Smetana is Eastern European sour cream — richer, thicker, and tangier than the supermarket variety, and the single most important topping in the Eastern European dumpling tradition. It is the thing that makes a bowl of pelmeni complete, the base note that every other topping builds from, and the reason that “dumplings with sour cream” is not a suggestion but a standard. If you eat one topping on your bowl, eat this one.
What Smetana Is
The word smetana simply means “sour cream” across most Slavic languages — but what it refers to is distinct from the thin, mild sour cream common in British supermarkets.
Traditional smetana is cultured cream with a higher fat content — typically 20 to 30 per cent, compared to the 18 per cent of standard British sour cream. The higher fat makes it thicker and richer. The culturing process — allowing lactic acid bacteria to work through the cream — makes it properly tangy, not just mildly sour. The result is a product with real presence: it does not disappear into a dish, it actively contributes to it.
Across Eastern Europe, smetana is a kitchen staple in the way that butter is a staple in French cooking. It goes into sauces, it tops soups, it is spooned onto pancakes, stirred into fillings, and served alongside almost anything that could benefit from dairy richness and a sharp edge. On dumplings, it is essential.
Why It Pairs with Dumplings
The pairing of smetana with dumplings is not a coincidence or a tradition that survived arbitrarily. It is the result of a logic that is still completely clear once you taste it.
Dumpling dough is neutral and slightly starchy. Meat or vegetable fillings are savoury and dense. What the dish needs is something that provides richness without more fat, freshness without acidity, and a textural contrast that makes each mouthful more interesting than the dough alone would be. Smetana does all three. The tang cuts through the richness of the filling. The fat enriches the dough. The cool temperature contrasts with the warmth of a freshly cooked dumpling.
It also functions as a binding element — it brings the other toppings together. Crispy bacon and fresh herbs sit better on a bowl that has sour cream as its base. Sautéed mushrooms in sour cream is a well-established combination in Eastern European cooking precisely because the cream rounds out the earthiness of the mushroom. Fried onions in a pool of sour cream is already a classic dish in its own right.
Smetana is not merely a condiment. It is a structural component of the dish.
Sweet and Savoury Uses
One of smetana’s most useful qualities is that it works across the full range — savoury dumplings, sweet dumplings, and everything in between.
On savoury pelmeni — lamb and beef, pork and beef, chicken, pork — smetana is the default. It is what you reach for without thinking.
On vegetable vareniki — potato, cabbage, mushroom, cheese and spinach — smetana softens the earthiness and adds the dairy note that ties the filling to the dough. Potato vareniki without sour cream is technically possible. It is also considerably less good.
On sweet vareniki — cherry, strawberry — smetana performs a different function. Here, it provides the contrast. The tang of the cream against the sweetness of the fruit filling is one of the better flavour combinations in Eastern European cooking — sharp and sweet, cool and warm, dairy and fruit. It is not a compromise between sweet and savoury. It is the thing that makes each distinct quality more vivid.
On syrniky — the golden curd cheese fritters — smetana is as classical a pairing as exists. The tangy cream against the lightly sweet fritter is Eastern European breakfast at its most complete.
On bliny — smetana as a base, with jam on top, or mushrooms inside. Both work. The cream holds everything together.
How We Serve It
At Varenik & Pelmen, sour cream is one of our six included toppings — alongside crispy bacon, fresh herbs, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, and berry jam. It is included in the price with every bowl. You do not choose a number of toppings or pay extra. You take what you want.
For most people, sour cream is the first topping on the spoon and the base of everything that follows. That is correct behaviour.
If you want to know how to build a good bowl, start here: spoonful of sour cream, handful of fresh herbs, and work outward from there depending on what you are eating and what you want from the meal. The toppings guide goes into more detail — but for smetana specifically, the instruction is simply: use it, and use enough of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is smetana?
Smetana is Eastern European sour cream — a cultured dairy product made from cream with a higher fat content and more pronounced tang than typical British sour cream. It is used widely across Eastern European cooking as a topping, sauce component, and ingredient. On dumplings, it is the classic and essential topping.
Is smetana the same as sour cream?
Close, but not quite identical. Smetana is richer and tangier than standard British sour cream due to its higher fat content and culturing process. It is comparable to crème fraîche in fat content, but the flavour is more distinctly sour. For cooking purposes they are often interchangeable; for the full experience, proper smetana is worth seeking out.
What do you put sour cream on?
In Eastern European cooking: almost everything. Pelmeni, vareniki, bliny, syrniky, soups, sauces, and baked potatoes are all natural partners. At Varenik & Pelmen, it is included as a topping for the full dumpling menu. Its versatility is the reason it sits at the centre of Eastern European food culture.
Is smetana included?
Yes. Sour cream is one of our six included toppings. All toppings at Varenik & Pelmen are included in the £5/100g price — you pay for the weight of your bowl, and the toppings come with it.