"My project is made in the format of a set of recipe cards, popular in the Soviet Union, it contains real and common recipes taken from Soviet cookbooks. The recipes were selected by me according to the (subjective) principle of impressive inedibility, evident from the very beginning.

With this project, I want to draw attention to the disadvantages of the Soviet culinary tradition (mainly manifested in the field of public catering), which is still very relevant in the post-Soviet states, and I propose to rethink it, focusing on modern values and opportunities.

Perhaps one bowl of tasteless soup does not seem to be a problem worthy of attention (although personally to me it does), but being repeated daily in many places at the same time, it becomes tangible. Actually, my idea is that if you cook food deliciously, then you don't have to throw it away. "

Dishes featured in the picture:

1. Milk noodle soup ︎︎︎

Ingredients: 40g of noodles, 1 1/2 cups of milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of butter, salt to taste.

Sort noodles, put in boiling water, cook for 5-8 minutes, then strain in a colander, put into boiling milk and cook until fully done. In the end, add salt, sugar and butter.

L. Lemkul "Festive table", Moscow, Food industry, 1974.

2. Red sauce (main) ︎︎︎

Ingredients: 300 g of bones, 50 g of onions, 50 g of carrots, 30 g of parsley root, 9 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of wheat flour, 1 tablespoon of fat, 30 g of tomato puree, 10 g of butter, salt, sugar and pepper to taste.

Make brown broth. To do this, chop the bones, rinse them, put them on a baking sheet, add minced carrots, onions, parsley root and bake in the oven until light brown. After that, drain the fat, and pour the bones over with hot water and cook over very low heat for 6-8 hours. Strain the cooked broth. Toast wheat flour without fat until golden brown, then cool. Mix the fifth part of the cooked broth with toasted flour, stir thoroughly with a whisk until a the texture is smooth.

Add browned tomato puree, carrots, parsley, onions to the rest of the broth, heat to a boil, pour in the broth with flour and, stirring continuously, simmer the sauce at a very low boil for about an hour. At the end of cooking, add salt, sugar, ground pepper. Strain the sauce, mashing the vegetables, warm it up and stir well.
Served with chopped meat.

J. Matteau "I can cook", Translated from French by N.S. Egoshkina
Moscow, Agropromizdat, 1985

3. Chantilly sauce ︎︎︎

Ingredients: 800 g of mayonnaise, 200 g of condensed milk.

Add a little lemon juice to mayonnaise and mix with condensed milk. This sauce is recommended to be served with cold vegetables (asparagus, cauliflower, assorted vegetables).

R. Henning "Gourmet salads and savory spices.", Moscow, Light and food industry, 1981

4. Fruit salad with mayonnaise and red wine ︎︎︎

Ingredients: 250 g of orange segments, 250 g of bananas, 300 g of dried figs, 200 g of mayonnaise with red wine.

Deseed orange segments and cut in half. Cut bananas into slices. Soak figs and cut into slices, too. Mix all products, seasoning with mayonnaise.

R. Henning "Gourmet salads and savory spices." Moscow, Light and food industry, 1981

5. Chocolate cocktail with sparkling water ︎︎︎

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of cocoa, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of water, 2 tablespoons of sour cream, 1 cup of sparkling water, 1 glass of cognac.

Cook chocolate syrup with cocoa, sugar and water. As soon as it boils, remove from heat, cool, mix with sour cream, 50 ml of cognac and 1 cup of sparkling water. Whisk well in a mixer and pour into a glass. Makes 1 serving.

L. Lemkul "Festive table", Moscow, Food industry, 1974

About the artist:

Alexandra Garkusha was born in 1994 in Simferopol (Ukraine) and now lives and works in St. Petersburg, Russia. She studied at the St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU) with a degree in film and TV production design.

She is a multimedia artist and illustrator, engaged in video, photography, figurative modern painting and graphics. She now mainly works with still-life in genre of naive graphics.

See all 'Impossible Dishes " here