Русские блины: история, традиции и рецепты

Eastern European pancake

Blini (plural blinis or blini, rarely bliny; блины pl. ), singular: blin, are an 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. They are considered to be a traditional Russian dish. 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. Smaller and thicker pancakes (with several of them baked on one larger pan) are called oladyi. Blintzes, called blinchiki (little blinis) in Russian are an offshoot of blini or crêpes. They are basically rolls based on 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.

The Proto Slavic term for the Russian pancakes was probably mlinŭ, which transformed in Old East Slavic into mlinъ, blinъ (млинъ, блинъ), (cf. mlynets’ (млинець), Ukrainian for blin). It is derived from the verb моло́ть, "to mill ", "to grind". Max Vasmer in his Etymological Dictionary of Russian language notes that a similar word is used in many Slavic languages, as well as in Latvian and Lithuanian. 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. 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.

Blini were considered by early East Slavic people in pre Christian times to be 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, also called "pancake week"). 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.