Of Russian origin: Sushki
Photo from http://www.anveo.ru/Tough but Tasty
If you make some dough, boil it, and then bake it, what do you expect? Some soft bread perhaps, or a gooey pastry. Well, when it comes to Russian sushki you’d be wrong. They’re rock hard.
Sushki look like mini bagels (in Russian bubliki), but bite into one without prior caution and you could end up losing a tooth. I even suspect they may be bullet proof! However their legendary toughness has stood them in good stead when it comes to arduous journeys across Russia. Merchants and travelers would put a string through them and hang them up somewhere to be taken off and eaten at leisure.
The word sushki comes from the Russian “sushit”, to dry. In fact the recipe is very simple. Flour, egg, water and salt are combined into a dough which is then boiled. Sounds a bit dour doesn’t it? But the water has sugar dissolved in it which infuses into the dough to make a sweet teatime sushki snack.
But how do you eat the damn things! The key is tea! Russians are tea drinkers on a par with the British and when taking tea it is customary to dunk your sushki to soften it up. Not so hard are you now, sweet little bagel!
Written by Tom Barton , RT correspondent
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