This year for my birthday, my parents gave me "A Gift to Young Housewives." You might wonder what kind of gift this might be, and what kind of parents give their college educated daughter a book with such a chauvinistic title. To clarify your confusion, "A Gift to Young Housewives" is a Russian pre-revolutionary cookbook by Elena Molokhovets. It explained to newly married middle and upper class women how to run a house, entertain, and most importantly, how to cook.

This book was forbidden during the Soviet regime, so we never had a chance to explore it until coming to the US. I found the descriptions of dishes and menus to be absolutely fascinating not only from culinary, but historical and economic perspective. Who knew they had asparagus or capers in Russia? I guess before the revolution they had all kind of things.

I can't say that this is a good introductory Russian cookbook since the recipes are written in 19th century style -- no timing, oven temperatures, and tricky measurements. But this book is a great inspiration if you are familiar with Russian cuisine and like improvising in the kitchen or if you like culinary history. Since I like both, I fell head over heels in love with this book and want to say great thank you to my parents for such an awesome gift.

Here are some pictures of the dishes that were inspired by the book:

Uha (Fish Soup)

Pirozhki (Savory buns) with Fish

Vatrushki (Sweet buns with farmer's cheese and raisins)

Vatrushki and Blueberry Pirozhki

Close up of Blueberry and Farmer's Cheese Braid

Mushroom soup

Pirozhki with potato and cabbage

P.S. I just wanted to give you a gift idea for next birthday. A good bit of the book explains how to train your maid. Having one would come in quite handy since many recipes are very involved :)