bifshtek

English

Etymology

From Russian бифште́к(с) (bifšték(s)), from English beefsteak(s).

Noun

bifshtek (countable and uncountable, plural bifshteks)

1. A Russian ground meat dish, often made from beef, consisting of minced meat mixed with various ingredients such as onions, spices, and sometimes breadcrumbs or eggs, shaped into patties or cutlets and pan-fried or baked.
   • 1932, Bella Spewack, Samuel Spewack, Clear All Wires! A Play in Three Acts, New York, N.Y.; Los Angeles, Calif.; London: Samuel French Ltd., page 150:

     Here iss the dinner! There iss no truffles—there iss no goose—there iss no fish—but we have nice bifshteks!

     About an American in Moscow.

   • 1956 July 8, “[Stella, by Starlight] European Notes”, in Fort Lauderdale Sunday News and Sentinel, 46th year, number 298, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., page 10-D, column 1:

     “Russian food is satisfactory but lacks variety,[”] notes the new expanded edition of Pan American World Airways” travel booklet “New Horizons.” “Meats, including ‘bifshtek’ are often tough and greasy, vegetables overcooked,” it points out.

   • 1957 June 9, Morton Cathro, “Travelin’ Light: See You in Siberia”, in Oakland Tribune, volume CLXVI, number 160, Oakland, Calif., page C-3:

     Now, about your restaurants, I don’t relish the idea of paying 30 or 40 rubles for greasy bifshtek and overcooked vegetables.

   • 1958, Pan American World Airways, Inc., “Russia (U.S.S.R.)”, in New Horizons World Guide: Pan American’s Travel Facts About 89 Countries, 7th revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →LCCN, page 152:

     The food is flavorful but often on the heavy side. Meats, including “Bifshtek,” and vegetables are cooked long.

   • 1965, Alexander Dorozynski, “As Long as There Is Life”, in The Man They Wouldn’t Let Die, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →LCCN, page 125:

     Blood donors were not lacking: all the physicists “on duty” were ready to volunteer, and several whose blood group was the same as Landau’s had been selected and advised to eat much bifshtek.

   • 1976 September 12, Ron Oechsler, Debra Oechsler, “Eight Days on the Train? You’re Crazy!”, in Sunday World-Herald Magazine of the Midlands (The Omaha World-Herald), Omaha, Neb., page 19, column 3:

     On the menu were chicken soup with noodles, “bifshteks” — a form of hamburger patty — and sliced cucumber salad. The soup was actually quite good, but the bifshteks were on the greasy side.

   • 1977 December 1, Harold Piper, “International cuisine: Russian cooks losing heritage of foods”, in The Sun, volume 282, number 13, Baltimore, Md., page D1:

     Scan the menu in a Moscow restaurant, any Moscow restaurant—any restaurant in any Russian city: languette, entrecote, schnitzel, bifshteck,^[sic] shashlyk. This is a Russian restaurant?

   • 1978 June 4, Dan Fisher, “Hard to Improve Diets: Lack of Meat Worries Soviets”, in Los Angeles Times, volume XCVII, Los Angeles, Calif., part I, page 14, column 1:

     Russian bifshteks are actually thin, boneless affairs that more resemble a French entrecote than an American sirloin or T-bone.

   • 1988, Peter Hunter, “Back to School: Dealing with Dissent”, in Which Side Are You On, Boys: Canadian Life on the Left, Toronto, Ont.: Lugus Productions Ltd., →ISBN, page 96:

     A contribution to a wall newspaper of which I was an editor in our sector poked fun at the never-changing menu in the school cafeteria. It centred on the various and devious methods used in serving us hamburger. One time it would be called hamburger, another time bifshtek, then cutlet, and sneakiest of all, schnitzel—the only difference among them was usually only in their shape or whether bread crumbs had been used.

   • 1989 March 12, Bernard S[idney] Redmont, “Moscow diners toast glasnost with new cafes”, in The Miami Herald, Miami, Fla., page 12J, column 1:

     No longer do you need to be content with soggy refried potatoes or vinegary cabbage salad accompanying a tough bifshtek — which is the standard fare at most Intourist hotels and official restaurants.

   • 1996 June, John King, John Noble, Andrew Humphreys, “Facts for the Visitor – Entertainment”, in Central Asia (a Lonely Planet travel survival kit), Hawthorn, Vic.: Lonely Planet Publications, →ISBN, page 145, column 2:

     Restaurants still serve as a mainstay of nightlife, with diners passing over their bifshteks for another slammer of vodka and a lurch around the floor to a jackhammer Casio-beat.

   • 1996 July, John Noble, Andrew Humphreys, Richard Nebeský, Nick Selby, George Wesely, John King, “Elsewhere in Belarus – Brest”, in Russia, Ukraine & Belarus (a Lonely Planet travel survival kit), Hawthorn, Vic.: Lonely Planet Publications, →ISBN, page 1155, column 1:

     The Hotel Intourist has a lively banquet hall with tasty bifshtek and potatoes, and mushroom-stuffed egg appetisers; a full meal costs US$4 to US$5.

   • 2004 November 28, Karla Cruise, “Russia today: Study in curious contrasts”, in South Bend Tribune, Michigan edition, 132nd year, number 265, South Bend, Ind.: South Bend Tribune Corp., page F4, column 3:

     There was little variety in the daily fare of “kasha” (hot whole grain cereal), bread, “bifshteks” (a hard lump of beef) and potatoes.

   • 2015, Olga Syutkin, Pavel Syutkin, translated by Ast A. Moore, CCCP Cook Book: True Stories of Soviet Cuisine, London: Fuel Design & Publishing, →ISBN, page 122:

     Bifshteks (not to be confused with beef steaks) also used minced meat, but these were larger and had no breadcrumb coating.