Recipes for canteen dishes of the USSR. Soviet cuisine: favorite dishes of Soviet women (11 photos)

This part of the Soviet menu has always been in the spotlight. Which, in general, is quite understandable. The not too rich table of our fellow citizens forced them to consider all other dishes only as a prelude to the main thing - hot. That is why, having become the apotheosis of the Soviet table, hot dishes have absorbed all the peculiarities of our 20th century cooking.

The turning point was the famous "The Book of Delicious and Healthy Food", which from 1939 to 1990 was regularly published in millions of copies. She significantly expanded the range of dishes recommended to the Soviet reader. Along with porridge, pancakes and compotes, there were recipes for stuffed carp in sour cream, fried veal, all kinds of sauces made from butter. The recommended cooking technique also became much more complicated: it was assumed that the Soviet hostess would not only cook and fry, but also bake and stew. The list of the most common and popular Soviet hot dishes is quite predictable: meat dishes based on minced meat or small cuts, since a large piece of good meat was an infrequent guest on Soviet tables; chicken or pork as the most readily available meat products; a nourishing side dish in the form of potatoes or pasta, plus a thick gravy, as a way to increase the calorie content of a meal while maintaining its taste.
Perhaps a classic example of this trend is navy-style pasta - one of the most iconic and widespread Soviet everyday dishes. This is a kind of lifesaver for a caring housewife, and for a completely lazy inept, and for most public catering establishments. Everything is simple: boil broth and boiled meat, passing through a meat grinder, mix with pasta or noodles. You can, of course, not be too lazy and fry the onions in sunflower oil, and if in butter, it’s much tastier.


Meatballs with pasta
Another classic Soviet hot dish is cutlets and meatballs. Probably, there are as many family recipes as there are housewives. But as for canteens, restaurants, the production of semi-finished products - everything is strict here, according to the "Collection of recipes ...", no amateur performances. Cutlets, meatballs, schnitzels, steaks, zrazy and meatballs - all these are dishes, primarily from minced meat, minced meat. Cutlets and meatballs - the mince is the same, the difference in shape is the oval cutlet, flattened, pointed at one end; the cue ball is round, flattened. The addition of white, stale bread soaked in water is strictly regulated. Fried in bread crumbs. Who remembers, the cutlet cost 11 kopecks in the dining room!

The cutlets were different - from stolovskaya for 11 kopecks to Pozharsky ones in a restaurant.
The same minced meat, oval, flattened, but slightly larger and fried without breading - beefsteak. Chopped schnitzel is prepared from beef, with the addition of pieces of bacon, fried without breading. The menu sounded like this: "natural chopped schnitzel", served with sauce, cost 23 kopecks. Zrazy - minced meat with all kinds of filling inside: eggs, buckwheat porridge, mushrooms, and just fried onions. Meatballs - balls of minced meat with the addition of bread or rice, fried and then stewed in sauce (tomato, sour cream, red). And, of course, there are lamb, pork, poultry, fish and vegetable cutlets.
In addition to cutlets, perhaps the best thing that can be prepared from meat ground in a meat grinder is stuffed cabbage rolls, our Russian cabbage rolls in cabbage leaves. Someone boils a whole head of cabbage, and someone first takes it apart into leaves. Some prefer to stew in sour cream, while others in tomato and fried onions. As they say, taste and color ... We have our own technology at home. The main thing in it is to buy the right cabbage, of the "Slava" variety or something close to it.

Cabbage rolls are good from Slava cabbage
It seems that only a mysterious Russian soul could give birth to such a dish as lazy cabbage rolls. Meanwhile, despite the uninspiring name, this is a completely independent, tasty and vitamin-rich dish. Plus, you don't have to worry about cabbage leaves, and the variety of cabbage is not important.
Dumplings. Yes, here it is - a clear illustration of the evolution of Soviet cuisine. In the "Book of tasty and healthy food" in 1939, there are only two short recipes about them: broth with dumplings and dumplings in oil (placed at the very end of the "Flour dishes" section). The 1955 "Cookery" is another matter. There are already dozens of references here: Moscow, Siberian, Uzbek dumplings, in butter with cheese, in an omelette, in tomato sauce, baked, fried. And they already appear as hot snacks, as dough products, and as dishes of national cuisines.

Dumplings
True, sometimes all the difference in recipes comes down to a simple phrase: "Moscow dumplings are prepared in the same way as Siberian dumplings, but they only take less dough and more minced meat." But be that as it may, dumplings are an iconic dish of our cuisine, which made a brilliant "career" during the USSR. Naturally, one of the factors of popularity was ready-made frozen dumplings, the production of which was established by the food industry. What could be easier - boiled water, salted and filled up the whole pack, 5 minutes, and you're done. You need a little skill: defrost so that they do not fall into a ball, calculate the amount of water, do not digest.
By the end of the existence of the USSR, this dish of students and bachelors became truly nationwide. Disputes about what the mince was made for them made up an indispensable part of the meal, giving grounds for the most fantastic assumptions. However, home cooking did not lag behind either. We remember the stories of how the whole family in the 1960s prepared 200-250 dumplings for the reception of guests. As a grandfather, he personally checked the salinity of the minced meat and the consistency of the dough. And how then he competed with his son-in-law, who would eat more for a bet. This dish became especially popular in private kitchens when such a form for cooking them appeared in hardware stores. It really facilitated the sculpting process, allowing you to prepare a batch of 37 dumplings in 5-7 minutes. One had only to try once to, as they say, “feel the difference”.

Once - and 37 dumplings are ready!
If we are already talking about semi-finished products, then it is appropriate to recall here the main one - sausages. Their mass production, established in the early 1930s, made a real revolution in the food system, including home. Moreover, at that time, along with the weighed-out sausages familiar to us today, their canned counterparts were produced. In canteens, sausages were served both with green peas and with a "complex" side dish: stewed cabbage and mashed potatoes were placed on a plate together. On top of the mashed potatoes cooked in water, a teaspoon of melted butter was always splashed when serving. But what kind of reconstruction of this Soviet dish we got:

Sausages with stewed cabbage under Zhigulevskoe beer
Now, perhaps, it's time to move from minced meat dishes to natural meat. Goulash, azu, meat in sweet and sour sauce, beef stroganoff, French-style meat. This list, of course, can be continued, but in general, the set of dishes is clear. Meat subjected to prolonged heat treatment (stewing). A variety of schnitzels and steaks were to be presented as an alternative. This natural meat was also present in the menus of canteens and restaurants, but it was taken with some caution. Due to the fact that the pieces were often very hard.
They were adjoined by rump steaks, splints, escalopes, which were supposed to differ from each other only by the supposed difference - from which part of the carcass the piece was cut. In fact, I think no one really followed this. It was simply not possible to guess what was breaded under a thick layer of sour crackers. There could be no question of any degree of roasting either, they did not even know such words - Medium, Medium Rare, Well Done. In the most famous Soviet restaurants, no one would ask you how to fry meat. They served equally tasteless, tough meat from a cow that had been regularly producing record milk yields for many years before slaughter.
Chops were different for the better, from which the relative edibility was knocked out with hammers. Here, by the way, chops from a piece of veal or pork, which was successfully purchased from a familiar butcher or at the market, were successfully cooked in the home kitchen. This was probably the only way to cook a natural piece of meat at home. Therefore, it is not surprising that the main dishes both at home and in public catering were medium-sized slices of meat with various sauces, in the common people called gravies.
For canteens and restaurants, it was much more convenient - finely chopped ones cook faster, chew easier and you can't see the quality of the pieces on the plate behind the sauce. The first meat dish in popularity is undoubtedly goulash. Simple, unpretentious, does not require a high-quality, expensive piece of tenderloin. Even today, there is no particular need to make any adjustments to his recipe.

Goulash
Meat in sweet and sour sauce is not an accidental acquaintance with taste, but a favorite dish on Soviet tables. Moreover, it took root so well in almost any family that many considered it to be their “family” recipe, regardless of nationality. In reality, of course, this is a recipe from the Jewish (Ashkenazi) national cuisine. Which left a significant mark on Soviet gastronomy.

Sweet and sour meat
And here is another representative of the Soviet multinational cuisine. Azu in Tatar has become an indispensable part of the menu of our catering. And in home cooking - it was a frequent guest. By the way, here's an amazing fact. Despite such popularity, this dish never appeared on the pages of KVZP (even in later editions), and in “Kulinariya” it is simply referred to as “azu” without any Tatar roots.

Another famous dish is beef stroganoff. It was born, of course, not under the USSR. Its roots, obviously, go back to the end of the 18th century. But the first mentions of Stroganoff beef in Russian cookbooks date back to the 1870s. So, by Soviet times, this dish enjoyed equal success both in our country and abroad. And the post-revolutionary Russian emigration finally spread it all over the world. At the same time, this is some kind of very "Soviet" dish. It is difficult to say what the secret of his success is. First, the relative ease of preparation, a small range of products, easy technology. Secondly, the expressive taste. Thirdly, the lack of strict regulations - the tenderloin is easily replaced with rump, sour cream - for cream, tomatoes - for the Yuzhny sauce.
But back to meat dishes. Here it is - the signature dish of Soviet feasts - French-style meat. To be honest, no Frenchman would ever get the fancy idea of ​​cooking mayonnaise, usually prepared by every housewife as a sauce for ready meals. The traditional French method of cooking - gratin - involves the formation of a caked golden crust on the surface. There are many recipes for gratins, with different products, including slices of meat, potatoes and onions. But they are baked, of course, not with mayonnaise (these are already our Soviet fantasies), but with béchamel sauce, or just with cream.

French meat
It is impossible not to mention offal, which in Soviet times were much cheaper than meat. Lung, kidneys, liver, heart - liver. Fried or stewed, they made an excellent filling for pies. Language - and this is already a delicacy for those times! - it was not easy to buy. Jellied tongue, served with hot mashed potatoes, or just a cold slice of it on a sandwich - this still remains both a high-quality everyday meal and a good treat for a feast. But our best memories are of the liver. Today, not everyone likes this product. But slices of high-quality fresh beef liver, fried with onions in butter - what could be tastier!
Returning to the theme of the "Soviet-multinational", we cannot ignore the memories of two dishes. One of them, of course, is Uzbek pilaf. Another "spicy national" dish is chicken. You have probably already guessed what this is about. Indeed, Georgian food habits have probably won the hearts of the Soviet people forever. Chickens in the USSR were different. Domestic - more often with the head, paws and giblets (liver, heart, stomach and neck). The head and legs of a bird, casually wrapped in a square of gray paper, stuck out spectacularly from a string bag, predicting the prospect of a fragrant soup or chakhokhbili. Imported - Hungarian or French - represented a respected broiler at the time. They, too, were with all the giblets, neatly wrapped in a separate, inside a bag.
Imported birds were most often taken in reserve and waited in the freezer until the next holiday - they were destined to become a roasted delicacy in the oven. The most "advanced" way was to fry the chicken on a bottle, smearing the carcass with mayonnaise. So, of course, the famous tobacco chicken. Hit of resort cooking. One of the favorite items in the restaurant cuisine menu. Perhaps, by the way, this was due to its technological simplicity. After all, for example, according to Soviet standards, a cook of the 6th category could cook Kiev cutlets only 60 pieces per shift. And the chicken was three thousand.

At the end of socialism, for some reason it became fashionable to argue "taBaka" or "taPaka". Supporters of the latest version referred to the Georgian name for the tapa frying pan, from which the name of the dish was supposedly to have originated. While arguing, the right chicks simply disappeared from the market, replaced by full-breasted but tasteless broilers. So for a while the discussion became strictly theoretical.
Of course, this is not a complete overview of the hot dishes of Soviet cuisine. Each of the readers will certainly be able to add at least a dozen more favorite foods from childhood. But our task was not to compile an encyclopedia of Soviet food. We just wanted to awaken your memories, to recreate the unforgettable atmosphere of a bygone era.

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What should you put?
- Salad or roast beef?
- Salad ... and roast beef.
"Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath"

In recent years, we are increasingly forgetting about our history. With the appearance of various products from all over the world on our counters, the dishes loved from childhood have disappeared from the New Year's tables, and instead they have been replaced by dishes and products that are no less tasty, but still without history. And I decided not to return to our past and arrange an evening of memories. To be honest, the New Year's table of the Soviet Union was not that interesting, and the dishes on it were those that you can't drag out by the ears. Sometimes even I am taken by such nostalgia that, no matter how many vows I give myself not to cook, I still cook Olivier salad, the famous Herring under a fur coat, every year. But after all, not only these dishes were prepared by our mothers and grandmothers. By the way, basically the New Year's treats consisted of those products that were given out in the famous Order tables and those that could be grabbed after having defended kilometer-long traffic jams in stores. Many do not even remember what it is. So the obligatory attributes of the New Year's menu were: Soviet champagne, a stick of smoked sausage, a can of red caviar, a can of sprat, a can of peas, a box of Assorted or Cherry in liqueur chocolates, a bottle of Wheat vodka, a can of calamari in s / s. My grandfather got a more extended portion of delicacies, which included canned pineapples or peaches, a can of black caviar and fruits, usually tangerines or oranges, there were ducks or geese, and mostly chicken. From these products, my grandmother prepared all sorts of dishes, which even now in my memory evoke tender feelings and aromas from childhood.

What was usually served on the table in the New Year. As now - salads, appetizers, jellies and aspic. They set the jelly to cook in two days, so that it would better grab. I loved the pork leg and beef jelly - it always came out so tasty and aromatic. In the morning, a large pot of 20 liters was taken from the balcony. Then pork and beef legs, meat with bones, about half, or a little more, were sent to it. Then the whole thing was filled with cold water, and the grandfather put the pot on the stove. When the water boiled, the foam was removed, onions and carrots, peppers and lavrushka were added and cooked until 7 pm, or even longer. Moreover, the grandmother always salted the jelly exactly one hour before the removal. Then all this brew was cooled to room temperature, bones were pulled out of the broth (as my brother and I were waiting for, sometimes even fought!) With meat and vegetables. After all the pulp was removed, my grandmother and I sat down to cut it - very finely, making sure that no bones came across. I remember my hands and lips became so sticky and greasy that they ate and ate came off the knife. At this time, grandfather chopped the garlic - a lot and very carefully. The meat was laid out in tins, sprinkled with garlic on top and poured over with strained broth. And all this beauty was sent to the refrigerator. Be sure, on trial, made a small mold, which in the morning everyone was allowed to try, the rest - for the holiday.

On the day of the holiday, in the morning, preparations began in the kitchen - cooking vegetables for salads, and kneading dough for pies. By the way, for me, pies are the main attribute of the New Year. We always made them with three fillings - with rice and an egg - for business, with cabbage and jam for me. I remember how I came to the kitchen, and my grandmother was already standing at the table, covered in flour and kneading dough. Then they trusted me to watch him so that he would not run away. Now, when I write these memoirs, it becomes funny, of course, but then I considered it a very important matter and could not let my loved ones down in any way, so I would run to the kitchen every half an hour to check. My grandmother had her own proven recipe for yeast dough for pies. For 1 kg of flour, she took 1 egg, 50 g of yeast, 2 glasses of milk, 50 g of melted butter, salt and sugar to taste. She always made the dough light and airy. Then we sat down to sculpt. My grandmother rolled out, cut out the mugs, laid out the filling, and I pinned it and transferred them to the board. We never baked pies, but only fried them.

That I'm all about myself, but about myself. For the New Year, it was customary for families to cook all the tastiest and most loved ones. First of all, snacks were put on the table. The table setting began at about 23 o'clock. Among the appetizers, in the first place was caviar, or rather, sandwiches with caviar. Usually it was bought in advance, sometimes "by pull" or from under the counter and kept for a long time, until the holiday. Then there were slices - meat and cheese. Although it is difficult to call it slices - usually slices of boiled and smoked sausage were laid out on a plate. Mom also baked pork, so rosy and certainly with fat and garlic. Then all sorts of pickles were opened - tomatoes, Hungarian cucumbers and, if lucky, mushrooms. We specially went for them to the store located opposite the Unexpected Joy Church of the Mother of God in Maryina Roshcha, where draft birch sap was still on sale. By the way, there were no fresh tomatoes and vegetables in Moscow at that time, in winter. but there was homemade sauerkraut. Salads were put on the table. As a rule, it was Stolichny salad, Herring under a fur coat, squid salad with eggs and green onions, salad with liver and sometimes Mimosa salad, and sometimes pink salmon was replaced by other fish, for example, saury. And necessarily, a neatly open jar of sprat, and certainly on a small saucer. In the USSR, sprats were a measure of prosperity, and even though they were cheap, they still had to manage to get them. We bought them in the "Ocean" store on Prospekt Mira, if anyone remembers, he will understand me. They also sold excellent herring, which was cut into fillets, seasoned with oil and vinegar, sprinkled with onion rings and put on the table. For hot, we, like many other families, had a whole baked chicken. Many baked pork or fish, whoever managed to grab what they could in the store. Then all this splendor was served on a large platter, surrounded by baked potatoes or mashed potatoes. Of course, there was a vase with tangerines and persimmons, and next to it was a smaller vase with canned pineapples or peaches. Exhibited were champagne and vodka (or cognac) for adults, and the favorite lemonade "Buratino" or "Tarhun" for children. Ready-made cakes were in short supply, so they mostly had to bake themselves. Although there were times when the Kievsky or Flight cake appeared on the table. But most of all I loved the "Potato" or "Rocket" cake, which were sold in our neighboring ice cream parlor. At home, my mother baked "Anthill". That seems to be all that I remember. Of course, all New Year's holidays have their own smell, taste and color. I have it orange, with the aroma of homemade pies and the taste of baby lemonade!

Today we can reproduce many recipes from the Soviet menu. I offer you my own version of New Year's Soviet dishes!

Many treat the recipes of the USSR era with disdain. What could be cooked there if there was not even butter on the store shelves? But even without jamon, dor blue and marzipans, Soviet women created real masterpieces. Here are just the most popular ones.

Olivier salad

The Soviet version of the salad was very different from the pre-revolutionary one. It was so "based on" that it could well be called a parody. Neither hazel grouses, nor pressed caviar, nor crayfish ...

The Soviet version, familiar to us, was invented in the Moscow restaurant in the capital immediately after the revolution. All the tastiest things disappeared from it, and the hazel grouses were generally replaced with boiled chicken. And in times of special "revelry" of developed socialism, many housewives generally abandoned poultry, replacing it with boiled sausage. Oddly enough, it was in this form that the salad became known almost all over the world. In Europe it is now called "Russian salad", which, in general, is fair.

How to cook. Everything is very simple. To begin with, they boiled potatoes, meat, eggs, took pickled cucumbers from a barrel or jar, brought onions from the cellar and opened a jar of green peas. Now the most dreary thing remained: everyone was chopping into cubes, except for peas, of course. Mayonnaise, salt, pepper were added, and the last magic action: mixed. For a normal bowl of salad, a pound of meat is enough, the same amount of potatoes, ten eggs, five cucumbers, two onions and a jar of peas.

How to make it tastier. First, you can make mayonnaise yourself with olive oil, rather than buying it at the store. Secondly, it is not forbidden to add shrimp to all this riot. For happiness, you need three hundred grams, do not regret it.

Shuba salad

There is a very beautiful revolutionary legend. Say, during the Civil War, not indifferent Komsomol members came up with the proletarian salad Sh.U.B.A., abbreviated to Chauvinism and Decline - Boycott and Anathema. The salad included the simplest ingredients, without any bourgeois excesses.

Believe in this story or not - everyone's personal business. The "fur coat" became popular after the war, and Soviet cookery can be proud of it - this is an absolutely unique dish that immediately became popular. But, unlike "Olivier", in the world it is known exclusively as "this extravagant Russian salad with herring", or "oh my God, why do they do this."

How to cook. There are many variations of the recipe, but they all have one thing in common: you need boiled beets. In addition to her, the usual list includes boiled potatoes, carrots and also herring. Not everyone can stand the vegetarian option with seaweed. Vegetables were boiled, cooled, peeled, chopped or grated. The herring was also crushed, vegetable oil was added. The whole point of the salad is that the products were laid in layers and each of them was smeared with mayonnaise from the heart. The very first was herring, then carrots, potatoes and beets. Ideal proportions: there should be as much of each vegetable in the salad as the herring base.

How to make it tastier. Do not spare mayonnaise - the salad loves it. Nowadays, in addition to traditional ingredients, onions and eggs are often added. Neither one nor the other "fur coat" will definitely spoil. Gourmets use salted red fish instead of herring, but this, you see, is somehow not proletarian.

Passenger salad

Another invention of Soviet chefs. Unique, although not as popular. Most of the housewives got to know him thanks to the cookbooks of the seventies and were still very surprised: why is he called "Passenger"? Mayonnaise somehow does not imply long-term storage, salads are not taken on a hike, you cannot quickly cut it by the fire.

There is a version that in the sixties this dish was actively promoted in restaurant cars. In addition to the memoirs of individual railroad workers, no other evidence of this could be found.

How to cook. There are only three main products in the salad, plus the constant dressing - mayonnaise. It was made from beef liver, which was first fried in large pieces and then cut into strips. Pickles were cut in the same way. The onions, chopped into half rings, were sautéed. Then all this was mixed, salted, pepper and the magic "Provencal" was added. Half a kilo of liver took the same amount of onions and half as many cucumbers.

How to make it tastier. The combination of products is almost perfect, hardly anyone will be able to achieve the best. However, some housewives, at the request of faint-hearted husbands, reduce the amount of onions. Doubtful step.

Student soup

You cannot find this recipe in a Soviet cookbook, but any student who studied then remembers it perfectly. And even in several versions - depending on the available products and financial capabilities.

For some reason, modern Russian websites and communities devoted to cooking are strongly demanding the use of broth in the recipe. Of course, "Studencheskiy" is similar to French cheese soups, but there was no question of any special broth. All meat broth was provided exclusively by sausages.

How to cook. As usual, it all starts with peeling potatoes (0.5 kg). In a completely hopeless situation, it was replaced with pasta, but it was not so tasty. It also required three hundred grams of sausages, a carrot, an onion and two processed cheese. The simplest grocery set that could easily be bought without using connections. When the water boiled, finely chopped onions and carrots were thrown there. Sausages were also crushed, usually cut into circles - it's easier this way. At the very end came the turn of processed curd cheeses.

How to make it tastier. This is where the real scope for imagination is. Students, to enrich their taste and out of despair, did not add anything: from bell peppers to olives. And the taste did not lose from this.

Pea soup

The history of pea soup goes back several millennia. There are references to him in Ancient Greece, Rome, medieval treatises. In Russia, he is also known for a long time and is even mentioned in "Domostroy".

In the USSR, it was prepared from dry peas or special briquettes with semi-finished products. Due to its cheapness, it was especially loved in workers' and student canteens. At home, “musical soup” was also periodically prepared, but the dish was not festive at all.

How to cook. It is useless to consider the option with a briquette: the cooking method is painted on the wrapper. If it was made from dry peas, it was pre-soaked for 6-8 hours. Onions, carrots, any smoked meats or bacon were chopped and fried. Be sure to peel some potatoes, literally two or three things. It was boiled together with peas until half cooked, then everything was added from the pan. When the soup was ready, croutons were thrown into the plate. 250 grams of peas took 200 grams of meat, one carrot, an onion and 0.6 liters of water.

How to make it tastier. It is not at all necessary to stop at one type of smoked meats. Soup with two or even three types of meat will be much better.

Naval macaroni

Soviet interpretation of Italian pasta. The exact history of this dish is unknown. It appeared in cookbooks in the sixties, but it has been mentioned before. Most likely, this is a classic "folk art", which was also liked by the professionals of the cookery business. Naval pasta was offered in canteens of almost all institutions and especially often in sanatoriums, boarding houses and pioneer camps. Their administration simply adored this recipe: it was almost impossible to understand how much meat was actually put there. Minced meat was mixed with noodles and tomatoes were not used, as is done in modern recipes.

How to cook. Ingenious in its simplicity composition. It contains only three products: minced meat, one onion and the actual pasta. No complicated manipulations were required either. A pound of minced meat was fried in oil until cooked, the onion was added and kept on fire until it darkened. Pepper and salt. Simultaneously, the same amount of vermicelli was boiled. Then the water was drained and the minced meat was added directly from the pan. Be sure to mix thoroughly.

How to make it tastier. Adding something to this perfection means moving away from the original idea and getting closer to what is prepared in Italy. Well, okay, cheese or herbs will not be superfluous.

Potatoes with stew

It is now impossible to repeat this recipe. The problem is the stew. The one that is sold in stores is not at all suitable in quality. There is almost no meat, just some strange "jellied meat". You can stew the meat yourself, but it doesn’t quite taste the same, it’s not Soviet at all. Why this happens is a big mystery. It remains only to feel nostalgic and get by with the current stew. But you should buy only the highest quality products: the rest is too doubtful.

How to cook. Probably everyone has already guessed: the Soviet cuisine won over with its simplicity. And this time everything is also elementary. The potatoes were peeled, cut into large pieces and set to boil. Having brought to half-readiness, the stew was added. Straight through the entire contents of the jar. There is a widespread recipe on the Internet in which the "white fat" is offered to be removed and thrown away. Frankly speaking, this is blasphemy, for this it is necessary to transfer to a lifelong lean menu.

How to make it tastier. Many women have tried to improve this recipe. The easiest way is to add canned green peas. You can also chop and fry some onions and carrots. In general, there is room for delicious creativity.

Chicken Kiev

The de-volai cutlets of French origin became the prototype. The difference is only one and insignificant, to be honest. The French put a sauce inside theirs, usually creamy with mushrooms. Soviet citizens did not engage in such tenderness: a small piece of butter and green tea were enough. Initially, only foreigners in the Intourist system were pleased with the Kiev cutlet, but luxury has moved from restaurants for the elite to Soviet cuisines.

How to cook. Perhaps this is the most difficult dish in terms of preparation in our review. Don't be fooled by the simple name "cutlet" - for cooking, they used not minced meat, but a chicken fillet chop. And for the filling, the greens were finely chopped and mixed with butter, which was taken directly from the freezer. The resulting mixture was laid out on a cue ball and wrapped so that a neat oval cutlet was obtained. Then it was rolled in egg and bread crumbs and placed in a preheated frying pan. Fried on both sides until a crust appeared. The final stage is ten minutes in the oven.

How to make it tastier. No way. Attempts to add mushrooms or cheese inevitably turn it into a "de-will" cutlet.

Semolina

The invention is not Soviet, but it was in the USSR that it got into every home. In Russia, they began to prepare it back in the 19th century, but exclusively in noble families. For common people, semolina was too expensive. But the Soviet authorities, rebuilding the food industry from scratch, launched its mass production, and flour mills literally filled up shops with semolina. And it would be fine only shops - in schools and pioneer camps she was suppressed almost every morning. And no one stirred the lumps, of course ... Yes, this porridge turned into a nightmare for Soviet children.

How to cook. It's a shame to call this process “cooking”. Milk was poured into a saucepan, waited until it boils, and then little by little they poured semolina. For half a liter of milk, there are only 3 tablespoons of cereal. Stirring slowly, sugar and a pinch of salt were added. This step took 5-10 minutes. At the end, a piece of butter was thrown in and thoroughly mixed again.

How to make it tastier. It is better to take semolina porridge as the "base" of a sweet dish. You can add fresh and canned fruits, candied fruits, nuts, chocolate and just jam there.

Napoleon cake"

The most popular cake of those times. At the same time, it was not sold in stores or served in restaurants, it was exclusively “home production”. Each housewife had her own recipe and her own secret, although they were all, in fact, very similar.

This cake came to Russia from Europe and, despite the name, most likely from the Italian city of Naples. In the USSR, they began to cook it especially often in the eighties, when the deficit became simply depressing - the so-called "Napoleons for Poverty", where the cream was made from melted ice cream.

How to cook. Pre-prepared cakes from puff pastry. It was believed that the thinner they turned out and the more they were used, the cooler, but the main secret of taste is still the cream. Custard was used in the USSR. For him, they put one and a half liters of milk on a slow fire, at the same time grinded yolks (8 pcs.), Sugar (400 g) and a bag of vanilla sugar, then added 100 grams of flour. All this must be added to the milk that had boiled by that time. Bring to a boil again and stir until the cream thickens. They were carefully coated with cakes and put in the refrigerator. For the dough itself, three hundred grams of butter, 600 grams of flour, half a tablespoon of vinegar, a little salt, an incomplete glass of water and two eggs were required.

How to make it tastier. Spoiling a classic cake is easier than improving it, but there are some tips for Napoleon too. For example, you can add three tablespoons of brandy to the dough, and butter to the cream.

200 g cabbage
1 onion
1/2 tbsp. rice
200 g boiled meat
1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
salt

Soak rice in warm water for 15 - 20 minutes. Saute the onion until transparent. Add chopped cabbage and simmer covered for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Then add rice. Pour over hot water (or broth) so as to slightly cover the rice, simmer for another 10 minutes. Add minced boiled meat. Chopped eggs can be added for tenderness.

Potato casserole with meat

500 g potatoes
2 eggs
60 g butter
60 g sour cream
300 g of meat
2 onions
salt
pepper

Peel the potatoes, boil, drain the broth, dry and knead with a crush. Add eggs, butter, sour cream, salt, pepper to mashed potatoes, mix everything and beat with a mixer. Boil the meat in salted water, pass it through a meat grinder. Peel the onion, cut into small cubes and fry in a pan with butter. Add the scrolled meat, salt, pepper and fry until tender. Put half the potatoes on a greased baking sheet, flatten and lay out the minced meat in an even layer. We cover with the second half of the potatoes, level them, apply a drawing with a spatula. Put a baking sheet with a casserole in an oven preheated to 180 * degrees and bake until golden brown. Cut the finished potato casserole with meat into portions and serve with sour cream or sauce.

Goulash with gravy

0.5 kg of meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey)
1 onion
1 carrot (without it)
1 tbsp. l. flour
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tbsp. l. sour cream (I have without it)
1 bay leaf
salt to taste

Cut the meat into small pieces, lightly fry (you do not need to fry, but immediately add a little boiling water to the meat) and simmer together with onions and grated carrots in their own juice over low heat, pouring a little rast into a saucepan. oils.
Then add a little water. Let's say a glass of water for a pound of meat. Simmer until the meat is cooked. The meat should be lightly covered with broth. 10 minutes before the meat is ready, salt to taste, put 1 bay leaf and you can 3 pcs. peppercorns.
Meat is different. Therefore, the cooking time can also be different. But as a rule, about an hour, no less (if it is beef or pork, not chicken). Readiness is checked with a knife or fork. Then dilute in 1/2 tbsp. warm water - 1 tsp. tomato paste, 1 tbsp. l. flour and 1 tbsp. l. sour cream (you can do it without it, I don't have it). Stir well in a glass so that there are no lumps. I always do this with a fork. Stir the goulash continuously and add the mixture.
The goulash will begin to thicken before our eyes. Simmer a little, 5 - 10 minutes. The meat is ready.
If the water has boiled away during extinguishing, you can add it. And if suddenly the goulash turned out to be too thick, then you can also dilute it with boiling water to the desired thickness. You can add grated or thinly sliced ​​pickled cucumber 10 - 15 minutes before the end of stewing meat. This will add a spice to the dish.
Garnish with pasta or mashed potatoes.

Meatballs in sauce

0.5 kg minced meat
1/2 tbsp. rice
1 medium onion
1 egg
salt to taste

Sauce:
1 tbsp. l. sour cream
1 tbsp. l. flour
1 tsp tomato paste
1.5 tbsp. water

Boil rice until half cooked. Finely chop the onion, mix with the minced meat. Season to taste. Mix everything very well. Form small meatballs and roll in flour. Put on a frying pan well heated with vegetable oil, preferably not very closely to each other, fry on one side for 3-5 minutes. Turn gently and fry on the other side. Pour boiling water to about half the level of meatballs, add salt and leave to simmer. Dry the flour in a frying pan, add sour cream and tomato paste, mix and dilute with the remaining water. Add sauce to meatballs and check for salt. Cover and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes over medium heat.

Omelette

5 eggs
250 ml milk
1/2 tsp salt
butter (for lubricating the mold)

Pour milk into a deep bowl. Add eggs and salt. Stir well without whipping !!! Grease the mold well with butter. Pour the resulting egg and milk mixture into a mold.
Fill the form no more than 2/3, as the omelet will rise. And put in an oven preheated to 200 ° C for 30 minutes.
Do not open the oven for the first 15 - 20 minutes. Cut the finished omelet into portions. Put a piece of butter on the hot omelet.

Cottage cheese casserole according to GOST

Per serving for children:
135 g cottage cheese
10 - 12 g semolina or flour
15 g sugar
4 g eggs
5 g margarine
5 g rusks
5 g sour cream

The mass of the finished casserole is 150 g
sour cream - 30 g

Mashed cottage cheese is mixed with flour or pre-brewed in water (10 ml per serving) and chilled semolina, eggs, sugar and salt. The prepared mass is spread with a layer of 3-4 cm on a form greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. The surface of the mass is leveled and smeared with sour cream, baked in an oven for 20-30 minutes. until a golden brown crust forms on the surface. On vacation, cut the casserole into square or rectangular pieces and pour over sour cream.

Fish casserole

300 g fish fillet
1/2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp flour
1 tsp butter
salt
breadcrumbs

Boil fish fillets in slightly salted water. Cooking time 5 - 7 minutes after boiling. While the fish is boiling, prepare the milk sauce. The recipe is here. Grease a baking dish with butter and put a small layer of boiled fish, chopped with a fork. Add the egg to the milk sauce and mix well with a fork or whisk. Pour the fish layer with the resulting sauce, then put another layer of ground fish on top and pour over the milk sauce again. Sprinkle the fish with breadcrumbs on top and send to the hot oven to bake at 180 ° C. Baking times in different ovens range from about 15 to 25 minutes. Ready-made fish casserole can be a separate dish for dinner. Or you can serve it with porridge or vegetables.

Potatoes stewed with meat

1 kg of beef
1.5 - 2 kg potatoes
2 large onions
3 carrots
3 tbsp. l. tomato paste (optional)

Cut the meat into pieces of 2 - 3 cm, trying to free it from fat, films and tendons beforehand.
Peel the onion and cut it into half rings.
Peel the potatoes and cut them slightly larger than the meat.
In a cauldron, or a saucepan with thick walls, heat a few tablespoons of sunflower or olive oil. We heat up to a haze.
Throw in the meat and fry it over high heat. It's okay if the meat starts to juice and stew. If the meat sticks to the bottom or sides of the cauldron, do not worry about how it will be fried, it will fall off by itself. Stir as it is fried, and after all the meat has brightened, throw the onion, stir again, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. If there is not a lot of liquid, add a little broth or, if there is no broth, add some water.
While the meat and onions are stewing, cut the carrots in semicircles and fry them in vegetable oil.
How she changed color - into her cauldron, and instead of carrots in a frying pan - potatoes.
We try to fry the potatoes on all sides until they are light golden brown. We throw in a cauldron, salt, pepper, mix. If there is not enough liquid, add so that the potatoes are almost covered with water. Cover with a lid and over low heat for 40-50 minutes.
15 minutes before the end, throw in three bay leaves, a generous pinch of hops-suneli, or any spice that you like and half a teaspoon of red pepper for piquancy.
Stir gently, cover with a lid and let simmer for the remaining 15 minutes over low heat. Close with a lid and leave for another 10 -15 minutes, brew, soak.

Liver soufflé

Salt to taste
milk, for soaking bread
butter, for lubrication
1 small onion
2 slices of white bread
500 g beef liver

We take the liver, rinse it and boil it almost until tender. I had a small piece, I cooked it for 30 minutes (after boiling). We take the liver out of the water, wash off everything unnecessary and let it cool.
Soak pieces of loaf in milk.
We clean the onion.
Scroll the cooled and chopped liver through a meat grinder, do the same with onions and soaked bread.
In general, this soufflé is prepared in the garden without onions, but I used to add it to enrich the taste.
Salt and mix everything thoroughly. If the minced meat is dry, you can add milk. You can also add butter to make it fatter, personally I never add it.
We put everything in a greased form. Put in the oven and bake at 180 - 200 ° C until the top is browned (about 15 - 20 minutes). Grease the top of the finished soufflé with butter.
My child really loves this soufflé with sauce.
Fry the onions over medium heat under the lid, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Take 2 tbsp. l. sour cream and 2 tsp. tomato paste, combine in a deep bowl, add 1 tbsp. l. flour. Mix everything thoroughly, add water about 300 ml, mix everything again and pour into the onion, stirring at the same time. Bring on fire until thickened. The sauce is ready. You can put a piece of butter on top so that a film does not form.