Blintz

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Blintz

A blintz, blintze or blin (plural: blintzes or blini; cf. Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad....
: Blynai, blynai; ; ; ; Yiddish: ?????? blintze) is a thin pancake

Pancake

A pancake is a thin, flat cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Pancakes exist in several variations in many different local cuisines....
. It is somewhat similar to a crêpe

Crêpe

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryote microorganisms classified in the Kingdom fungus, with about 1,500 species currently described; they dominate fungal diversity in the oceans....
is always used in blini, but not used in crêpes.

English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
word blintz comes from the Yiddish ?????? ("blintze"), which in turn comes from blin.

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A blintz, blintze or blin (plural: blintzes or blini; cf. Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

Pancake

Crêpe

Yeast

Etymology, origins, culture

The English

English language

Slavic languages

File:Slavic europe.svgThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia....
mlin, that means "to mill" (compare the Ukrainian

Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
word for blin ???????, mlynets’).

Blins had a somewhat ritual significance for early Slavic peoples in pre-Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
times since they were a symbol of the sun

Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
, due to their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of the winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Pancake week, or Maslenitsa

Maslenitsa

Maslenitsa , also known as Butter Week, Pancake week, or Cheesefare Week, is a Russian religious and folk Public holidays in Russia....
). This tradition was adopted by the Orthodox church and is carried on to the present day. Bliny were once also served at wake

Wake (ceremony)

A wake is a ceremony associated with death. Traditionally, a wake takes place in the house of the deceased, with the body present; however, modern wakes are often performed at a funeral home....
s, to commemorate the recently deceased.

Traditional Russian bliny are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling (zavarnye bliny) water or milk

Milk

Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals . It provides the primary source of nutrition for newborn mammals before they are able to digestion other types of food....
just before baking them in the traditional Russian oven (to this day the process of cooking bliny is referred to as baking in Russian, even though these days they are almost universally pan-fried, like pancakes). French Crêpe

Crêpe

A cr?pe is a type of very thin, cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of France origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled." While cr?pes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is nowadays widespread in France and it is considered...
s made from unyeasted batter (usually made of flour, milk and eggs) are also not uncommon in Russia, where they are called blinchiki and considered to be a borrowed dish. All kinds of flour may be used for making bliny: from wheat

Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
and buckwheat

Buckwheat

Buckwheat refers to plants in two genera of the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, and the North American genus Eriogonum....
to oatmeal

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a product of ground oat groats or a porridge made from this product . The term, 'oatmeal' can refer also to other products made from oat groats, such as steel-cut oats, crushed oats, and rolled oats....
and millet

Millet

The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal Crop or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a scientific classification group, but rather a functional or agronomic one....
, although wheat is currently by far the most popular.

Blintzes were popularized in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
by Jewish immigrants who used them in Jewish cuisine

Jewish cuisine

Jewish cuisine is a collection of international cookery traditions linked by Jewish dietary laws and Jewish holiday traditions. Certain foods, notably pork and shellfish, are forbidden; meat and dairy may not be combined, and meat must be Ritual slaughter and salted to remove all traces of blood....
. While not part of any specific religious rite in Judaism

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
, blintzes that are stuffed with a cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cattle, Water Buffalo, goats, or sheep's milk. It is produced by Coagulation of the milk protein casein....
filling and then fried in oil are served on holidays such as Chanukah

Hanukkah

File:PikiWiki Israel 146 Hanukka ?????.JpgHanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE....
(as oil played a pivotal role in the miracle of the Chanukah story) and Shavuot

Shavuot

is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan . Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day Names of God in Judaism#In English gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai....
(when dairy dishes are traditionally served).

Blins may be prepared and served in three basic ways.

They may be eaten "as is". In this case the batter
Batter (cooking)

Batter is a liquid mixture, usually based on one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or beer. egg is also a common component....
may contain various add-ins, from grated potato
Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial plant Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family. The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well....
or apple
APPLE

This article is about the satellite APPLE. For the fruit apple, see Apple. For other uses see Apple .The Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment , was an experimental communication satellite with a C-Band transponder launched by Indian Space Research Organisation satellite on June 19, 1981 by Ariane 1, a launch vehicle of the European Spac...
to raisins. These blini are quite common in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
and are more solidly-filled than the spongy pancakes usually eaten in North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
.
They may be smeared with butter
Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermentation cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying....
, sour cream
Sour cream

Sour cream is a dairy product rich in fats obtained by fermenting a regular cream by certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, introduced either deliberately or naturally, sours and thickens the cream....
, jam, honey
Honey

Honey is a sweet fluid produced by honey bees , and derived from the nectar of flowers. According to the United States National Honey Board and various international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance?this includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners...
, or caviar
Caviar

Caviar is the Food processing, salted roe of certain species of fish, most notably the sturgeon and the salmon . It is commercially marketed worldwide as a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread; for example, with hors d'?uvres....
(whitefish or salmon caviar, traditional sturgeon caviar is not kosher
Kashrut

Kashrut refers to Judaism Taboo food and drink. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English language, from the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of the Hebrew language term kash?r , meaning "fit" ....
) and possibly folded or rolled into a tube. In that form they are similar to French crêpe
Crêpe

A cr?pe is a type of very thin, cooked pancake usually made from wheat flour. The word, like the pancake itself, is of France origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled." While cr?pes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is nowadays widespread in France and it is considered...
s. The caviar
Caviar

Caviar is the Food processing, salted roe of certain species of fish, most notably the sturgeon and the salmon . It is commercially marketed worldwide as a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread; for example, with hors d'?uvres....
filling is popular during Russian-style cocktail parties.
(The term "blintz" is mostly applicable to this version): A filling such as jam, fruit, potato, cottage cheese
Cottage cheese

Cottage cheese is a cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed so some whey remains. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity giving sweet curd cheese....
or farmer cheese
Farmer cheese

Farmer cheese is a simple cheese often used for fillings in blintzes and other foods. Farmer cheese is made by pressing most of the moisture from cottage cheese; pressed drier still, it is sometimes rolled in a mixture of herbs and flavorings, or wrapped in very thin slices of flavorful smoked meats....
, cooked ground meat
Meat

In modern English usage, meat most often refers to animal biological tissue used as food, mostly skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also refer to offal, including livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, in some countries lungs, and a variety of other internal organs as well as blood....
, cooked chicken
Poultry

Poultry is the category of domesticated birds which some people keep for the purpose of collecting their egg , or kill for their meat and/or feathers....
and even chopped mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage and onions (for a Chinese eggroll-type blintz) is rolled or enveloped into a pre-fried blintz and then the blintz is lightly re-fried, sautéed or baked. Such a blintz is also called nalysnyky in that form (Ukrainian: ?????????) or blinchiki (Russian: ????????).

It is the traditional meal in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
during Lent

Lent

Lent, in Christianity, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Conventionally it is described as being forty days long, though different Christian denominations calculate the forty days differently....

Buckwheat bliny are part of traditional Russian cuisine

Russian cuisine

Russian cuisine derives its rich and varied character from the vast and multicultural expanse of Russia. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of plentiful fish, poultry, game , mushrooms, Berry, and honey....
. They are also widespread in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
where they are known as hrechanyky (Ukrainian: ?????????), and Lithuania

Lithuania

Dzukija

Dzukija or Dainava is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania....
region, the only region in the country where buckwheat is grown. It is traditionally called .

External links

Article about and recipe for bliny and description of a related holiday.

Blintz

Etymology, origins, culture

See also

External links