I have written more than once that with great pleasure I periodically re-read the book “The Kremlin. Special cuisine ". I reread it - because it seems that the perception of information often depends on the general mood and state, well and interests at the moment (especially when it comes to cooking), and completely different things.
In summer and autumn, the brain notes vegetable dishes (especially if an unfamiliar name comes across). In winter, more often than not, you are drawn to hearty, rich soups - and automatically you flip through the pages in search of their references. Well, since in recent months I have been forced to lead a categorically healthy lifestyle with proper nutrition, then... Yes, all sorts of porridge, light dietary soups are striking (and remain in memory).
Porridge and soups (and not only them, but, in principle, dietary meals) in the Kremlin used a forced popularity (after all, the leaders of the USSR did not differ in youth and health), therefore, in their cooking, the chefs there reached heights. With recipes, here's the gag, of course. More often than not, there are no recipes, since the book is more of a "memoir", with memories of cooks and a simple listing... Or interesting stories that happened at work.
However, you can pick up something there too. Here Anatoly Sergeevich Zhukov, a waiter of a special cuisine, and also a lieutenant colonel, talked about working with Gorbachev. Of course, read about how they solved the food problem in some countries (in Vietnam, for example, when water from taps flowed really "alive", then revenge with animals), more interesting, but the everyday menu of the last general secretary too... enticing.
In general, all the employees mentioned that Gorbachev was one of the most unpretentious general secretaries. Raisa Maksimovna was very careful about his food, and the tastes were simple. For breakfast, from an ode to the year, the Gorbachevs served as the main dish porridge - buckwheat or oatmeal. But the oatmeal was not ordinary, but, as they say, real - porridge.
Let's try to cook? It's not difficult, the main thing is to follow simple rules.
1. Firstly, we don't take flakes. Porridge is made from oats. Moreover, this oats should be of medium grinding. Actually, I don't even know where to find a medium-sized grind - it's easier to buy either non-crushed oatmeal, or bare-grain chopped oats - I haven't come across other types.
Uncrushed cereal does become a medium-sized porridge oatmeal in a coffee grinder. We have an economy option. So to speak.
2. In theory, porridge is boiled in water without adding salt. I doubt very much that it was cooked without salt for Mikhal Sergeich, so throw in a pinch. But do not take milk - you never know, authenticity is so authentic!
3. If you have good quality oats, just ready for boiling (there are such brands, but they are not very good), then just fry it before boiling - then it will have a nutty flavor. If oats need to be washed, wash and fry. We fry, like any cereal, without oil.
4. The cooking ratio may vary. My favorite is 1.5 cups of water for 1/3 cup of oats. But here I will add: I cook the porridge for a little over twenty minutes, and if you want to cook it longer (for example, to make the cereal even softer), then you will have to take more water.
5. You will laugh, but you only need to stir the porridge with a wooden spoon. This is not what I said, it was the cooks who came up with it. The very ones who constantly cook porridge and, in general, nurture it in every way. In Scotland (and Porridge, oddly enough, is a Scottish specialty expropriated by the British), the World Porridge Cooking Championship is taking place. There he is interfered only with a special stick - a stump. But you can replace it with a spoon (I read in the chefs' blogs that there is no difference, the consistency is the right one). But if you stir the porridge with an iron spoon, then the porridge turns out to be more liquid. Such a riddle!
Oh yes. Porridge should be served with seasonings - some butter, some cream, some syrup, some syrup - in general, it depends on the tastes and state of the wallet. Bon Appetit!