Coulibiac

coulibiac the western form of the Russian name for a pie in which the filling, often but not always fish (and likely to include also chopped hard-boiled eggs, dill or parsley, and kasha), is cooked inside an envelope (shaped like a shallow loaf) of yeast dough. (A flaky pastry dough may be used, but is less good.)

Pamela Davidson (1979) gave a detailed recipe for it, including a description of the vyaziga (dried spinal cord of cartilaginous fish such as sturgeon) which adds a distinctive element to taste and texture if incorporated in the filling; and quoted the following passage from Gogol’s Dead Souls. Chichikov has just retired to bed after another gorging session with his host Petukh, but unfortunately his bedroom is next to Petukh’s study, and through the wall he can hear Petukh ordering the following day’s culinary delights:

‘Make a four-cornered fish pie,’ he was saying, smacking his lips and sucking in his breath. ‘In one corner put a sturgeon’s cheeks and dried spinal cord, in other put buckwheat porridge, little mushrooms, onions, soft roes, and brains and something else—well—you know, something nice … And see that the crust on one side is well browned and a little less done on the other. And make sure the underpart is baked to a turn, so that it’s all soaked in juice, so well done that the whole of it, you see, is—I mean, I don’t want it to crumble, but melt in the mouth like snow, so that one shouldn’t even feel it—feel it melting.’ As he said this Petukh smacked and sucked his lips.