Detailed recipe
Products
Millet - 2 cups
Meat - 300 grams
Lard - 100 grams
Onions - 1 head
Garlic - 5 teeth
Potatoes (optional ingredient) - 3 pieces
How to cook May porridge
1. Light a fire and achieve a low fire.
2. Cut the bacon into cubes and place on the bottom of the pot.
3. Place the pot over the fire so that the bacon fizzes moderately.
4. Peel and chop the onion and garlic.
5. When the bacon is melted, add the onion and garlic to the pot.
6. Fry onions and garlic for 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
7. Place the onion and garlic in a bowl and set aside.
8. Pour 2 liters of water into the pot and set over the fire.
9. Boil water, adjust the fire so that the water boils moderately.
10. Put the meat in a pot, cover and cook for 1 hour.
11. Cut the potatoes, add to the meat and cook for another 10 minutes.
12. Rinse the millet and add to the meat, stir and cook for another 15 minutes, covered.
13. Add the onion and garlic and cook for another 3 minutes.
14. Salt the May porridge, stir and leave without heat for 10 minutes.
Fusofacts
- Cooking May porridge on the night from the last day of April to May 1 is a purely pagan tradition. However, given how long and deeply paganism was spread in the Slavs, the tradition has remained to this day. Walpurgis Night ("May Eve") is celebrated on the night from April 30 to May 1.- Cook May porridge in a pot over the fire. First, garlic and onion are fried in lard, and only then they start cooking May porridge. Other attributes of a May night are maypole, bonfire, song and dance.
- It is in May that it becomes obvious that spring has come, and that the holiday is dedicated to spring and the following fertility. May night now is nothing more than a good tradition to drive away spirits. According to legend, the spirits call for cattle and the harvest of disease. In ancient times, the well-being of vast territories depended on the climate and health of livestock, so special attention was paid to the May night holiday. May porridge had a certain meaning: firstly, the importance of millet was emphasized (millet porridge is one of the most ancient in Russia); secondly, the porridge should be satisfying: it is important that not expensive meat was used for May porridge, but a more affordable product - lard).
- If you decide to celebrate May night according to all the canons, you should bring food for May porridge and a pot to the place of the holiday, choose and decorate the maypole with ribbons, prepare music, sing for the harvest: "Lark, bring spring on your tail, on a plow, a harrow, on a rye heap, on an oat sheaf ". For fun, take turns reading the work of Gogol dedicated to the holiday, listening to the opera of the same name by Rimsky-Korsakov. For adrenaline, it is recommended to sing "Walpurgis Night" by the "Gaza Strip" band. It is supposed to sing strictly in chorus in order to scare away the spirits as far as possible.
- May porridge must be salted at the very end, when the taste of salted bacon is fully revealed.
- Mandatory products for May porridge are millet, bacon and onions. The rest of the products are placed at will.
- Since it takes a long time to cook May porridge with meat, it is necessary to choose and honor a chef, bring him drinks and in no case leave him alone for a long time, for May porridge should be cooked in a noisy and cheerful atmosphere. It is also best to bring snacks to keep you full throughout the May night.