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Kulesh is a military recipe. Rich kulesh: recipes for a Slavic dish! We prepare different types of kulesh according to recipes with millet, buckwheat, bacon, vegetables, mushrooms

One of the surprisingly tasty and quick-to-prepare dishes that "came" to us from Ukrainian cuisine is millet kulesh. Its recipe is so popular that, perhaps, only Ukrainian borscht is ahead of it in popular love.

The first to start preparing kulesh were the Cossacks on their long campaigns. Due to the monotony of the food, it was necessary to come up with tasty, satisfying and nutritious dish"on hastily". So the recipe for kulesha appeared, which does not require time expenditures, culinary skills and any special conditions for preparing a dish.

Nowadays, kulesh is an indispensable attribute of any hike or friendly gatherings around the fire. But even in your own kitchen you can cook a dish that will be no different from the "field" option. Today we will look at both cooking methods: on the stove and on the fire.

Kulesh. Homemade recipe

Classic recipe includes only two main ingredients: millet and lard. But if you wish, you can diversify the recipe with other products: potatoes, meat, mushrooms, vegetables, fresh herbs, etc.

Essential ingredients for a classic recipe

You need to prepare:

  • 100 g of millet.
  • A couple of small onions.
  • 200 g of salted lard.
  • 5 potatoes.
  • Carrots - 1pc.
  • Spices.
  • Fresh herbs.

You also need water - 2 liters.

How to cook

Set the pot with two liters of water on high heat and wait for the liquid to boil. At this time, it is necessary to rinse the groats. Pour millet into a deep plate and place it under the tap. Pour half the volume of water and begin to drain it little by little from one edge so that the millet does not float away with the water. Pour water again, rinsing the millet. For two or three washes, the cereal completely gets rid of unnecessary and unnecessary impurities and dust.

It is important to remember that any recipe for making kulesh requires adding cereal only to boiling water. Along with cereals, a pinch of salt and bay leaf are added. The cooking time for cereals is about 20 minutes.

Before the end of the cooking time, add the potato cubes to the pan. Now you can turn down the heat and simmer the dish until cooked.

While the potatoes are languishing, you can start cooking frying. For a kulesha recipe, you need one onion and one small carrot. The vegetables are cut into small cubes. Put the pork lard cut into long cubes in a frying pan. Fry it until a crispy, dark brown crust appears. Now you can add vegetables to the fat. As soon as they are golden, transfer the contents of the pan to a pan with millet and potatoes.

A couple more minutes and the fire can be turned off. When serving the dish, you can add one spoonful of sour cream and fresh herbs.

Kulesh with mushrooms and meat

Of course, kulesh is considered real, consisting of a handful of millet, roots and spring water. However, modern chefs have learned to competently add other ingredients to this dish that do not spoil it, but only make it more satisfying and tasty.

We offer the second recipe for kulesha. Even a novice housewife can cook it at home. Classic recipe complemented by aromatic forest mushrooms and hearty pork. And herbs and spices can be added at your discretion and desire.

Ingredients for the dish

  • Three large potatoes.
  • 240 g of mushrooms.
  • 150 g millet.
  • Pork - 250 g.
  • One onion.
  • A handful of freshly chopped parsley.
  • Two liters of water.
  • Salt.
  • Spices for meat.
  • A pinch of ground black pepper.

And also a bay leaf.

Cooking method

Old recipe kulesha required cereals and roots to be cooked in different containers. Today, you can not adapt to traditions and significantly save time on cooking by boiling cereals and potatoes together.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. We wash the millet several times in a plate filled with running water. We send cereals and vegetables to boil over high heat for ten minutes. Do not forget to throw a couple of bay leaves, peppercorns and a pinch of salt into the pan. Then we reduce the heat on the stove and simmer the kulesh for another fifteen minutes.

While potatoes and millet are boiling on one burner, put a frying pan on the other and fry onions with meat and mushrooms on it. If for the dish were taken store frozen or fresh champignons, then no cooking is required. If for cooking you bought or collected aromatic Forest mushrooms, then it is recommended to boil them for 40-60 minutes before frying.

We send the fried meat, onions and mushrooms to the pan, where the millet has already been cooked and the potatoes have become soft and crumbly. All that remains is to turn off the heat, cover the container with a lid and let the dish brew a little. The last stage is filing. Put thick kulesh into portioned plates, seasoning it with a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley and a thick spoon homemade sour cream.

Kulesh at the stake

A separate topic is a real marching kulesh cooked in a pot over a fire. A recipe with a photo will help novice housewives to properly prepare a dish. It should be noted that the cooking process will differ slightly from home option... Since there is no way to place several containers of brew at once on the fire, you have to adapt to the situation.

Essential products for a travel cooler

Take with you:

  • 220 g millet.
  • 2 pcs. Luke.
  • 1 PC. - carrot.
  • 4 things. - potato.
  • Pork lard - 200 g.
  • Green onions feathers, parsley, dill - any herbs that are at hand.
  • Salt.
  • Spices.

You also need a bay leaf.

Description of the cooking process

Perhaps you should not focus on the process of collecting firewood, laying out a fireplace, starting a fire and forming an impromptu stove. Let's just say that the heat under the pot must be strong enough in the first stages of cooking.

So, since we do not have at hand several burners on which we could cook and fry food at the same time, we slightly change the recipe for kulesh. We start the cooking process not with boiling cereals, but with frying bacon. Cut the lard into small cubes and place them on the bottom of the pot. As soon as the lard gives fat, add finely chopped to it onion and carrots. At this moment, do not go far from the fire, as a strong, almost uncontrollable fire under the pot fries everything very quickly. Stir the cracklings and vegetables constantly.

As soon as the frying is ready, pour water into the pot and pour the millet. Mix thoroughly and cover with a lid. Cook the cereal for about fifteen minutes. During this time, the potatoes can be peeled and diced. We make the fire under the pot a little smaller (by removing or simply moving some of the burning coals to the side) and put the potatoes in the dish. In a low heat, simmer the dish for about 10-15 minutes, remove the pot from the fire, pour a large amount of fresh herbs into the container and, closing the lid again, let it rest and brew a little.

"Delicious" facts

  • In some traditional families, vegetables and meat ingredients are cooked separately and millet is cooked separately. At the last moment, the ingredients combine and the fire is immediately turned off.
  • The dish is thick enough and rich soup... A tasty and satisfying kulesh can replace the second and first course.
  • According to tradition, lard must be present in the recipe for millet kulesha, but lately, cooks have replaced it with sausages, beef fat or chicken fillet.
  • Chilled kulesh can be stored in the refrigerator for more than two days.
  • If you want to cook lean dish, then instead of bacon, mushrooms are put in the kulesh, and frying is done without adding oil.

Kulesh with bacon (field cuisine)

Delicious military kulesh on bacon

Such a delicious and hearty kulesh with bacon was cooked in the soldiers' field kitchens. And if there was no bacon, then put the stew.

Now, in peacetime, such a kulesh can be cooked both at home and at a picnic in nature, in a large cauldron, in which you must first fry bacon, and then add cereals and other ingredients. Kulesh with a crust of black bread grated with garlic is especially good!

Composition

for 3-4 servings

  • Lard (salted, fresh or smoked, you can brisket) - 200 g;
  • Millet - 1 glass;
  • Water - 2 l;
  • Potatoes - 5 pieces;
  • Onions - 3 heads;
  • Bay leaf - 3 pieces;
  • Allspice or black peas - 3-5 peas;
  • Salt to taste.

What you need for kulesh: millet, onions, potatoes, bacon, bay leaves and pepper and salt.

How to cook

  • Fry lard: Cut the bacon into small cubes. Put in a wide saucepan (cauldron, wok, cauldron) and fry over low heat, stirring occasionally (and not allowing it to burn). The lard should only be fried, there is no need to bring it to the state of cracklings, the fat will be in the kulesh and should be found in it with pleasant tasty pieces.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients: cut the onion into small cubes, add to the bacon and fry until the onion is transparent. Add bay leaves and pepper. Pour hot water(2 l), when it boils, add millet (pre-rinse it in cool water). Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes (during this time, prepare the potatoes).
  • Add potatoes and cook until tender: Peel potatoes and cut into small cubes. Add to kulesh. Stir, cook on until the millet is boiled down. Sometimes check if the millet sticks to the pan, stir. If your kulesh is very thick, you can add 0.5 cups of boiling water.
  • Salt and let stand: Salt the finished kulesh to taste and cook for another 2-3 minutes (so that the salt is absorbed). Cover and let it brew for 10 minutes.

Kulesh in a pot - hearty and tasty food army from the field kitchen!

Kulesh ingredients
Fry bacon
Cut the onion

Add bay leaf and pepper to the fried onions with lard
Pour in water, bring to a boil, then add millet
Dice the potatoes

Kulesh is a very tasty soup, millet porridge with onions and potatoes, in our case, with the addition of lard. So they prepared for our grandfathers in the war at the front. And in the rear they cooked kulesh for vegetable oil... The fighters had to eat well in order to defeat and protect those in the rear!

Military kolesh with bacon in a bowler hat

Information found on the Internet: Historical background: Kulesh is not a Russian cuisine dish, but is found most often in the southern Russian regions, on the border of Russia and Ukraine. There is one fairly accurate linguistic-phonetic way of establishing the distribution area of ​​kulesh as a dish. It is prepared and eaten mainly by the population that speaks the inversion, i.e. in a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian. The word "kulesh" itself is of Hungarian origin. Koeles in Hungarian - millet, millet. For the first time this dish was recorded in the Russian language (and everyday life) in 1629, which convincingly suggests that it was brought to Russia either by the Polish interventionists of the Time of Troubles, or by Little Russian peasants who came from Ukraine and South Russia with the insurgent detachments of Ivan Bolotnikov ... Kulesh as a dish was a gruel, and porridge, gruel, as simple, primitive and quick-cooking dishes, always and in all countries constituted the main diet of the armies. After all, they could be cooked in cauldrons, on fires, in the field - and it was this technology that doomed kulesh to become a traditional army, soldier's, unpresentable and cheap dish, or, in other words, a dish of war and mass popular movements.

Porridge as a dish is primitive. This means that there is a huge risk of getting a monotonous, insipid, viscous, tasteless and poorly nutritious dish, which, being put on the content of the troops, can cause a quick addiction. And as a consequence - a decrease in the combat effectiveness of the troops and their indignation.

A way out of this contradiction was found purely culinary: the grain base, while remaining 90 - 95% unchanged, should be enriched with such components that can deceive human senses and thereby make the dish-porridge not only acceptable, but also tasty, and possibly even desired. It all depends not only on the individual art of the cook, but also on his culinary talent and intuition. How is the "gustatory mirage" of cereals, including kulesha, achieved?

The first condition is to add a strong spice-flavoring component. In practice, this means that it is necessary to include in the dish, first of all, onions, and as much as possible, at least to the limit of economic profitability.

The second condition: to the onion, if possible and due to the talent of this or that cook, you can add those spicy-flavoring herbs that can be found at hand and which will complement, set off the onion, and not come into conflict with it. These are parsley, angelica (angelica), lovage, hyssop, leek, flask, wild garlic. The choice, as we can see, is wide enough.

The third condition: to reduce unpleasant stickiness, viscosity and increase nutritional value porridge, fats must be added to it. As you know, you can't spoil porridge with butter. But it is usually not butter that is added to the kulesh, but lard - in any form: ghee, interior, salted, smoked, deep-fat. Usually, greaves are made from salted bacon and they are brought into an almost finished kulesh along with the melted, liquid part of the bacon, always very hot.

Fourth, you can add a small amount of finely chopped fried meat or minced meat either from fresh meat, or corned beef. These additives can be scanty in weight, almost invisible to the eye, but they usually have a strong effect on changing and enriching the taste of kulesh.

Fifth, in order to diversify the taste of the kulesh, it is recommended to add either finely diced potatoes to the millet during cooking, or immediately - mashed potatoes cooked separately.

Sixth, it's a good idea to add pea flour or boiled, grated peas.

If all these various additives do not exceed 10 - 15% of the total mass of kulesha, are performed in moderation, with good culinary tact, then kulesh can really be turned into a very attractive and original in taste dish, especially if you cook it occasionally and to the place, in accordance with the season, weather and the mood of the eaters.

As for the time of year, kulesh is good in winter, early spring, and especially in damp, chilly autumn. As for the time of day, it is best suited for breakfast, before a long journey or hard work.

It's a bit hard to eat kulesh at night.

Millet (millet) - is considered a grain of little value, and therefore millet (millet) cereals require extreme attention when preparing them for cooking, cooking, and especially when seasoning.

During all these three main operations, thoroughness, attentiveness and significant labor costs are required; sloppiness and laziness are CATEGORALLY contraindicated.

Eat kulesh with gray bread, i.e. from bran or from wheat flour the coarsest grind.

If there is no fat, then as a last resort you can use sunflower oil, but only after thoroughly overheating and frying in it at least a small amount (50 - 100 gr.) of some fatty pork sausage... In this case, the kulesh will receive both the necessary impregnation with fat and the smell. lard so characteristic and necessary for the real taste of this dish.

If all these conditions are met carefully, then the kulesh should come out very tasty.

I got this bowler hat from my grandfather, who fought at the front. I cherish it as an eternal memory of it!

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Natalia Murashova 5.02.2015

Natalia Murashova 5.02.2015

Would you like to try what you ate during the Soviet, Tsarist and Russian eras, taste the front-line kulesh? Then you are welcome here!

Army cuisine.

The history of classic camping food is rooted in the distant past, when the great commander Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov fought. It was he who, on one of the days of the Alpine transition, when food supplies were running low, and offered to cook porridge for the soldiers from everything that is. Not only the remains of bacon and meat were used, but also peas, barley, millet and buckwheat. The soldiers were fed, and this is the main guarantee of success in battle and future victory. Until now, no one can accurately describe correct recipe that camping porridge. But always the most important criterion for a dish is its satiety, so the obligatory ingredients are cereals and meat. By the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the number of armies began to increase sharply. Military campaigns have become longer. The fighting began to be conducted even in winter, which was previously simply unthinkable. In such conditions, it became more and more difficult for the soldiers to organize themselves adequate food. Making many kilometers of marches, constantly in motion, the Suvorov miracle heroes often boiled water in the morning and ate rusks soaked in boiling water. Such a fast soldier's breakfast could be a way out, but not the norm. Unfortunately, the field kitchen in Russian army, however, like in the armies of other states, it appeared only at the beginning of the 20th century. The kitchen was recognized as the best, the author of which was Lieutenant Colonel Anton Fedorovich Turchanovich. In the army, his cuisine immediately received the highest praise. The kitchen was light and simple in design. It took only 4 hours to feed a company of soldiers (250 people) with a full meal (borsch, porridge and tea). It was possible to cook food in it even on the go! The first course pot with a capacity of 190 liters boiled in 40 minutes. The Russian invention was immediately noticed by foreign military attaches, who hastened to inform the governments of their countries that a curiosity had appeared in the Russian army: a military field marching "kitchen-samovar". (And what can these Russians not come up with!) And soon all the European armies acquired field kitchens, created according to the Russian model.


Soviet cuisine.


Soviet cuisinethe era of total scarcity was based on the fact that it was constantly necessary to "get" something. Despite this, Soviet women managed to fantasize and invent real culinary masterpieces from what they could "get".From small sets of products, the hostesses prepared such a variety of dishes, the recipes of which are still very popular and sometimes cause nostalgia.On weekdays, in addition to the shortage of food, there was also a shortage of time, so they cooked more simple dishes: boiled and fried potatoes, dumplings, navy-style pasta, porridge with cutlets. On weekends, the menu was distinguished by more varied dishes: they cooked pilaf, fried fish in sauce, made homemade dumplings and dumplings. The chicken was the real queen of the table, if only by standing in line it was possible to become the owner of the "blue bird". But then it was possible to derive a double benefit from it: boil the broth (the basis for the first course "), and then from boiled meat it was possible to prepare the second course.Since autumn they have been doing various blanks: salted cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes, cooked jam, jam, compotes. Well, on holidays, despite the notorious shortage, the tables were full of food. Each hostess strove to boast of her various specialties, but in almost every house one could find standard salads “Olivier”, “mimosa”, “herring under a fur coat”, jellied meat, chicken tobacco. A special place inSoviet cuisineoccupied a variety of pastries: pies, pies, rolls, pastries, cookies and a magic dessert - the Napoleon cake.And, of course, in Soviet times, the kitchen absorbed a lot culinary traditions of the fraternal peoples of the USSR. So firmly entered the already internationalSoviet cuisineUkrainian borscht, Belarusian pancakes, Moldavian cabbage rolls, Uzbek pilaf, Georgian soup kharcho.The majority of egg, dairy-flour and dairy-vegetable dishes, the so-called "dietary" dishes, which from the 20-30s meant all steam, uncooked, mashed and boiled dishes from meat, fish and vegetables, came to the public catering of the country from the German (Baltic, Ostsee) and especially from Jewish cuisine(however, these dishes did not always correspond natural recipes since not all ingredients national cuisines could be found in stores), which was associated with the widespread penetration of Jews to the east. And although the assortment of products that Soviet housewives could operate on was far different from what modern housewives may not “get” today, but simply buy in any store, their quality was undoubtedly better.


Russian and royal cuisine.

From time immemorialRussian kitchenfamous for a variety of soups, cereals and pies. Traditional dish were considered stews, thick vegetable soups, pies, kvass, pancakes, loaves, Easter cakes, fish soup and cereal porridge... Everything was prepared simply, in an ordinary Russian oven. So the dishes came out stewed or baked. They did not differ in special delicacies. The main thing is a lot and satisfying. The peasants steamed or stewed vegetables, mainly turnips and radishes. They cooked the well-known cabbage soup. The meat was cooked big chunk, right in soups. Not served separately. Soups were poured into bowls or cups, the meat was divided among all family members.Pies have always been baked with berries, mushrooms or cereals. The peasants prepared fish dishes entirely. Peasant cuisine differs from the royal one in that the products were not cut or fried. Everything was prepared simply and with one heat treatment option. It was boiled, baked, stewed or languished in a hot oven.


Tsarist chefs had more variety of products for cooking and various culinary experiments. Thanks to them, various sauces, gravies, dressings, cutlets, escalopes, chops, steaks, jellies, desserts, creams, cakes and many salads that have come down to us appeared. In those days, the tsar's kitchens did not think about what to cook or from what. Then they cooked a lot of meat or fish, baked biscuits and puff pies, cooked clear soups and broths.All kinds of meat and game dishes were prepared in the royal kitchens right on the spit. Special people were assigned to the cook or cook to help with spits and stoves. Whole carcasses were roasted suckling pigs, chickens, ducks, geese. The carcasses were stuffed with sour fillings from winter apples, sauerkraut, rhubarb or salted mushrooms. Sour foods were mixed with porridge, forest dried mushrooms and whole onions... Sour fillings loosened tough meat, giving it a more delicate and spicy taste. Dried herbs were used as spices and seasonings, which were collected and dried in advance. Everyone now famous oregano grew just in any meadow. It was called in Russia oregano or common oregano. It was added in dried form to meat and fish dishes. In winter, delicious fragrant tea was brewed from oregano and mint. Served with thick berry preserves and lump sugar.And the fish was often served whole cooked. Already on the tables, they were cut into pieces, sometimes on fillets. Fried, baked, stewed in sauces and dressings. They baked fish wrapped in fresh fragrant herbs or rhubarb. For big celebrations, fish rolls were prepared, stuffed with different types of fish, vegetables, cereals and even meat. Both fish jellies and jellies were popular. Huge sturgeons were carried out on trays by several people. All the same cereals and vegetables were served as side dishes. The same simple ones as those of the peasants.Potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini appeared much later. But they have firmly entered that cuisine and have become an integral part of our modern dishes. From vegetables, saltwort, cutlets, pancakes were served as side dishes. The old royal cuisine before Peter the Great was almost exotic when compared with the modern one. Baked swans with rhubarb, pheasants with mushrooms, cranes with cabbage, salmon with saffron, hares with garlic, marinated pike with apples, hazel grouses with plums and many other things now unknown to us, were served on tsarist tables at great feasts and festivals.The kings and broths with noodles loved to eat. Russian pasta came to us from the distant times of Peter the Great. The acquaintance of Russian people with overseas food was also facilitated by Peter I, who recruited foreign craftsmen for the production of ships. Among them were Italians, with their love for pasta... There is a story about an Italian shipbuilder who took pasta with him, treating the Russians later. The people liked the dish, and pasta began to spread throughout Russia. Soon, they began to eat noodles even at balls. It was served in broth with meat or fish. Sometimes vegetables, pickled garlic or onions were added to it.


I propose to cook dishes of Russian and army cuisine "Beef in a pot with potatoes and mushrooms" and "Front kolesh".

"Beef in a pot with potatoes and mushrooms"

    Mushrooms - 300 g

    Beef - 500 g

    Potatoes - 500 g

    Bulb onions - 2 pcs.

    Carrots - 2 pcs.

    Broth or water - 1 l

    Butter - 4 tbsp. spoons

    Bay leaf

    Black peppercorns

    Salt

Wash the beef, remove the tendons and film and cut into small pieces. Peel and dice the potatoes, peel and dice the carrots. Put onion, carrots, beef meat, chopped mushrooms and potatoes in prepared pots. In each pot, put a small leaf or half of a bay leaf, 2-3 peppercorns, salt, pour in broth or water, about half, and put butter on top. Cover the pots with a lid or foil and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Cook for 1 hour. Serve the beef hot, straight out of the pot. It goes very well with this dish sauerkraut or pickles.

"Frontline Kulesh"


We take a pound of brisket on the bones (can be replaced with stew). Cut off the meat and cook the bones for about 15 minutes in boiling water (1.5-2 liters). Add 250-300 grams of millet, cut 3-4 peeled potatoes into large cubes and send them there. Fry the meat cut from the bones with onions (2-3 onions) in a pan and add to the pan. Cook the dish until cooked for about 10 minutes. It turns out delicious and hearty dish(either thin porridge, or thick soup).

To all Bon Appetit and good mood!


Army Kulesh. For the Day of the Great Victory.

The recipe is very simple ... very fatty and plump and tasty ...
In fact, there are a great many Kuleshi and everyone has the right to their little life ...
I will try to reproduce what we hungry border guards cooked in any case and the availability of suitable products ...
Sometimes we go down from the mountain outpost .. to eat the hunt already turns the stomach inside out ...
And there was a pigsty in the school ..
The chureks will boggle the pig in exchange for alcohol, camel meat, ram or porcupine, we grab it, a little potatoes and onions with carrots and go to the mountains again ..
Let's take a blowtorch, a tripod with a welded-in KAMAZ exhaust manifold and let's cook….
It is interesting to remember everything after 25 years ...

So let's take for our kulesh:

Piece of fat pork belly with lard ... onions, garlic, potatoes, millet, bay leaves, peppercorns, root celery, carrots, herbs and canned carcasses .. (in the border common people, a jar)

Let's separate the bones with meat from lard ...

Small digression:
If you want your damascus not to rust and to always be in great shape, after cutting and washing, wipe it with a piece of bacon ... and let it dry.

Cut the freshest bacon into slices about a centimeter into two ..
Large ... because when frying bacon it will fry twice or even three times ...

And practically also celery root ...

Into slightly salted boiling water, throw the brisket bones and chopped celery ...

And after 10 minutes, coarsely chopped carrots ...

Cut the potatoes into large cubes too ...

With the back of the knife, crush a few cloves of garlic ...

And let's put everything together with potatoes, lavrushka, pepper into our brew ...

After all this, pour the washed millet about 200 grams.

And while the whole thing is languishing over low heat, put bacon in a frying pan ... adding salt and ground pepper ...

When the bacon gives juice and a little browning .. add finely chopped onions ...

We simmer for 10 minutes until bacon cracklings and golden onions are formed ...

And at the end of all, we pour the fried greaves of bacon and onions into the kulesh ...
And we mix it very terribly ...

We put the kulesh in an army bowl, next to the false brisket and pour the greens with difficulty ...

Enlarged photo for drunk and blind comrades ...

And in the end, brothers….
Pour in a full faceted votka, take pickle and let's drink to those who fought, died, worked and survived this damned war ...