Name:

Grated Potato Dishes, Draniki, Potato pancakes, Babka and others, Traditions of Preparations and Consumption

The second item name ICH (adopted in a particular community, the local version):

In Brest region: deruny, kartoplyanyky, polyubenykі, bul’byanyya vozhykі, pіragі kіslyya, bul’byanyya aladkі, kartaplyanyya blіny; in Gomel region: dzyaruny, drachonіkі, vyaskovyya vozhykі, kartaplyanyya hapuny, brambarakі, knyshy, yazychkі; in Vitebsk region: bul’beshnіkі, bul’byashy, bul’byanіkі, patsyorkі, zhulіkі, drachony, dzeruny, drachy, drannyo, dzyaronіkі, dzyaronyya blіny, shlyop na shlyop; in Grodna region: bandy, bondy, bagataya bonda, dzіruny, dzeruny, aladkі z bul’by, kartaflyanіkі, kartaplyanyya aladkі, bul’byanyya pranіkі, dranіkі-zaparnіkі, dranka; in Mahilyow region: asyanіkі, tarkavantsy, tserunkі, yozhykі, drachany, drachony, drachy, dranka, bul’byanіkі; in Minsk region: tarkavanіkі, lyanіvіcy, vozhykі, kartaflyanіkі, dratsyonka, skavarodnіkі, kartaplyanyya aladkі, drachonkі, kalduny, etc.

Corresponding to (s) Community (s), group (s) or individual (s) described:

The element is shared by Belarusians and widely practiced throughout the country, in both urban and rural communities. The communities, groups and individuals concerned include residents of all regions of Belarus who not only possess the appropriate culinary skills for preparing such dishes and practice them in everyday life but also willing to actively share their knowledge and skills and traditionally pass them from generation to generation. The element is also practiced by Belarusians living abroad wherever necessary ingredients are available. Traditions associated with the preparation and consumption of grated potatoes dishes are practiced and safeguarded at other levels as well: - private entrepreneurship and tourism; - catering industry (there are about 250 catering establishments in the country that specialize in national cuisine, including grated potatoes dishes); - cultural institutions, where attention to regional recipes is purposefully cultivated; - an expert community of researchers of these culinary practices. The preparation of grated potatoes dishes is practiced in the country without distinction of gender, age or socio-economic group.

Habitat:

Short description:

Dishes made from mashed potatoes are widely represented in Belarusian folk cuisine. The process of grinding occurs in various ways, one of which is grating.
Raw grated potatoes serve as the basis for preparing a large group of diverse dishes, the most popular of which are draniki, which are baked from freshly prepared grated potato mass with various additives specific to local communities, have dozens of local cooking options and their own distinctive names in each region.
Simplicity of preparation is one of the features of draniki. The main ingredient of the dough is raw, peeled, grated potatoes, which are fried in the form of small flatbreads on a hot, greased frying pan. Grated potato dishes differ in the way the dough is prepared. The dough can be: without anything, just salt; with grated raw onion; with flour or starch; with sour cream or whey (kefir); with eggs, pumpkin, carrots, cottage cheese, pieces of lard, minced meat, beans, meat or mushroom filling (kalduny, pyzy, knyshy, etc.). A general analysis of more than 200 recorded folk recipes from 66 areas of Belarus shows a great variety of grated potatoes dishes.
The richness and diversity of culinary skills is manifested in the preparation of other grated potatoes dishes: thick and thin pancakes, when more liquid (whey, kefir) and flour are added to the potato dough, as well as baking soda for splendor; babka, kishki, etc., which under local names are spread throughout Belarus.
Today, the preparation of bul’byanaya babka (dranka), kishki (sausages) is less common in everyday life and public catering, but it also attracts especially those who prefer distinctive, rather than typical dishes, which today include draniki we are accustomed to.
Bul’byanaya kishka is a sausage made from grated potatoes with pan-fried pork cracklings. They are added to grated potatoes, along with a couple of spoons of semolina (or without), flour, eggs, salt, and pepper, mixed well, and the sausage is filled with this mixture. The sausage casing is pierced in several places with a needle so that it does not burst. It is baked in the oven on a greased baking sheet or frying pan, and the dish is served hot with sour cream.
Babka is practically the second bread for Belarusians. It is baked in a special form that resembles molded bread. It is very high in calories and by cutting off such a slice of “bread” you can be full for the whole day, which Belarusians did in those distant times and still do today.
In some areas, babka is a festive “Sunday” dish, and many families safeguard the old tradition to prepare and consume babka on Sundays. The most valuable thing about these dishes is that they are prepared from familiar and accessible products.
Certain traditions of preparing and eating grated potatoes dishes have developed. The majority of rural residents of the Grodna region practice an agricultural lifestyle, which is an important factor in safeguarding the technology of preparing local dishes. They are made everywhere from potatoes, which, as an important food product, traditionally growing on private plots of land (individual households), on farms, and on state lands (agricultural production cooperatives). Potatoes are freely available (can be purchased at any store or from a farmer). Traditional tools are still used for cooking: a “potato” and “beet” cast iron frying pan, a pot, a wooden spoon, etc. This helps safeguard the element and has a significant impact on the taste of the dish.
In urban environments, widely available ingredients for the dough are purchased at various trade points. Modern mechanical devices are used in the kitchen: a food processor for grating potatoes, a meat grinder for preparing meat and mushroom fillings, a gas or electric stove, a multicooker instead of an oven, a frying pan with a modern chemical coating instead of a cast iron frying pan, a saucepan instead of a cast iron pot, etc. Using traditional tools is certainly more organic for preparing traditional dishes. However, the appearance of equipment in modern kitchens that facilitates the cooking process does not affect the process of existence and development of the element.
Draniki or potato pancakes are usually baked in the morning for breakfast, and the whole family often participates in their preparation: the men peel and chop the potatoes, while one or more older housewives knead the dough and bake them. It is this circumstance that strengthens internal family ties, promotes closer unity and rapprochement between relatives, who on certain days (mostly weekends) gather at the family table.
Those draniki that are left over from breakfast are placed in a cauldron, a bowl or a saucepan, covered with fat or butter, sour cream and placed in the oven, in a light atmosphere. They can be eaten for lunch. It is this order of eating hearty, high-calorie dishes that has developed among the people that is also approved by modern experts as the most beneficial for health. The most common addition to draniki is sour cream, but special dishes are often prepared and served - machanka, verashchaka, fried eggs, cottage cheese with sour milk, and others.
Grated potato dishes, especially draniki as the most popular dish, are a distinctive feature of the traditional culture of Belarusians, and the choice of what ingredients to add to draniki or pancakes, how to cook them, whether to cook them crispy or soft, what to serve them with, and even what to call the ready dish are more family traditions, the individual culture of each family, and the personal choice of the housewives.

Category:

Traditional Food

Origin:

The first mention of potatoes in Belarusian lands appears in documents in 1736, under Augustus III, in the territory of the Grodna region. The new crop made its way very slowly: at first, people didn’t know how to use it, and they ate poisonous berries. Only later did someone figure out that you should eat tubers that resembled cobblestones – hence, perhaps, the word “bulba”. However, even in the first half of the 19th century, potato dishes were not widespread; in the middle of the 19th century, potatoes occupied only 2.5% of the sown area. Only in the second half of the 19th century did ethnographic materials include descriptions of some potato dishes. It turned out that potatoes are suitable for Belarus climate, their harvest is not bad, and they are easy to store. Therefore, potatoes have become a ubiquitous part of the structure of crops and food, and more than once saved Belarusians from hunger in those years when rye did not yield. This is where the expression “potatoes are second bread” came from. Belarusians considered potatoes a reliable substitute for rye – in fact, they often added them to bread to make the loaf bigger. In the second half of the 19th century, culinary methods and techniques for preparing potato dishes began to take shape. It can be assumed that initially, dishes made from whole boiled potatoes were widely used. With the spread of metal tools (graters), grated potato dishes became a staple of everyday life. They were cooked in the oven in a cast iron pot (babka, shranka, tarkavanka, etc.) or fried in a frying pan with various additives (lard, onions, etc.). Grated potatoes were added in varying amounts to flour dishes, most often to various types of pancakes, from which in some cases it almost completely replaced flour. Sometimes potato pancakes were baked in the form of small flatbreads, which received various local names, among which the most common was the name “draniki” because it accurately reflected the process of preparing potatoes, which had to be “grated” (in Belarusian “drat”) on a grater. In rural areas, draniki were fried in fat, lard, and melted butter; in the second half of the 1960s, it became possible to fry draniki in oil, which contributed to the spread and popularity of this dish not only within families but also in public catering. The ability to use gas and electric stoves instead of a traditional oven has gradually made draniki the most popular grated potato dish thanks to their speed of preparation, excellent taste, and simple yet very diverse recipe. Later, grated potato dishes began to be used in festive and ritual culture. Initially, the traditional ceremonial dish “Klotski z dushami” in the Vitebsk region was a ritual dish of the memorial table. Thus, grated potato dishes have taken their honor place in the traditions of family and public catering, and draniki approximately from the second half of the 20th century, have become one of the traditional components of Belarusian cuisine.

Language or dialect used:

Southwestern dialect of the Belarusian language; Western Polesie groups of dialects; Central Belarusian dialects of the Minsk-Maladziechna group; Vitebsk-Vilnius dialects of the northwestern group of dialects of the main Belarusian dialect type with the use of Russisms; Northwestern dialect of the Belarusian language; mixed speech of Belarusian, Russian, Polish and Lithuanian languages.

Material objects that are associated with the practice of the element:

oven, firewood, potatoes, onions, oil, lard and pork, eggs, salt, flour, grater, frying pan, stove, etc.

Other intangible elements associated with the practice of the element:

According to older bearers of the tradition of preparing draniki, previously, grated potato dishes were prepared either on Sundays or for holidays of the folk calendar: Christmas, Easter, Trinity Sunday, Bahach, etc., because cooking required a large amount of pork fat or oil, which were previously in short supply. For example, potato sausage was only prepared for major holidays (before Christmas). Today, it is an everyday dish that every careful housewife can prepare. Intangible elements associated with the practice of the element are: - technology of building a traditional stove, making cookware and kitchen utensils; - traditional technologies for potatoes cultivation; - the tradition of digging up and planting potatoes (until recently, it was a common task in the parental gardens, uniting not only the family, but also the clan; the entire kinship group would gather for one task); - the tradition of preparing and eating various dishes of traditional cuisine.

Transmission model element in the community:

Today in Belarus, there are various ways of transmission relevant knowledge and skills: traditional forms within the family, from generation to generation, where a special role is played by older family members who have safeguarded and passed down traditional recipes. Modern knowledge and skills transmission modes have also been formed: at master classes, regional festivals and celebrations of traditional culture and local cuisine with the participation of practitioners of traditions; through the activities of cultural institutions, where cultural workers at the local level act as both bearers and guardians of local traditions. Professional chefs of restaurants and cafes focused on national cuisine are also actively involved in safeguarding and popularizing grated potato dishes; they introduce modern elements while preserving the originality of the traditional taste. For the wider popularization of the element, its history of origin, recipes, cultural features, and gastronomic significance, various communication channels – television, radio, print media, and the Internet – serve as models for transmission. Grated potato dishes are prepared by people of all ages, regardless of gender or occupation. This element is firmly integrated into the everyday life of Belarusians and is considered an important part of the national food culture.

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