After leaving the USSR, Sasha Shor’s family settled in Nashville. Their summers in the South were spent picnicking in the Smoky Mountains — with this cold vegetarian borscht on hand to cool them down. 

Sasha Shor grew up in a Jewish-Russian home where pickles were always on the table, from cucumbers and tomatoes to cabbage and watermelon. After immigrating to Nashville and finding local pickles lacking, her family returned to their roots and made their own.

Filled hand pies known as piroshki in Russian come in a wide range of flavors from sweet cheese and cherry piroshki to savory ones like these. They pack up perfectly for a picnic, but are — arguably — fresh from the oven.  

A chilled Russian summer soup, okroshka is tangy and refreshing. Sasha Shor’s version is made with kefir, pickle brine, and crunchy vegetables. Enjoy it like her grandfather did — with a slice of black bread rubbed with raw garlic and a shot of vodka.

Sasha Shor’s pickled watermelon is a refreshing summer treat that’s simple to make, but requires a few days to ferment. Be sure to save the brine for a riff on a dirty martini. 

Georgian khinkali are most often plump dumplings with thick skins, but this recipe from Danielle Rehfeld Colen’s family yields more delicate dumplings in a garlic-laced chicken broth. 

This recipe lived in our family cooking notebook for decades, passed down from one  generation to the next for 40 years now. It is known as ‘the Jewish Buns,’” shares cookbook author Alissa Timoshkina.

This recipe from Sasha Shor combines chunks of potato laced with flakes of white sturgeon, capers, and dill. “My husband thinks this tastes like the perfect version of a bagel with the works,” she says.

If you’ve never pickled or fermented before, sauerkraut is a good place to start. It requires just a few basic ingredients, some elbow grease, and time. 

In Moscow of the 1980 and 1990s, there was a network of babushki, or grandmothers, shuttling across the city with containers of Soviet staples like bouillon, says food writer Anna Kharzeeva. Her grandmother Elena was one of these women. 

This classic Russian salad is made with chopped beets, potatoes, carrots, and a simple dressing. Sauerkraut adds a punchy, tangy note. 

Lobio means beans in Georgian and can be used to describe many bean dishes in the Caucuses. In Elliot Fonarev's family, it refers to this bright dish, which works well alongside his rich lamb plov or a Thanksgiving turkey.

“Beetroot and pickled or fermented cucumber are an indisputable classic of Eastern European and Ashkenazi cuisines,” shares cookbook author Alissa Timoshkina, who was raised in Siberia. The duo come together in this recipe.

Chopped herring, sometimes mixed with onions and apples, is known as forshmak, which means pre-taste or appetizer in Yiddish, but you can also serve it alongside a salad for a light and easy dinner. 

An icon of the Ashkenazi culinary canon, kreplach have a centuries old history. They take time and care to make, but you can simplify this recipe from Anna Gershenson’s Latvian family by preparing the broth a day or two in advance.

Shuba is also known as “herring under a fur coat.” The fish filets are stacked in a terrine with boiled potatoes, pickled onions, pickles, beets, and eggs. This rendition from Elliot Fonarev’s family is held together with sour cream and mayonnaise. 

Filled with meat, these little dumplings, which are sometimes referred to as Russian ravioli, were enjoyed across the former Soviet Union. This recipe comes from Bukharian cook Svetlana Davydov who grew up in Uzbekistan.

Sasha Shor’s childhood summers were spent picnicking and cooking outside. Her family kept a dedicated cooler for these Georgian-style shashlik kebabs. Before cooking, the lamb is marinated in red wine and pomegranate molasses, which impart a fruity note.  

“This recipe is a nod to the Ashkenazi tradition of cooking savory dishes with prunes, as well as to a common practice of those living in the Soviet Union to cook the popular Georgian dish chicken tabaka,” explains cookbook author Alissa Timoshkina.

Filled with meat, these little dumplings, which are sometimes referred to as Russian ravioli, were enjoyed across the former Soviet Union. This recipe comes from Bukharian cook Svetlana Davydov who grew up in Uzbekistan. 

This mash recipe from Galicia — a historic region that stretched across part of Poland and Ukraine — is served alongside chicken with prunes and a beet salad for Shabbat in cookbook author Alissa Timoshkina’s home.

Anna Gershenson’s tongue recipe gets its sweetness from raisins and tang from fresh lemon. Like brisket, tongue is a tough cut which needs to be cooked for a long time to become tender, so don’t rush the cooking time. 

“For as long as I can remember, papa’s plov was the star of the dinner table at every special occasion — birthdays, New Years’ Eve, extended family visits, and other celebrations,” shares Elliot Fonarev. His father Oleg’s recipe features lamb, chestnuts, and lots of dried fruit.

These hamantaschen with a nutty poppy seed filling are yeasted, which gives them a softer texture. Make sure to reserve an hour to let the dough rise. 

This orange-flavored cake recipe from Russian cookbook author Anna Kharzeeva and her late grandmother is incredibly simple and only requires a few ingredients.

One of culinary educator Anna Gershenson’s signature recipes, teiglach are small knots of dough boiled in honey. They are often served on Rosh Hashanah as a nod to a sweet new year.