bifshtek
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /ˌbɪfˈʃtɛk/
/ˈbɪfˌʃtɛk/
Forms: form: bifshteks
form: bifshteks
Etymology: From Russian бифште́к(с) (bifšték(s)), from English beefsteak(s). Doublet of beefsteak and bistek.
Senses: examples: text: Here iss the dinner! There iss no truffles—there iss no goose—there iss no fish—but we have nice bifshteks!
ref: 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:
text: “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.
ref: 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:
text: Now, about your restaurants, I don’t relish the idea of paying 30 or 40 rubles for greasy bifshtek and overcooked vegetables.
ref: 1957 June 9, Morton Cathro, “Travelin’ Light: See You in Siberia”, in Oakland Tribune, volume CLXVI, number 160, Oakland, Calif., page C-3:
text: The food is flavorful but often on the heavy side. Meats, including “Bifshtek,” and vegetables are cooked long.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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?
ref: 1977 December 1, Harold Piper, “International cuisine: Russian cooks losing heritage of foods”, in The Sun, volume 282, number 13, Baltimore, Md., page D1:
text: Russian bifshteks are actually thin, boneless affairs that more resemble a French entrecote than an American sirloin or T-bone.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 1989 March 12, Bernard S[idney] Redmont, “Moscow diners toast glasnost with new cafes”, in The Miami Herald, Miami, Fla., page 12J, column 1:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: Bifshteks (not to be confused with beef steaks) also used minced meat, but these were larger and had no breadcrumb coating.
ref: 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:
glosses: 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.