Russian cuisine

Russian cooking means long soups, sourness as a flavour in its own right, and preserves that decide what winter dinner looks like.

Russian food is usually described as hearty, but its real device is acidity: sauerkraut, brine, sour cream, rye bread. That is what carries the flavour where other cuisines reach for spices.

The second is the masonry oven and what it left behind. Even on a hob, many dishes still follow its logic: slowly, at length and under a lid.