Blini

Blini
Alternative names	blin, bliny
Type	pancake
Place of origin	Russia[1]
Main ingredients	wheat, eggs, milk
Cookbook: Bliny   Media: Blini

A blini (plural blinis or blini, rarely bliny;^[2][3] Russian: блины pl.), traditionally also called a blin is a Russian^[4] and more broadly Eastern European pancake made from various kinds of flour or buckwheat, wheat, etc. They may be served with smetana, tvorog, caviar and other garnishes, or simply smeared with butter. Blini are among the most popular and most-eaten dishes in Russia.

In the West, blini traditionally refers to small savory pancakes made with leavened batter. In modern Russian, the term most often refers to pan-sized leavened thin pancakes, although smaller leavened pancakes are also called blini and were much more common historically.

Some English dictionaries record usage of the forms blin as singular and blini or bliny as plural, which corresponds to the original Russian forms, but other dictionaries consider this usage so rare in English that they do not mention blin at all and only record the widespread modern regular usage of blini for the singular and blinis for the plural.^[5] Some cookbooks and restaurants use blin and blintchick as in Russian to refer to crêpes.

Blintzes, called blinchiki (little blinis) in Russian are an offshoot of blini. They are thin pancakes usually made of wheat flour, folded to form a casing for various kinds of filing, typically cheese, fruit, or (in Russian cuisine) pre-fried minced meat, and then sautéed or baked.^[6]

Etymology

The preparation of bliny

Lithuanian Blini (blynai)

The Old Slavic term for the Russian pancakes was probably mlinŭ,^[7] which transformed in Old Russian into mlinъ, blinъ (млинъ, блинъ), (cf. mlynets’ (млинець), Ukrainian for blin). While the Russian word блины́ bliný (plural of блин blin) refers in modern Russian also to the introduced foreign pancakes in general; meanwhile the term ру́сские блины́ rússkiye bliný (Russian pancakes) is often emphasized in Russia for differentiation.

Blintzes

Usage in modern Russian

Aside from referring to pancakes, the word blin (блин) is used in Russian as a linguistic signal in communications. It is used when a person talks to others and is searching for the right words or to express their dissatisfaction as a euphemism for "damn."^[8]

History

Blini shop in Novosibirsk, Russia

Blini were considered by early East Slavic people in pre-Christian times to be a symbol of the sun due to their round form.^[9] They were traditionally prepared at the end of winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Butter Week, or Maslenitsa, also called "pancake week").^[9] The tradition of a dairy festival at that time of year was adopted by the Orthodox church as a way of using up dairy products before the start of Great Lent. This tradition is observed by Western Christians as Pancake Day. Drochena, a kind of blini, was 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 milk, soured milk, and cold or boiling water. When diluted with boiling water, they are referred to as zavarniye bliny. A lighter and thinner form made from unyeasted batter (usually made of flour, eggs, milk, or soured milk, kefir, ryazhenka, varenets) is also common in Russia. Traditionally, blini are baked in a Russian oven. The process of preparing blini is still referred to as baking in Russian, even though they are nowadays pan-fried, like pancakes. All kinds of flour may be used, from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet, although wheat is currently the most popular.

Varieties

Frozen blinchiki being fried in a pan

Some ways that blini are prepared and served include the following:

• Blini made from batter containing various additions such as grated potato or apple and raisins.^[9] Such blini are quite common in Eastern Europe and are more solidly filled than the spongy pancakes usually eaten in North America.
• Blini covered with butter, sour cream, varenie or jam, honey or caviar (whitefish, salmon or traditional sturgeon).

They may be folded or rolled into a tube with sweet or salty fillings such as varenye, fruit, berry, mashed potatoes, tvorog, cooked ground meat, cooked chicken, salmon, chopped boiled eggs with green onions or chopped mushrooms.^[11]

• Blini made by pouring batter over chopped vegetables, meat, or mushrooms put on a frying pan beforehand are called "blini s pripyokom."
• Caviar is a popular filling for blini during Russian-style cocktail parties.

• Buckwheat blini are part of traditional Russian cuisine.^[9] They are also widespread in Ukraine,^[9] where they are sometimes known as hrechanyky (Ukrainian: гречаники), and Lithuania's Dzūkija region, the only region of the country in which buckwheat is grown, where they are called grikių blynai.

• 
  An old woman prepares blini in a Russian oven for the religious and folk holiday Maslenitsa. Postcard of pre-revolutionary Russia (before 1917) by B. V. Zvorykin.
• 
  Blini served with red caviar
• 
  Russian stamp with blini and other motifs of Russian culture
• 
  Blini fried in an oven in the Mari El Republic, Russia
• 
  Belarusian silver commemorative coin with Maslenitsa theme and the accompanying blini
• 
  Blini are one of the specialties of the Russian fast-food chain Teremok.
• 
  Blini, rolled up in a spiral pattern
• 
  Pre-1917 postcard (art by B.V.Zvorykin)

See also

References