Leafing through the comments, I noticed that people are usually divided into two camps - those who remember the USSR food service with warmth, and those who spit from such memories.
I belong to a much less numerous third category: there are good memories, there are bad ones. For example, the smell that was in many canteens. I do not know why, but he (in those days was a child) made me nauseous. Therefore, during the trips, my parents and I entered the canteens in the morning, when the smell was not yet stagnant, but in the afternoon and evening we ate in cafes or restaurants. Rather, in the afternoon (until 16 pm) in restaurants, then it was affordable for everyone, and in the evening - in a cafe. Such a temporary separation happened due to the fact that after 16, children were not allowed to enter many restaurants. I don't remember the reason for this discrimination ...
In the canteens, by the way, they didn't cook as badly as they are now trying to suggest. Yes, there were places in which the chefs steal not weakly, and there the food turned out to be inedible. There were establishments in which the management and employees did not care about anything at all - but they were felt right "on the way", and by the smell and appearance, they were easily filtered out.
And in those that are better, cleaner (canteens, I mean), they often prepared real "hits", which many who have tried it will not refuse now.
Made a small rating of the most popular dishes of those times based on comments to publications.
Cutlets
They are in first place in terms of the number of references. I myself often remember the taste of catering cutlets, and I still periodically try to repeat them. But - it does not work First, I just can't find "the very same breading". At school we called these cutlets “cutlets in straw” because sometimes we came across something like ground stalks among the breading. Bran, or what?
Secondly - the recipe is not the same! They say that the taste of the cutlets was so... interesting because of the black bread in the composition. But all the technological cards that I managed to find involve the use of white bread! In general, a riddle ...
Marinated fish
Most often, pollock acted as the main ingredient in those days that I remember. But earlier in canteens they used hake. There was not much difference, as for me, because all the same, the taste was achieved due to the vegetable marinade.
Goulash or stew
Honestly, I myself still do not understand why they loved? After all, the meat used was far from the best. Most often, what was "cut along with the booth." Instead of meat, goulash often contained veins, tendons, and everything that we usually do not use. But no - it still turned out delicious.
Although, perhaps, it was delicious because of the gravy. Red stolovskaya gravy is another hit of Soviet times, and the recipe is now searched for by many and often.
Cabbage salad
Here, without comment, it turned out to be one of the most delicious. By the way, the secret is not at all that the cabbage was crushed - it was heated!
Pancakes and pies
Oh, how they are scolded, how scolded. And they fried almost in machine oil, and they didn’t put anything in the filling, however, that pancakes and pies flew with a bang. And it's not the starving population that matters. I remember myself - fried pies for 10 kopecks. You will buy a bunch of them, despite the fact that at home and borscht with meat, and something else quite decent. And you chew with the whole company!
What do you remember from the hits of public catering of those times?