An unusual story that is difficult to imagine in Soviet times.
Recently I watched the recording of the game “What? Where? When? ”And there was a question that I liked. The topic of the question turned out to be very close to me, as a pastry chef, and I was even able to answer myself.
Ales Mukhin's team also coped with the task, however, they did not come to the right answer right away. The question was filmed by the viewer himself, so I propose to watch this fragment and try to guess. Write your answer in the comments, and then compare with the correct answer, which will be at the end of the article.
In short, the question is: “In 1936, masters worked in the Anichkov Palace, who painted the walls using old technologies. It is said that during these works in the city, the production of what is in the black box increased. Attention, the question is - what's in the black box? "
To deal with this issue, let me tell you what happened in the Anichkov Palace in those days.
In 1936, the building of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers was being prepared for the opening. The walls in this Palace were painted by former icon painters, who were invited from the city of Palekh by Maxim Gorky himself.
The artists worked with tempera. To prepare such a paint, an emulsion is used, which is made from egg yolks, water and dyes. Gorky gave the artists a large-scale task of painting the palace, and for this the masters needed more than 20,000 eggs.
Since only the yolk was required to dilute the paints, the whites were first thrown away. The Soviet leadership could not afford such waste.
And then the confectioners came to the aid of the artists, who organized a confectionery shop in the basement of the palace. What can be made with so much protein? Now, attention, drum roll.
Surely many have already guessed. Therefore - the correct answer. Confectioners added sugar to the proteins, whipped and dried in the oven. Thus, we have got a dessert, which we call “meringue”.
Here is such an entertaining story, how pastry chefs helped artists not to translate food and paint the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers.
By the way, I have a detailed video recipe on how to make a Soviet meringue cake with cream according to GOST. You can see it below.