Rasstegai

Rasstegai are small open-topped Russian pies, the name coming from rasstegnut, to unbutton, referring to the hole left in the centre of the pastry lid. They were a staple of the Moscow tea house and tavern tradition from the 18th century, served alongside ukha (fish soup) or borscht, or eaten with vodka. The filling is most often fish — salmon, pike, sturgeon or salt fish — though mushroom, meat and cabbage versions exist. The hole in the lid is not decorative: through it, the diner or waiter pours a spoonful of hot fish broth or melted butter into the pie just before eating, enriching the filling. The dough is a yeasted wheat dough, the pies shaped into small rounds, the lid pinched leaving a coin-sized opening, baked at 200 degrees C until golden.

A golden, soft yeast pastry with a hole revealing a savoury fish filling within, enriched by the broth poured through the opening. Eaten warm alongside soup or with a shot of cold vodka, the pastry tender and the filling intensely savoury.

The technique is a yeasted dough shaped with an open centre. The dough is flour, milk, egg, butter, yeast and salt, proved, then portioned and rolled into rounds. A spoonful of filling (fish and rice, or fish alone) is placed in the centre, the edges pulled up and pinched into a ring, leaving the centre open. The ring is brushed with egg and baked at 200 degrees C for 15 to 20 minutes until golden. The open centre serves two functions: it vents steam during baking so the pastry does not split, and it is the channel through which hot broth or butter is poured at the table. The filling should be loose enough to absorb the broth, not a tight paste.