Field kitchen KP-125. Field Cooking Recipes

What is the field kitchen, best know the professional military and those who honestly "truncated" the emergency service. However, people who are far from the army, imagine it well - at least for the films about the Great Patriotic War. And even in peacetime, outside the army framework, the field kitchen continues to benefit: it is used in "wild" (scout, forestry - call it anything) children's camps, in hiking, geological and archeological expeditions and mass events. At the same time such a useful invention appeared not so long ago.

As soldiers used to eat

Even in the XVIII century, serving people fed on their own. That is, the state did not bother with the problem of the army's food supply. Soldiers had to buy food for their money from residents at the place of service. The situation changed only during the reign of Peter I, who for five years managed to establish the supply of food to his army, calculating the necessary standards of subsistence for the soldier. The most interesting thing is that the servicemen were still obliged to pay for food, but they delivered it directly to the unit, and they were given enough money (even with an excess of money) to pay out for their salaries. Moreover, suppliers were forbidden to "pick up" prices; They were strictly controlled, a ceiling was installed, above which it was forbidden to take.

The military field kitchen of that time represented boilers transported by a train. They were delivered to the place of deployment first of all, and to the approach of the troops, lunch (or dinner) was already waiting for the travelers. However, there was no possibility to cook or store food in advance - the cauldrons were made of copper, and the food in them quickly disappeared.

The prototype of modern field kitchens

A kind of revolution in soldiers' nutrition was made by Colonel Turchanovich during the Russo-Japanese War. The first army field kitchen of his authorship was called in those days a universal portable hearth and really made life easier for employees. Four hours - and a quarter of a thousand people are provided with a three-course dinner (if tea is considered a separate meal). To the First World War, almost all European armies acquired such a useful invention. The field kitchen of Turchanovic's idea consisted of two boilers fixed on a wagon, equipped with an opportunity to pass back, and a separately moved box carrying accompanying kitchen utensils and food. The furnace of the boilers was autonomous; One intended for the preparation of the first, the second - porridges and the like, in addition, it was supplied with a special coating ("oil jacket"), through which the second dishes never burned.

The most demanded field kitchen

Undoubtedly, time and subsequent craftsmen made their corrections to the original design. One of the most popular at this stage is the field kitchen KP 125. In it you can not only cook, as in the invention of Turchanovich, but also transport the ready food - the boilers are made of stainless steel, and there are already three of them. The volume is enough to feed more than a hundred people (however, this is indicated by the figures in the title: the field kitchen KP 125 - it means that there will be enough food for so many). It is convenient in transportation, because it clings in the form of a trailer to any sufficiently powerful transport.

If you want more

Worthy alternative to this device may be a field kitchen 130. Although it does not exceed the previous one by the number of "fed", but there are already 4 boilers. Of these, 2 - for the first, and one - for boiling water used for making tea, coffee and compotes (well And for domestic needs too). At the same time, it also includes an oven, and it can work on wood, diesel fuel, kerosene, gas, coal. When choosing fuel (if it is possible to choose), it is better to give preference to liquid variants - the cooking process is significantly accelerated.

Technical additions

Note that the field kitchen KP 125 can perfectly match the field cooker, which greatly expands the range of its use and a list of available for cooking. Moreover, the plate is relatively light and can be delivered to the right place even with a passenger car (some extremals used small cars too). At the same time, the number of those fed can well reach almost two hundred.

The most popular recipes: the first

Nevertheless, the main advantages that any field kitchen has is its mobility and ease of use. So, for feeding some sort of rags on the table, which are difficult to prepare and require special cooking modes, it is not intended. However, with certain skills, delicious dishes can be offered and field cuisine. Its recipes are simple, but the dishes are very satisfying, and those who passed the "term" often recall it with tenderness and nostalgia. Take, for example, a hodgepodge with cabbage. The sauerkraut and sliced potatoes are put in the cauldron (evenly). Water should only cover vegetables. They are extinguished - the time depends on the volume of the boiler, but the readiness to determine is not difficult. Shortly before the end, the onion (if there is any carrot), bay leaf and pepper (again if there is) is added to the vegetable oil, and after five minutes the boiler is switched off from the power supply and covered with a lid. The dish is left in it for half an hour for longing.

Not bad and a pea soup, which can provide a field kitchen. Only peas must be previously soaked for the night. Want to be more potent - soak with them together and pearl barley. The next morning all this is brewed, at the end of cooking potatoes, onions and carrots are showered. The latter would be good to fry (most delicious - on fat), but you can put them and raw. And just before the removal put tushenka. Simple, fast, satisfying and very edible.

The second on the front line is delicious!

Kulesh like the one that was made at the front, still loves to cook and fishermen, and hunters, and geologists - all who feed, albeit infrequently, in marching conditions. For aesthetic, there will be a brisket in the base, but in the original there must be stew. If a brisket is chosen, then the bones are cut off from it and a quarter of an hour they are cooked in water (half a kilogram of meat - a couple of liters of liquid). At the same amount of bacon will go 300 g of millet, which is cooked until ready, after which the fried meat with onion is added to the kettle, and the cook is cooked for another ten minutes. This dish sometimes causes theoretical disputes: someone is considered his thick soup, someone - a liquid porridge. But both sides like it.

Very distinctive and to taste, and by the way of eating so-called makalovka. For her, the stew is first frozen, finely chopped, and then added to toasted carrots and onions. A few minutes it must be extinguished, after which the bread dips into the gravy, and the thick is superimposed on it from above.

Even the usual buckwheat porridge can be turned into an unusual dish, even if it consists of very primitive ingredients. For 300 g of buckwheat you must take a jar of stew, several bulbs and - ideally - a piece of fat. The chopped onion is fried on the fat, then it is mixed with the croup and stew. All this mixture is poured in water and cooked. Believe me, even people who are indifferent to porridge, eat this with pleasure!

Fish variant

Another dish, preserved in memory since the war. True, he needs a vobla, and preferably of the same quality as she was in those difficult years (that is, very dry and wildly salty). But, in principle, you can take any dried fish. It is put in a cauldron with boiling water, which is covered with a lid until it cools down completely. If you use a field kitchen 130, it is better to use a bowl intended for the first dishes, otherwise boiling water will then smell of fish for a couple of days. And in the place where they usually do the second, they cook potatoes. As a result, the soft, juicy and unusual roach and favorite roots are combined. Tasty, cheap and unusual.

You can "bake" the bread

Of course, it will not be a full-fledged bakery bakery, but it looks like bread, but without it, people feel fed up not completely. During the war, this dish was called "Rzhevsky bread". For him, potatoes are cooked, which turns on a meat grinder. On a baking tray or a frying pan, bran is poured, the potato mass is laid out on top. When it cools down, all the same bran is added to it, the mass is ground, the dough is kneaded and baked in the oven (if you have the field kitchen 130), or in a frying pan under the lid.

Ordinary citizens, if they are not fans of hikers and are not "field" workers, are unlikely to encounter military food in their daily lives. Yet this useful invention is necessary only in marching conditions. Although recently the field kitchen in St. Petersburg, for example, is becoming increasingly popular: it is actively used in organizing suburban and summer holidays and corporate parties. So in peacetime, and for not very special hikers, the "portable hearth" is not useless at all!