on the Olive podcast ukraine
Chef and food writer Olia Hercules on the beauty and diversity of her homeland
Summer kitchens
All over the Ukraine, we’ve got these special outhouses – four walls, a roof and a little porch – but inside it’s just a kitchen. They exist because Ukraine is incredibly hot in the summer and people didn’t have air-con. But the summer is when you would do the most cooking, so they built these kitchen workshops and they’re situated close to vegetable plots or smallholdings. People grow a lot of vegetables and some even have orchards. This is where, apart from everyday meals, you would do all of your pickling come September, when the vegetable glut of the summer is put into jars to eat over winter.
Sunflower oil
Something particular to Ukraine is unrefined sunflower oil, which we use a lot as a finishing oil, both on fresh salads and also on fermented veg in winter. It tastes like pressed, toasted sunflower seeds and it’s incredible. Almost the same intensity as a sesame oil would have in that nutty, rounded and sweet quality. In the 1990s, everybody went off it and suddenly got into bad-quality olive oil. But now, in the past 10 years, people have rediscovered that we’ve got this amazing oil and they are wondering, why did we stop using that?
By the sea
Odessa is a beautiful city, right by the Black Sea, and it’s got a very unique food culture. And, in terms of seafood, they do these little fish – an equivalent in the UK would be sprats. You butterfly them, grab about four at once by the tails, cover in batter and then into a hot pan to fry together, with the tails sticking out. You have it with something simple, a little bit of lemon or a bit of mayo.
Influences
Elisabeth Luard once said about Romania that it’s like the Galapagos Islands, in culinary terms. And I think Ukraine can be described in that way as well because you’ve got almost Mediterranean vibes with tomatoes and aubergines, etc. And then you’ve got very Nordic crayfish and salted fish, and then all of the vegetable ferments. Then there are loads of Turkish influences, as well, so it’s a really interesting mix of cultures.
Olia Hercules was born in Ukraine and is the author of three cookbooks. Her latest, Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine, is out now (£26, Bloomsbury). Listen to episode 212 to hear more about the food Olia grew up with in Ukraine, and tips for preserving veg.