Glafira Dorosh

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Glafira Vasilyevna Dorosh (Ukrainian: Глафіра Василівна Дорош; Russian: Глафира Васильевна Дорош; born 1921) is an Ukrainian chef from the village of Ulanov, Vinnytsia Oblast, who invented Potato Ulanov. She is the only recipient of a Soviet Order for a culinary recipe ^[1].

Glafira Dorosh started to work at the age of 14. As her mother was a cook she found work in a local eatery as well. Later she graduated from a culinary school in Kiev. During World War II Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany, Dorosh was sent to work in Germany in a weapons factory in Nurnberg. Sometimes the women got their hands on raw potatoes and were trying to invent new ways to prepare it ^[2].

After the war she worked in a restaurant in the village of Ulanov, Vinnytsia Oblast there they made twenty different dishes out of potatoes. She invented the Ulanov potatoes accidentally: there were some leftover small potatoes, that the restaurant management allowed the cooks to use for themselves (in 1947 food was precious). She fried the potatoes in the leftover oil (from the potatoes stuffed with meat) and put some garlic sauce on it. The dish was tasty and they decided to include it into the menu of the restaurant. ^[1]

In the beginning of 1960s kolkhoz "Druzhba" (Friendship) that included Ulanov was visited by a reporter of a popular Izvestia newspaper from Moscow. The administration of the kolkhoz was afraid of negative publicity so as a form of a bribe they produced a feast in the Ulanov restaurant for the correspondent. Obviously there were quite a number of dishes but the journalist remembered the humble potato with garlic sauce. Soon instead of the expected negative material Izvestia published a huge article praising "Ulanov potato" and its inventors. Soon most of the Soviet Union newspapers and magazines reported the new recipes. It was sold in many restaurants for the price of only six kopeks a portion (approximately 7 cents by the official exchange rate, significantly less by the black market rate). It was very cheap even by the Soviet standards. On 11 November 1965 Glafira Dorosh was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. Dorosh was the only recipient of a Soviet Order for a culinary recipe^[1].

Now Dorosh is a pensioner. She still loves to cook potatoe dishes while she does not prepare her "Ulanov potato" often^[1]

[edit] Recipe

Heat up 0.5 liter of sunflower oil in a thick cast iron pot. Peel a kilogram of medium potatoes cutting them by four and put them in the pot. Prepare a garlic sauce by grinding garlic and mixing it with a small amount of sunflower oil. After approximately 20 minutes of frying after the potatoes become golden they should be put on a dish allowing oil to drain. Then put the sauce on top, close the dish by a lid for 2.5 minutes and the dish is ready to be eaten. The sunflower oil drained from the potatoes can be reused to make more Ulanov potatoes^[1]. While the classic recipe included only potato, sunflower oil, garlic and salt there are variants of the recipe using salo, onions, etc.