The julienne with mushrooms and cream a thousand years ago had a completely prosaic name, devoid of French pomp and thirst for glory. Mushrooms in sour cream, baked in the Russian oven were the most common food in Russian cuisine.
Bria-Savarin, with the excessive confidence inherent in all French chefs, argued that only a person with extraordinary culinary talent would be able to make cream sauce. The phrase is not translated literally, but the meaning is not distorted at all.
Well, it remains to congratulate all the Russian housewives, their mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and so on - every woman’s creamy sauce for mushrooms and not only in Russia could cook even when the ancestors did not even suspect the existence of France. Based on the statements of the famous Frenchman, the Russian people are the most talented in the world, because the cream sauce technology was mastered in ancient Russian cuisine, almost a thousand years ago. Perhaps even earlier, simply written evidence of this did not exist until the beginning of the ninth century, and more developed European countries knew only that “wild and terrible tribes” live in the north of the forests.
The fact that the mushrooms in sour cream are called juliens, and sour cream mixed with flour and sauce, the ancient Rusichi learned several centuries later. This happened when the petty French bourgeois, emigrants, fleeing from the revolution and the economic crisis that had come, went to Russia in search of a better life: from a civilized and enlightened Europe to a lapot Russia, to teach wild barbarians. As a result, the French saw the serf women adding flour to the soup and soup for density and increase the nutritional value of the dish, took the idea into service, calling the main sauce. This discovery they declared their own.
Our ancestors also did not blunder. Noticing that the Tsar of Russia and all the nobility liked everything foreign, mostly French, called the usual dish a julienne with mushrooms and cream. In the first Russian taverns, juliens “dispersed with a bang.” All the ingredients of the “new dish” remained the same, Russian, and the foreign name revived trade in establishments, including the period of the Soviet catering. In addition to talent to prepare sauces, our people have always been distinguished by a special ingenuity.
Julienne with mushrooms and cream - the basic technological principles
At the heart of julienne are three main ingredients: mushrooms, cheese and cream sauce. The dish can be varied with the help of the most simple and affordable ingredients, at its discretion.
This may be a thick soup in Russian or hot appetizer, like the French. Depending on the choice of type, changes the consistency of the dish. In the first case, the broth is needed, as the basis of the soup. The ratio of liquid to solid mass in soups should be about the same. For a hot snack, you must prepare a thick sauce, as a binding component for all the ingredients of the dish. Its consistency should resemble thick sour cream.
The main cream sauce consists of fat, milk or dairy products, flour. In various variations, in the list of ingredients for the sauce, wine, juice and zest of citrus fruits, ground nuts, spicy greens, spices are added. If the sauce is prepared for mushrooms, then according to the rules of harmony of taste, the necessary ingredients are selected. Dairy products in combination with any mushrooms - the best choice. Milk makes the aroma of mushrooms brighter and richer, and mushrooms in Russian cuisine have traditionally been used as an aromatic additive, leading the smell in the dish. Mushrooms drowned, for example, the unpleasant smell of fish broth. Lemons, which are now used for this purpose, appeared in the Russian folk cuisine much later.
Exotic spices for a long time in Russia were considered too expensive pleasure, so the original Russian cuisine is notable for its reserved attitude to them. Note that even in the middle of the last century, our grandmothers cooked any food, costing mostly black and allspice, bay leaf and salt. Sometimes they used cloves, nutmeg, coriander and red pepper. The remaining spices are roots and herbs of local origin: onion, garlic, parsley, celery, dill. This set is more than enough for cooking mushrooms in a creamy sauce. If there are too many spices, then the smell of mushrooms will be lost - remember this. As an addition to the mushroom dish, meat and fish can serve, and if we are talking about soup-puree, you can add vegetables, cereals, beans.
Now consider how cheese can fit into the composition of mushrooms and cream. Any cheese is a dairy product prepared using lactic acid fermentation followed by fermentation. That is, milk, as the basis of cheese, and fungal bacteria do not dissonate with cream and mushrooms. The only thing you should pay attention to when choosing a cheese is its melting ability. Therefore, give preference to soft and fat cheeses.
The word “julienne” merely means a way of cutting ingredients. According to the concept of French culinary specialists, it is necessary to cut into thin straws or thin circles, if we are talking about, for example, tomatoes. But slicing thin strips is rather a tradition of French cuisine. In the Mediterranean cuisine they prefer to do a larger cut of the ingredients, considering that this way the products lose less juice and vitamins. In Asian cuisine, it is customary to cut the ingredients into very small cubes. It is important to choose among the national characteristics of any kitchen a rational method, taking into account further heat treatment.
Ingredients having different shapes and size of cutting can also have different duration of heat treatment. The “julienne” technology involves thin slicing followed by rapid roasting over high heat in order to preserve the juice inside the roasted pieces. After pre-frying, stewing or sauteing, the dish is cooked in cooking, stewing or baking mode. French methods in Russian cuisine began to be applied from the middle of the eighteenth century, and even then, not everywhere. Whole and coarsely chopped ingredients in the technology of Russian cuisine were traditionally subjected to a simpler, one-time heat treatment: languishing, boiling or baking. So mushrooms in sour cream were traditionally cooked in pots in a Russian stove. Mushrooms, spicy roots were put in pots, poured with sour cream, milk or cream mixed with flour, and in this form the dish was sent to the stew in the oven. The technology of coarse cuts and roasting in the oven, although not as attractive as the technology of “juliens” with double heat treatment of the dish, but allows you to save more vitamins. Modern conditions allow you to choose any of the methods of cooking Julienne with mushrooms and cream. Creating different combinations of products, you can get every time a dish with new flavors, make your own recipes.
1. Julian soup with mushrooms and cream
Required:
Leek 100 g
Butter, melted 120 g
Parsley 50 g (leaves)
Cream (15-20%) 300 ml
Meat broth (or water) 900 ml
Pepper
Muscat
Lemon juice and zest to taste
Mushrooms (white, chanterelles, champignons) 0.5 kg (net)
Flour 90 g
Soft cheese 240 g
Preparation:
Freshly peeled mushrooms cut into thin slices and fry in oil, over high heat, until golden brown. Put them in a broth pot and start cooking slowly. Vegetable oil can be used for roasting, but the creamy taste is more in harmony with the mushrooms, giving them a nutty flavor.
Separately fry chopped onion, lightly browning it, add flour, mix. Pour the cream in a saucepan, preheating them so that they do not curl up from the temperature difference. Bring the cream dressing to a thickening and boil, with continuous stirring. If dense clots form, smash with a blender, add hot broth (50 ° C), grated cheese and add to the soup, stirring. Let boil again, season with spices, lemon juice, add chopped greens. Serve in broth cups with croutons or crackers.
2. Fish soup juliens with mushrooms and cream
Products:
Red fish fillet 900 g
Vinegar or citric acid solution (10%) - for fish
Fish broth 1.4 L
White wine, dry 180 ml
Muscat
Pepper
Dill, fresh
Dried mushrooms, white 100 g
Lemon slices - by the number of servings
A mixture of black and fragrant peppers
Drinking cream (10%) 750 ml
Carrots 200 g
Fat 180 g
Onions 300g
Flour 150 g
Salt
Hard cheese 300 g
Cooking:
For this dish, fish is better to cut into large cubes, pre-holding the fillet in an acidic solution: you can use a 10% solution of table vinegar or citric acid, so that the flesh becomes denser and does not collapse during frying. Carrot and onion chop straws. Fry vegetables and fish separately on high heat. Transfer to a broth pot. Mushrooms chop into powder and add to fish broth. Boil 10 minutes. In a skillet, also separately, fry the flour until a light nutty smell appears. Pour in the cream, quickly mixing the mass with a whisk. Simmer on low heat until a cream mass is formed. Add the wine, spices and pour the sauce into the broth. The consistency of the soup should be as in sparse sour cream.
Transfer the finished julienne in a la carte plates or other suitable forms for baking. Grate the cheese and sprinkle it on top of each serving. Forms put on a tray filled with water to half of the forms. Put the pan or deep baking tray in a preheated oven (180-200 ° C), on the top shelf. Bake cheese until crusted. Decorate each serving with dill sprigs and lemon wedges.
3. Julienne with mushrooms and cream in rosettes of potatoes
Products:
Potatoes 900 g (net)
Cream 180 ml
Egg 1 pc.
Salt
Flour
Boiled mushrooms (or champignons) 420 g
Smoked Cooked Ham 600 g
Sour cream 180 g
Cheese 240 g
Spice
Onions 300g
Fat for frying
White crackers
Cooking:
Boil peeled and washed potatoes, cook mashed potatoes, add cream and egg and flour. Silicone baskets or disposable forms of foil grease, sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Divide the mashed potatoes in portions of 150 g, form the cakes and cover them with the prepared forms. To prevent the potato dough from sticking to your hands during work, wet your hands in water or oil it. Set aside the completed forms.
Cut ham, onions, mushrooms into straws and fry, as indicated in the previous recipes, separately. Combine the prepared components, season with spices, mix and fill the forms to the brim. Combine sour cream with finely grated cheese. Prepare the mixture with mushrooms and ham.
Forms with julienne put on a tray, on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake at 170-180 ° C. Sprinkle the finished dish with fresh herbs.
4. Julienne with mushrooms and cream in the microwave
A hot snack can be easily cooked in the microwave in 15 minutes.
Classic ingredients:
Chicken Breast 400 g
Onion 250g
Champignons 0.5 kg
Cream 33% 150 ml
Salt
Muscat
Pepper
Cheese 200 g
Oil 100 g
Preparation:
Prepare all the ingredients and fry in oil, as described in the recipes above. Fill out the forms. Whip the cream and put them equally in each form. Powder with grated cheese and put in a microwave. Bake until golden brown.
5. Julienne with mushrooms and cream - summer version
Products:
Eggplant 250 g
Tomatoes 300 g
Onions 200g
Chanterelles 400 g
Garlic 10 g
Vegetable oil 120 ml
Cream 20% 200 ml
Spice
Cheese 250 g
Eggs 2 pcs.
Working order:
Cut tomatoes and mushrooms into thin slices. Chop the onions and chop the peeled eggplants into thin strips. Fry vegetables and mushrooms in a pan, mix, seasoning with chopped garlic and spices. Put in a baking dish.
Beat the eggs into the foam, adding cream to them. This is not a sauce, but an omelet in essence, but who said that the julienne should only be with bechamel sauce? The word "julienne", in fact, means the method of cutting. Pour the vegetables and put the form in a preheated oven.
When the creamy egg mass thickens, take out the form for a minute, sprinkle the dish with grated cheese and browse, returning to the oven again.
6. Julienne with mushrooms and cream - hot appetizer on toasts
Products:
Ham, boiled 300 g
Champignons 500g
Leek 200 g
Cream sauce:
Flour 60 g
Oil 120 g
Milk 150 ml
Spice
Wine 100 ml
Toast - 6 slices of white bread
Cheese 400 g
Preparation:
Fry chopped ingredients into thin strips. Make a classic cream sauce. Connect it with the rest of the dish. Snack on slices of white bread. Cover with cheese. Cover the baking tray with baking paper and place the snack. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.
Julienne with mushrooms and cream - useful tips
- For the preparation of mushroom dishes, choose mushrooms of the same type. If different mushrooms are used in the dish, they should be brought to readiness separately and put together in a dish at the last stage of cooking.
- To make the mushrooms turn golden brown when fried, warm the oil well; if there are many mushrooms, then fry them in small pieces, putting each portion in a sieve. Mushrooms consist of water, more than 80%, so if you put them in a frying pan a slide, they will stew in their own juice, and not roast.
