The Belarusian cuisine that is well known to us has many similarities with the cuisines of other countries and nationalities inhabiting the north-east of Europe. The diet of Belarusians consists mainly of meat, vegetables typical for this region and a variety of dairy products.

The history of the Belarusian people is very rich in a variety of events. Political and cultural ties with Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, and Tatars significantly influenced the development of Belarusian culinary traditions and shaped modern Belarusian cuisine. However, if by the beginning of the twentieth century Belarusian cuisine was indeed very original and outstanding, then during the Soviet era it was standardized and lost many old gastronomic traditions. Today's Belarusians eat mainly dishes introduced to them during the USSR. Another thing is that many dishes that have become popular throughout the Union have Belarusian roots.

If, until the twentieth century, the Belarusian elite ate all sorts of delicacies, mainly of Polish origin, then ordinary peasants, until the Second World War, ate very primitively: their diet consisted of soup and a main dish. Belarusians worked in the fields from early morning until late evening, so they were used to having a hearty breakfast. The tradition is still relevant today - many Belarusians still have a very hearty breakfast.

Belarusian cuisine is characterized by the active use of grains - rye, wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat. Until now, sour rye bread is incredibly popular in Belarus, pancakes and pancakes are baked from wheat flour, and porridge is made from buckwheat. Vegetables occupied and continue to occupy the most important place in the diet of Belarusians - if initially the most popular vegetables were cabbage and beets, today the flagship of all Belarusian cuisine is potatoes. They say that the Belarusian national cuisine includes several hundred potato dishes - and these are not only potato pancakes and potato pancakes. Indeed, Belarusians prepare a great many of their signature dishes from potatoes, and they serve them as a side dish for many meat dishes. However, it is wrong to identify Belarusian cuisine with potato dishes - in some neighboring nations this vegetable is no less popular (for example, in Lithuania), and not all signature dishes of national Belarusian cuisine are prepared from potatoes.

From time immemorial, Belarusians have eaten a lot of soups. The local soups were not much different from those eaten by Ukrainians, Poles and Russians - cabbage soup, borscht, sorrel soup, rassolnik. In the warm season, Belarusians prepare holodnik - a cold beet soup, which is also popular in Lithuania and Poland.

Belarusians have always loved meat, but poor Belarusian peasants could afford it, as a rule, only on Christian holidays. The most popular meat is pork. The most common typically Belarusian meat dishes are sausages (pork intestine stuffed with minced meat), kryvyanka (blood sausage), kindzyuk (pork stomach filled with minced pork), machanka (a meat dish of many varieties), zrazy. Today, a variety of cutlets, chops, meat stews and goulash, and shish kebab are popular. The Belarusian interpretation of Russian dumplings and Italian ravioli are sorcerers.

Other features of Belarusian cuisine are the fairly active consumption of dairy products (the most popular are cottage cheese, sour cream, butter), the low popularity of fish (Belarusians have no access to the sea, and lake and river fish are not in great demand) and the regular use of side dishes ( in times of famine, it was the side dish that made up the lion's share of the Belarusian peasant's dish, and the tradition has survived to this day - Belarusians always prepare mashed potatoes, buckwheat porridge, rice, pasta or another favorite side dish for any meat dish).

The traditional Belarusian alcoholic drink is vodka, or more precisely, garelka. Alcoholic drinks made from honey and herbs (for example, zubrovka or krambambula) were once popular, but today they are not comparable in popularity to vodka. The main local non-alcoholic drink is kvass; compote and mineral water are also popular.

We can talk about the reasons and analyze them for a long time, but the conclusion will be the same - Belarusians have forgotten a lot in their culinary traditions, but these traditions are no less rich than German or French ones.

Most modern Belarusians will read the title and be surprised: “Where did the author find 10 Belarusian dishes that are worthy of being included in some kind of rating?”

So let's get started. When compiling the rating, various sources were carefully studied, which collected dishes of modern Belarusian cuisine and old Belarusian cuisine (let's call it that). Moreover, we studied both the diet of ordinary people and the “zamozhnaya” gentry.

1. Veraschaka

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I am sure that everyone reading expected to see the ubiquitous “Draniki” in first place. Draniki are the most popular Belarusian dish, but in our opinion, “Verashchaka” is a worthy calling card of Belarus among meat dishes.

Recipe: There are several varieties of preparation of “Veraščaki”, we offer the most original one.

Ingredients: 0.5 kg. pork with ribs, 1-2 onions, 1 glass of bread kvass, salt, pepper, bay leaf.

Cooking process: Chop the pork, add salt and pepper, and fry on both sides. Fry finely chopped onion in the fat that is released. Place the meat and onions in a cast iron (saucepan), pour in bread kvass and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Served with mashed potatoes or pancakes.

If you try to include “Verashchaka” in a certain classification series, then according to the method of consumption this dish is “machanka”. Among the dishes of Belarusian cuisine you can find at least a dozen different “machankas”. We can be proud of these specialties (signature dish).

2. Beetroot soup

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But the second specialty that Belarusian cuisine can be proud of is, of course, cold soups made from beets, sorrel, and nettles. Cold soups are an exclusively Belarusian culinary tradition, and if a similar dish is found among our neighbors, then they borrowed it from us, and not we from them. And this is nice.

Recipe: In second place we placed “Beetroot soup”, prepared according to a traditional recipe. Although you can find many varieties of cold soups.

Ingredients: Beets with petioles and tops, cucumbers, green onions, dill, radishes, dill, eggs, vinegar, salt, sugar, sour cream.

Cooking process: Boil peeled, thoroughly washed, cut into strips or cubes young beets (along with finely chopped petioles) in a small amount of water and vinegar until tender. About 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add some chopped young beet tops, add salt, then cool. Wash, peel, and cut fresh cucumbers into cubes. Sort the green onions, dill, and radishes, rinse, and cut individually. Finely chop the eggs. Pour kvass into the cooled beet broth, add salt, sugar, chopped cucumbers, radishes, green onions, dill, eggs. Serve sour cream separately.

3. Draniki

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It’s hard to imagine a Belarusian without potato pancakes. And indeed, pancakes made from raw grated potatoes are a wonderful invention. It’s not for nothing that all neighboring peoples have similar dishes in their national traditions. In Ukraine, a potato pancake festival was held not long ago, and in Germany, potato pancakes are eaten with jam, not sour cream... These facts about analogues of our potato pancakes came to mind right away, but they are not the only ones.

Recipe: Traditionally, potato pancakes are understood as potato pancakes, and potato flatbreads with filling are usually called sorcerers. Although 150-200 years ago, sorcerers meant completely different dishes. In this ranking, the third place is occupied by classic Belarusian potato pancakes.

Ingredients: potatoes, flour, curdled milk or kefir, salt.

Cooking process: Grate raw potatoes on a fine grater, add flour, curdled milk (kefir), salt and mix. Fry in vegetable oil. Ready pancakes are served with chopped, fried onions and fried lard.

In modern Belarusian cuisine, potato pancakes are popular without flour and are served with sour cream. Also, potato pancakes are perfect as a side dish for Belarusian “machankas” along with flour pancakes.

Third place with potato pancakes may well be shared by another famous Belarusian dish - babka or “drachona bulbyanaya”.

4. Krambambula

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What is national cuisine without a unique, local strong alcoholic drink. The Czechs are proud of their Becherovka, the Germans are proud of their schnapps, the British are proud of their whiskey, and the Russians are proud of their vodka. I could go on for a long time. We also have our own strong drink, which for the last ten years has been firmly associated with the musical project of Lyavon Volsky. Although to be fair, before this he was not associated with anything at all.

Recipe: This drink and its recipe are firmly forgotten by alcohol producers and restaurateurs. It could turn out to be an interesting brand for tourists.

Ingredients: 0.5 l. vodka or alcohol, a glass of water, a quarter of chopped nutmeg, 1-2 tbsp. spoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 4 teaspoons of crushed cloves, red and black pepper.

Cooking process: Take vodka or alcohol, pour a glass and mix with the same amount of water. Add nutmeg, honey, cinnamon, crushed cloves, 4-5 grains of hot red pepper. Heat all this and boil for 10 minutes. Then carefully pour in the rest of the vodka and leave in a sealed container for 5 minutes, strain through 4 layers of gauze into a bottle, adding 2-3 black peppercorns first.

5. Belarusian sour black bread

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When I come abroad, I am always surprised at how delicious the bread in Belarus is. Black sour bread has always been popular with us. Its “industrial” representative is the famous “Narochansky”. You won’t be able to taste such delicious bread, which also practically doesn’t go stale, abroad.

Recipe: We present the traditional recipe for making bread, according to which our grandmothers baked it in real ovens.

Ingredients: flour, water, salt.

Cooking process: The dough is kneaded in the evening and the bread is baked in the morning. Add water to the flour and knead. The dough should not be very thick. To ensure the dough sours and rises well, cover it with a lid and place it in a warm place overnight. The dough is fermented using the so-called “roshchyna”, which is usually a small piece of dough left over from previous baking.

In the morning, add flour and salt to the dough, knead the dough with your fists. To ensure that the dough comes off your hands well, they are periodically moistened with water. Place a piece of dough on a wooden shovel sprinkled with flour, smooth it with your hands and place it in a hot oven. A cross was always drawn on the dough in front of the stove. The bread is considered ready when the steam rises smoothly from it.

The Czechs are proud of their Mationi mineral water. This is their brand, in the promotion of which they invest a lot of effort and money. And these efforts are yielding serious results. Belarusian sour bread is not just our yet unpromoted brand, it is the pride of the Belarusian people.

6. Beer stew

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The Czech Republic and Germany are considered beer countries. It is very unfortunate that Belarus did not join this duet. But beer traditions at one time in the Belarusian lands were very extensive. It’s worth reading Henryk Sienkiewicz - no matter what Mr. Zagloba’s feast is, there’s beer or honey or beer stew with cheese or sour cream. But time decreed otherwise and, unfortunately, beer in Belarus gave way to stronger and more harmful vodka.

Ingredients: 1 l. beer, sugar, 6 egg yolks, ginger, bread croutons.

Cooking process: Boil beer, add sugar to taste, whipped yolks, and you can add ginger. Serve soup with croutons.

7. Kulaga

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National cuisine without its own dessert is incomplete. There are many interesting sweet dishes in the Belarusian culinary tradition, but we considered kulaga worthy of being included in the top ten.

Recipe: Kulaga is a wonderfully sweet dish made from fresh berries.

Ingredients: 400 g of berries (blueberries, lingonberries, rowan, viburnum or raspberry), 70 g of honey, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of wheat flour.

Cooking process: Sort out the fresh berries, rinse, and put on the fire. When the berries are boiled, add wheat flour diluted in a small amount of water, and also add honey or sugar. Stir and cook over low heat until the dish has the consistency of jelly. Kulaga is served with pancakes, white bread and milk.

8. Pyachysto

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Sweets are good, but any cuisine is primarily distinguished by meat dishes. One of them is “Pyachysto”. This is a lamb dish. An attentive reader will ask: “What kind of lamb is there in Belarus, we’re not in the Caucasus mountains?” Yes, indeed, we do not have mountains, but before the start of the last war, sheep breeding on the territory of Belarus occupied a leading position in the balance of all livestock farming. After the devastating war, they decided not to restore this traditional industry for Belarusians. Gradually (and maybe quickly) lamb disappeared from the diet of Belarusians. But many recipes remain, and the most interesting of them is “Pyachysty”.

Recipe: There are many references to the mysterious “Pyachysto” in literature. But there is no exact recipe anywhere. Why is that? After all, so many researchers have dealt with culinary issues.

Ingredients: Mutton.

Cooking process: Lean lamb is baked in large pieces (usually the entire back part).

This is all that is known about this mysterious dish. But this small description paints a very appetizing picture.

9. Sbiten

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The top ten cannot do without a soft drink. Sbiten is more than suitable for this role. It is healthy, it quenches thirst and it is certainly very tasty. It is worth noting that there are many recipes for sbitney. Today it is more associated with a soft drink (you can buy it cold in some stores), but classic sbiten was consumed very hot. Let's present a traditional recipe.

Recipe: Sbiten can be either alcoholic or non-alcoholic. In addition to spices, it is advisable to add herbs to sbiten.

Ingredients: water, honey, pepper, cloves, bay leaf, nutmeg.

Cooking process: Boil water with honey (you can add sugar or molasses), add pepper, cloves, bay leaf, grated nutmeg, and other seasonings to taste. Sometimes beer or alcohol is added to sbiten. Drink hot.

Sbiten was popular in Belarus in the 18th-19th centuries. In folk medicine it was used as an antiscorbutic remedy.

10. Nalisniki

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In our opinion, the bottom of the top ten should be a dish that can claim to be the national Belarusian fast food. There were a decent number of such dishes. But for potato pancakes the role of fast food is not enough, for Belarusian home-made sausages it is banal, but Polesie pancakes “Nalisniki” are excellent for this role.

Recipe: Nalisniki are traditional Polesie pancakes, the recipe for which was recorded during one of the ethnographic expeditions in the Rechitsa region. I am sure that this dish is familiar to many, but you will never try such pancakes in street stalls.

Ingredients: flour, milk, cottage cheese, cheese, butter.

Cooking process: Flour is mixed with fresh milk and stirred to form a thin dough. Thin pancakes are fried in a hot frying pan. Pancakes are filled with cottage cheese or cheese, wrapped in a tube or folded in four. The top of the pancake is spread with butter and fried in a frying pan. Fried pancakes are placed in a pot, butter or sour cream is added and simmered in the oven.

At least two dozen interesting Belarusian dishes did not fit into our rating. One thing is good: this is the first rating on our blog, but not the last.

The national cuisine of Belarus has been formed over many centuries. Neighborhood with countries such as Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania has had a huge influence on the cuisine of this country. There is a stereotype that potatoes are the second bread in Belarus. Believe me, this is far from true. And although potatoes are widely used to prepare various dishes, the cuisine of Belarus is much more diverse. Having absorbed the best culinary traditions of the Slavs, Europeans, Jews, and Scandinavians, the local cuisine amazes with its unique flavor and originality.

But let’s not deviate from the already established opinion that potatoes are the No. 1 vegetable in the national cuisine of Belarus. Perhaps in no other country in the world will you find so many potato dishes. Belarusians have a very respectful attitude towards potatoes and were able to find the most worthy use for them. They do a lot of things from potatoes - they boil them, fry them, bake them, stew them, combine them with fish, meat and vegetables, add them to salads... You should definitely try: “ Belarusian potato pancakes«, « potato casserole", "sorcerers", "watering", "hoof", "dumplings", "grandmother". It is impossible to list all potato dishes, but dishes made from this miracle vegetable have an excellent and unique taste.

The abundance of forests and the variety of animals that live there predetermined the widespread use of meat in national cuisine. In addition, Belarusians have always raised pigs, goats, cows, sheep, and poultry. Therefore, the number of meat dishes is not inferior to potato dishes. The most common and popular are:

• “bigus” - stewed meat with cabbage;
• “sorcerers” - large dumplings;
• “Kishka” and “Kindyuk” are Belarusian sausages;
• "Vendlyanina" - smoked and dried meat;
• “Smazhnya” - meat pie;
• “pyachisty” - lean pork or lamb baked in large pieces.

Other meat delicacies are no less tasty - “machanka”, “saltison”, “zrazy”, “polendvitsa”, “shkvarki”.

As in many Slavic cuisines, the Belarusian menu always includes first courses. They come in cold and hot varieties. Among the cold ones, it is worth trying “khladnik” - a soup made from young beets, cucumbers, onions, eggs, with the addition of celery, dill, red pepper, coriander; “mushroom kvass” is a soup based on bread kvass with porcini mushrooms, onions, parsley, celery, pepper and coriander. For hot soups, try the specific “zhur” soup. It comes in lean, milk, and with yandlina. Other, no less tasty, soups: “grzhanka”, “garbuzok”, “volivka”, “krupenya”.

Belarusian rivers are rich in fish, so since ancient times fish have been boiled, fried, dried, salted, and dried here. In addition, the national cuisine of Belarus is rich in vegetable dishes. Belarusian housewives often use rutabaga, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, cabbage, and carrots. Mushrooms are also at a premium. They are dried, salted, pickled, fried. All this abundance is complemented by forest berries: cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries, wild strawberries, blueberries, raspberries... Any European cuisine can envy such a variety.

Over the past decades, most Belarusians have formed the opinion that Belarusian cuisine consists of 3-4 dishes. We can talk about the reasons for a long time, but there is only one conclusion - Belarusians have forgotten their culinary traditions, which in fact are no less rich than German or French ones.

First place. Veraschak

I think that all readers expected to see the famous “Draniki” among the leaders. Draniki are, without exaggeration, the most popular Belarusian dish, but it seems to us that the truly calling card of Belarus is “Verashchaka”.

Recipe. There are several types of preparation of “Verashchaki”, the most original one is presented here.

Ingredients. 500 grams of pork with ribs, 1-2 onions, 1 glass of bread kvass, salt, pepper, bay leaf.

Cooking process. Chop the pork, pepper, salt, and fry on both sides. Fry finely chopped onion in the fat that comes out of the pork. Transfer the meat and onions from the frying pan into a cast iron (saucepan), pour bread kvass over everything and simmer over low heat for ten minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes or hash browns. If you try to somehow classify “Verashchaka”, then according to the method of consumption this dish is considered “machanka”. Among all the dishes of Belarusian cuisine, you can find at least ten different “machankas”. We can only be proud of such specialties.

Second place. Beetroot

The second source of pride of Belarusian cuisine is, of course, cold soups made from beets, nettles, and sorrel. Cold soups are completely Belarusian cuisine, and if something similar is found in neighboring countries, then we can say with confidence that they borrowed it from us, and not we from them. And it's nice.

Recipe. In second place we put “Beetroot soup”, prepared according to a traditional recipe. Although you can find many types of cold soups.

Ingredients. Beets with petioles and tops, radishes, cucumbers, green onions, dill, sour cream, eggs, vinegar, salt, sugar.

Cooking process. Boil peeled, washed, cut into strips or cubes (with finely chopped petioles) in a small amount of water and vinegar until tender. About 10 minutes before the end of cooking, throw in some chopped beet tops, add salt, and then cool. Wash the cucumbers, peel them, cut into cubes. Separately sort, wash and chop green onions, radishes and dill. Finely chop the boiled eggs. Add kvass, chopped cucumbers, salt, sugar, green onions, radishes, dill, eggs to the cooled beet broth. Sour cream is served separately.

Third place. Draniki

It is difficult to imagine a resident of Belarus without potato pancakes. And indeed, pancakes made from raw grated potatoes are an excellent idea. It is not for nothing that neighboring peoples adopted the idea of ​​potato pancakes into their national cuisine, inventing similar dishes. In Ukraine, the so-called potato pancake festival was recently held, and in Germany, potato pancakes are eaten with jam, not sour cream... These facts about analogues of Belarusian potato pancakes came to mind right away, but they are far from the only ones.

Recipe. Traditionally, draniki mean potato pancakes, and potato pancakes with filling are usually called sorcerers. Despite the fact that 150-200 years ago, sorcerers meant completely different dishes. In this ranking, the classic Belarusian potato pancakes are in third place.

Ingredients. Curdled milk or kefir, potatoes, flour, salt.

Cooking process. Grate raw potatoes on a fine grater, add flour, yogurt (or kefir), salt and mix thoroughly. Fry everything in vegetable oil. Ready pancakes are served with chopped, fried onions and the same lard.

In modern Belarusian cuisine, potato pancakes without flour are widely known and served with sour cream. Also, potato pancakes are perfect as a side dish for Belarusian “machankas” along with flour pancakes. In third place, along with potato pancakes, may be another popular Belarusian dish - babka or “drachona bulbyanaya”.

Fourth place. Crambambula

What national cuisine can there be without the original, local strong alcoholic drink?! Residents of the Czech Republic are proud of their Becherovka, Russians are proud of their vodka, the Germans are proud of their Schwaps, the British are proud of their whiskey... This series can go on for a long time. We also have our own personal strong drink, which for the last 10 years has evoked strong associations with the musical project of Lyavon Volsky. Although, to be fair, before that he was not associated with anything at all.

Recipe. This drink, like its recipe, has been completely forgotten by alcohol producers and restaurateurs. And it could make a wonderful brand for tourists.

Ingredients. Half a liter of vodka or alcohol, a glass of water, 1/4 chopped nutmeg, 4 teaspoons of crushed cloves, 1-2 tbsp. spoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, red and black pepper.

Cooking process. Pour a glass of vodka or alcohol and mix with the same volume of water. Add nutmeg, crushed cloves, honey, cinnamon, 4-5 red pepper grains. Boil this entire mixture for 10 minutes. Then carefully pour in the rest of the vodka and leave in a sealed container for 5 minutes, strain through 4 layers of gauze into a bottle, adding 2-3 black peppercorns before this procedure.

Fifth place. Belarusian sour black bread

When I come abroad, I’m always surprised: how delicious the bread in Belarus is. Black sour bread has always been popular here. The famous “Narochansky” is considered its “industrial” representative. You won’t be able to taste such delicious bread, which also doesn’t go stale, abroad.

Recipe. Here is the traditional recipe for making bread, according to which our grandmothers baked it in village ovens.

Ingredients. Flour, water, salt.

Cooking process. The dough is kneaded in the evening, and the bread is baked in the morning. Add water to the flour and knead. The result should be a dough that is not too thick. To allow the dough to sour, cover it with a lid and place it in a warm place overnight. The dough is fermented using the so-called “roshchyna”, the function of which is a small piece of dough that remains from the previous baking.

In the morning, add flour and salt to the dough, knead the dough with the pressure of your fists. To ensure that the dough sticks well from your hands, they are regularly moistened with water. Place a piece of dough on a wooden spatula, previously sprinkled with flour, press it with your hands and place it in a hot oven. Previously, it was mandatory to draw a cross on the dough in front of the stove. The bread is considered fully cooked when the steam rises evenly from it.

Residents of the Czech Republic are proud of their Mationi mineral water. This is their own brand, which they put a lot of effort and money into promoting. And it must be said that these efforts are producing noticeable results. Belarusian sour bread is our unpromoted brand, and also the pride of the Belarusian people.

Sixth place. Beer stew

The main beer lovers and producers are the Czech Republic and Germany. It is a pity that Belarus did not join these countries at one time. After all, beer traditions on Belarusian lands were once very extensive. At least read Henryk Sienkiewicz - no matter what Mr. Zagloba’s party is, there’s beer or honey or beer stew with cheese or sour cream. But traditions were forgotten and, unfortunately, beer in Belarus was replaced by stronger and more harmful vodka.

Recipe. In sixth place is the very popular beer stew that Belarusians loved “pasmakavatsi” in the 16th-18th centuries.

Ingredients. 1 liter of beer, 6 egg yolks, sugar, ginger, toasted bread.

Cooking process. Boil beer, add sugar to taste, whipped yolks, and you can add ginger. It is advisable to serve the soup with croutons.

Seventh place. Kulaga

Without a doubt, national cuisine may seem incomplete without its own dessert. There are many wonderful sweet dishes in the Belarusian culinary tradition, but we settled on kulag.

Recipe. Kulaga is a sweet dish made from fresh berries.

Ingredients. 400 g berries (viburnum, blueberry, lingonberry, raspberry or rowan), 70 g honey, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of wheat flour.

Cooking process. Sort out the fresh berries, rinse, and put on the fire. When the berries are boiled, add wheat flour, previously diluted in a small amount of water, and also add honey or sugar. Stir and cook over low heat until the dish acquires a viscous and thick consistency of jelly. Kulaga is traditionally served with pancakes, white bread and milk.

Eighth place. Pyachysty

The heavy artillery of any national cuisine is, first of all, meat dishes. One of them is “Pyachysty”, which is a lamb dish. The reader will ask: “What kind of lamb is there in Belarus, isn’t this the Caucasus Mountains?” Yes, even if we don’t have mountains, but before the start of the war, sheep breeding on the territory of Belarus was extremely well developed and was a leader in the balance of all livestock farming. After the war devastation, for some reason they decided not to restore this traditional industry for Belarusians. Thus, lamb disappeared from the diet of Belarusians. But many recipes remain and the most wonderful of them is “Pyachysty”.

Recipe. There are many references to the mysterious “Pyachysty” in literature. But there is no exact recipe anywhere. Why? Unknown.

Ingredients. Mutton.

Cooking process. Lean lamb is baked in large pieces (usually the entire back part).

That's all that is known about this very mysterious dish. But even this small description gives a very appetizing picture.

Ninth place. Sbiten

A soft drink couldn't help but make it into the top 10. Sbiten is perfect for this role. It is very healthy, quenches thirst well and, of course, is very tasty. It should be noted that there are extremely many recipes for sbitney. Nowadays it evokes associations with a soft drink (it is cold sbiten that can be bought in stores), but traditional sbiten was consumed very hot. Here's the classic recipe.

Recipe. Sbiten can be both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. In addition to spices, it makes sense to add herbs to sbiten.

Ingredients. Water, honey, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, bay leaf.

Cooking process. Boil water mixed with honey (you can add sugar or molasses), add pepper, bay leaf, cloves, grated nutmeg, and other seasonings to taste. In some cases, beer or alcohol is added to sbiten. Should be consumed hot. Sbiten was very popular in Belarus in the 18th-19th centuries. In folk medicine it was used as a remedy against scurvy.

Tenth place. Nalistniki

In our opinion, in the last 10th place there should be a dish that can claim the status of national Belarusian fast food. There were a large number of such dishes. Draniki are not very suitable for the role of fast food, Belarusian home-made sausages are not either, but Polesie pancakes “Nalistniki” seem to be born for this role.

Recipe. Nalystniki are classic Polesie pancakes, the recipe of which was recorded by an ethnographer during one of the expeditions in the Rechitsa region. We can say with confidence that this dish is known to many, but you are unlikely to taste such pancakes on street stalls.

Ingredients. Flour, milk, butter, cottage cheese, cheese.

Cooking process. Mix flour with fresh milk and stir to form a thin dough. Fry thin pancakes in a frying pan. Fill the pancakes with cottage cheese or cottage cheese, wrap them in a tube or fold them into quarters. Spread butter on top of the pancake and fry in a frying pan. Place the fried pancakes in a pot, add butter or sour cream and simmer in the oven.

99 percent of modern Belarusians will read the headline and be surprised: “Where did the author find 10 Belarusian dishes that are worthy of being included in some kind of rating?” All these people will be even more surprised when they learn about the author’s long thoughts: “Still, TOP-10 or TOP-20...”

Somehow it has happened over the past decades that literally 3-4 dishes are associated with Belarusian cuisine. We can talk about the reasons and analyze them for a long time, but the conclusion will be the same - Belarusians have forgotten a lot in their culinary traditions, but these traditions are no less rich than German or French ones.

So let's get started. When compiling the rating, various sources were carefully studied, which collected dishes of modern Belarusian cuisine and old Belarusian cuisine (let's call it that). Moreover, we studied both the diet of ordinary people and the “zamozhnaya” gentry.

First place. Veraschak

I am sure that everyone reading expected to see the ubiquitous “Draniki” in first place. Draniki are the most popular Belarusian dish, but in our opinion, “Verashchaka” is a worthy calling card of Belarus among meat dishes.

Recipe: There are several varieties of “Verashchaki” preparation, we offer the most original one.

Ingredients: 0.5 kg. pork with ribs, 1-2 onions, 1 glass of bread kvass, salt, pepper, bay leaf.

Cooking process: Chop the pork, add salt and pepper, and fry on both sides. Fry finely chopped onion in the fat that is released. Place the meat and onions in a cast iron (saucepan), pour in bread kvass and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Served with mashed potatoes or pancakes.

If you try to include “Verashchaka” in a certain classification series, then according to the method of consumption this dish is “machanka”. Among the dishes of Belarusian cuisine you can find at least a dozen different “machankas”. We can be proud of these specialties.

Second place. Beetroot

But the second specialty that Belarusian cuisine can be proud of is, of course, cold soups made from beets, sorrel, and nettles. Cold soups are an exclusively Belarusian culinary tradition, and if a similar dish is found among our neighbors, then they borrowed it from us, and not we from them. And this is nice.

Recipe: In second place we placed “Beetroot soup”, prepared according to a traditional recipe. Although you can find many varieties of cold soups.

Ingredients: Beets with petioles and tops, cucumbers, green onions, dill, radishes, dill, eggs, vinegar, salt, sugar, sour cream.

Cooking process: Boil peeled, thoroughly washed, cut into strips or cubes young beets (along with finely chopped petioles) in a small amount of water and vinegar until tender. About 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add some chopped young beet tops, add salt, then cool. Wash, peel, and cut fresh cucumbers into cubes. Sort the green onions, dill, and radishes, rinse, and cut individually. Finely chop the eggs. Pour kvass into the cooled beet broth, add salt, sugar, chopped cucumbers, radishes, green onions, dill, eggs. Serve sour cream separately.

Third place. Draniki

It’s hard to imagine a Belarusian without potato pancakes. And indeed, pancakes made from raw grated potatoes are a wonderful invention. It’s not for nothing that all neighboring peoples have similar dishes in their national traditions. In Ukraine, a potato pancake festival was held not long ago, and in Germany, potato pancakes are eaten with jam, not sour cream... These facts about analogues of our potato pancakes came to mind right away, but they are not the only ones.

Recipe: Traditionally, potato pancakes are understood as potato pancakes, and potato flatbreads with filling are usually called sorcerers. Although 150-200 years ago, sorcerers meant completely different dishes. In this ranking, the third place is occupied by classic Belarusian potato pancakes.

Ingredients: potatoes, flour, curdled milk or kefir, salt.

Cooking process: Grate raw potatoes on a fine grater, add flour, curdled milk (kefir), salt and mix. Fry in vegetable oil. Ready pancakes are served with chopped, fried onions and fried lard.

In modern Belarusian cuisine, potato pancakes are popular without flour and are served with sour cream. Also, potato pancakes are perfect as a side dish for Belarusian “machankas” along with flour pancakes.

Third place with potato pancakes may well be shared by another famous Belarusian dish -.