Smetana (dairy product)

Lore & Background

Smetana is used in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern European cuisines in appetizers, main courses, soups and desserts. It may be blended with soups, vegetable salads, coleslaw, and meat dishes, and is served with dumplings such as pelmeni, pierogi, and varenyky, or with pancakes like bliny and palacsinta. It can be blended into a Liptauer-like cheese spread with quark or cottage cheese, onions, paprika, and other spices, and eaten with bread. Smetana is often used in cooking because its high fat content prevents curdling at higher temperatures; it is used in meat stews such as beef Stroganoff, vegetable stews, casseroles, and other dishes requiring long oven cooking. Hungarian cooks use it in sauces like paprikas and in recipes such as hortobágyi palacsinta. In Eastern European Jewish cuisines, smetana is not used with meat dishes due to dietary prohibitions.

Reader's Guide

Smetana holds significant cultural and culinary importance across Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and Central Asia. Its high fat content, ranging from 9% to 42%, makes it suitable for cooking without curdling, distinguishing it from lower-fat sour creams. The product is integral to iconic dishes such as beef Stroganoff, borscht, pierogi, and Hungarian paprikas. The word 'smetana' derives from the common Slavic 'sъmętana', from the verb meaning 'to remove' or 'to dump', and has spread into many languages including Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, and Finnish. In some Slavic languages, 'smetana' alone refers to sweet cream, requiring an adjective meaning 'soured' for the English sense. The current trend toward reduced fat content is believed to have resulted in an inferior product. Thickeners such as gelatine or starch may be added, though this is often considered adulteration. In Finland, 'smetana' specifically denotes a high-fat product (30% or more), while ordinary sour cream is called 'hapankerma'. The Romanian variant, smântână, is produced by decantation and does not curdle when cooked; soured smântână is considered spoiled.

Did You Know?

• Smetana is not homogenized, unlike sour cream mixed with whipping cream.
• In some Slavic languages, the word 'smetana' alone means sweet cream, and an adjective meaning 'soured' is needed for the English sense.
• Fat content of smetana can range from 10% (runny) to 42% (thick), with common supermarket varieties at 10% to 40%.
• A German medical book published in 1677 recommended Schmant or Milchraam as the best part of the milk, though this referred to sweet or clotted cream, not soured smetana.