''A Gift to Young Housewives'' ( rus, Пода́рок молоды́м хозя́йкам, r=Podarok molodym khozyaykam) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

written and compiled by Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets (née Burman; ) and usually referred to as "Molokhovets" rather than its long title. It was the most successful book of its kind in the 19th and early 20th-century in Russia. Molokhovets revised the book continually between 1861 and 1917, a period of time falling between the

emancipation of the serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

and the

Communist Revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution often, but not necessarily, inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, socialism can be used as an intermediate stage ...

. The book was well known in Russian households during publication and for decades afterwards. It was republished in 2003.

Classic Russian cooking

The original series went through more than 20 editions and sold more than 295,000 copies. The book gave instructions for elaborate dishes like

suckling pig A suckling pig is a piglet fed on its mother's milk (i.e., a piglet which is still a " suckling"). In culinary contexts, a suckling pig is slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is traditionally cooked whole, often roasted, in ...

Madeira cake Madeira cake is a sponge or butter cake in traditional British and Irish cookery. Origin It is sometimes mistakenly thought to originate from the Madeira Islands; however, that is not the case as it was named after Madeira wine, a Portuguese wi ...

, and

hazel grouse The hazel grouse (''Tetrastes bonasia''), sometimes called the hazel hen, is one of the smaller members of the grouse family of birds. It is a sedentary species, breeding across the Palearctic as far east as Hokkaido, and as far west as eastern a ...

. Other recipes included soups,

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

torte A torte (from German ''Torte'' ( (in turn from Latin via Italian ''torta'')) is a rich, usually multilayered, cake that is filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. Ordinarily, the cooled torte is glazed and garnish ...

s, mushrooms,

aspic Aspic or meat jelly () is a savory gelatin made with a meat stock or broth, set in a mold to encase other ingredients. These often include pieces of meat, seafood, vegetable, or eggs. Aspic is also sometimes referred to as ''aspic gelée'' or ...

mousse A mousse (; ; "foam") is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. Depending on preparation techniques, it can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick. A mousse may be sweet or savory. as e ...

s, and dumplings. There were also instructions on making

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...

, and

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

. Although the number of recipes varied by edition, there were as many as 3,218 in the 1897 edition. The 1904 (24th) edition contained 4,163 recipes. In addition to recipes, the book covered cooking techniques, utensils and cooking equipment, stoves and ovens, household management, relations with servants, menus for

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

s, and nutrition; it also gave time- and money-saving hints.

Public reception

During the

Soviet era The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

, the book, written for the middle class and aristocrats, was condemned as "

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

and decadent", mainly because of its aristocratic tone. Also, it was mostly outdated for the 20th century, as it did not include usage of modern kitchen equipment:

refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been us ...

s, etc. In the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, a time when people dealt with food shortages, long lines, and a scarcity of the necessary ingredients, cookbooks were mostly seen as a laughable anachronism. For example, one recipe for

babka A babka is a sweet braided bread (not a cake) which originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine. It is popular in Israel (often referred to as simply a yeast cake: ) and in the Jewish diaspora. It is prepared with a yeast-leavened ...

called for ingredients such as 60 to 70 eggs, which few people could afford at that time. But as life got better the need for cookbooks and complex recipes rose. In

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, ''

The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food ''The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food'' (', ''Kniga o vkusnoi i zdorovoi pishche'') is a Russian cookbook written by scientists from the Institute of Nutrition of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. The cookbook was first published in 1 ...

'' was published as the acceptable Soviet analogue of the outdated ''Gift'' and as an everyday cookbook. Recently "Molokhovets" has been regarded as a historical record and has been partially republished, its recipes offering a glimpse into traditional Russian cooking even if politically incorrect by Soviet standards. For example, Andrew Whitley uses the book to inform his description of historical bread making processes and adapts some of its old recipes with modern techniques.

Joyce Toomre

Joyce Toomre adapted and translated recipes and other content from the various editions into a 1992 book published as ''Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' a Gift to Young Housewives''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gift to Young Housewives, A 1861 non-fiction books Russian cookbooks Cookbooks

Classic Russian cooking

Public reception

Joyce Toomre

See also

References