Tacohuaco

Merchant’s buckwheat

AutumnBuckwheatCrowdDinnersDutch ovenLunchesOne potRussian cuisineSpringSummerWinter

2 hours, requires preparation the day before

Buckwheat is a staple grain in Russian cuisine, used for centuries in everyday cooking. This dish, known as merchant-style buckwheat, comes from the 18–19th century urban merchant class, where simple buckwheat porridge was enriched with meat, fat, and aromatics to create a more substantial, festive meal.

Funny thing is that Artem never liked buckwheat until he left Russia, and now it’s one of our most favorite recipes.

Keywords: Гречка по-купечески

Ingredients

Yields 6 portions

  • 600 g pork
  • 400 g roasted buckwheat
  • 1 large onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 fresh chile
  • 2 carrots
  • olive oil
  • 1 l boiling water
  • bay leaves
  • nutmeg
  • peppercorns
  • salt

You will need

  • Dutch oven or medium pot with lid

Directions

  1. Rinse the meat in cold water, dry using paper towels, season with salt, and refrigerate in a sealed container (or wrapped in a film) overnight.
  2. Prepare the vegetables.
    1. Onion: peel, halve, and cut into ½ slices. Garlic: peel, smash, and roughly chop. Chile: halve, remove the seeds, and thinly slice.
    2. Carrot: cut into ½ cm half-moons or quarter-moons (depending on the size of the carrots).
  3. In a bowl, cover rinsed buckwheat with salted water to soften.
  4. Cut the meat into 2 cm cubes.
  5. In the Dutch oven over medium heat, sauté onion, garlic, and chile with olive oil and a bit of salt, for 2–3 min, until transparent.
  6. Add carrots and cook for 3 more min.
  7. Add the meat, and cook until the meat is white on all sides.
  8. Add 200–300 ml boiling water (to almost cover the meat), add 3 bay leaves, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, and a few peppercorns, wait until it boils, reduce the heat, and cook covered for about 30 min, until the meat is soft.
  9. Add the buckwheat (without water).
  10. Add more boiling water, so it’s about 1 cm over the buckwheat. Cook for 10–15 min more.
  11. Add more salt if needed.

Notes

If you don’t have time to season the meat overnight you could refrigerate it for a few hours. The recipe still works well without seasoning the meat in advance, however, the meat will be harder.

This recipe also works well with beef instead of pork — and you don’t need to brine it in advance.

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