Cuisine of Odesa


The cuisine of Odesa in Ukraine is influenced by cultures of various regions, including Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Armenian, Bulgarian, Moldovan, Greek, Georgian, French, German, Italian, and Uzbek cultures. However, many recipes are indigenous to Odesa, with fusion cuisine being common.

Typical dishes

Appetizers

Meat

Fish and seafood

Other

  • Fried semolina
  • , a sauce based on brine, garlic, spices, served with ukha or used as a dressing for vegetables
  • Odesa borscht with gobies
  • Placinte
  • "5 minutes" pickled cucumbers

Desserts

Overview

Due to its coastal location, Odesa cuisine includes a large number of seafood dishes.
The most popular dish is gefilte fish, which is served on holidays using several types of fish, mainly pike, mullet or redlip mullet, carp, and pike perch. Fried fish is also popular. Preference is given to the Black Sea flounder and gobies. Cutlets are fried from small fish of the herring family, mainly Black Sea sprats. Pilaf with mussels is a popular Odesa seafood dish. Mussels are often fried on-site on large sheets of iron.
A traditional snack in Odesa is boiled shrimp, called /, in the Odesite slang.
Among cold appetizers, vorschmack is especially popular, as well as a dip made from grilled aubergines.
Stuffed chicken neck and stuffed vegetables are very popular.
Another feature of Odesa cuisine is the tendency to reduce the size of individual food items while keeping the portion size unchanged. For example, pelmeni and varenyky, when interpreted by Odesa chefs, look different than the more traditional versions. In Odesa, pelmeni and varenyky are served at a small size, whereas varenyky in Ukrainian cuisine are as large as a fist. The most popular type of varenyky are cherry varenyky. Cabbage rolls in the Odesa culinary tradition are also made in a smaller size than is traditional elsewhere, with a preferred size called "the little finger." A popular dessert, called, is also quite small.

Odesa specialties

The specialties of Odesa and Odesa Oblast include:
  • The forty-day potato variety grown in the village of Roksolany. This variety is distinguished by a short ripening period and excellent taste. The "forty-day" from Roksolany is considered the best potato variety in Odesa for making mashed potatoes and roasts;
  • White crayfish from the village of Maiaky. Once, the Dniester estuary was considered the best place in the world for catching crayfish. The crayfish market no longer operates on an industrial scale; however, crayfish from Maiaky continue to be one of the most popular beer snacks in Odesa.
  • The Mikado tomato is an early-ripening variety that takes 90–95 days from germination to ripening. The plants are tall. The fruits are flat and rounded, with an average weight of 150 - 200 g. This variety has a very high-quality taste and is used in salads in Odesa cuisine. Salad with Mikado and sheep cheese is especially popular.
  • Gobies are fish of the perch family. In Odesa, gobies are divided into whips, herbalists, round timber, and sandpitters. They are caught with a donkey fishing rod, then fried or stewed in tomato. They can also be salted and dried, and served with beer.
  • Black-Sea turbot is a fish of the Scophthalmidae family. Two species are caught in coastal waters: kalkan and brill. Kalkan is one of the largest members of the family, reaching a length of 115 cm and a weight of up to 28 kg. The second species, brill, differs from Kalkan, first of all in size: brills are smaller, and in habitat: they live at shallower depths and closer to the coast.
  • Black Sea sprat is a small commercial sea fish of the herring family. In Odesa it is often called "sardelle". Not to be confused with Atherinaor European anchovy, the taste of which is somewhat poorer.
  • Aubergine is a popular vegetable in Odesa cuisine. It is the main ingredient in aubergine dip.
  • Bryndza, brine cheese made from cow, goat or sheep milk. It is used for making sandwiches, snacks, and salads, as well as hot dishes and as a filling for pastries. Aged Bessarabian sheep bryndza, salted in barrels, is especially popular among gourmet Odesa cuisine. It is usually soaked in fresh water for several hours before use.
  • Frogs from Vylkove are used to cook deep-fried frog legs. The city of Vylkove in the Izmail Raion of Odesa Oblast became famous for eating and breeding frogs for export to France and other European countries.
  • Odesa mussels
  • Urda is a cheese made in Bessarabia from whey and sheep's milk. Used for making "quick" bread.
  • Bessarabian paprika is a spice made from a sweet variety of red pepper, in a pestle and mortar, and pound with vegetable oil. One of the most frequently used spices in Bessarabian cuisine.
  • , the Black Sea herbal shrimp, has a high industrial value, is caught in the Black and Azov seas. are eaten in large quantities as snacks. Most often they are boiled, sometimes fried in a pan with garlic.

Books about Odesa cuisine

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