Pelmeni

Mix the flour, the egg, the 130ml of cold water and the 5g of fine salt into a stiff, rough dough with no dry flour left in the bowl.

Knead on an unfloured surface for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, tight and springs back slowly when pressed. It should feel firmer than bread dough; a slack dough cannot be rolled thin without tearing.

Wrap the dough and rest it at room temperature for 30 minutes. The gluten needs to relax or the dough will shrink back under the pin faster than you can cut it.

Put both minces in a bowl with the grated onion, the grated garlic, the 6g of fine salt and the ground peppercorns.

Grate the onion rather than chopping it, so it gives up its juice into the mixture instead of sitting in it as pieces that stay crunchy.

Beat in the 60ml of ice-cold water a splash at a time, working it in with a fork until the filling is soft, loose and slightly sticky.

Keep the filling cold. Warm mince smears and turns pasty, and the fat starts to render before it ever reaches the pot.

Cut the dough into four pieces and keep three covered while you work on the first.

Roll the piece out as thin as you can manage, 1-2mm, thin enough to see the shadow of your hand through it.

Cut 6cm rounds with a cutter or a glass.

Put a rounded teaspoon of filling in the centre of each round.

Fold into a half-moon and press the edges together from the middle outwards, pushing the air out ahead of your fingers as you go.

Leave no air pocket in the seal. Trapped air expands in boiling water and splits the dumpling, and a split dumpling empties its filling into the pot.

Bring the two corners of the half-moon together around your fingertip and pinch them firmly into a ring.

Lay the finished pelmeni on a floured tray without touching each other and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You should get 55-65.

Freeze them on the tray for 30 minutes, until firm.

Freezing is not only for storage. Firm dumplings hold their shape as they go into the water and the seams stay shut.

Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil and add the 20g of coarse salt. Use far more water than looks necessary; a crowded pan cools when the pelmeni go in and they stick to each other on the base.

Drop in the pelmeni and stir once, gently, as soon as they are in.

Cook for 6-8 minutes from frozen.

Do not lift them out when they float. Floating means only that the dough has cooked at the surface, while the raw meat inside has not; give them a further 3 minutes after the last one rises. This is the mistake almost everyone makes once.

Test one by cutting it open: the filling should be evenly grey-brown with no pink and should be sitting in its own broth.

Lift them out with a slotted spoon into a warm bowl and toss with the butter until every one is glossy.

Serve with smetana, or with the vinegar and a heavy grinding of black pepper, and scatter with the dill.

Serve them in shallow bowls with a spoon rather than on plates, so nobody loses the broth inside them.