Kremlin kitchen's culinary delights

The banquet is a showcase for the chefs' skills

By the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow

Think of Russian food and what comes to mind: beetroot soup, perhaps? Cabbage pies?

Well, that is the image I had - until I visited the Kremlin kitchen.

The occasion is a dress rehearsal for President Vladimir Putin's New Year banquet.

It is also a chance for 100 Kremlin cooks to show off their talents.

In the old days there used to be a KGB officer on every corner, always watching, nowadays things are much more relaxed

Chef Viktor Zernov

Some of the food here is so ornate, it looks as if it came straight out of the Hermitage Museum, instead of the oven.

A waiter marches in with exhibit number one - a stuffed piglet on a silver tray.

It is decorated attractively with fluffy pink mousse around the nose, and bright red cherries dangling down from its ears.

And it is followed by sturgeon with olives, roast goose and a string of mouth-watering salads and sauces.

Unique dishes

It is not just quality which counts here - but quantity, too.

No two dishes are the same for the feast

"For the banquet we use 500 kilograms of meat, 500 kilograms of fish and 5,000 eggs," Kremlin spokesman Viktor Khrekov told me.

A lot of food for a lot of guests - 1,000 of Russia's top politicians, scientists, film stars and religious leaders.

The banquet menu was approved two months ago by a committee of 20 Kremlin cooks.

Each dish is unique - to make sure that none of them are repeated on next year's menu, they are all photographed.

As for the ingredients, they are tested in a Kremlin laboratory to make sure they are safe to eat.

Team effort

Preparing the banquet is a team effort.

A pumpkin is transformed

In one corner of the kitchen Tatyana Pankratova is busy peeling cucumbers and radishes and transforming them into 'roses' and 'tulips'.

Meanwhile the Kremlin's Chief Chef is Mikhail Zhukov.

After three years in America, Mr Zhukov is trying to spice up Kremlin cuisine with a string of mouth-watering dishes.

He shows me one of them: turkey breast and prunes wrapped in bacon.

"I call it Mona Lisa" he tells me proudly.

Cream of society

The Kremlin New Year banquet has always been the biggest party of the political calendar.

For Russia's stern-faced leaders it is a rare opportunity to let their hair down in public.

For the guests - the cream of Russian society - it is a chance to develop some useful connections.

Chef Viktor Zernov has seen more Kremlin banquets than most people have had hot dinners - he has worked here for 36 years.

Mr Zernov told me there was one big difference between banquets past and present.

"In the old days there used to be a KGB officer on every corner, always watching," he recalls.

"Nowadays things are much more relaxed."

However, I could not leave the Kremlin kitchen without asking one final question: what was Vladimir Putin's favourite dish?

The Chief Chef smiled politely, then looked down and started fidgeting - he did not answer.

This was clearly one piece of information not intended for public consumption.

But then, I suppose, every chef is entitled to have a few secrets.