Russian Kasha Called Guryevskaya, with Nuts and Jam

History

Molokhovets records this plainly as a "Russian kasha called 'Guryevskaya,'" one of several Guryev-kasha variants she standardizes rather than originates. The dessert — a baked semolina (manna) kasha layered with skimmed golden cream skins (penki/kaimak), pounded walnuts, sugar, and jam or fruit — dates to the early 19th century and is named for Count Dmitry Alexandrovich Guryev (1751–1825), Minister of Finance under Alexander I. Its origin survives only as competing lore. The popular account credits the serf cook Zakhar Kuzmin, whose freedom Guryev is said to have bought, along with his family, after tasting the kasha at a retired major's house; another version credits Guryev's own culinary experiments. Historians treat the Kuzmin tale with caution — it rests largely on a single 1900 note by Prince Golitsyn, and Guryev's gastronomic reputation predates the supposed 1822 purchase. Because semolina was then a costly grain, the dish was an aristocratic showpiece rather than folk food, and it became a byword for gentry extravagance. Molokhovets' 1901 text preserves the laborious signature technique — cream simmered before the coals so successive skins can be lifted and layered — that defines the authentic version.

Ingredients

• stakans / 2 butylki cream or whole milk
• funt walnuts or common nuts
• штук bitter almonds
• stakan semolina (manna groats)
• stakan sugar
• сухаря rusks (dried breadcrumbs)
• stakan jam / fruit

Instructions

1. Blanch and skin 1 funt nuts and 10–20 bitter almonds; pound finely with a little water.
2. Set 6 glasses of cream before the coals; skim and reserve the golden skins as they form.
3. Into the remaining cream stir the pounded nuts, sugar and ⅓ glass semolina; cook a fairly thin porridge and mix in nuts and sugar while hot.
4. Make a dough rim on a dish; layer skins and porridge alternately, dust with sugar and rusk crumbs, and set briefly in the oven.
5. Garnish with jam; optionally layer with fruit and jam.