Belarus

A Belarusian baked casserole of coarsely grated raw potato enriched with rendered pork fat and onion, forming a thick, crackling crust over a dense, moist, custard-like interior.

Thin, lacy, yeast-leavened pancakes made from buckwheat or wheat flour — or a blend — cooked on a cast-iron skillet and characterised by a slightly spongy, bubble-pocked surface and mild tang from fermentation.

Coarse-grated raw potato pancakes fried in lard or oil until deeply crisp outside and tender within, bound by the potato's own released starch.

Belarusian dumplings whose wrapper is made from grated raw potato rather than flour dough, filled with seasoned ground meat and/or dried forest mushrooms, boiled and then finished by baking or pan-frying.

A Belarusian side dish of sauerkraut braised slowly with dried forest mushrooms and onion until soft and savory.

A chilled Belarusian beet soup thinned with kefir or buttermilk and finished with shredded cucumber, halved hard-boiled eggs, and abundant fresh dill — served ice-cold, typically alongside boiled potatoes.

An Eastern European blood sausage of buckwheat groats and pig's blood stuffed into natural casing, then boiled or roasted.

A sweet fruit or berry dish thickened with starch into a pourable to spoonable gel, served warm or cold and sitting on the border between a drink and a dessert.

Kletski are Belarusian boiled dumplings made from grated-potato or flour dough, plain or stuffed with pork cracklings and onion, served with sour cream or in soup.

A traditional Belarusian slow-cooked dessert porridge of rye flour or malt and forest berries, lightly fermented and sweetened to a thick, dark, tangy pudding.

A lightly fermented, mildly sour and barely alcoholic drink made from rye bread (or rye/barley malt), traditional across the Slavic and Baltic world.

A thick, flour-thickened braising gravy of pork spare ribs and smoked sausage, rendered down with onions and lard, served scalding hot as a communal dipping sauce for draniki or bliny.

Soft yeast-leavened buns enclosing a savory filling such as cabbage-and-egg or seasoned meat, then baked or fried as a hand-held snack.

A thick, sour-and-salty Slavic soup of assorted cured meats, pickles and brine brightened with olives and lemon.

A simple dish of fresh, mild farmer's curd cheese (tvorog) served with a generous spoonful of thick sour cream and sweetened with honey or sugar, or salted, depending on taste.

A historic Belarusian noble dish of pork (sausage and cutlets) simmered in a thick gravy of kvass and rye bread, spiced and served as a hearty main.

A Slavic chilled dish of cooked fish or meat set in a clear, lightly seasoned gelatin (aspic), decorated with sliced egg, carrot and herbs.

A Belarusian soured soup built on fermented oat-flour starter (zakwas), thickened to a tangy broth with potato and enriched with pork fat or meat.