Hrutka! Say it with me HHrrruuuTka ( roll that rrruuu)

Well While Flopper was endorsing political candidates I was in the kitchen preparing the paschal meal.

Today I made the Hrutka. There is nothing that makes me think of Pascha (Easter) than Hrutka. Hrutka is a sort of custard made of eggs and milk that is hung in a cheese cloth after being heated. Most people make the equivalent of a scrambled egg ball. My family makes it sweet with vanilla and cinnamon. This year on a whim I added raisins.

First you need 2 dozen eggs and 2 cups of milk. Blend those together and add an amout of vanilla, cinnamon , and nutmeg that makes you happy.

Toss that on the oven at a medium low heat stirring constantly slowly raise the temperature over the course of twenty minutes to a bit higher than medium. You need to scrape the bottom of the pot as you stir to prevent the eggs from sticking

Eventually , thirty minutes maybe, Your stirring will produce this. When the eggs start to thicken you must be extremely vigilant about keeping thins off the bottom of the pan; burnt eggs will ruin the whole things flavor. Vigilance For the HRUTKA! Sounds like a Soviet campaign slogan.


Any way in less than Five minutes after the initial thickening the mixture looks like this. Add any nut or fruit you want here.

You then dump it into a cloth lined colander in a big bowl.


Grab that burning hot mound of eggs and twist the cloth ringing out the whey and making a ball. You need to squeeze it out for at least eight minutes until there you can squeeze no more liquid out of it. At this point Flopper decided I needed to channel my Slavic ancestresses and had me don a schmata.


:)

After you squeeze out your hrutka and pay homage to your feminine forbears (with candles and statue might I add; silly Flopper) . Hang up the Hrutka for an hour or so until it is cool.

Take it down and cream some butter and brown sugar. You'll need to cut off a piece at the bottom to keep it flat on the pan.

Rub the butter all over the hrutka and toss it in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 adding more butter occasionally to the top. This forms a rind that lets the Hrutka keep for about a week in a cool environment (40 degrees or thereabouts). My dad never bothered with much squeezing and just hung it outside to drip overnight. 2 - 3 hours later you have this brown ball of cholesterol filled goodness; it ends up being somewhat shiny. We tended to slice it at about the thickness of easter ham and eat it as a side. I'm very fond of it on a sandwich with a hot mustard .


With Slavic Lovin,

~Eikon