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BLINI (BLEE-nee)
Thin
Russian pancakes
Common
clues: Russian
pancakes; Buckwheat pancakes; Shrovetide dish; Thin pancakes;
Pancakes served with sour cream
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
Once a year
News:
Flipping
marvelous: Why don't we eat pancakes all the time?
Video:
Blini:
Russia's Fast-Food Frenzy
A
blintz, blintze, or blin (plural: blintzes, blini, or blinchiki)
is a thin pancake. It is somewhat similar to a crêpe with
the main difference being that yeast may be used in blini, but
not in crêpes.
The
English word blintz comes from the Yiddish בלינצע
("blintze),
which in turn comes from blin. "Blin" comes from Old
Slavic mlin, which means "to mill".
Blini
had a somewhat ritual significance for early Slavic peoples in
pre-Christian times since they were a symbol of the sun, due to
their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of
winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Butter Week, or
Maslenitsa). This tradition was adopted by the Orthodox church
and is carried on to the present day. Blini are also served at
wakes to commemorate the recently deceased.
Traditional
Russian blini are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise
and then diluted with cold or boiling water or milk. When diluted
with boiling water, they are referred to as zavarniye blini. The
blini are then baked in a traditional Russian oven. In fact, the
process of cooking blini is still referred to as baking in
Russian, even though these days they are almost universally
pan-fried, like pancakes. French crêpes made from unyeasted
batter (usually made of flour, milk, and eggs) are also not
uncommon in Russia, where they are called blinchiki and
considered to be a borrowed dish. All kinds of flour may be used
for making blini: from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet,
although wheat is currently the most popular by far.
Blintzes
were popularized in the United States by Jewish immigrants who
used them in Jewish cuisine. While not part of any specific
religious rite in Judaism, blintzes that are stuffed with a
cheese filling and then fried in oil are served on holidays such
as Chanukah (as oil played a pivotal role in the miracle of the
Chanukah story) and Shavuot (when dairy dishes are traditionally
served within the Ashkenazi minhag).
Blini
may be prepared and served in three basic ways.
They
may be eaten as-is. In this case, the batter may contain various
add-ins, from grated potato or apple to raisins. These blini are
quite common in Eastern Europe and are more solidly filled than
the spongy pancakes usually eaten in North America.
They
may be smeared with butter, sour cream, jam, honey, or caviar
(whitefish, salmon, or traditional sturgeon caviar, although the
latter is not kosher and therefore not used in Jewish cuisine)
and then they might be folded or rolled into a tube. In rolled
form they are similar to French crêpes. The caviar filling
is popular during Russian-style cocktail parties.
A
filling such as jam, fruit, potato, cottage cheese or farmer
cheese, cooked ground meat, cooked chicken, and even chopped
mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage, and onions (for a Chinese
eggroll-type blintz) is rolled or enveloped into a pre-fried
blintz and then the blintz is lightly re-fried, sautéed,
or baked.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Blini".
BLINI
(51) 17
Tu+ >1 04 Russian pancakes
4
Th+ >1 06 Buckwheat pancakes
4
Mo >1 99 Russian pancake
3
Fr- NYT 07 Shrovetide dish
3
We NYT 07 Thin pancakes
2
We- NYT 00 Pancakes served with sour cream
2
Fr- >1 09 Russian dish served with sour cream
1
Th NYT 08 Crepes
1
Th WSJ 06 Crepes for Khrushchev
01
Deli pancake LATKE
06
Filled pancakes
1
We Tau 08 Moscow street food
1
Th NYS 07 Pancakes for Putin
1
We CSy 09 Putin's pancakes
1
Th WSJ 01 Russian Tea Room order
1
Th WaP 01 Russian crepe
1
Th CHE 09 Russian crepes
1
We NYS 02 Russian dish
1
We NYS 06 Russian pancake often served with sour cream
1
Th LAT 00 Shrovetide pancakes
1
Th NYT 02 Shrovetide serving
1
We NYT 06 Shrovetide treats
1
We NYT 98 They may be served with caviar
1
Th NYT 09 They're often served with caviar
04
They're served with sour cream
2
Tu- >1 99 The capital of Japan?
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