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Ready to start with blini

This article was inspired by Emeril Lagasse, chef and restaurateur, and his scoop on Russian blini featured on his show. He actually used the right recipe (which includes buckwheat flour) but the result (based on his techniques in preparation) was far from what is meant by blini. We decided to show the right way of making this dish - at the same time, we'll cheat a bit to make the process much easier.

To understand the difference, here is the original Russian recipe for blini:

• 2 cups nonfat milk, warmed
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

This recipe includes yeast and because of this requires about 2 hours to prepare the dough and batter. Since our focus is not on correct techniques, we will take a shortcut and use Bisquick - a pre-mixed baking product made by General Mills consisting of flour, sugar, vegetable shortening, salt and leavening soda. One of the problems with this product is that it's using hydrogenated oil which many consider as a not very healthy additive. At the same time, with Bisquick, you can start cooking in 10 minutes and the overall process is significantly simplified.

For about eight - ten blini, our recipe requires (the exact yield will depend on how much batter you are pouring for one blin):

• 2 cups of Bisquick mixture
• 2 cups of water (you can use milk if you want to indulge yourself)
• 2 oz of butter (about one tablespoon of butter for each blin)
• 0.5 oz of olive oil (to grease the pan although you can use melted butter as well)
• 5 oz of red (salmon) caviar

Get rid of lumps by rubbing the
mixture through the mesh strainer

Use your hands to turn
pancake over

Instead of red caviar, you can use black, and actually any garnish you are comfortable with - it's not relevant for the purposes of this presentation. What is important is that blini are thin, and you will have to pay attention to important details (which we'll highlight for you) to make them right. Also, blini should be soft, and butter is an important ingredient that helps achieve this goal.

Start with mixing Bisquick with water - stir the mixture so that there are no lumps whatsoever. You can rub the mixture through the mesh strainer to make sure that the batter your are preparing is uniform. Check also the thickness of the mixture - it should resemble olive oil, perhaps, just a bit thicker. Voila, you are ready to start.

Use non-stick frying pan; it should be rather large - the most convenient will have 9" bottom. Cook on medium to high heat, and oil the pan every time before you start a new blin. Traditional Russian method is to use half of onion to do this. For one blin pour 1/4 cup of batter and quickly swirl the pan so that the mixture is spread over the pan's bottom forming a round blin with 7 - 9 inches in diameter. This technique may require several tries to master - also, do not give up when your first blin in a series is a mess. For some completely unexplainable reasons it happens almost always no matter how experienced you are. Important points here to keep in mind is that blini should be thin and make them such you mixture should be thin enough to spread quickly on the hot surface of the pan. On the other hand it should be thick enough so that it still has some solidity to handle it.

Pancake rolls with caviar are ready

Making blin rolls with caviar

You cook blini on both sides - depending on the degree of heat you are using it may take about a minute (or more) for one side. Check the color - it should be slightly brownish on each side. Use you hands to turn half-cooked blin over. Remove cooked blin from the pan and brush it generously with butter - work thoroughly on blin edges - they are thinner than the rest and can be dry. Butter will soften them.

There are many ways to serve blini. Here is a brief list of our favorite garnishes:

A good idea can be making rolls instead of just placing garnish on top. Use caviar as a filling - one 5 oz can of red caviar (made in Russia) fills approximately 10 -12 blini.