There are 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 weapons and illnesses.
The expression “bird's milk” among many peoples means something desirable and unattainable. A Russian proverb says: “The rich have everything, except bird’s milk.” A similar turnover was going on back in Ancient Greece. Thus, in Aristophanes’ comedy “The Birds,” the chorus promises happiness in the form of milk “not from heifers, but from birds.”
The culinary history of Bird's Milk began with sweets.
Back in 1936, Jan Wedel, the owner of the Polish confectionery factory E. Wedel, developed a recipe for amazing sweets, unlike any confectionery product produced before. These candies were prepared according to the marshmallow recipe, only without adding eggs: sugar, gelatin, dextrose and flavorings were whipped until it became a “sponge”. After that, sweets were formed from the sweet mass and coated with chocolate. Contemporaries gave the dessert an unambiguous assessment: “It is divine!” and Jan Wedel, listening to these sincere delights, called his culinary creation “ptasie mleczko” (“bird’s milk”). The confectioner reasoned simply: “What more could a person who has everything want? Indeed, only bird’s milk.” 
The domestic history of “Bird's Milk” began with a trip in 1967 by the Minister of Food Industry of the USSR to Czechoslovakia, where at one of the receptions he was presented with candies with an original filling. Returning to the Soviet Union, the minister gathered representatives of all the country's confectionery industries at the Moscow Rot-Front factory and ordered the development of their own technology for the production of Czechoslovak sweets as soon as possible.
The first who managed to get as close as possible to the original recipe was confectioner Anna Chulkova, who at that time was the chief technologist of the Vladivostok confectionery factory. The technology for preparing new candies, called “Bird's Milk,” was transferred to other confectionery factories in the Soviet Union. 
It was the Soviet candies “Bird's Milk” from the “Red October” factory that became the basis for the recipe for the cake with the same name.
Above creation the most delicate dessert a whole team of famous confectioners of the capital worked - Vladimir Guralnik, who worked in the Moscow restaurant "Prague", Nikolai Panfilov and Margarita Golova.
A group of confectioners under the leadership of the head of the confectionery department of the Prague restaurant, Vladimir Mikhailovich Guralnik
We experimented for six months using agar-agar, a jelly-like product obtained from red and brown algae, instead of gelatin. The confectioners ensured that the soufflé hardened but remained airy. After a persistent search for the ideal recipe, we finally managed to find that combination of ingredients that is still considered a classic - a cake filling generously poured with chocolate, decorated on top with a small chocolate bird. 
Initially, the new product could only be purchased at the Prague restaurant. “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. The delicacy was quickly tasted and it created a sensation. There were such queues for the 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.)
Queue in the confectionery department of the Prague restaurant
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.
In September 1980, an Application for Invention was filed, and in 1982, the developers of the recipe were issued a copyright certificate for the Bird's Milk cake, No. 925285, where the method of producing the dessert was registered, which became an unprecedented precedent for that time. “Bird's Milk” became the first domestic cake patented by the chefs who invented it.
Since that time, the “Bird's Milk” cake began to be produced in other cities of the country. Bird's Milk cakes produced in different places had different designs, but corresponded to the original recipe recorded by GOST of the USSR. 
From Soviet times to the present day, the “Bird's Milk” cake has been considered the hallmark of Moscow. A delicate soufflé, a thick layer of dark chocolate and very thin cake layers made this miracle of culinary skill a sought-after and desired delicacy. Childhood memories preserved the warmth of home and delight over a luxurious dessert. 
In 2006, Vladimir Guralnik became a nominee for the “Public Recognition 2006” award and received the award in the “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. 
The creator of the recipe, Jan Wedel, said that they are so airy and tasty, like something unattainable, which is very rare, like bird's milk. The candy recipe, by the way, is very simple: it is a milk soufflé based on whole condensed milk, sugar syrup and gelatin.
In Poland "Ptasie mleczko"- pride and the most popular sweets, to which the country has exclusive rights, therefore they are produced only there under this name. The technology is also exclusive and kept secret.
To the Soviet Union Bird's Milk candies arrived 20 years later, in 1967, after the government's trip to Czechoslovakia. Returning from it with a sample of sweets, the Minister of Food Industry in Moscow gathered confectioners from the country's leading factories with the task of unraveling the secret of this miracle.
Work was in full swing all over the country: confectioners experimented, studied, compared. As a result, the version of the Vladivostok Confectionery Factory became one of the best. There, under the leadership of technologist Anna Chulkova, special conditions were developed: whipping technology, manufacturing temperature.
In 1968, the Moscow confectionery factory Rot-Front began producing them. And mass production was launched in 1975 at the Krasny Luch factory in Moscow.
Interesting facts:
- Sweets are the source of inspiration for creating the Bird's Milk cake
- The first batches of sweets amounted to 35 tons per month!
Creating a fabulous Bird's Milk cake
This cake is the first in the USSR for which a patent was issued to its creator, the confectioner. Vladimir Mikhailovich Guralnik. A hereditary pastry chef, at the age of 16 he started working at the elite Moscow restaurant “Prague”.We can say that Vladimir Guralnik wanted to go beyond the usual and create something special. Having visited the Krasny Luch factory, the confectioner was impressed by the taste of Bird's Milk. He wanted to create a “big candy”, a whole cake with this most delicate and fluffy soufflé.
In 1978 Work began on the creation of the famous Soviet cake “Bird's Milk” at the Prague restaurant. Together with Margarita Golova and Nikolai Panfilov, Guralnik spent six months searching for the ideal recipe and technology.
These were sleepless nights and an intense search: cakes were prepared, tasted, thrown away and all over again, many times. The standard recipe was not suitable, according to V. Guralnik, “on a large volume - marshmallow is marshmallow, it gets stuck in the teeth!” And I wanted the same airiness.
Success came: were found perfect proportions and new components. For a cake, unlike sweets, you need whole condensed milk, sugar syrup, agar-agar instead of gelatin, protein mass and butter. The optimal cooking temperature is 117 °C, so agar-agar was ideal for boiling the filling. This is the only way the soufflé will harden and remain airy!
For the crust, Guralnik chose half-cake dough, tender, light and at the same time thin. And they decorated it succinctly - covered it with hard chocolate glaze and decorated it with an ornament with birds. The cake was even shocking according to the creator’s idea: the rectangular shape was out of the ordinary at the time and attracted attention.
The Firebird, a character from native Russian fairy tales, decorated the box with the Soviet Bird's Milk cake. There was something familiar and truly fabulous about it.
Popularity of the Bird's Milk cake
The shop at the Prague restaurant initially produced test batches of 20-30 pieces, but after six months the volumes grew to 500 pieces, and lines for the “bird” lined up at 6 in the morning. You could get the cake by appointment or the famous coupons.Vladimir Guralnik did not make the recipe a secret; on the contrary, he generously shared his experiences. It was a real sensation, so by the end of the 80s, other workshops across the country were also preparing the cake, about 30 enterprises in total, but it still remained in short supply for residents outside the capital of the USSR.
Today you can buy a cake in a store or pastry shop. But if you want to feel that same taste, you should still prepare this miracle yourself. Moreover, it is not difficult. Try the Bird's Milk cake recipe: it's checked, everything will work out!
“Bird's milk” - as the name suggests - was once a real scarcity and luxury. Today everyone can afford this square confectionery miracle from the Soviet past. By the way, few people know that the candies of the same name were invented first. The cake was not immediately successful for the production masters.
Photo from the book by pastry chef Alexander Seleznev “Soviet Cakes and Pastries” (EXMO)
The name “Bird's milk” often misled us as children and was presented as the main ingredient. Later, of course, it turned out that bird's milk is a non-existent thing. Even the ancient Greek authors Aristophanes, Lucian and Strabo used “bird's milk” in their works as a symbol of great rarity. The milk of birds is also glorified in old Slavic fairy tales. Ancient legends tell of birds of paradise feeding their chicks with milk. If a person drinks this milk, he will be able to resist all diseases and enemies. The beautiful princesses turned out to be especially enterprising, sending their annoying gentlemen in search of bird's milk.
Candy period
The history of the dessert began in Poland. Jan Wedel, owner of the E. Wedel confectionery factory, returning from a trip to France very impressed, asked himself the question: “What could a person who has everything want? Maybe bird's milk." This is how the legendary name appeared (in Polish - ptasie mleczko).
True, the recipe for the first Ptasje Mleczko sweets was somewhat unusual. In 1936, E. Wedel began producing them filled with marshmallows and coated with chocolate. Marshmallows are candies that taste like marshmallows, but without eggs or applesauce. Marshmallows contain sugar or corn syrup, gelatin, dextrose and flavorings. All this is whipped to a “sponge” state and formed into small pieces.
State order
Bird's Milk candies appeared in Russia... by order of the government. Candies similar to “Ptasya Mlečko” were also produced in Czechoslovakia, where our Minister of Food Industry arrived in 1967. The government member appreciated the work of confectionery art and took a small batch with him on the way back. Returning to the USSR, he gathered the leading confectioners at the Rot Front factory and, having treated them to a delicacy, ordered them to invent the same, relying only on their taste buds. Afterwards, the same minister obliged all factories to learn how to make such candies, and from that moment their mass production began.
Anna Chulkova, a confectioner from Vladivostok, also attended a course teaching the secrets of producing Bird's Milk. Returning to her home factory, Anna decided to refine the recipe, experimenting with the main recipe, additives, production process. She also came up with the idea of mechanizing the manual cutting method, which significantly speeded up the production of sweets (instead of the planned six tons, the factory received 12). Later, the Vladivostok “bird” was officially recognized as the best in the Union, which the local residents were very proud of. They brought candy as a local landmark as a gift to loved ones, and Anna Chulkova was made an honorary resident of the city.
Now there are many different Bird's Milk candies. The Vladivostok ones are now called “Bird’s Milk Primorskoye,” and “Rot Front” has merged with “Red October” and “Babaevsky” and produces simply “Bird’s Milk” - without any specifications. There are also quite tasty analogues with similar names - for example, “Bird's Sweetness”. Modern candies “Bird's Milk” are a chocolate souffle based on milk (condensed or dairy products), sometimes flavorings are added (amaretto, almond, rum...), as well as agar-agar.
Tricky Jelly
Many people have never heard of one of the main “bird” components - agar-agar (sometimes they write simply agar or even E406). However, agar-agar is used quite often in confectionery - it is because of it that a delicate but dense texture is obtained not only for the filling of bird's milk, but also for marshmallows, marmalade, and soufflé.
Agar-agar means "jelly" in Malay. It is similar in properties to gelatin, although it is more expensive. In addition, the structure of products “captured” by agar is more plastic; it is often used to create delicate air layers with bubbles. Agar usually looks like a white or yellowish powder.
Agar-agar is produced from red and brown seaweeds that grow in the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea. It is completely natural and “suitable” for vegetarians, since, unlike gelatin, which is made from animal connective tissue, it contains only plant materials.
Filling: high technology
The next step in the development of the “bird” theme is the famous cake. It was also invented here, in the Prague restaurant, in 1978. Moreover, the Bird's Milk cake created a real sensation. The queues behind him were monstrous, they even had to be “turned” onto Old Arbat so that the “tail” from the government highway (New Arbat, then Kalininsky Prospekt) would not be visible. A little later, for the first time in our country, a patent was issued for the cake.
The famous cake was invented by a confectionery duo - Margarita Golova and Nikolai Panfilov, under the leadership of the head of the restaurant's confectionery department, Vladimir Guralnik. By the way, it is to Guralnik that we owe the appearance of many Soviet desserts - for example, the no less famous Prague cake.
Initially, they tried to make the cake according to the same recipe as candy, the production technology of which was already established at that time. However, what is good in candies, on large layers for a cake, looked more like marshmallow - it did not have the necessary airiness and tenderness. The recipe needed reworking. Guralnik spent six months with his assistants in the “culinary laboratory” before the recipe was perfected. In addition to agar and condensed milk, egg whites and butter play a major role in the filling.
An unusual recipe was invented for the dough, which distinguishes it from the familiar shortbread and biscuit dough. The crust for “Ptichka” was more like a soft cupcake, which went well with the delicate filling. There are two thin “cakes” in the cake - one at the very bottom, then the filling, another in the middle and again a soufflé on top. The quality of chocolate is also important, which must be at a certain temperature (38°C).
By the way, the cake was originally called modestly - “soufflé”. And only then the “real” Bird’s Milk cake could be distinguished by the firebird on the box. The recipe was not kept secret; moreover, it was decided to transfer it to the Mosrestorantrest plant, which is about 30 large enterprises. Nowadays, it is difficult to find “that” cake, but it is possible. You need to carefully look at the packaging (focus on the image of the “bird of paradise”), the composition of the product and try it.
Home option
What our mothers didn’t come up with to “make” the famous cake at home. To achieve tenderness and airiness of the soufflé, semolina was even added to it! So, in the semolina version, the recipe then became a homemade version of “Bird's Milk” for many housewives. But now there is no need to invent something - after all, all the ingredients can be bought in the store, if not agar-agar, then gelatin for sure.
Cake “Bird's Milk” (from the book “Soviet Cakes and Pastries” by Alexander Seleznev)
Ingredients. Dough: 140 g flour, 105 g sugar, 105 g butter, 75 g eggs (1.5 pieces), 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar. Cream soufflé: 308 g sugar, 4 g agar-agar or 20 g gelatin, 200 g butter, 95 g condensed milk, 60 g protein (2 pieces), 3 g vanilla sugar, 2 g citric acid. Chocolate icing: 100 g chocolate, 10 g vegetable oil.
Preparation. Dough. Beat butter and sugar. Dissolve vanilla sugar in the egg. Mix everything and beat for 15-20 minutes. Add pre-sifted flour and knead the dough. Make two balls of dough and roll them into two thin cakes. Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven. Place one of the layers in a round mold with a diameter of 22 cm.
Cream souffle. Beat butter with condensed milk. Soak the agar-agar in water for half an hour. Add sugar to it. Boil for 5 minutes, to a temperature of 110ºС. Add vanilla sugar and citric acid to the whites, beat. Add agar-agar in a thin stream. Gently beat until the cream cools to 50ºC.
Then add the condensed butter mixture, mix and immediately pour the cream onto the dough in the mold. Cover with the second part of the dough. Place the cream on top again. Place in the refrigerator to cool.
Frosting. Melt chocolate and mix with butter. Pour the mixture over the cake.
Note. If gelatin is used instead of agar-agar, it should also be soaked for half an hour in cold water and melted in a water bath without bringing to a boil. Then add the protein-sugar mixture into the whipped and cooled to 50ºC mixture.
As a child, devouring candy on both cheeks called bird's milk, I really thought it was birds give, the father said pigeons, and the mother laughed and said - don’t confuse the child. As I grew up, I realized that these were fairy tales, and yet my father was right, bird’s milk is pigeon’s milk.
What is pigeon milk
Where does bird milk come from?
Birds that feed their chicks with milk are pigeons. True, they feed their newly hatched chicks with a special curdled mass, which produced in their crop. This " baby food"and is called bird's or pigeon's milk. Pigeon milk is so nutritious that in the first two days of life the baby becomes twice as heavy!
Grown up pigeon chicks bird's or pigeon's milk already after a week, which becomes theoretically unnecessary, they feed on plant seeds, although very often you can see how parents feed pigeon milk even to those who have taken wing.
Wild pigeons living in Russia.
The secretive and cautious wood pigeon, or vityuten, nests in the forests of the North Caucasus. In gardens and parks throughout Russia, turtle doves live, as well as rock pigeons - the most numerous urban residents among relatives with whom we are all familiar.
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 why not every housewife can repeat the original recipe? You will learn all this and much more from our material.
Cake from tender dough with an airy biscuit layer was released in 1978 and became a real 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 around 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 out 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 original recipe"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
citric 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!
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