Why is “Bird's Milk” called that? History of bird's milk cake Bird's milk origin
![Why is “Bird's Milk” called that? History of bird's milk cake Bird's milk origin](https://i2.wp.com/1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZF7er_4qDAc/VD_7p4_OWqI/AAAAAAAAhzY/7cCpZHFMMZo/s1600/Ptasie-Mleczko-waniliowe-z-dodatkiem-imbiru-z-Nigerii-70063-big.jpg)
If you come from the USSR, you remember the incomparable taste of “bird's milk” in the form of sweets or cake. The airy white mass melts in the mouth, the chocolate adds additional sweetness with a slight bitterness. It was magical. You are lucky if you find the same product, made according to a complex recipe in compliance with all GOST standards. So where did this name come from, because it is known that birds do not have milk. To answer this question, we need to delve into the history of the product.
For the first time, sweets with such a filling appeared in Poland in 1936, and they were produced at the E. Wedel factory. They were made using almost the same recipe as marshmallows, only without eggs. In 1960, similar candies began to be produced in domestic factories. They created a sensation, the delicacy turned out to be so unusual.
In 1978, the next significant tasty event took place - the confectioners of the Moscow restaurant “Prague”, headed by Vladimir Guralnik, created the Bird’s Milk cake using a similar recipe. Of course, it was different from the candies of the same name, but it was just as good. It took more than 6 months to create the cake. We experimented with ingredients, volumes and temperatures. For example, gelatin was lured onto agar-agar, a jelly-like product derived from red and brown algae. It is this exotic substance that makes the cake so fluffy and airy. By the way, the “Bird's Milk” cake is the only one for which, during the existence of the USSR, a patent was issued.
The name “Bird's Milk” was invented in Poland, where the philosophers of Ancient Greece were revered, in particular Aristophanes and his comedy “The Birds,” which promised happiness in the form of milk “not from heifers, but from birds.”
There are also ancient legends where birds of paradise fed their chicks with milk, and if a person is lucky enough to try this milk, he will become invulnerable to any weapon and illness. Perhaps it was this legend that formed the basis of the Russian proverb, which says: “The rich have everything, except bird’s milk.”
And in European fairy tales, evil beauties sent their potential suitors for this very bird's milk. Naturally, the poor fellows had no chance of finding this treasure, and they died in deserts or impenetrable forests.
Citizens of the Soviet Union had their own explanation; they believed that the cake or candy was called “bird's milk” for its delicate taste, price and scarcity, because milk from birds is very rare.
Most people love sweets, and sometimes cannot resist eating one or another candy, cake or piece of cake. And such a delicacy as bird's milk is for some of us a real delicacy, a favorite dish among all sweets. But have you ever wondered why bird's milk is called that? Let's look into this issue.
Start of production of Bird's Milk cakes and sweets
Few people know, but Bird's Milk cakes and sweets have been produced for more than 80 years, and the recipe for this delicacy was first developed in Poland. Polish confectioners gave their new culinary masterpiece the name “Ptasie Mleczko”, which literally translates into Russian as “Bird's milk”. After some time, the recipe moved to the territory of the USSR, where the delicacy very quickly became a favorite for thousands of people and was produced in very impressive quantities.
Over time, such sweets became known to almost everyone, but we’ll look into why sweets and cakes are called “Bird’s Milk” below.
Origin of the name "Bird's milk"
It must be emphasized that the name “Bird's Milk” is not just a name for the famous sweets and cakes. This is an idiom, or a phraseological unit, that is, a concept that is in no way connected with its name, but carries a semantic load that is accessible to certain nations or people in general.
Bird's milk has long been called something unknown, precious, incredible. Bird's milk, as such, does not exist, which is why something incredible and unthinkable, precious began to be called such phraseology.
This is the name that Polish confectioners were guided by when they created a completely new recipe for a uniquely delicious dessert. Apparently, they already understood that this recipe would soon spread not only throughout the Union, but throughout the world. This is what happened, and today the name of candies and cakes “Bird's Milk” is better known than the once popular phraseology of the same name.
Interesting facts about the trademark "Bird's Milk"
In addition to the origin of the name of bird's milk candies, another very interesting fact is associated with this delicacy. It concerns the modern production of both sweets and cakes. Today, “Bird's Milk” is a trademark, which means that only those companies that are part of the United Confectioners holding can produce and sell it under the original name. Other enterprises can also produce sweets using open technology, but they do not have the legal right to give such a name to their products.
Surely, each of you at least once in your life has tried such a wonderful delicacy as candy or Bird's Milk cake. If you tried it in early childhood, then over time you might be surprised to discover that birds do not give milk; this is the lot of cows, goats and similar animals, but not birds. What’s the matter, why exactly “bird’s milk”, what is the history of the origin of such a name?
The expression “bird's milk” has been known since antiquity. In Aristophanes' comedy "The Birds" the milk of birds is mentioned as the food of the gods, bestowing strength and health. There are also mentions by other ancient authors, such as Strabo, Lucian and others. Bird's milk already in ancient times became a figure of speech and denoted a rare, valuable thing. Ideas about bird's milk did not disappear in the Middle Ages. In European fairy tales, capricious beauties sent their admirers for bird's milk, which they, of course, could not find, and, accordingly, died somewhere along the way, getting lost. In the legends of other peoples, bird's milk gave the hero invulnerability from weapons and diseases. And among the Russian people there has long been a proverb: “The rich have everything, except bird’s milk.” It was believed that since “bird’s milk” is an incredibly rare thing, then only wealthy people could possess it (and even then, it’s unlikely), and about people of untold luxury they said that they also had “bird’s milk”.
For the first time, filled candies, reminiscent of modern “Bird's milk,” appeared in 1936 at the Polish factory E. Wedel. The name “Bird's Milk” itself was invented by the Poles - that’s why “Bird’s Milk” is called that. Apparently, implying the sophistication and luxury of their sweets. In the USSR, similar candies began to be produced in the late 60s.
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In 1978, the confectioner of the Moscow restaurant “Prague” Vladimir Mikhailovich Guralnik and his colleagues created a cake similar in composition to bird’s milk candies.
![](https://i0.wp.com/daju-spravku.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/tort-ptichje-mololko.jpg)
The recipe for the cake was selected over the course of six months, when we tried to use various ingredients and selected the cooking temperature. In 1982, a patent was issued for the Bird's Milk cake and it was the only cake in the USSR with a patent.
![](https://i2.wp.com/daju-spravku.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/guralnik.jpg)
As it turned out, bird milk does exist, however, not in all birds. For example, pigeons, penguins (emperor), flamingos, goldfinches, and crossbills feed their chicks with milk for a short time. In pigeons, for example, it is secreted in the crop. The milk of the above birds resembles liquid cottage cheese.
From the history of the BIRD'S MILK cake
“BIRD'S MILK” is the first cake for which a patent was issued during the existence of the USSR.
The authors of the recipe, created in the early 1960s, are a group of confectioners consisting of the head of the confectionery department of the Moscow restaurant "Prague" Vladimir GURALNIK, Margarita GOLOVOY and Nikolai PANFILOV.
“At first we made 30 pieces a day, then 60, then 600,” recalls Vladimir Guralnik.
This was sorely lacking for Muscovites and guests of the capital: in the 80s there were such queues for cake that they had to be turned around so that people would not block traffic between Kalinin Avenue (now Novy Arbat) and Arbat. Buyers stood for hours to make an appointment; The smaller queue consisted of holders of coupons, which the restaurant sold to the “selected” for 3 rubles. (the “Bird’s Milk” cake itself cost 6 rubles 16 kopecks at that time).
Guralnik recalls with a laugh how, at the exit from the Arbatskaya metro station, he was offered to buy a coupon for his own product.
The first experimental industrial batches of “bird milk” were produced starting in 1968 at the Rot-Front factory. But due to the complex technology, the batches were small, and the recipe documentation was not approved by the USSR Ministry of Food Industry.
The application for the invention was filed in September 1980, and in 1982 the developers of the formulation were issued an inventor's certificate No. 925285, where the production method was registered.
“Bird's Milk” has a special technology. A layer of dough is placed down, but not biscuit or shortbread. It tastes like a cupcake. Then comes a layer of soufflé - it is made not with gelatin, but with agar-agar - this is a jelly that is extracted from seaweed. By the way, it is also used for finishing fabrics. It took the authors more than six months to find this most cunning ingredient in Bird's Milk. But it is precisely this “exotic” additive (in those Soviet times, much was exotic and in short supply in the USSR) that makes the cake so tender and melting in the mouth. Agar-agar does not coagulate at a temperature of 117 degrees, ideal for preparing delicate “Bird's milk”. From above, this entire creation is doused with chocolate and decorated with cream.
Bird's Milk cakes produced in different places have different designs:
With their joint development, Vladimir GURALNIK, Margarita GOLOVA and Nikolai PANFILOV entered the history of confectionery art: after looking at the new “Bird's Milk” candies from the “Red October” factory, they created the “Bird's Milk” cake, which is somewhat different in taste.
In the famous filling, instead of traditional gelatin, agar-agar extracted from special algae was used.
In 2006, Vladimir Guralnik became a nominee for the “Public Recognition 2006” award and received the award in the “person-legend” category.
In addition to creating the legendary “bird,” over 50 years of work, he developed and introduced into production 35 branded confectionery products.
Many of them are now produced in all confectionery shops in Moscow.
Today he passes on his knowledge and rich work experience to young people. They have already trained 85 confectioners.
His “Prague” cake, based on the famous Viennese “Saher” cake, was accepted into mass production and included in the “Collection of confectionery recipes for public catering establishments.”
About bird's milk
Bird's milk is mentioned in myths and tales of many peoples of the world.
There was a popular belief that birds of paradise fed their chicks with bird's milk. If a person tried it, he immediately became invulnerable to any weapon and any disease.
But birds are not mammals. They do not feed their chicks with milk. Therefore, the expression “bird's milk” began to mean something unprecedented, something that does not exist in reality, the impossible, the limit of desires.
Long ago, when women got tired of their lovers, they demanded that they bring them bird's milk. Unhappy lovers rushed into the desert and died there from thirst and loneliness, believing in illusions and mistaking fantasy for reality.
However, ornithological scientists have proven that bird “milk” still exists, but it does not look like cow’s milk, but resembles liquid cottage cheese. Birds from their beaks feed their chicks with “milk” regurgitated from the stomach for a very short time - no more than a month. So bird “milk” (which is not milk at all) is very rare in the feathered world.
It is no coincidence that this name, characterizing abundance and well-being, was chosen for the most delicious, delicate and exquisite sweets and cakes with soufflé filling.
We continue to introduce you to the history of famous dishes, and our next “hero” is the Bird’s Milk cake. Where did everyone’s favorite delicacy in Soviet times get such an unusual name? Why did we have to queue for days for dessert, and not every housewife can replicate the original recipe even now? You will learn all this and much more from our material.
The cake, made from delicate dough with an airy sponge layer, was released in 1978 and became a true legend of the Prague restaurant. The prototype of “Bird's Milk” was the Czechoslovak sweets “Ptasje Mlečko”, which the USSR Minister of Food Industry once tried during a business trip. “Make something similar, but according to the original recipe,” the minister commanded, after which numerous experiments began to find the ideal composition of the new domestic delicacy. Following the candies first prepared in the 60s, it was decided to “work magic” on the cake. The credit for its creation goes to pastry chef Vladimir Guralnik. The name of this man will forever go down in the history of cooking, and, it would seem, with such a rich past, he could now work in any of the most expensive confectionery shops in Moscow. However, Guralnik remains faithful to Prague to this day - in the confectionery shop he works to preserve long-standing traditions and create new culinary masterpieces.
Together with the team, we worked on the Bird's Milk recipe for more than 6 months. I wanted the bottom to be made from an unusual dough: not biscuit, not shortbread, not puff pastry. This is how a new type of dough was created - a semi-finished dough product, it is somewhat similar to a cupcake. The filling had to be boiled for a long time: agar-agar has a melting point of about 120 degrees, unlike gelatin, which coagulates at 100 degrees. The secret of our recipe is in agar-agar - a more expensive and rich substitute for gelatin. We experimented for a long time: we added some ingredients, removed others, brought them to different temperatures - sometimes we got syrup, sometimes we got a viscous mass. By the time we found the right consistency, just 6 months had passed.
Guralnik once told the publication “Evening Moscow”. In Soviet times, the Bird's Milk cake was the real “king of the tables.” For the original cake, sold only in the Prague restaurant, people stood in line for several hours - a line of people wanting to be treated to it could fill half of the Old Arbat. Guralnikov learned what real success was when he was secretly offered coupons for his own creation near the metro.
The secret of such success lay not only in the taste of the dessert, but also in its name - in its, so to speak, sacred meaning. According to ancient mythology, bird's milk is an unprecedented miracle. Something that doesn’t really exist is what the birds of paradise fed their children. “A man who has everything can only dream of bird’s milk” - this expression again gained popularity in Europe in the 18th century. And who didn’t want to have something fantastic and impossible during the years of shortages in the USSR!
According to one legend, once upon a time girls, in order to get rid of annoying gentlemen, sent them to wander through cities and villages in search of “bird milk”. Those, of course, never came back.
Now leaving for Bird's Milk and not returning is an incredible story. The delicacy is presented in almost all confectionery shops in the country. True, the original cake according to the recipe of Vladimir Guralnik is exclusively sold in only 10 stores in Moscow. As he himself says, cakes are delivered there in special branded vans and the taste of this treat cannot be confused with anything else.
Guralnik does not hide the secret of making the Bird's Milk cake:
We pour agar-agar into the whipped egg whites, then add butter and condensed milk, mix and cool to 80 degrees. Then pour this mixture into the mold and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Then it’s worth laying the layers correctly, because “Bird’s Milk” is a construction cake. The dough layer alternates with a layer of agar-agar, and so on again. The dessert is topped with chocolate.
By the way, chocolate also has its own secret,” says the author. - It must have a certain melting point of 38 degrees, otherwise it will turn gray in the refrigerator. Also, for chocolate to be tasty, you need to knead it properly. We have a special machine that continuously stirs chocolate.
However, now every confectionery shop has its own, somewhat different from the original, recipe for “Bird's Milk”. HELLO.RU decided to find out how “Bird's milk” is prepared in the Odessa restaurant “Babel”. You can definitely repeat this recipe at home!
"Bird's milk" from the restaurant "Babel"Ingredients:
wheat flour 200 gr.
egg yolk 7 gr.
butter 275 gr
soda 1 tsp
sugar 350 gr.
condensed milk
lemon acid
chocolate 150 gr
cream 38 percent
egg white 7 pcs.
Preparation:
1. Beat butter at room temperature with sugar, add yolks, soda and flour, beat everything with a mixer.
2. Bake the mixture at 170 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
3. For the cream, soak the gelatin in half a glass of cold water. Add citric acid and sugar to water with swollen gelatin. Then beat the whites until stable foam.
4. Separately, beat the butter with condensed milk and gradually add it to the mixture with the whipped egg whites and gelatin solution. Don't stop whisking.
5. For the glaze, melt the chocolate and add a little butter. Melt everything over low heat and bring to a homogeneous mass.
6. Layer the dessert and pour over chocolate.
Bon appetit!