Russian Pancakes (Blini)

Now an international favorite, bliny are one of the oldest Slavic foods, dating back to the heathen tribes that worshipped the sun and created pancakes in its image. These earliest pancakes were called mliny, from the verb molot’ (“to grind”), and the word is still preserved in the Ukrainian, Serbian and Croatian tongues. Light and porous, bliny are designed to soak up lots of butter.

Traditionally, one is expected to gorge on bliny. Literary and actual precedents are numerous in Ru