Several Facts About Authentic Ukrainian Recipes

Ukrainian cuisine consists of a variety of dishes made of meat, pastry, vegetables and fruit. First Ukrainian professional cooks were found in large Christian monasteries back in the 11th century. That is why authentic Ukrainian recipes include many dishes, especially the pastry ones, which are cooked for various religious celebrations.

Among the most common and popular authentic Ukrainian recipes could be listed such dishes as Borshch (beet soup), Vareniki (sort of ravioli), Pampushkas, Golubtsi (cabbage rolls), Nalisniki (pan cakes), Ukrainian pork sausages, stewed cabbage, Zarkoe (roast meat), etc.

Even though some of the authentic Ukrainian recipes were created back in the beginning of the last millennium, most of the traditional Ukrainian dishes, such as Borshch for instance, were created only in the 19th century. Back at that time Ukrainian farmers began to grow tomatoes and some other vegetables, such as beets and eggplants, which became core ingredients for many Ukrainian traditional dishes.

Ukrainian cuisine is well known for its diversity and not only in the number of dishes cooked, but in the variety of recipes for the basic traditional specialties such as Borshch. In fact, there could be found over 30 recipes of traditional Ukrainian Borshch (at least one recipe for every region of Ukraine).

And of course, the story of authentic Ukrainian recipes would not be complete without mentioning the Salo. Salo is a pig’s fat widely used in Ukrainian cuisine. Ukrainians eat both cooked and fresh Salo, plus they use it as a main fat ingredient in their cooking.

Such is a brief story of Ukrainian cuisine and authentic Ukrainian recipes.