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thefidgetyfoodie

not your average food & travel blog

cooking school

From a Russian cooking class with love

Posted on January 19, 2017 by thefidgetyfoodie

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Carefully hand making each and every pelmeni – a Russian staple

I did lots of cool things when I went to Russia last year – like staring in awe from the front row of the Bolshoi ballet and being battered (in a good way) with birch leaves during a traditional banya.

But my favourite experience was the Taste of Russia cooking class I took in Moscow. Not just because I got to cook (which I love) and eat (which I love even more), but because I spent the day with real Muscovites who let me drill them about their lives, their diets, their family and their future.

The day didn’t start well. Ever tried to take the Moscow subway? It’s ridiculously intense. I’m no stranger to large rail systems – I can navigate the tube with my eyes closed and have never had any issues in cities like New York and Paris (except when my sister and I went through two at a time and were almost arrested by French police but that’s another story).

Moscow is a different beast. The subway is HUGE and there isn’t a single direction in English, nor did anyone I ask for help speak English. I can read a decent amount of Cyrillic thanks to its likeness to the Greek alphabet but on my first full day in Russia, pre-coffee, I struggled. I’m not usually one to give up but I did and left the metro thinking a cab had to be an easier option.

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Flipping syrniki – Russian cottage cheese pancakes

Wrong. The traffic in Moscow is a disaster. It’s all one way so the layout forces cars to go in unnecessary directions. Plus I couldn’t see a cab rank or a single cab for that matter and I had no wifi to book an uber. So it was a deep breath and back down to the metro for me, where I finally worked out where to go and made it to the cooking class meeting point with just a minute to spare. Phew!

I arrived to find I was the only person there. Was everyone else late too?

No, it transpired that I was the only person in the class. That was music to my ears. A private market tour and cooking class to myself, what a score!

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My foodie dream team of Nadia, Milena and Zhukova

Firstly I was escorted to the Dorogomilovo market, one of Moscow’s largest, with ‘the chief’ Zhukova, her daughter Milena and daughter-in-law Nadia. A family affair!

The market was so fabulous it deserves a post of its own but essentially we picked up all the ingredients for lunch and I got to try tastings of whatever I pointed to. Which was a lot. Quite often I’d point to something and request identification; if Milena, whose English was excellent, didn’t know the word in English she’d whip out her iphone and google translate it for me.

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Zhukova ‘the chief’ runs the kitchen

From the market we drove 20 minutes away to the kitchen, a modest size room filled with a big table and cooking accoutrements. Our menu for the day included Siberian pelmeni (dumplings with a beef filling), borsch and syrniki (cottage cheese pancakes) with apricot ‘jam’. Zhukova put me straight to work – chopping onions, working dough and stewing apricots while I quizzed her on the provenance of the dishes and life in Russia.

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Zhukova shows me how the dough for pelmeni is rolled out

I learnt that pelmeni are the backbone of Russian home cooking and women are scrutinised on their pelmeni style and output. There’s the proper way to make them and the shortcut route but I got the impression that serious Russian cooks knew exactly which path they should follow. Read More

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How to scope out a city like a true foodie in 6 steps

Posted on February 3, 2015 by thefidgetyfoodie

Stunning aubergine at the Kowloon City Market in Hong Kong

Stunning aubergine at the Kowloon City Market in Hong Kong

Museums, art galleries and walking tours all have their place on any of my travel itineraries, but not before I’ve made a dent in a city’s key foodie hubs. And if I’m fortunate to have time up my sleeve then these are the places I will revisit again and again. They are also the best way to fast track your way into the culinary heartland of a new culture.

Slippery eels at the Kowloon City Market in Hong Kong

Slippery eels at the Kowloon City Market in Hong Kong

1. Food Markets

There are not many cities and towns without a food market of some sort. After all, this was how people shopped before supermarkets came along (not that I’m dissing supermarkets as you’ll see in the next point). Countries like France, Finland and Hong Kong are experts at food markets and even have themed markets for your every gastronomic desire.

Starfish at the Tai Po Hui market in Hong Kong

Starfish at the Tai Po Hui market in Hong Kong

This is where you will see first-hand what produce and ingredients are in season and sourced locally. You’ll find gems that you won’t find anywhere else. And those gems will likely be cheaper than anywhere else too.

Dried seahorse at Wanchai market in Hong Kong

Dried seahorse at a market in Hong Kong

Fave pick: the plethora of wet and dry markets in Hong Kong are an exotic adventure in the making. Wander through produce in a myriad of vivid colours and relish random finds like dried seahorse and starfish.

An eponymous herb range I discovered in a Romanian supermarket

An eponymous herb range I discovered in a Romanian supermarket

2. Supermarkets

Don’t be fooled into thinking that supermarkets are purely the domain of locals and backpackers looking for cans of tuna. I can (and do) spend HOURS in foreign supermarkets; just ask any of my patient travelling buddies.

Fancy some crap? (relax, it's the Romanian word for carp)

Fancy some crap? (the Romanian term for carp)

I love to see what’s stocked on the shelves, the more random the items the better. If I come across something I’ve never seen, that’s grounds enough for me to buy it. I also get a kick out of quirky packaging, unusual names (crap anyone?) and in-store advertising (must be my inner marketing nerd). Read More

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