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For guests and households, the Easter table is an elegant solemn treat, at which they spend several pleasant hours on the night from Holy Saturday to Bright Sunday. But on the other hand, all housewives know that a well-prepared and well-designed Easter table is the fruit of painstaking work for almost a whole week and a subject of long worries.
And, indeed, if you want your Easter table to meet both the long-established customs and the modern requirement of elegant serving, then you should take care of the upcoming breaking of the fast in advance. Moreover, in most cases it is customary to make Easter dishes and delicacies at home. Desirable pre-allocate all the days of Holy Week in such a way that each of these days was devoted to the preparation of one particular Easter treat. Every experienced housewife understands this and knows from experience how difficult it can be to cope with all the holiday preparations, if they are postponed until the very last days.
The Easter table differs from all other feasts in that no hot meals are served. Therefore, everything that is customary for Easter appears on this table at the same time. This circumstance makes it possible for the hostesses to prepare the Easter table in advance so that, judging by the degree of religiosity or health, they can rest before the arrival of guests or go to church.
The size of the table depends primarily on the number of guests. But even in the case when a very small number of people will break their fast, the table should be moved as far as possible in order to place all the Easter dishes on it. Where the size of the room does not allow placing a long table, you can build tables with the letter “P”. The table is covered cloth, and on top – tablecloth, evenly, without folds and so that it hangs equally at the sides everywhere. The most fashionable, and therefore elegant, tablecloths are considered to be white linen, decorated with openwork machine stitching or, even more sophisticated, with through-stitching. Of course, the napkin patterns should match the tablecloth pattern.
Between the devices, consisting of 3 plates (one small for bread, medium for a fish snack and a large small one for cold meat dishes), napkins, two pairs of knives and forks, glasses and glasses, leave a space of 20 centimeters. Small salt shakers with a shallow dining room salt can be placed between every two appliances. According to custom, on the table in the form of decoration put on a traditional Easter treat – Easter cake decorated with a sugar lamb, cottage cheese Easter with a bright artificial flower on top, and a basket of colored eggs.
Some caring housewives make a wooden box with soil in advance, on which young grass is driven out for Easter. This natural green bed, which serves as the first harbinger of spring, adorns the Easter table. Almost the same integral part of the Easter table is live, not too fragrant flowers.
Then you should start arranging the dishes. More massive meat dishes best set aside: this means whole ham, pig roll, roast veal, turkey, etc. On the table first of all place balyk, salmon, caviar, lobster, oysters, cheeses, jellied fish, hazel grouses, fresh salad. Each of these dishes should be decorated with a sultan or a bouquet of greenery. The leg of the ham is usually draped under colorful tissue paper garlands. All sorts of vodka, fruit drinks for ladies and more spicy liqueurs for men, as well as bottles of wine, red and white, were placed right there on the table. Moreover White wine should be submitted very cold, red — warm, not lower than room temperature.
When the hostesses noticed that the guests no longer touch spicy and fish snacks, plates and snacks were taken away from the table, with the exception of cheeses, which in most cases are usually eaten during dessert. Then meat dishes, fresh salad, fresh cucumbers and pickles were served on the table. After the meat dishes, they proceed to fruit and cheese, having previously removed everything from the table except Easter, Easter cakes and mazurkas, which are eaten either as a dessert or as an addition to tea and coffee. A tray of liqueurs and cognacs was placed on the table.
Guests can drink tea or coffee at will, which is poured either right there, at a large table on which a samovar is placed, or, which is much more elegant, at a small tea table, prepared in advance and standing aside. For tea, vases with sweets and jam were placed on a large table.
Rules for the preparation of cakes and women
Dough preparation begins with the preparation of the dough; the required amount of yeast, diluted with warm water or milk, combined with a known amount of flour, is mixed, a smooth, thin dough is obtained. Then they give the dough to rise well, put the baking; ground yolks with sugar, butter, salt, cream or milk and add the rest of the flour as required, knead well. When the dough is kneaded, that is, completely ready, put the raisins, chopped candied fruits, raisins, mix, let it fit well and lay out in forms. The molds should be well greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs or flour. They should be filled with dough no more than half: the dough should rise to the edges of the mold, and only then put in a preheated oven.
The oven for making cakes and babies was flooded while the dough had just been put into the molds. It is also necessary to preheat a modern oven in advance so that there are no temperature changes during baking. The cakes are cooked for about an hour, but you need to follow them: if the cakes turn red after 15 minutes, cover them with paper and reduce the heat a little; if after 20 minutes. the tops of the cakes are not browned, it is necessary to add heat. Readiness is recognized as follows: a match (or a wooden toothpick) is taken and stuck into the cake, then slowly pulled out and, if there is noticeably raw dough on it, then you need to put the cake for another 10-15 minutes. After taking out the cakes from the oven, leave them in the molds until they cool completely. And only then release from the form.
Siberian cake
flour – 1 kg
milk – 1,5 cups
egg – 6 pcs.
butter – 300 g
sugar – 2 cups
yeast – 50 g, raisins – 150 g
salt and vanilla sugar to taste
Dissolve the yeast in 0,5 cups of warm milk, add 4 cups of flour and knead the dough. Then add salt, egg yolks crushed white with sugar, melted butter and whites of eggs beaten into a foam. Knead the dough thoroughly and sprinkle with flour on top. Cover the dish with the dough with a towel and leave in a warm place overnight. The dishes should be high enough so that the dough does not “go away”. In the morning, add the remaining flour, vanilla sugar to the dough and knead the dough so that it is not very thick, but lags behind the walls of the dishes. Place the dishes with the fermentation dough so that it approximately doubles in volume. Then add the prepared raisins, mix the dough again and put it in the prepared forms. To obtain a loose Easter cake, the form must be filled to 1/3 of the height, and to obtain a denser cake, by half of the height. Place the molds in a warm place and cover with a towel. When the dough rises to 3/4 of the height of the mold, brush the top of the cake with sweet water or a beaten egg and place the molds with the dough in the oven. Cover the finished cake with glaze and decorate.
Easter cake with raisins
flour – 4 cups
butter – 200 g
yeast – 50 g
egg – 5 pcs.
sugar – 1 glass
milk – 1 glass
raisins (pitted) – 1 cup
salt to taste
Melt the butter, pour in hot milk, add sugar, salt, stir and cool to room temperature, then add flour, pour in the foamed yeast dissolved in a small amount of milk, mix thoroughly, placing in a warm place for fermentation. When the dough rises, add the yolks, then whites, raisins, whipped into a resistant foam, knead thoroughly. Place the dough in a well-oiled, floured dish, half full. When the dough rises flush with the edges of the mold, bake the cake at 180 degrees until tender.
Easter cake transparent
flour – 2,5 cups
egg (yolks) – 8 pcs.
fresh yeast – 50 g
milk – 1 glass
sugar – 1/2 cup
butter – 100 g
Grind the yolks white, pour in warm milk with yeast previously diluted in it, add flour, sugar, stir well and let rise. Then pour in melted (not hot!) Butter, knead the dough and fill the form 1/3 full. When the dough rises in the mold, place in the oven. Bake in the oven (no higher than 150 degrees Celsius) for 1,5 hours. If the cake burns on top, then put damp paper.
The cake is fair
flour – 5 glasses
cream -1,5 cups
oil – 250 g
sugar – 1 glass
egg (yolk) – 8 pcs.
nuts – 1/2 cup
raisins – 1/2 cup
candied fruits – 1/2 cup
salt – 1 tsp., yeast – 100 g
vanillin to taste
for glaze:
egg (protein) – 1 pc.
icing sugar – 1 glass
lemon juice – 8-10 drops
Dissolve the yeast in warmed cream, put half of the total amount of flour and put in a warm place. Grind the yolks with sugar and butter. When the dough comes up, add yolks with butter and sugar, raisins, chopped candied fruits, nuts into it. Mix well, add the remaining flour, salt, vanillin. Knead and place in a warm place until it doubles in volume. Knead again and let rise again. Form small buns from the finished dough and place in high-sided molds, oiled from the inside. Line the bottom and walls of the mold with oiled paper. The dough in the form should be one third of the height. Place the forms for proofing in a warm place for an hour. Then bake in the oven at 200-220 degrees for 60-70 minutes. When the top of the cake is browned, cover it with dampened paper so as not to burn. Smear the surface of the cooled cake with a thin layer of glaze.
Polish cake
800 g flour
200 g sugar
2 cup cream
1 / 2 cup milk
150 g butter
50 g yeast
8 Yolks
1 egg
salt on the tip of the knife
Heat the cream and butter, add two handfuls of flour to them, knead until smooth. When the mixture cools down a little, beat in one egg and pour in the yeast diluted in warm milk, mix well, let it come up. Then put in the dough 8 yolks, pounded with salt and sugar until white, add flour and knead the dough so that it is liquid – suitable for baking in the form. Put in a prepared form, bake, observing all precautions. Pour glaze on the still warm cake and decorate with candied fruits.
Kulich english
800 g flour
200 g sugar
200 g butter
1,5 cup of milk
50 g yeast
3 eggs
1 glass of raisins
salt to taste
Knead the dough from flour, butter, sugar and a glass of warm milk. Then pour in another half a glass of milk, in which the yeast is dissolved. Mix everything well, let the dough come up. When the dough rises, beat in three yolks, beaten with a pinch of salt, then whites and raisins, whipped into a foam. Put the dough into a mold, let it rise and bake.