syrniki

Justin Walker for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Karen Evans, Prop Styling by DSM ROUNDS | Traditional farmers' cheese pancakes, aka syrniki, piled with homemade fruit jam and snowy sour cream.

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A few days of intensive pancake study revealed that while all syrniki share a signature tartness, they can range in style from rustic to refined.

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This helps avoid a last-minute rush to get syrniki from mixing bowl to pan.

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Traditional Russian breakfast treats, delectable syrniki are pancakes worthy of defection.

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Add enough oil just to slick the surface, and decrease the heat to medium-low or low: The goal is for the syrniki to cook through slowly as their surface browns.

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The goal is for the syrniki to cook through slowly as their surface browns.

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'New Russia' Syrniki At Moscow's Vogue Café, modernized syrniki like these are cooked in circular molds to keep their sides perfectly vertical.

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At our hotel, the Park Hyatt, syrniki arrived at the table studded with raisins and thick with cheese that retained its natural, curdy consistency, while at Vogue Café they were raisin-less, whipped and smoothed into delicate discs few Russian babushkas would recognize.

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Of all the pancakes we encountered, our favorites were syrniki named for the Russian word, "syr," for cheese, which are fortified with tvorog , a fresh curd cheese similar in flavor and consistency to farmers' cheese.

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Traditional Syrniki Russian Farmers'-Cheese Pancakes This recipe, adapted from Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow hotel, is typical of traditional syrniki, yielding homestyle pancakes with a pleasant heft and pockets of plump tea-spiked raisins.

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