Molokhovets gift to young housewives read online. A gift for young housewives, or a means to reduce household expenses. A) hot soups, meat

Editorial: Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets(1831-1918) - a classic of Russian culinary literature, author of the famous book " A gift for young housewives or a means to reduce costs in household ”(1861), containing about 1,500 (in the latest edition there are about 4,500) recipes and descriptions of methods for preparing various dishes.

During the life of the author, this book went through 29 editions with a total circulation of about 300,000 copies and became one of the most widely read Russian books of the 19th century. "Gift" is of great practical interest and contains the experience of almost two centuries of Russian culinary history. This book is an excellent guide to housekeeping and in our time, its advice and culinary recipes have withstood the test of time with dignity. Of course, you need to read and apply the recipes from the book wisely. Much has changed in two centuries in the life of a Russian person. Well, we don’t have hams hanging in our cellars, we can’t afford to keep a personal chef, just like standing at the stove for several hours every day just to cook some “ unpretentious» Roast or aspic. And it is unlikely that anyone today will cook sterlet in white wine or beat pudding with a wooden fork for half an hour, having a mixer in the kitchen. However, the book Gift for young housewives” will help even today any girl, girl, woman to become a wonderful hostess: generous and hospitable and at the same time economical, she will teach you to follow the family budget, choose and store food correctly, set the table and, of course, cook deliciously.

The Molokhovets couple had ten children (nine sons and a daughter), it was difficult to support them on one salary. Most likely, the constant need for money taught Elena Ivanovna to exemplary household savings. Of course, we will not be able to place several thousand recipes on the site. We present to the reader only the basic tips on housekeeping and kitchen arrangement given by Elena Ivanovna in the preface of the book. The book itself " A gift to young housewives or a means to reduce household expenses" with thousands of recipes can be read (and downloaded) on our website (reprinted edition of 1866 at the link).

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The kitchen is also a kind of science, which, without guidance, and if one cannot devote a few hours exclusively to it, is acquired not by years, but by dozens of years of experience, and this ten years of inexperience is sometimes very costly, especially for young spouses, and one often hears, as later on, a disorder of the state, and as a result of this, various displeasures in family life it is mostly attributed to the fact that the mistress of the house was inexperienced and did not want to delve into and take care of the household herself. To prevent these bad consequences, or at least to take a step towards avoiding them, is my direct goal and my most sincere desire, and if my book reaches at least half of the goal I desired and benefits my compatriots, then I will be completely happy and this will be the best reward for my labors. I compiled this book exclusively for young housewives in order to give them a chance without their own experience and in a short time to get an idea about the economy in general and in order to make them feel like taking up the economy.

This book is based on three pillars.:

To acquaint with the kitchen and in general the household of the hostesses themselves

To do this, I have collected a description of the various supplies needed in the household, such as: biscuits, breadcrumbs, preparation of jams, home-made drinks, various supplies of vegetables and fruits, salting of meat, in total 1500 no.

To reduce household expenses and help housewives to provide food from the pantry

To this end, in all the dishes I placed, I tried to assign, as far as possible, a precisely defined proportion of all their constituent parts, a proportion for 6 people, and under the description of almost every dish I appointed a list of issuance, because, without having before my eyes a register of everything that is included in the composition food, not only the hostess, but even the cook, who is exclusively occupied with this, cannot suddenly remember everything; it follows from this that during the whole morning until dinnertime one has to go to the pantry several times, first for one thing, then for another, which not only soon bores, but is also extremely difficult for every housewife, and even impossible in secular life.

To make it easier for them to come up with daily meals

To do this, I added a register of simple homemade meals for the whole year, from 52 Lenten meals, you can choose fish dishes or without fish and for other fast days; these dinners are appointed from 3-4 or 5 dishes, but they can be varied or changed at will, out of four or five assigned dishes, you can choose only three. ( The following is an example of lunch number 12 in the month of June with eight detailed variations in the layout of dishes - approx. ed.). In compiling this list, I have stuck to those supplies that are easier to get that month, and therefore cheaper. The proportion of food is assigned to 6 people, i.e., such that at a dinner consisting of three, sometimes four dishes, a family consisting of 6 people can be completely satisfied, of course, an ordinary appetite, so this proportion, with four, five dishes, may be enough for 8 people. This proportion can be reduced or increased as desired: when preparing, for example, dinner for 3 people, take only half of the assigned proportion; for 2 people - ⅓, for 1 person - 1/6 of the total, for 9 or 12 people increase the proportion by one and a half times, etc. A register of foods used for breakfast and snacks is also attached, and breakfast for children is also assigned, breakfast and lunch for ministers. A lenten section has been set up, as well as a section for vegetarians.

In order to help the hostess in the event that she and her family are in danger of being left without dinner - a danger that now so often befalls us all, on the occasion of the increase in the number of hospitable drinking houses, I advise every hostess to stock up at least two tin saucepans, in which you can warm up yesterday's dishes on alcohol and fry yourself in the room a steak, scrambled eggs, etc. unable to fulfill their duty. These dishes I chose the easiest and fastest to prepare.

Housewives who wish to adhere to the issuance of provisions assigned in this book, please have in your pantry:

Table silver spoon.
Copper or iron garnet, i.e. ¼ bucket, and if possible, ½ garnet and ¼ garnet, which will facilitate them when dispensing milk, flour for rolls, etc.
An ordinary glass of medium size, i.e. almost 2¼ inches high. Such glasses in big bottle from champagne, that is, in ¼ garnets, there should be 3, in 1 damask 6, and in 1 garnet, therefore, 12 glasses. This glass should hold exactly ½ pound of water.

In some dishes, sour cream is assigned as follows: ½-2 cups, which means from ½ to 2 cups of sour cream; who does not like a lot of sour cream, or, for example, in winter, when it is difficult to get it, you can put, for example, into shchi from sorrel No. 33, only ½ cup, and in the same cabbage soup you can put 1, 1½ and even 2 glasses sour cream, depending on desire and if possible. For issuing oil, it is most convenient to prepare it as follows: take 5-10 pounds of Chukhon or Russian butter (if the latter is in a cold place), hang each pound separately, then divide it into two equal parts, roll half-pound balls. When giving out provisions, count how much butter will come out for food, and then give out one ball, 1½ or 2, etc. When these balls come out, prepare others.

For jellies, creams, marshmallows, mousses, etc. I advise you to buy veal glue called gelatin; it is also sold by the pound, and consists of the thinnest oblong slices, each of which is about the size of a spool, so that when 3 spools are to be dispensed, dispense 3 or 4 slices. This glue comes in white and raspberry colors, so jelly made with raspberry gelatin gets an excellent color. Gelatin is much cheaper than fish glue, namely about 1 p. 50k lb, so healthy, extremely tasty and still expensive jelly can now be part of an inexpensive lunch. In order to make sure that the proportion I have appointed is sufficient for 6 people, I ask each housewife to choose three or four dishes for testing and order them to be cooked with her. If you want to cook a small dinner or evening, you can calculate in advance from this book approximately how much it will cost, considering the prices of the area.

When compiling a lunch menu, you must generally adhere to the following rules:

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1) So that all meals are equally satisfying, and to achieve this goal, it is necessary to distribute so that some dishes are more satisfying, while others are lighter.

2) Do not repeat the same product at dinner.

3) Diversify even the color of the dishes: for example, if the soup white color, then you should not give chicken or fish with white sauce for the second dish, but serve something with dark sauce.

4) Also observe that two sour, or two sweet, or two cold, or two meat dishes are not served in a row.

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Since I tried to acquaint the young housewives with the whole urban economy in general, I will add a few more words about the little things, which, however, in the mass make up their own account, namely:

When plucking feathers from birds, then put them in one place; on long winter evenings, order them to be sorted out; they are suitable for pillows for ministers or for the poor; collect feathers and down from geese and ducks separately.
Skins from calves, rams, etc., stretched into sticks, immediately dried and given for leather dressing.
When cattle are slaughtered, their blood is poured under fruit trees.
If dinner is cooked on a stove and it heats up for three or four hours, then order coals to be raked out of it for two or three large samovars.
Veal stomach, well washed and salted, dry; it is used for Dutch and Swiss cheeses No. 1332.
In every kitchen it does not hurt to have one or two piglets constantly, which can be fed with slops, the remains of roots, bread, etc., but only beware that they do not get pieces of meat and entrails from game.
Soap for washing clothes should be prepared, if not for several months, then at least for several weeks, so that it dries out; give out 1¼ pounds for 1 pood of linen.
In general, every housewife must strictly ensure that the house is clean, tidy, and that nothing is lost, but is used with benefit.

Note and general view on the plans and arrangement of houses

Wishing to encourage young housewives to perform the duties of a good family woman, both morally and economically, I consider it necessary to give them friendly advice, namely: to ask their husbands, if they wish, that their wives strictly fulfill the duties of the mother of the family and that they willingly take care of the household , without upsetting their health, then to take care of their part about the delivery of apartments that are convenient in all respects, which is very rare for us; therefore I hope that the plans of medium-sized houses I have enclosed may be of some use to those who are going to either build anew or rebuild their house.

When building any house, you must certainly keep in mind the following

Morally:

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1) To have a room for prayer, where once a day the whole family could gather, as well as servants for prayer. In many pious families, both in Russia and abroad, this custom is accepted, and I find that it is not only good, but also necessary, especially in our age, and even more so in our time, where the united forces of believers are needed, to support the wavering faith in God, in His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ and faith in the afterlife. In order to establish the worship of God in spirit and in truth, it is necessary that every head of the family, by daily fervent and unanimous prayer and good example he tried to inspire and instill in his family, and in his servants, boundless love for God and faith in impartial justice and His mercy to the human race.

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2) To have one large dining room, where the whole family would gather to work and read, where children could run and play freely in front of their parents. From this dining room there should be a door to a covered balcony, decorated in summer with flowers, with a staircase to the garden.

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3) So that the children are closer to the bedroom.

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4) I find that the servants will partly improve morally, that there will be more cleanliness and order in the kitchen if it is on the same floor with other living rooms and is separated from them only by small cold, and even better, warm vestibules.

In economic terms:

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1) To keep the kitchen close.

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2) So that from the girl’s room or buffet there is a passage directly to the pantry, where cereals, flour, eggs, etc. should be stored. There should be wide clean shelves around the walls. So that the hostess does not waste time when issuing provisions, it is necessary that in the pantry every thing should be in its place, flour in tubs covered with linen and a lid with an inscription; it is most convenient to keep cereals, pasta, raisins, peppers, etc. in a wide and low simple cabinet with drawers of various sizes; On each box, stick an inscription that is poured into it.

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3) From this pantry, make a hatch and stairs directly to the basement, which would not have other doors. This basement, which may take up the space of the two upper rooms, must be carefully made, dry, and lined all over, both the walls and the floor, with bricks; it should store wines, jams, fruits, roots, milk, butter and meat in cold weather. This is extremely convenient for the hostess, because, sitting at the table in a warm maid's room or buffet and, due to poor health, not entering the pantry in cold weather, she can dispose of the provisions; nothing superfluous will be carried past her; moreover, when the milk is milked, they must bring it to the same room, immediately pour it on the table; the hostess can sometimes give herself the pleasure of removing the cream or sour cream herself, ordering the butter to be churned, etc.

Under the house, arrange a separate vegetable cellar for sauerkraut, a large number potatoes and greens, you can even make beds where you could transplant in the fall cauliflower etc. You can also make a basement for firewood, for oats and husks, that is, buckwheat husks, which are so good for heating stoves, because it is warm from the husk and it serves the best remedy drain stone houses.

Concerning Convenience:

So that each apartment, however small it may be, contains in miniature all the comforts of a vast and rich room, so that each member of the family has his own separate and calm corner. To do this, when drawing up a plan, it is necessary to mentally designate places for the main furniture, such as:

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1) So that in the hall or living room there is a good blank wall for the sofa.

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2) A place for the piano away from windows and stoves.

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3) In order to protect the bedroom and the nursery from the through wind, it is necessary that there are good walls for beds, also away from windows and stoves; in a word, that there be every possible comfort and convenience, guarding both the tranquility and the health of the family; do not spare any extra hundred rubles in silver for this; having protected the family from a cold, this excessive expense will pay off in a short time.

This book opens a new series of books "Cooking. Classic Editions”, which will include well-known and little-known, but significant for their time, authors and books who tried, each in his time, to summarize the experience in the culinary history of Russia and not only. Here is what Elena Molokhovets wrote about her motivation when creating the book: “Kitchen is a kind of art that, without guidance, is acquired not for years, but for decades of inexperience, sometimes it is very expensive, especially for young spouses ... I compiled this book exclusively for young housewives, in order to give them a chance without their own experience and in a short time to get an idea about the economy in general, and in order to make them feel like doing housework. The book is adapted and presented in modern language and terms, while some of the features of that vocabulary are preserved for the flavor of past times.

On our site you can download the book "A Gift to Young Housewives" Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy a book in an online store.

St. Petersburg. Printing house N.N. Klobukov, Pryazhka, d. No. 3. 1901 twenty-second edition, corrected and enlarged. 180 thousand. Reprint reproduction. MMP "Polycom". 1991. Pp. 1-1056

Book and culinary reflections in 3 parts
Part 1

In 1991, the publishing house MMP "Polikom" unspeakably pleased the aesthetes of haute cuisine, releasing a reprint edition of "A Gift to Young Housewives, or a Means to Reduce Household Costs" by Elena Molokhovets.

The current book sales with numerous cookbooks "from Molokhovets" no longer bring such joy - adapted to modern language, having lost pounds and spools - they have lost the charm of antiquity and do not stand out in any way in the general mass of such books. In fairness, it should be noted that one exception was found in my searches: this year, the Vremya publishing house also released a full-fledged volume of The Gift, but neither on the publisher's website nor in the online store did I manage to look under the cover to find out - reprint or not? That is why I return to the publication of the MMP "Polycom".

So, the culinary aesthetes rejoiced, the curious rubbed their hands happily: now they will read with their own eyes the famous Molokhovets advice “if guests unexpectedly come to you, send the girl to the cellar, let her bring cold veal and strawberries with cream. It will be pretty good." As for the young ladies...

It is unlikely that in 1991, revived after 70 years of oblivion, the "Gift" Molokhovets had an applied value in the art of cooking. In the ninety-first, young housewives improved in cooking porridge from an ax and cooking Druzhba processed cheese soup. However, even then there were magicians who, from a simple pollock, could create a luxurious dish based on the recipe “Sterlet, unusually tasty, with white table wine”. It was for them that Elena Ivanovna gave explanations: “in this way, fish are prepared that have few bones, such as: sturgeon, beluga, pike perch, whitefish, trout.” Why not continue - pollock?

"A Gift to Young Housewives" first saw the light in 1861, was regularly reprinted for more than half a century and withstood at least 28 (1914) editions, adding new recipes and new sections. So, for example, in the XXXVIII section “Correction of insidious errors and inaccuracies, additions and additions”, Molokhovets asks the housewives “to correct all these errors that I have noted ... in my book, and mark new dishes at the end of the corresponding sections.” The reprint reproduction of the twenty-second edition (see photo) is a heavy "brick" of a thousand pages and contains more than four thousand recipes.

But perhaps the most striking evidence of the popularity of this book in the pre-revolutionary household was the wave of imitations and fakes that accompanied each reprint of the works of Molokhovets - “ New gift young housewives”, “A complete gift for young housewives”, “A real gift for young housewives” by the indistinct Morokhovites and Malokhovskys. But we know that a counterfeit coin is in circulation only when the original is backed by gold.

Molokhovets really presented the hostesses with a precious gift. Although the collection of culinary recipes is not her invention, but “Gift” is far from the first and not the last cookbook in Russia, it was Molokhovets who for the first time (!) , a proportion for 6 people ... ". Not only “meat, butter, flour, etc., but even water and milk. This measure, so far little accepted among us, will seem strange, even ridiculous and inconvenient to implement, especially for the simple estate, i.e. for our servants, in the part of the cook. Meanwhile, this measure, when issuing an accurate portion of the provisions assigned in the book, is necessary. Let's take broth as an example...

Write it down. “To prepare it for 6-8 people, you need to choose a saucepan in which soup is constantly boiled, pour 6 full deep plates of water into it, put 2-4 pounds of beef, measure the height of the water with a clean, smoothly planed shelf, make a sign on the shelf, then add water, cook the broth over low heat, then put salt, roots and spices, at least 3 hours; boil it so that it is, just before the holiday, as much as indicated on the stick. So the cooked broth will be strong, as much as this amount of meat can be.

Meanwhile, it often happens differently, namely: they take beef in portions, pour water without measure, cover the broth with a lid, let it boil over a fairly high heat, shortly before dinner it turns out that the broth has boiled away - that there is not enough of it, then water is added, eye, which, especially of a commoner, often deceives. Pouring the broth into a soup bowl, it turns out that there are not 6 or 8 bowls of broth, but 12 or even more ... The broth, of course, is not tasty, weak, if the soup is with cereals, then these cereals will hardly be noticeable. As a result, if the hostess gives out provisions for food according to this book, it can easily happen that the food will not be tasty; not knowing the real reason for this, the fault should fall on the book, although it is completely unfair ... ”

While reading A Gift to Young Housewives (some cookbooks are no less interesting to read than to cook with), I caught myself thinking that I was comparing the main cookbook of pre-revolutionary Russia with the main cookbook of the socialist era. That's all the same, how many do not sing "we are ours, we new world let's build", no matter how much you reorganize the Rabkrin, there are still areas that are not subject to revolutionary changes, and one of them is the art of cooking.

Comparing the two books is fascinating. According to The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food, "socialism freed our people from the operation of the wolfish laws of capitalism, from hunger, poverty, chronic malnutrition, from the need to adapt their needs and tastes to the most primitive assortment of products." (The article "To abundance!", Edition 1953) And if you focus on Molokhovets recipes with a breathtaking variety of products used, the problem was not in the primitive assortment, but in the cost of the "consumer basket". “In general, prices in Russia are so diverse and change so much, and most importantly, they rise so quickly for everything that it is difficult to set even an approximate price.”

The simple-hearted Molokhovets, diligently compiling lunch lists, did not forget to draw up a list for ministers, which was sharply discordant with the menu of everyday dinners for gentlemen. Without this section, you see, the Bolsheviks would not have had to reinvent the wheel under the name "The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food." But, as they say, you can’t throw words out of a song. Why is it that ministers are offered cereal soup without meat for lunch? So what if the "second" potato porridge and roast beef. Where is the piece of meat in the soup? This is how revolutions happen.

As for the young housewives of the 1991 model, for them, I repeat, “The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food”, that “A Gift for Young Housewives” seemed to be something akin to a magic pot from the fairy tale “The Princess and the Swineherd”. Remember? Whoever holds his hand over the smoke of this pot will find out what kind of food is being cooked in the city today. He will find out... But only by 1991, the assortment of products described in both books was almost impossible to find in stores.

But, let's not talk about sad things, let's play better.

Compare and try to determine which of the menus below was offered by Molokhovets for lunch to the unfinished bourgeois, and which “The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food” was offered to the builder of communism.

1. Mixed meat okroshka. Fish fried in breadcrumbs. Fried eggplant. Vanilla pudding. 2. Meat okroshka. Beef with salted mushroom sauce. Barley porridge with sour cream.

A hint from Elena Molokhovets: “When compiling a lunch menu, you must generally adhere to the following rules: 1) For all meals to be equally satisfying, and to achieve this goal, it is necessary to distribute so that some dishes are more satisfying, while others are easier. 2) Do not repeat the same product at dinner. 3) Diversify even the color of the dishes, for example: if the soup is white, then you should not give chicken or fish with white sauce for the second dish, but serve something with dark sauce. 4) Also observe that two sour, or two sweet, or two cold, or two meat dishes are not served in a row.

Guess! The winner will receive a mayonnaise recipe from the classic of Russian culinary literature - hospitable Molokhovets!

Publications in the Traditions section

Note to housewives

Recipes have been collected since ancient times: both the ancient Greeks and the medieval court cooks of kings and popes did this. In the New Age, cooking ceased to be an everyday issue and moved into the category of art - cooking. About cookbooks that have made life easier for domestic professionals and lovers of delicious food - in the material of the Kultura.RF portal.

Vladimir Makovsky. Again they quarrel (Cook and cook). 1912. Vologda Regional Art Gallery

Men's view of women's business: recipes in "Domostroy"

The first proto-collection of culinary recipes in Russia was Domostroy - Codex family rules and good housekeeping. It was created by the spiritual mentor and associate of Ivan the Terrible, Archpriest Sylvester in the middle of the 16th century. It is difficult to call these texts recipes in the modern sense: for the most part, the author gave instructions on how best to “always keep both food and drink.”

According to Sylvester, stocking up for the future is a man's business, competently distributing it is a woman's business, storing it correctly is the duty of the housekeeper, who held the keys to the food bins.

"Domostroy". cover

"Domostroy" in modern translation

Konstantin MakovskyBoyar wedding feast in the 17th century, 1883

The master's family had a rich diet: the book gives examples of both meat dishes (stew from mutton giblets; lamb liver seasoned with egg and onions; beef kidneys stuffed with oatmeal and cracklings; jelly from cow tripes and lips), and fish (smoked fish soup). fish, black caviar, dried fish), and flour products (pies and pancakes with mushrooms, poppy seeds, cabbage), and sweets (nuts in sugar). From drinks in Domostroy you can find lingonberry water, apple kvass, honey broths, cherries and pears in molasses, raspberry fruit drinks.

For families of servants and beggars, Sylvester recommended modest and lean food: “... finely chop the cabbage or tops or crumble, and wash it well, and boil it, and steam it harder, put meat, or ham, or ham lard, give sour cream and even steam it, pour juice or some other kind of welding into the post add yes evaporate again; it’s also good to add grains and digest with salt or with sour cabbage soup ... "(chapter 51).

Pushing the boundaries: "Cookery Notes" by Sergei Drukovtsev

Vasily Astakhov. In the cellar

"Short cookbook notes". Cover

A professional approach to cooking in the Russian Empire began to take shape at the end of the 18th century: establishments appeared where you could eat outside the home - kitchen masters, taverns, restaurants. Acquaintance with Western European countries introduced new eating habits and dishes (primarily Italian and French) into the life of the upper strata of society, which needed to be systematized. Enlighteners took up this matter.

In 1779, Sergei Drukovtsev published "Short Cookbook Notes", becoming the author of the first book of culinary recipes in the modern sense. He came from the nobility and therefore was familiar with a variety of foreign cuisines. In addition to collecting recipes, Drukovtsev participated in the work of the Free Economic Society, published Economic Instructions for Nobles, Peasants, Cooks and Cooks, and collected Russian folk tales.

Drukovtsev described the necessary arrangement of the kitchen for better cooking. In three parts, he outlined the culinary theory "On Soups", "On Sauces" and "On Fish Food": 22 soup recipes (from beef, chicken, crayfish, nettle, sorrel and even cherries), 41 ways to cook fish (salmon, bream, sterlet, pike, sturgeon), 121 sauce recipes. By sauce, the author understood not a liquid seasoning for a side dish, but a main dish: sauces made from chicken, turkey, pigeons, beef, pork, game and other meats.

Culinary master: Vasily Levshin

Vasily Levshin

"Dictionary of cooking, henchman, canditorial and distillatory", 1795

The translator, collector of riddles and fairy tales, business economist Vasily Levshin anonymously published the Dictionary of Cooking, Henchmen, Candidates and Distillers (1795) and Russian Cookery (1816). In the first book, he collected recipes for different cuisines - "cooks of Berlin, Austrian, Saxon, Bohemian."

The second work became the first cookbook on national cuisine. Levshin divided it into two parts: "The table for the meat-eater" and "The table for fasting." He presented each section in the form of "servings" - modern dishes. The first serving contained cold dishes - pork ham, pork jelly with sour cream and horseradish, game with plums and other options. The second - hot dishes: cabbage soup with beef shanks, noodles with chicken, ear, beef rennet mended, pork stomach. The third - vzvara (onion, cranberry), selyanki (paradise-intestine filled with eggs, mended pumpkin) and fried (fried cow udder, lamb "thoughts"). The fourth is a cake (pancake pie, sweet with marshmallow, cheese pancakes, juicy), cereals and more (semolina porridge, buckwheat with worms, fried mushrooms in sour cream). Lenten menu was just as varied. The only drawback of the publication was that the author did not indicate the ratio of ingredients.

Always at hand: Ekaterina Avdeeva

At the beginning of the 19th century, it became fashionable to collect culinary recipes - new collections were regularly published, compiled either by enthusiastic princes (Vladimir Odoevsky), or by tavern owners (Gerasim Stepanov). Culinary inserts appeared in magazines. True, they were written by men. And the first female selection advice in the kitchen was the “Handbook of a Russian Experienced Housewife” by Ekaterina Avdeeva in 1842. Culinary Avdeeva was known as the sister of Nikolai and Xenophon Polevoy, a talented writer.

"Hand book of a Russian experienced housewife"

The "Manual Book" consisted of three parts and addressed not "the highest ranks", but "the life of people of an average condition." During the life of the author, the book was reprinted more than eight times.

Avdeeva included the “Russian table” in the “first section” - national cuisine with soups (lazy cabbage soup, Siberian dumplings), cold, fried dishes, cereals, loaves, pancakes, sweet pies. In the second - common table» - recipes of foreign cuisine: soups (beer, Bavarian noodles, French soup, imitation of turtle soup), sauces, pates, fried (beaten beef, steak), cakes and ice cream. In the third - fish dishes, sauces. Avdeeva devoted the fourth section to the "lenten table", and the fifth - to "various dishes" (Little Russian borscht, sorcerers, donuts, puddings).

In 1846, a mini-version of the publication appeared - "Pocket Cookbook".

Culinary bestseller: "Gift for young housewives" by Elena Molokhovets

Elena Molokhovets conquered the heights of the culinary Olympus. Her book A Gift to Young Housewives, or a Means to Reduce Household Expenses (1861) was published 29 times during the author's lifetime, reaching a circulation of 300,000 copies. The publication was very popular and had a dozen fake counterparts. An orphan, a graduate of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, Molokhovets was the wife of the architect Franz Molokhovets and the mother of ten children. “Kitchen is a kind of art,” she wrote. And she made her work “exclusively for young housewives, in order to give them an opportunity, without their own experience and in a short time, to get an idea about the economy in general and in order to make them feel like doing housekeeping”.

The book was unusual for its time - it contained detailed tables of measures and weights, market prices, advice on choosing ingredients. The first edition collected 1,500 recipes of Russian and world cuisines, the latest editions - more than 4,000. The writer constantly corrected them in accordance with new trends. For the first time, Molokhovets included in her work the "Register of Homemade Dinners for the Whole Year" - a cook's diary with dishes scheduled for each day.

"1004. Chinese cake. 1 pound butter grind white, adding 8 eggs and 8 yolks one at a time, then pour in ¼ pound of peeled sweet almonds, 1 tbsp. sugar, 12 hard-boiled yolks, strained, zest from 2 lemons, ¼ lot cinnamon, ½ tbsp. flour. Mix all this as best as possible, bake five round bottoms on paper. then stack these circles one on top of the other, shifting the following cream: 1 ½ stack. sour cream, ¼ stack. ground white sugar with 8 yolks, a little cinnamon, zest from one lemon, mix it all, put it in a saucepan on the stove and beat with a whisk until it thickens, then remove from heat, put mugs with this cream, cover with saffron glaze No. 957, decorate with fruits etc."

"The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food"

The First World War, the Civil War and the period of war communism made the cookbook unnecessary: few people cared about the variety of dishes in a situation of food shortages. The Soviet era also made adjustments to the concept of cooking - its difference should have been the simplicity of execution, the cheapness of the components and the saturation with vitamins to maintain the strength of the builder of communism. Only in the 1930s did the image of the abundant Soviet world begin to take hold. The book "On Tasty and Healthy Food" became his banner. Initiated the publication of the People's Commissar Food Industry Anastas Mikoyan. It was published for the first time in 1939, becoming the most popular Soviet cookbook. In post-war editions (in total, about 3.5 million copies of the book were published), each time they made changes depending on the situation on the food market - shortages, restrictions in production.

The fractional division of recipes into categories, a variety of cooking techniques, bright advertising pictures with products and food industry plants were supposed to help the Soviet person diversify their daily diet and feel the “socialist abundance”. The authors of the book separately prescribed a treatment, children food and the diet of pregnant and lactating women. Families used navy pasta, stuffed peppers, liver cake, Kiev meatballs, aspic fish, chocolate sausage and other dishes, many of which are still popular today.

“Herring salad. Peeled herring and vegetables cut into pieces, and apples into thin slices. Prepare the sauce: grind the yolk of a hard-boiled egg with salt, mustard and oil, and the oil must be added in small portions to make the sauce thick. Then add vinegar. Before serving, mix chopped products with sauce and finely chopped parsley or dill. Place the salad in a salad bowl and garnish with slices of beets, herring and egg whites. For one herring (125 g) - 200 g of boiled potatoes, 1 apple, 1 pickled cucumber, 1 onion, 1 boiled beetroot, 1-2 eggs, 3 tbsp. spoons vegetable oil, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of mustard, salt to taste.

> Thematic catalog

Preface 3
DIVISION I 7
Table of measures and weights 7
Table of approximate prices of different products 8
General rules regarding the amount of provisions, for 6 people 12
Table of approximate roasting times for different foods in the oven 13
Roasting table on the stove 14
Table of approximate cooking times for various foods 14
Table of measures of pickles 16
Drawing and analysis of an ox, the quality of meat and its weight 16
Relative weight of different types of meat, in half an ox carcass, medium size 20
Meat Quality Recognition 21
Economic parsing of some large cuts of beef 24
Meat saving 26
A list of heterogeneous basic rules when preparing food 26
Eating leftovers 37
DIVISION II 40
Lunch menu 4 divisions 41
Register of cold snacks 87
SECTION III. Soups 104
A) Clear, yellow and red broths 109
B) White soups with flour dressing 121
Shchi 124
Borscht 128
C) White soups with egg yolks and cream 133
D) Soups from white, meat broth with cereals and sour cream 135
D) Meat soups 136
E) Fish soups 150
G) Butter soups (i.e. without meat and fish) 160
H) Milk soups 165
I) Hot, sweet soups from apples, beer, wine and berries 166
K) Cold soups 169
SECTION IV. Soup accessories 172
Toasts, croutons and tarts 172
Meatballs 173
Meat and fish quenelles (minced meat) 174
Olives, tomatoes 176
Cereals and noodles 177
Roots and vegetables 178
Dumplings 182
Eggs 184
Ears for cabbage soup 185
Pelmeni 185
Pies 186
Pie dough 187
Puff pastries 192
Pies from crumbly dough, chopped and yeast 195
Donuts or donuts 198
Yeast patties deep fried 198
Cheesecakes 100
Pancakes and loaves of pancakes 200
Pies-buns 201
Pies in tin molds and fried in batter 202
Minced meat in shells 203
Porridge for broth, cabbage soup and borscht 205
Croutons, otherwise croutons from cereals 206
SECTION V. Gravy or sauces 207
A) Preparation of various seasonings for sauces 208
B) Hot, flour sauces for meat dishes 211
C) hot sauces for vegetables 218
D) Hot sauces for hot fish and pâtés 219
E) Cold sauces for cold boiled and fried beef, piglet, game, poultry, ham, mayonnaise, aspic and cold fish 223
E) Sweet sauces for puddings, cereals, vegetables 224
SECTION VI. Dishes from vegetables and herbs and various side dishes for them 228
I-th group. Green vegetables 228
II group. herbaceous vegetables 234
III group. roots 250
IV group. fragrant herbs 270
V-th group. Mushrooms 272
SECTION VII. Beef, veal, lamb, piglet, pork, hare 281
A) Beef 281
B) Veal 312
C) Lamb 331
D) Piglet 339
D) Pork 342
E) Ham 346
G) Wild pig, chamois, venison, fallow deer 347
H) Hare 349
SECTION VIII. Poultry and game 351
A. Poultry 351
B. Game 375
Small game 383
SECTION IX. Pisces 387
SECTION X. Salads for meat and fish roasts 438
SECTION XI. Pies and pates 442
A) Pies 442
B) Pates 452
SECTION XII. Aspic, mayonnaise and other cold dishes for lunch and breakfast 466
A) Jellied, roll 466
B) Mayonnaise 472
C) Vinaigrette 481
D) Marinated fish and poultry served with breakfast or snack 483
SECTION XIII. Puddings, charlottes, soufflés, air pies and more 484
A) Puddings that are boiled in a napkin 486
B) steamed puddings 488
C) Puddings that are baked in a mould, in an oven 495
D) Charlotte 505
E) Souffle baked on a dish or in a charlotte 507
E) Air pies that are baked and served on the same dish 508
G) Various sweet hot foods that are baked and served on the same dish 510
H) Sweet foods that are mostly served cold 512
SECTION XIV. Apple dishes 516
SECTION XV. Pancakes, Russian pancakes, croutons. Egg dishes 520
A) Pancakes 520
B) Russian pancakes 524
C) Croutons otherwise croutons 528
D) egg dishes 530
SECTION XVI. Sorcerers, dumplings, dumplings, vermicelli or noodles, lazanki, pasta, cheesecakes, dumplings, etc. 533
A) Sorcerers, dumplings, dumplings 533
B) Vermicelli noodles 536
C) Lazanki 538
D) Italian pasta 539
E) Cheesecakes 541
E) Dumplings 542
SECTION XVII. Kashi 544
A) Semolina 544
B) Smolensk groats 545
B) Buckwheat small groats 547
D) Large buckwheat "Yadritsa" 548
E) Rice groats 549
E) Barley groats 552
G) Pearl barley 552
H) Oatmeal 552
I) Various cereals 553
SECTION XVIII. Wafers, tubes, wafers, brushwood, pancakes 554
A) Wafers 554
B) Ducts 556
C) Hosts 557
D) Brushwood 557
E) Fritters 558
SECTION XIX. Sweet pies and pies, cheesecakes, petish, donuts or donuts, dracheny, etc. heterogeneous flour dishes 560
A) Sweet pies, pies and cheesecakes 560
B) small cheesecakes 567
B) Petitsha 568
D) Donuts or donuts 569
D) Dracena 571
E) Miscellaneous sweet pies 572
DIVISION XX. Ice cream, creams, marshmallows, mousses, blamange, kissels, compotes, milk custards 576
A) Ice cream 576
B) Cream 582
C) Marshmallow or cream without glue 587
D) Whipped cream 588
E) Plombir 589
E) Parfait 591
G) Jelly 592
H) Mousse 598
K) Kiseli 601
L) Compotes 604
M) Dairy custards 607
DIVISION XXI. Cakes 610
A) Glaze 611
B) Different masses for transferring cakes 612
C) Cakes 613
SECTION XXII. Mazurkas and other small cakes 628
A) Mazurka 628
B) small cake 630
SECTION XXIII. Vegetarian table 683
SECTION XXIV-XXXVI. Lenten table 698
DIVISION XXXVII. Table setting and dishes 773
DEPARTMENT XXXVIII. Department of amendments and additions 783

Molokhovets Elena Ivanovna

A gift for young housewives, or a means to reduce household expenses

Publisher: Printing house N.N. Klobukova

Place of publication: St. Petersburg.

Year of publication: 1901

Number of pages: 1052 pages.

The book "A Gift to Young Housewives or a Means to Reduce Household Expenses" is a culinary bestseller of the 19th century. First published in 1861 in Kursk, it went through more than thirty reprints in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and has not lost its relevance today.

This unique collection of Russian cuisine recipes was originally published as a manual to help young housewives manage their household. The book contains recipes for a vegetarian and lenten table, examples of table setting and dishes, and a description of the various supplies needed in the household.

A distinctive feature of this book, in comparison with previous ones, is the exact, and not approximate, indication of the amount of ingredients used. Guided by the goal of reducing household costs, the author in all placed recipes indicated the exact proportion of all ingredients for 6 people.

A graduate of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, Elena Molokhovets strove to help young housewives with a small fortune and moderate expenses to have a constantly delicious, healthy and varied dinner.