With sockeye salmon, crucian carp, halibut, gammon, tongue: the Okroshka Festival is underway at the Gastronomic Rows of the National Centre RUSSIA
The National Centre RUSSIA invites visitors to see off the summer with a favourite dish of Russian cuisine for the hot season. From 19 to 24 August the Gastronomic Rows are hosting the Okroshka Festival. Seven new varieties of this traditional cold soup are available at the corners.
On 22 August master classes on cooking okroshka were held, where experienced chefs shared their secrets. Everyone could take part.
The East corner presented Far Eastern okroshka with cold-smoked sockeye salmon on kvass of choice — Borodinsky or white unfiltered with horseradish.
"The finer the ingredients are chopped, the tastier it is, in my opinion. We cut Kamchatka sockeye salmon — our red gold. We smoke the fish with modern equipment. We also added baked chicken meat. Guests could feel the palette of flavours of all the ingredients together," noted Svetlana Bokova, brand chef of the East corner.
The West corner offered recipes of classic lean okroshka on dark kvass with horseradish and "Men’s" okroshka with chicken ham, gammon, and beef tongue on dark kvass.
"We’ve made one variation of okroshka with different kinds of meat, and it is very filling. The second is the complete opposite, light, meatless, with only potato, radish, cucumber and sour cream, and, unusually, turnip," said Artur Kosyakov, chef of the West corner.
At the South corner, visitors could try okroshka with crucian carp on currant kvass and okroshka with Doktorskaya sausage on dark kvass.
"Okroshka with crucian carp is quite a classic recipe for the southern regions of our country. Crucian carp can be replaced with carp. The fish can be boiled or steamed, and bones removed. It is important to add plum horseradish and mustard," shared Pavel Kutyrev, chef of the South corner.
Chef of the North corner Andrei Vinogradov created two types of this summer dish: Fisherman’s okroshka with lightly smoked Murmansk halibut on white unfiltered kvass, and Northern okroshka with stewed Lovozero venison on Borodinsky kvass, served with fried potatoes.
"I had the idea to add two of our northern products to okroshka — Murmansk halibut and venison. Halibut is a very delicate fish, we steam it for a few minutes and then lightly smoke it on applewood chips. We cook venison sous-vide — in vacuum at low temperature for six hours. We get Lovozero gammon, which we trim. It is important not to overcook venison, otherwise the taste may resemble liver. The other ingredients in okroshka are classic: cucumber, radish, potato, dill," explained Andrei Vinogradov.
The partner of the Okroshka festival is the Moscow beer and soft drinks company Ochakovo.
Current information about events can be found in the "Events" section of the National Centre RUSSIA website russia.ru.
Event photobank
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