Scheduled lunch: What dishes did the Soviet leaders like?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Kremlin feasts are legendary. Even in the most difficult years for the country, the receptions arranged by the Soviet leaders amazed the guests. But the leaders themselves preferred to eat less luxuriously. How Stalin's cabbage soup was prepared, what Khrushchev ate for breakfast and what kind of soup Brezhnev cooked - further in our review.

Lenin and healthy eating

The leader of the proletariat appreciated homemade food. He even met his future wife at a meeting for which she baked pancakes. Then he repeatedly went to her house for dinners with homemade pies.

In exile in Shushenskoye, Lenin often ate game, once every two weeks a ram was slaughtered for him. The diet was supplemented with vegetables from the garden. Even the recipe for "Shushenski roast" with meat, potatoes and spices has been preserved.

Abroad, Lenin often visited cafes and liked to drink beer. To him, he preferred lightly salted fish. Relatives sent him parcels with balyk and caviar: the future head of state was ready to eat delicacies from the Volga at any time of the day.

The state of health did not allow Lenin to become a real gourmet: from time to time he was treated in sanatoriums, spent the last years of his life on a special diet. He appreciated food made from fresh products, although immediately after the revolution he ate meagerly: in the Kremlin canteen he was served liquid soup and porridge.

Stalin-style barbecue

Stalin often fried the barbecue himself, and he carried out all the preparation alone: he cut the meat and marinated it.

Special meat was sent for him: a slightly grown lamb was slaughtered and butchered under the supervision of a doctor. It was necessary not to damage the giblets so that the meat remained "clean". After that, the meat was kept in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Shish kebab was sprinkled with dried barberry before serving.

Stalin introduced a variety of fish into the Kremlin's "diet": herring, vimba, and nelma. The latter, according to Mikoyan's recollections, he ate in the northern way: thinly sliced strips of raw frozen nelma were served with salt.

He did not like canned food, ham and sausages, preferring fresh vegetables, herbs and poultry. A turkey liver was prepared in a special way for Stalin. The leader also appreciated soups: borsch, khash, cabbage soup. A recipe for "frozen" cabbage soup was created for him: ready-made sauerkraut soup, cooked in a broth of several types of meat, was frozen for 12-15 hours, and then gently defrosted and brought to a boil.

The Soviet leader did not like the smell of food being prepared; the kitchen in his residences was far from his study.

Khrushchev: exotic fruits and homemade food

Khrushchev, like many representatives of the Soviet elite, loved Russian cuisine and simple dishes. Cooks usually prepared porridge, pancakes and mashed potatoes with chicken cutlets for Khrushchev and his family for breakfast. Often he got along with a few slices of dried black bread. At home he always had a plate with such "crackers".

He liked dairy products, for example, cottage cheese and yogurt. For dessert, the chefs often prepared ice cream for the secretary general and his family. Dinner at the Khrushchevs' house was at seven in the evening, and after that - only kefir.

For lunch, he almost never ate fatty foods. He always had soup on the table, for example, borscht, hunting kulesh, fish soup, or a village stew with meat, millet and potatoes. He especially often ate dumplings with cottage cheese, sauerkraut or cherries, dumplings and pies.

Of the meat dishes, Khrushchev, according to the recollections of his personal chef, preferred blood sausage, as well as tenderloin baked with prunes or mushrooms. The head of the Soviet state, according to his memoirs, did not refuse cakes and painted eggs for Easter.

Another weakness of Khrushchev was exotic fruits. Cuban leader Fidel Castro brought them in whole baskets during his visits. But even at normal times, Khrushchev was served freshly squeezed juices several times a day.

Brezhnev and diet

The general secretary, before all the delicacies, preferred scrambled eggs with lard, fried in a cast-iron pan. Like Stalin, he appreciated good barbecue and game. Sometimes I ordered pasties. But his state of health did not contribute to such high-calorie meals, so he rarely allowed them.

After Brezhnev had dental problems, he asked the chefs to prepare dishes so that they did not have to chew for a long time. Among his favorite dishes were cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes and cutlets made from several times rolled meat with cream. Such cutlets Brezhnev loved to eat cold. He also appreciated the jelly of mutton tongues.

Of the soups, Brezhnev, like Khrushchev, preferred borscht or light potato soup with a dressing of mashed bacon with dill and garlic. He willingly ate kulesh - a thick soup, which he himself sometimes cooked on the hunt. Sometimes, when the secretary general did not have an appetite, he would take soups prepared for him, but then quietly poured them out. Of the dishes with vegetables, Brezhnev liked stews with eggplants, tomatoes and garlic.

Often the kitchen was hosted by Brezhnev's wife, Victoria Petrovna. She cooked "royal" jam from cherries with nuts, made dumplings. She liked to treat foreign guests with "sorcerers" made of potatoes and minced meat.

Gorbachev: bread and cheeses

The last leader of the USSR loved oatmeal from whole oats or buckwheat for breakfast. He was also served some cheese and caviar. He became addicted to various cheeses during his visits to France.

According to the recollections of the employees of the Special Kitchen, Gorbachev was very fond of bread. For lunch, he also willingly ate buckwheat with veal or lamb with vegetables.