Trad Wife Cooking

 It may seem that America's home chefs may want to return to traditional cooking. They are turning to a relatively new phenomenon,  trad or traditional wives. These women bring cooking back to simpler times when everything was home made not jarred or prepackaged.

Regular contributor Julia Moskin wrote about one in particular in today's Wednesdays New York Times Food section.Hannah Neeleman is taking TikTok viewers and America by storm with her eerie take on being a good wife.The Kamas Utah mother of eight is showing how to do everything women did a century ago.She not only makes the herded noodles for her beef stroganoff she also slaughters the cattle for the beef.Yet in some ways she's more the indulged wife married to the son of Jet Blue Founder David Neeleman.She could just be,another privileged influencer who performance work masks the real involved work. Yet she is serious about being a farmer as well. She shepherds her sheep, as well as taking care of pigs and cows on her farm. There are plans for a creamery since she already makes her own yogurt and her protein powder is the number one best seller on Tiktok.If anything, she claims she' s following in the Mormon wife tradition of cooking, baking and being a good wife and mother. This appeals to many who follow her.

Yet this former Juillard trained dancer, whose farm Balkerina reflects her past is serious about her role.she does care what her children, five girls and three boys eat .Her recipes are included and there are the unusual herb laced noodles redolent with parsley  basil and dill.They go with the Stroganoff, which is a marriage of beef tips and mushrooms along with full fat Greek or Icelandic yogurt Flour is added for thickening and Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce bring in more flavor.This IA a hearty dinner for anyone , especially during the cold weather.A TikTok video of hers that is worth watching is her recipe for scratch apple cider doughnuts. SHe goes through a lot of work, including cooking the apples down to a slurry and adding them to the dough. From there it's rolling it out and shaping into rings which are then fried in hot oil. After they've cooled a bit she dredges them in a mix of cinnamon sugar. it is Labor intensive however nothing beats the taste of homemade doughnuts.

Will trad wife cooking be a trend.Probably.As long as Hannah Needeman is there to turn out scratch recipes

Russian Cuisine Practical And Exotic

Russian food isn't everyone's go to cuisine. In fact if you re not of that ancestry you probabyl knwo very litle about it, except maybe for blinis and borscht soup. However it's much more than that. This ancient and varied land has a table that is both unique and earthy ,practical yet amazingly exotic. Try Russian food and you're hooked.

The food evolved through the land but also through foreign influences. Like the French court, the Russian court was swayedby the ruling families likes . Austrian and French cooking first made their way to the royal tables and then filtered down to the masses. The most famous hybrids of the Franco Russian regimes are Beef Stroganoff, beef chunks in a creamy gravy and Chicken Kiev which is herb butter stuffed chicken breasts that are breaded and fried. Most dishes rely on harvests, Sturdy plants such as rye and barley provided flours for pancakes and bread. Cabbages and rutebegas were the vegetables for meals. Various fish and meats , such as jellied veal figure prominently in the cuisine as well.

Russian desserts ar e not as varied as other countries' sweets. Peter the Great, the 18th century czar, was fascinated by all things ,Dutch . German, French and Swedish. However there are a few dishes that are strictly true to the area. Tthere are blini, barley pancakes, filled with caviar and mushrooms/ However they can also be filled with cream and dried fruit. Baked desserts are also very popular and are stuffed with a sweet cheese and raisin filling. These are called vareniki and can also be eaten for a light supper.

Russian cuisine is an exotic blend of the foreign and the domestic. It combines native ingredients with foreign spins. All in all it is a different but interesting variety of dishes , both sweet and savory.