Rasstegai () is a type of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

pirog Pirog ( rus, пиро́г, p=pʲɪˈrok, a=Ru-пирог.ogg, links=yes; , , ; ; ; , ; , ; ; ) is a baked case of dough with either sweet or savory filling.Darra Goldstein. ''A Taste of Russia: A Cookbook of Russian Hospitality'', "Russia ...

with a hole in the top.

History and etymology

The dish was very popular in Tsarist Russia. In rasstegai the filling is not hidden in dough, and in Russian means "unfastened" pies. Another version: in Moscow, in the gypsy choir, the beautiful Katya sang very well the Russian song "

Sarafan A sarafan ( rus, сарафа́н, p=sərɐˈfan, from ''sarāpā'', literally "romhead to feet") is a long, trapezoidal Russian dress worn by girls and women and forming part of Russian traditional folk costume. Traditional Russian costume ...

chik-rasstegaychik"; in honor of Katya, rasstegai became very popular meal in taverns in Moscow.

Fillings

The filling usually contains fish, but may also contain meat, liver, rice or mushrooms. The hole of rasstegai is used to add broth to the stuffing.

In literature

The dish is mentioned in

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

's ''

Dead Souls ''Dead Souls'' ( , pre-reform spelling: ) is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov ...

'' and

Vladimir Gilyarovsky Vladimir Alekseyevich Gilyarovsky (; 26 November 1853 – 1 October 1935), was a Russian writer and newspaper journalist, best known for his reminiscences of life in pre-Revolutionary Moscow (''Moscow and Muscovites''), which he first published i ...

's ''Moscow and the Muscovites''.Леонид Зданович. ''Кулинарный словарь''
Расстегай
Москва: Вече, 2001, (Leonid Zdanovich. ''Culinary dictionary'', "Rasstegai". Moscow: Veche, 2001; in Russian)Rasstegai: The pie proudly served by Moscow innkeepers. Russia Beyond
/ref>

References

Russian cuisine Russian pastries {{Food-stub