Machanka

Belarus's pork and onion gravy soured with cream, made to be dipped rather than spooned, with buckwheat pancakes torn and dunked into the pot

Origin: Minsk & Belarus

From the journey of Buckwheat.

Machanka comes from machats, to dip, and the name settles the argument about what the dish is: not a stew and not a sauce but a bowl of gravy that exists so that something else can be dunked into it. That something is bliny, and in the older Belarusian practice they are buckwheat rather than wheat, dark and slightly sour from an overnight batter, torn by hand and pushed into the pot. The gravy is pork in several forms at once, which is the Belarusian habit: fresh ribs or shoulder for body, smoked sausage for depth, and often a piece of salted fatback for the fat to fry the onions in. Onion goes in generously, flour thickens it, and smetana soured cream finishes it off the heat. There is no tomato, no paprika, and very little seasoning beyond bay, pepper, and a great deal of dill at the end. Buckwheat is the older grain here and it is worth saying why. Belarus sits at the northern edge of where wheat is comfortable and buckwheat is not fussy: it crops on poor sandy soil in a short season, needs no fertiliser, and was for centuries the reliable grain of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian lands beyond it. The pancake it makes is nuttier, darker, and more absorbent than a wheat one, which suits a dish whose whole purpose is absorption. It is a winter dish and a communal one, brought to the table in the pot it was cooked in with the bliny stacked beside it, and everybody dips from the same bowl. Belarusian households argue about whether the bliny should be thick and yeasted or thin and lacy, and both are made.

Ingredients

Bliny

150 g buckwheat flour
100 g plain flour
5 g fast-action dried yeast
400 ml warm milk
1 egg
1 tsp caster sugar
0.75 tsp salt
30 g butter, melted, plus more for the pan

Machanka

500 g pork ribs or shoulder, in pieces
200 g smoked pork sausage, sliced
100 g salted pork fat or streaky bacon, diced
3 onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp plain flour
500 ml water or light stock
2 bay leaves
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste
1.5 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

To finish

250 ml soured cream (smetana)
1 large bunch dill, chopped

Method

Make the blini batter the night before: whisk both flours, the yeast, sugar, and salt together, then beat in the warm milk to a smooth batter about the thickness of double cream.
Cover and leave overnight in a cool place. It will rise, bubble, and smell faintly sour, which is what gives buckwheat bliny their character.
Next day, beat in the egg and the melted butter and let it stand for twenty minutes.
Start the machanka: render the diced pork fat slowly in a heavy pot until the scraps are crisp, then lift them out and keep them.
Brown the pork ribs hard in that fat, in batches, then add the sausage for two minutes and lift everything out.
Fry the onions in the same pot over a medium heat for twelve to fifteen minutes until deep gold. This colour is where the gravy gets its own.
Scatter the 2 tbsp of flour over the onions and cook it out for two minutes, stirring, so it loses its raw taste.
Return the meat, add the water, bay, salt, and pepper, and simmer covered for forty-five minutes until the pork is tender and the gravy has thickened.
Meanwhile cook the bliny: pour a ladleful into a buttered pan over a medium heat and cook two or three minutes a side until set and freckled. Stack them under a cloth.
Take the pot off the heat and let it stop bubbling before the cream goes in, or it will split.
Stir in the soured cream and most of the dill, and warm it through gently without boiling.
Scatter the reserved crisp fat scraps and the remaining dill over, and bring the pot to the table with the bliny beside it to be torn and dipped.

Notes

The soured cream goes in off the heat and must not boil afterwards, which is the one place this dish reliably fails. Buckwheat bliny want an overnight yeasted batter; a quick batter gives a perfectly good pancake without the sourness that makes the pairing work. The mixture of fresh and smoked pork is the point rather than a suggestion, since the smoke is most of what you taste. If you cannot get smetana, use full-fat soured cream and stir a spoonful of the hot gravy into it first to temper it before it goes into the pot.

The Gastrographer

Name: Machanka
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Minsk & Belarus
Ingredients: 150 g buckwheat flour; 100 g plain flour; 5 g fast-action dried yeast; 400 ml warm milk; 1 egg; 1 tsp caster sugar; 0.75 tsp salt; 30 g butter, melted, plus more for the pan; 500 g pork ribs or shoulder, in pieces; 200 g smoked pork sausage, sliced; 100 g salted pork fat or streaky bacon, diced; 3 onions, finely sliced; 2 tbsp plain flour; 500 ml water or light stock; 2 bay leaves; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste; 1.5 tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 250 ml soured cream (smetana); 1 large bunch dill, chopped

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control