Before November 2020, I had never cooked with buckwheat groats.
I can t say before that, I really had a need for buckwheat groats in my pantry. But the desire to make two Russian dishes found me, in early December, out in the cold, during a pandemic, seeking out the elusive pseudocereal for two recipes from Darra Goldstein s latest Russian cookbook, Beyond the North Wind: Russia in Recipes and Lore.
Weeks prior, I had interviewed Goldstein â an authority on Russian cuisine, founding editor of the food journal Gastronomica and professor emerita of Russian at Williams College â about her new cookbook. Released at the beginning of 2020, it was in the spotlight again as major publications rolled out their end-of-the-year Top 10 lists. Beyond the North Wind, had been named one of 10 of the Best Cookbooks in 2020 by Forbes and the Washington Post. Not to mention that it had already been part of The New York Times Book Review s list of Best 2020 summer cookbook