understand, are very connected to Russia. According to “Kitchen Riffs” — where the cocktail was discussed last month — the Moscow Mule was actually invented in Los Angeles with the goal of helping sales of Smirnoff vodka.
The Kitchen Riffs link: http://www.kitchenriffs.com/2017/06/the-moscow-mule-cocktail.html#more
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Yes, I actually thought John’s history lesson was very interesting. I had read his post and that’s what got me thinking about the mules. One history lesson led to another.
Oh, how fun!! I love the vodka you found…never heard of it, but it was very appropriate. Love the pickled beets, too. It wasn’t my favorite book either, but it was passable.
I have at least a new cocktail recipe out of it. 🙂
You definitely found the perfect vodka for your Moscow mule!! I love pickled beets and would easily devour those pickled beets!
I wasn’t a pickled beet fan until I had homemade ones.
Love the chile infused vodka! Can’t wait to try it in a Moscow Mule. I’ve gotten hooked on them and am trying them with a variety of liquors, but haven’t tried a chile infused one yet. 🙂 Thanks!
This is right up your alley, M.J. 🙂
Have similar feelings about the book. Lots of interesting history, though a bit depressing. The beets are on my to-make list as I do love pickling things. And also need to get some vodka chili infused.
Interesting book with mixed reviews but I’m glad I read it. Especially glad I got my sister a copy. Hope you try the beets, Claudia.
I wasn’t crazy about the memoir either Deb, but I am crazy about your beet recipe. I pickle beets each season and this recipe will be a nice change of pace from my usual spiced pickled beets.
I hope you try it. They may be an acquired taste but we like them.
As usual, I enjoyed your post, Deb. I guess I am with your sister in this case and I think her personal experience of the USSR explains at least in part her take on the book. I did not visit the USSR but as a young teenager I visited Yugoslavia and have memories of some of the things von Bremzen talks about. I understand your wish to make something with beets and with vodka, especially that vodka: The bottle is priceless! Thank you for your contribution to this edition of Cook the Books 🙂
Thanks for hosting and recommending this book, Simona. I do wish the author had delved more into the food. I am usually one that picks up on irony, but I am now wondering if I missed the ironic sardonic side of things with this memoir. Checking out the round up today! Thanks again.
I love both the beets and the Moscow mule with the spicy vodka–both look and sound terrific for our humid weather today. I had similar feelings about the book–I much preferred the second half. 😉
The second half actually went faster. I kept calling my sister and asking when it would get better. She still maintains she liked it a lot.
Oh my gracious, that sounds amazing! I *need* to try that moscow mule!
No need about it, you MUST.
Well I had mixed feelings about the book too… but the recipe ideas were great
I so agree regarding the recipe choices. I really want to research that walnut chicken dish her father made.