Army cuisine: what Russian military chefs are capable of. About military cooks

Pursuant to the decision of the State Defense Committee of September 12 this year. d. introduce, from September 20, 1941, new food standards for the daily allowance of Red Army personnel in the following categories:

The first category is the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 1. According to these standards, the Red Army soldiers and the commanding personnel of the combat units of the active army are satisfied, with the exception of military personnel who are satisfied according to the standards of flight rations and the standards of the technical composition of the Red Army Air Force units.
The second category is the norms in accordance with Appendix No. 2. According to these norms, the Red Army soldiers and the commanding staff of the rear of the active army - the rear of the front, army, division and brigade - are satisfied.
The third category is the norms in accordance with Appendix No. 3. According to these norms, Red Army soldiers of combat and spare units who are not part of the active army are satisfied.
The fourth category is the norms in accordance with Appendix No. 4. According to these norms, Red Army soldiers of guard units and Red Army soldiers of rear institutions who are not part of the active army are satisfied.

2. For the flight technical personnel of the Red Army Air Force:

The first category is the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 5. According to these standards, the combat crew of the aircraft of the active army must be satisfied.
The second category is the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 6. According to these standards, the flight technical personnel of the Air Force of the active army are satisfied according to a specially announced list of positions.
The third category is the norms in accordance with Appendix No. 7. According to these norms, the combat crew of aircraft that are not part of the active army, according to a specially announced list of positions, and the flight technical personnel in a barracks position are satisfied.
The fourth category is the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 8. According to these standards, the technical personnel of the Air Force who are not part of the active army are satisfied according to a specially announced list of positions.

3. Cadets of all military schools of the ground and air forces of the Red Army, privates and junior command personnel of the airborne troops shall be provided with allowance according to the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 9. Cadets of flight schools on days of training flights shall be given additional allowance according to the standards specified in Appendix No. 8.

4. Red Army soldiers, junior commanders and commanding officers undergoing treatment and testing in military hospitals and military hospitals shall be provided with the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 10.

5. Military personnel undergoing treatment in military sanatoriums, rest homes and in the central military hospital of NPOs shall be provided with food according to the standards in accordance with Appendix No. 11.

6. Establish the norm of dry rations for troops of the active army and for units not included in the active army, in accordance with Appendix No. 12. Use dry rations as a combat reserve and use it instead of the prescribed ration in cases where it is impossible to feed the troops with hot food.

7. The personnel of all military units that are not part of the active army, rear units of the active army and all military schools shall be provided with allowance once a week according to the standards in accordance with Appendices No. 13 and 14. These allowance standards do not apply to the flight technical personnel of the Air Force.

8. Middle and higher commanding personnel of the active army, except for flight and technical personnel receiving flight rations, are given free rations according to norms No. 1 and 2 with the addition per day per person:
butter or lard - 40 g,
cookies - 20 g,
canned fish - 50 g,
cigarettes - 25 pieces or tobacco - 25 g
and 10 boxes of matches per month.

9. Establish a food supply for one person on front-line aircraft and on operating rear-facing aircraft in case of accidents and forced landings:
condensed milk............ 3 cans
canned meat................... 3 cans
biscuits “Cracker” ...................... 800 grams
chocolate.....……................... 300 -"-
sugar......…………................. 400 -"-
or instead of chocolate cookies.. 800 -"-

10. Personnel of the troops of the first line of the Karelian Front for the months of December - February will be given 25 g per day per person in addition to the ration of lard.

11. Personnel of military units located in areas unaffected by scurvy diseases should be given one man-dose of vitamin C per day per person.

12. Approve the table of replacements of food products and grain fodder in accordance with Appendix No. 15.

13. Military personnel going on all types of leave shall not be issued food in kind for the entire period of their leave. In exchange for food rations, issue monetary compensation at the established cost of the ration. When a serviceman is sent on vacation to sanatoriums and holiday homes using free vouchers, no monetary compensation will be given.

14. Military councils of fronts, armies and military districts oblige unit commanders to take under their direct supervision the organization of nutrition in the troops, to establish such a diet so that the Red Army soldier receives everything required according to the standards in full and in a well-prepared form.

16. NKO Order No. 208 of 1941 and its annexes Nos. 1-8 are cancelled.

17. The order is transmitted to the fronts, individual armies and districts by telegraph.

Applications: No. 1-15

People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I. STALIN

– I know, I know what you want to ask! We don’t use pearl barley porridge at all! - senior teacher Nikolai Grigorievich Rezchikov began right off the bat, meeting us in the classroom among electric stoves, posters hung on the walls with recipes for dishes like folding pasta and viscous porridge, and a stand with dummies of dishes like those that are loved in Asian eateries.

– What about sandwiches with red caviar? - I retorted, pointing to a plastic dummy with eggs the size of peas.

– These are just examples of how a dish can be prepared and served. Our cadets, having been demobilized, go to work in civilian cafes and restaurants - and they work with great success,” Nikolai Grigorievich responded. And he’s right: if you’ve been taught for six months to cut beets into bars of a strictly prescribed size, and then for another six months you’re chopping a couple of mouthfuls of them every day - the restaurant manager’s cries of “Friday evening, zapara, full planting!” you won't be bothered at all.

Despite the fact that all stationary military units are fed by civilian cooks working under contract, military cooks are still trained in two surviving schools - in Naro-Fominsk, where we were, and in Chita. Military cooks, of course, still have a lot of work to do - during field exercises and maneuvers, in remote regions, and as cooks on ships. The main thing that chefs are taught is to cook quickly, in large quantities and strictly according to a schedule. Senior teacher Rezchikov and his retinue, junior teachers blonde Olga Ivanovna and brunette Tatyana Ivanovna, kept urging the cadets on: “Lunch should be at two o’clock, at two!”

The cadets, dressed in white chef's uniforms and rubber slippers with numbers painted on them - a military replacement for chef's clogs - train for 54 months. The scheme is, in general, the same as in any cooking school. First, the theory, the structure of products, compatibility with each other, types of dishes and their recipes. Then the cadets go down to the laboratory, take knives and smoothly move from cutting their own fingers to cutting carrots into perfect strips and onions into half rings. After which, in fact, the students go to the stoves and prepare simple food prescribed by the rules.

Pearl barley and chaff

Pearl barley (that is, made from whole barley grains) porridge was called “shrapnel”, “bolts” and “bubies” in army jargon. Barley (that is, from crushed barley grains) porridge was known as “cut”, “fraction sixteen” and “kerza”. Due to its cheapness, it was used everywhere in the army and, along with cabbage called “bigus”, stewed until it completely lost its shape, it was considered the most terrible food war curse. Now in the new army nutrition regulations, bigus is completely absent, and pearl barley can only be used as an integral part of other dishes - pickle, for example. Although if you cook it not in water, but in broth, like risotto, you get an incredibly delicious thing - .

Cutting beets with a sharp stick, cooking porridge from bark and pine cones, even just cooking over a fire - alas, they don’t teach all this at the school of military cooks. It is assumed that in any dangerous situations the supply of water, food and diesel fuel (which runs the field kitchen) will function uninterruptedly. But they teach various cooking tricks that allow you to diversify the not very rich diet here and add taste to the main qualities of army food - simplicity and satiety. Olga Ivanovna, for example, actively gesticulating (and desperately arguing with Tatyana Ivanovna) taught the cadets how to prepare the perfect buckwheat porridge:

– First, scatter the buckwheat on the table and sort through it. All dark grains are thrown away. Then pour it into a hot frying pan and fry without oil. Buckwheat will be more crumbly, with a nutty flavor. And finally, when we cook, be sure to add literally one spoon of sugar at the very end in addition to salt. It won't give you any sweetness, but it will work as a flavor enhancer. There will be a miracle, not buckwheat.

Having dealt with the buckwheat, Olga Ivanovna set to work on whitening - a completely forgotten in the civilian world, but still alive in the military world, an absolutely primordial Russian dressing for soups. She poured a couple of tablespoons of flour into the same hot frying pan without oil and began to fry it, stirring regularly until the flour turned creamy. The flour was removed from the heat, three or four spoons of broth from the soup were added to it, and all this splendor was mixed to the consistency of thick sour cream and sent back to the pan with pickle sauce.

And, oddly enough, the army kitchen can teach you how to drink alcohol wisely - if, of course, you are lucky enough to serve on a submarine. The diet of submariners includes daily 100 ml of dry red wine to help the body cope with high blood pressure. Photographer Alexey Yakovlev immediately suggested that these 100 ml could become the subject of a large and complex underground underground business on the boat, but Rezchikov assured that the higher ranks are making sure that everyone drinks what and how they should, on schedule.

Tea with bromine

One of the main army legends, fortunately, is one hundred percent a lie. Pure bromine is too poisonous to add anywhere. Bromine compounds, which were used in psychiatry as a sedative, are also unlikely to help. A soldier who drank such tea would stop reacting not only to women, but to everything that was happening in general, becoming not even cannon fodder, but cannon vegetable. If we are to do anything with such tea, then distribute it to spies to treat enemy fighters. Although such an idea would have failed - all bromine-containing drugs not only have a lot of undesirable side effects, but also taste monstrously bitter; even the most unscrupulous people would not drink this tea.

At the invitation of the press club of the Ministry of Defense, I visited the 190th school of military cooks. It was the most delicious press tour!

The history of the founding of the school begins in 1961, then there were courses for training logistics specialists. A little later, in 1969, military cooking courses were united into a single school near Naro-Fominsk. Since these days, up to 700 military chefs have been trained here annually.

The cooking training itself lasts about 3 months, after which the soldiers are assigned to serve in other units as already trained specialists. Upon completion of training, each of the guys receives the third rank of cook!!! Agree, this is very nice!

First of all, we went to the laboratory of practical cooking, so as not to miss the most important thing! Work here is in full swing in the morning and begins with theoretical classes at 8.20. Our arrival was already for practical lessons in preparing lunch, which lasts from 10.30 to 13.30.

The children were divided into teams, each of which prepared their own dishes.

A professional chef always watches and gives instructions in vain during the cooking process.

A chef's hat, apron and waffle towel are an essential uniform for a military chef, along with camouflage pants. After all, art requires compliance with its own rules and standards of sanitary hygiene!



The school can definitely boast of kitchen appliances and dishes; almost everything is in perfect condition.

The incentive to cook deliciously is built in by default: the cadets themselves, and in the future, their colleagues, will have to eat their creations. And here both literature and visual practical aids come to the rescue. Honestly, this is the first time I've seen this.
The dummies are so natural that you want to eat them right away :)

While the process of preparing lunch was underway, we were shown kitchen appliances and the full cycle of the process of preparing bread. The latter was especially tempting! But let's talk about everything one by one!

Of course, first of all, the children are taught to cook field food, and only then culinary delights. However, there are quite a few delights in field food! But in order for it to be tasty not only for the cook, but also for others, you need to master all the intricacies of working with mobile field kitchen stoves and stoves.

All equipment runs on diesel fuel. They are mobile and quickly deploy in the field. Before our eyes, culinary warriors mastered lighting ovens.

Not all recruits were able to do this the first time, however, the result was achieved the second time!

The bloggers were also able to try field buckwheat porridge. I generally eat buckwheat extremely rarely, one might even say that I don’t eat it at all.. But I changed my idea immediately! Soldier's buckwheat porridge is something! I couldn’t resist asking for more, and it’s not just me)))
In such a soldier's tent we tasted soldier's food! It was so good)
Everything inside is Feng Shui)

After a delicious breakfast we went to watch the process of making bread
Vladimir Vladimirovich, told and showed how everything happens.
Everything happens in the following sequence:

1. Sifting flour

2. Kneading the dough

3. Division and molding
4. Baking and most importantly - the result.

5:06 / 23.09.16
About military cooks

Head of the school, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Leonidovich Senator / Photo: Denis Mokrushin

There have already been so many press tours of various media and bloggers to the 190th military school of cooks that once again there was no point in photographing the cooking process (the visual theme has been exhaustively covered, for example, by dervishv ). Therefore, I decided to simply talk with the head of the school, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Leonidovich Senator, about the unit entrusted to him and the food supply of the troops.

- How many specialists does your school train per year?

Recruitment is carried out 2 times a year for 470 cadets. Of these: 300 - for the Ministry of Defense, 170 - for the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

- What specialties are being trained in?

We train 3rd class cooks and 3rd class bakers. The proportion for the same Ministry of Defense: 210 cooks and 90 bakers. But, in principle, the guys know how to cook food and bake bread. Now we are producing 50 bakers, and they all know how to cook food.

- Training period?

4 months. One and a half months of training in the general arms training course and two and a half months in the specialty.

- It's enough?

Enough.

- There used to be more...

Previously it was only 3 months. Even earlier it was six months. But then the training program included a lot of disciplines such as engineering training, tactical training, anti-aircraft training... The program was greatly extended. Now these [combined arms] elements follow a shortened program, and more training is carried out in the specialty. Especially in the field. The same bakers only spend a couple of weeks on lectures [according to theory]: fats-proteins-carbohydrates, studying the equipment of stationary canteens, studying the performance characteristics of food preparation equipment in the field. The remaining 2 months are practice. In hospital and field conditions.

- Do conscripts only with specialized education get into school?

No. Of the 470 cadets, only 28 people have specialized education as a cook or pastry chef. They have crusts, but they haven't had any practice. A cook without practice is not a cook. Or he has an internship, but worked in a pizzeria, that is, he only prepared pizza. Or he has an internship in a restaurant in Moscow, but in a vegetable shop. I was peeling vegetables on a vegetable slicer in the basement. In general, only 4 of them, after two weeks of training in the laboratory with a teacher, will be suitable to participate in the “Field Kitchen” competition.

The rest have either 9 classes or (full) secondary education, either college or vocational school. But with 9th graders we try not to take it. There are guys with incomplete higher education.

During conscription, we look at the conscript’s health, his moral and psychological state and ask: “Do you want military chefs to go to school?” We try not to take on those who don’t want to join us, so that problems don’t arise later. Some categorically say: “I don’t want to be a cook - it’s shameful!” I'm supposedly an athlete and all that. But we called on many who said so, everyone graduated as cooks, and no one complained.

Photo: Denis Mokrushin

- Were there any cadets who refused further education during their service?

We had a soldier in 2013 who refused to take the final exam. We simply sent him to the infantry. There was one like this in five years.

- Did I understand correctly that the school also includes cadets who had nothing to do with cooking at all before?

It even happens that we never cooked anything at home, we never helped our mother peel potatoes.

- That is, the military registration and enlistment office does not select conscripts specifically for you?

No. We come and select it ourselves.

- Does the fact that the call is spread out over time not interfere with the learning process? I'm talking about a situation where one batch of cadets has already arrived, and the second will only be called up in another month.

No, actually. For example, our graduation begins on May 15, and until the old ones leave, we do not recruit young people. We start recruiting only at the end of May. We call them up in June, and an intensive training course begins in July. While they are here, initial combined arms training begins: selection of military uniforms, study of regulations, passing a military medical commission, the basics of combat and physical training. That's why they this month [June] don't get bored.

- Do your contract workers undergo training?

According to the plan for recruiting our military unit, in the 16th year we are recruiting contract military personnel. We have the positions of deputy platoon commander and squad commanders - these are contract servicemen.

- No, I asked about studying in my specialty.

Yes, twice a year, according to the plan of the organizational and mobilization department of the headquarters of the Western Military District, contract servicemen from other military units arrive to us specifically for training in the specialties of “cook” and “baker”. In that [current] During this period, we have 12 contract cadets studying with us.

- Do they undergo training together with conscripts?

Yes. Study for 3 months, exam in May (will pass) and go to their military units.

- Who teaches at school?

According to our staff, we have 1 teacher from the civilian staff, a “master cook”, 4 teachers in the position of senior lieutenant, graduates of Volsk. And we also have 4 instructors: 3 practical cooking instructors and 1 practical bread baking instructor. These are women contract workers.

- Do the instructors have specialized education?

They all came to us from the troops when we were recruiting contract soldiers. They have a civilian education as a “technologist” or “cook”; all have practice in stationary canteens in the troops.

- Are cadets at school taught how to prepare all the dishes that are included in the recommended list of dishes for military nutrition?

We try to teach as much as possible, but we teach the most basic things about cooking. However, the guys know more than 150 dishes. It should be understood that in field conditions you will have to prepare only the most basic things.

- Are there any specifics in the training of cooks for various types and branches of the military?

Since we mainly train cooks for the Western Military District, these are the Ground Forces. But we also prepare cooks. In principle, a cook and a cook are one and the same. Cooking is the same. We just don’t have a model of the ship’s equipment here so he can see with his own eyes how everything will be on the ship.

- What new equipment has appeared at the school recently?

Nothing, basically. The same portable kitchens, I think there’s nothing new there, everything is perfect. Among the new ones there is a block-modulated trailer kitchen KPBM-150 and PAK-200M based on Kamaz.

PAK-200M / Photo: Denis Mokrushin

- Do training programs provide for cooking food for a large number of people over a fire?

- You have already mentioned that field exits are used during training. Are there any requirements for the location where field cooking facilities are deployed?

Certainly. Every food retailer knows that the first thing you need to do is choose a location to locate a food station. An area for placement is selected so that it is not watery, so that there is a level area - the water in the kitchen should not stand sideways. Then engineering structures, camouflage. And only then do we start cooking.
At our school, at the end of the course, there is a three-day field trip. I determine the place where we are going, roughly speaking, some kind of forest. We're sending the equipment out there. State (technicians) We are not rich, so we set up KP-130, a place for washing pots, a tent for eating, places for accommodation (personnel) in the field. And there the cooks prepare the food. We cooked, ate in the dining room, and washed the pots.

- Which districts are your graduates distributed to?

Basically, only to the Western Military District. But guys also graduate for the Pacific, Northern and Black Sea fleets.

- What document is issued upon graduation?

Certificate of completion of a military training unit.

- Is it listed in civilian life?

I guess, yes. Us (periodically) We receive requests from catering organizations: did such and such a person study with you, please send him his certification sheet.

- A few questions not about the activities of the school, but as a specialist in the field of food supply. Do military chefs need to confirm their level of qualification over time? Suppose a contract soldier served as a cook for 5-10 years, does he need to further confirm that he has not lost his skills in his specialty?

I think there should be such confirmation, but I don’t know anything about such a practice.

- Can we say that due to the introduction of outsourcing, cooks in logistics departments are losing practice? Large field outings are still not so frequent.

Upon arrival to the troops, our cadets are assigned to the positions of cooks and driver-cooks. Due to outsourcing, there are fewer practices, mainly [cooking] during field exercises. But the self-respecting head of the food service, the commander, is obliged to organize monthly theoretical and practical classes in the unit. For example, when I was in the Kantemirovskaya division, if I’m not mistaken, every Thursday of the third week of the month I conducted classes with the deployment of field baking equipment and field cooking equipment. And all the full-time cooks from the division prepared food in the field.

Now, probably, everything is the same in the troops. This is the only way to support the practice of soldiers.

- By the way, given the introduction of outsourcing: what is the chief of food doing now?

Preparation of mobile documents, planning documents, organization of food quality control, training of junior specialists, maintaining weapons and military equipment in readiness for combat use.

- When preparing food, are the traditions and beliefs of military personnel taken into account?

When planning a menu layout, the head of the food service, in principle, is obliged to delve into [specifics] national team of the military unit.

- Can the chef prepare a dish according to his wishes?

Only if the unit commander approves changes in the food layout.

Photo: Denis Mokrushin

- Now in stationary canteens, military personnel are given a choice of several dishes for each meal. Is it possible to repeat this diversity in the field?

No. For example, an artillery battalion entered the field. It is given a field kitchen KP-130. What can you cook with it? There are 4 boilers: in one - boiling water, in the second - boiling water for tea, in the third - the first course, borscht, for example, in the fourth - buckwheat porridge. Variety can be ensured by preparing a different dish for the next meal.

- Is it possible to use local products during hostilities?

Products supplied through military warehouses have quality certificates ( which local products do not have). Informally in Chechnya they cooked, for example, meat, but according to the rules this cannot be done.

- In Chechnya, how was the supply of water for cooking ensured?

There were certain sources where water could be collected, and on which engineers worked (Engineer Troops), were engaged in cleaning and security. That’s where we collected water; we didn’t take it from a spring somewhere else. They formed a column of battalion "atsepetesheks" (ACPT water carrier), combat guard and forward! - six, eight kilometers away.

- The requirements for providing hot food remain the same: a maximum of 3 days in the field on dry rations, and then must there be hot food?

The order remained practically unchanged: meals on dry rations for no more than 3 days. Then either hot food or a combination.

- What is your personal opinion about modern dry rations such as IRP?

Oh... Of course, when you open the IRP, your eyes may be happy: there’s chewing gum, there’s chocolate, there’s canned fish. It seems great, but... I may have an old upbringing, but I only have one packed lunch [ideas about dry soldering are the same]... Also in the first Chechen... You open a jar of rice porridge, it’s rice porridge, but now... It seems to me that even though it wasn’t as full then as it is now, it still has more calories. More delicious.

- What do they give out instead of cigarettes now?

Previously, they gave out condensed milk, caramel, sugar... Now they made the right decision: give out 20 grams of caramel every day right during breakfast. This is great, the foreman doesn’t have to worry about them, there’s no theft, there’s no need to hand in reports. A fighter came to the canteen, took it, and ate it. If he didn’t eat it in the cafeteria, he put it in his pocket and would eat it later.

- They asked to ask the question: “Is there still a tradition that in the army they cut vegetables for cabbage soup into strips, and in the navy into cubes?”

Soooo, I won’t say this anymore, because I didn’t serve in the navy. But I think the cooking guidelines are the same for everyone. (Takes out a book and flips through it)“Fresh cabbage soup... cut into squares (checkers)... Potatoes and onions are cut into slices, and carrots into small pieces... Borscht... beets are cut into strips...” You can cut it in a different way, and it will be tasty, but we try to ensure that the guys follow the technology.

- I originally came to you to watch the “Field Kitchen” competition. Are they of any real use?

Eat. There must be some kind of interest for us to strive for something? We have an incentive to prepare the team well, the cadets... For example, out of 300 cadets there were 28 willing. Because in 1915 we received iPads as prizes. But, mostly, it is the “conscripts” who show the desire.

- A couple of personal questions, if I may. Why did you choose, at first glance, such a not very heroic option of service - in the rear units?

All my life I wanted to serve in the Marine Corps. At the military medical commission when entering a military school, I was rejected, I still wanted to be a pilot - I was also rejected. They said: “You only serve in the construction battalion!” My eardrum was damaged. I joined the army in 1987 and served a military term in the Strategic Missile Forces. The desire to become an officer did not disappear, from there (from the Strategic Missile Forces) entered the school. Why did you go to the rear? I won’t even say why I chose him... Before being drafted into the army, I worked as a deboner, then as a smoker in a sausage shop. Maybe this had some influence... Well, my classmate’s older brother graduated from the Volsk Higher Military School of Logistics. And, in principle, we didn’t know anything special about other schools. Here in the Volskoe rear area - it’s great, they say, you’ll be the head of food production! But what is the chief food officer? After I graduated, I became an assistant to the head of the food service - the head of the canteen. Hellish work: come in the morning to store food, come to eat, your uniform is always covered in fat, you get dirty. You are an officer, and you walk around there, running the canteen. At first it was unusual...

- Do you regret that you chose this path to serve?

No, I don't regret it. I like. Not just the head of the food department, this is the food sector, but I just like serving in the army. Very interesting. Well-mannered, fit in military terms, physically fit, military thinking, you are in demand, busy. I'm happy. Although it seems to me that I would be happy in any position.

On August 5, 2011, a press tour for bloggers took place in 190th military school of cooks(Naro-Fominsk). It was created in 1961 on the basis of courses for training logistics specialists. Twice a year, the school graduates military chefs, who spend 3.5 months learning the intricacies of culinary art and the basics of kitchen management used in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Military chefs must be able to prepare more than 120 different types of dishes using the possible range of army food kits. Additionally, once they master the science of bread baking, they will be able to prepare bread in the field.

“The best cook, as you know, is a man. Especially in the army. But Moscow bloggers who visited the 190th military school of cooks near Naro-Fominsk were able to verify this once again. The recruits learned the most important thing: to bake bread and cook borscht, and they will master the subtleties of cooking during their service", writes Elizaveta Azarova (“Hunger is not an aunt”).

There are seven schools like this in the Russian Federation, of which 190 is the largest.

By order of the ministry, current soldiers must be offered two menu options, as well as mandatory baked goods in the daily diet, including mince pies and rolls. And a soldier who gets into cook school is even luckier. In the canteen on Thursdays they prepare food that is not included in the standard card catalog, i.e. almost homemade: dumplings, sausage, rolls.

To prepare soldier's bread, only four ingredients are used - flour, yeast, salt and water. The flour is first sifted. Meanwhile, another fighter prepares the salt and yeast solutions. After that, the flour is poured into the vat. The salt and yeast solutions are poured there and water is added. After which the fighters begin to knead the dough. You can knead by machine, but we were shown how to do it manually. When the dough is ready, it is laid out in molds, which are first greased with vegetable oil. After this, the forms are sent to a special cabinet where the dough rises.

A field bakery is a large tent that soldiers must be able to set up in 2-3 hours so that they can start baking bread. The largest bakery weighs 17,250 kg and is capable of producing 587 kg of finished products. Baking time is 9-12 hours, accelerated - 4.5 hours. The bloggers, naturally, were shown an accelerated version. We observed the process from sifting the flour, kneading the dough, laying it out in greased molds, to placing it in the oven, and then went off to look at other objects. We were shown portable and mobile kitchens - for 10, 20, 30, 75 and up to 170 people, using diesel fuel or wood. These are mainly wheeled trailers. “The main thing is to learn how to handle the nozzle!” - teaches a strict instructor with a long pointer, - “Maintaining a constant fire is the best thing you can do for borscht or porridge.” Preparing lunch should take no more than 2.5 hours. Menu: - soup, main course, juice and bun. On this day, the soldiers prepared borscht and buckwheat with stew. This is "street".