Caucasian Russian
Southern fusion with the Caucasus — skewered grilled meat, chili-walnut sauce, rice pilaf — the Russian shashlik table.
Kvass
A fermented beverage made from bread
View page →A Caucasian-Russian summer table is built around the grill. From late May to October, the dacha barbecue runs every weekend: long flat skewers (shampurs) of lamb shashlik over birch coals, lyulya kebab pressed by hand from minced shoulder, plov bubbling in a kazan cauldron next to the fire. A jar of adjika — the chili-walnut paste from Abkhazia — sits beside the bread basket. The salad is tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion with chopped cilantro; the drink is plum kompot or cold kvass.
Within Russia's regional kitchens, the southern Caucasian belt — Krasnodar, Stavropol, the Don, Crimea, Sochi — is the most cosmopolitan. The Caucasus and Central Asian neighbors (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan) have lent shashlik, plov, lyulya, adjika, lavash, sumac. The Cossack heritage adds river fish, sour-cream-based soups, and the Don Cossack borscht with tomato and bell pepper. Russian Black-Sea wine country — only really developed since the 1990s — provides the wine. This is the most spice-forward, most chili-tolerant, most meat-on-fire of the Russian kitchens.
Start Here
Long-grain rice cooked with lamb, carrot, and cumin in a kazan over open fire — Uzbek origin, southern-Russian beloved.
Why start here · Plov is the most international dish on a Russian Caucasian table — taste it and you taste the whole Silk Road.
Fiery red chili-and-walnut paste with herbs — the Caucasus's gift to every Russian grill.
Why start here · It's the only Russian condiment with real heat — without it, the south's grilled meat feels half-told.
Hand-minced lamb with cumin and sumac pressed onto wide skewers, charred over coals — no binders.
Why start here · The 'no binders' rule is the dish — taste why hand-mincing matters when the meat itself is the bind.
The Pantry
See all 62 ingredients›
Sauces & Condiments
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
See 9 more techniques›
Kindred Kitchens
Cuisines built on the same signature ingredients
Other regions
Siblings within Russian — each its own tradition.
