Woman’s Day met with the Rostov chef Alla Pugacheva, whom she has not cheated on for 20 years!
Far left – Pugacheva’s favorite cook
“It was in 1985,” recalls Marta Rozova. – I then worked in a restaurant at the Rostov hotel. And Pugacheva stayed there. Later they began to place it at the regional committee’s dacha in the village of Bolshoi Log, not far from the city. A cook was urgently needed there, because the food that was offered to the singer, to put it mildly, did not suit her taste. She poured the noodles, which ruined the Diva’s mood, on the head … not to the cook, but to her husband, who recommended it. To the organizers of the tour, the director of the hotel restaurant “matched” me, saying: “Either she or no one.” Out of eighteen people they chose me and took me to the dacha at night. I was terribly worried, there was such a tremor – my arms and legs were shaking. The task was to prepare breakfast in the morning. The menu was not specified, I made the choice of dishes to my taste. I decided, among other things, to cook cutlets. At six o’clock in the morning Alla Borisovna looks into the kitchen: “This is the smell!” I was, of course, scared. And she came in, ate a couple of hot cutlets from the frying pan, and with the words “Now you can go for a walk” she went out. It seemed to let me go. And whenever Pugacheva came to Rostov, she always demanded me. And Alla told Philip about me, and Masha Rasputina, and I cooked Kalyanova, and Sofia Rotaru … She called me Fedorovna, and I called her by her first name and patronymic. Once, introducing Christina to her daughter, she named Martusya. Nicely! “I know that you are always waiting for me: you will meet and see me off…” – said Pugacheva. And in this she is right.
Alla Borisovna loves home cooking very much. What did I not cook for her! And fish dishes, and chicken – in a word, everything! He respects vegetable dishes: pepper, zucchini, stuffed potatoes, caviar. Fish kebab, meat – you can’t remember everything … There were times when the tour lasted a week or two, and so all this time I lived at the dacha and fed Alla with the “retinue”.
The singer has never been on a diet. I remember running up to my kitchen, standing up to eat while her administrators sleep (they were looking at her figure), and at breakfast he sorts out lettuce leaves. On the road, I always collected baked goods for her: pies, cheesecakes.
Our last meeting with Pugacheva was in 2007, she still stayed in Bolshoy Log – there, of course, they changed the whole environment, made repairs. The administrator from the train called at two in the morning and warned that the singer would not have a hearty breakfast, she was on a diet, enough boiled eggs and tea without sugar. But I know Alla’s tastes, I didn’t buy eggs, but I bought food and covered the “meadow”. And I was not mistaken!
I set the table myself, and washed the dishes, and cleaned … The artists will sit at the table until morning, I have only an hour to sleep – I have to cook breakfast. After the concert, many flowers were brought – I also took them apart. The staircase to the second floor was twisted, so I along it, while Alla was having dinner, placed three-liter balloons with bouquets on each step, she went up to rest – she was already beautiful. Alla really liked it! Often these bouquets contained notes and poems. I put everything in piles and gave it to her at dinner. Sometimes, in the morning, a melody was born for some verses. Alla said: “Throw everything away, Fedorovna, and leave the poetry.” She always took them with her.
What is Pugacheva in life? In one word, you cannot say – you need to collect all its advantages. Capricious? No, for all these years I have not seen whims from her. I used to ask, “What’s for dinner?” He will wave his hand: what you cook will be. She is very cheerful, sociable; she often came to the kitchen to me.
At the dacha, it seemed to thaw out, I never saw her agitated. There she rested, maybe that’s why she never gave an interview to anyone. Pugacheva loved to walk, sunbathe, often alone. And there was where to walk – the territory is large: and an orchard, and a grove, and a vineyard, and a lake. Pugacheva went to the sauna, swam in the pool, ran … She did not sing at dinner. But the TV with friends, like children, clicked, because they had no time to watch it. Then Alla loved cartoons.
After the concerts, the singer presented me with: now candy, now alcohol, somehow presented a downy shawl. Alla Borisovna says goodbye very touchingly, I have never had such a thing. Always kisses, hugs. Calls: “Nurse, let’s go take pictures.” “Yes, I,” I say, “I’m just waiting for this.”
Pugacheva never calls me, and I understand that she is not up to it. She has people like me in every city. To tell you the truth, she and I weren’t playing familiarity. I did my job, she did hers. I know the limits of what is permissible, but I don’t talk about what I saw or heard. And Alla appreciates it.
In general, Alla is more comfortable communicating with ordinary people – she does not like hangers-on
Once in a conversation with Alla, I shared: I live in a communal apartment, I have been in a preferential line for eleven years, I have three children, I am raising one, I lived with my husband for six years and got divorced … She tells me about hers. I was very worried about my daughter. Christina has the same fate as hers: everyone is on the road, the children see her little … We talked, and I forgot about it. And after a while I received a three-room apartment in a new house. Maybe a happy coincidence, or maybe Alla helped, this has remained a mystery to me.
Over time, what was happening to me incredible, dulled. But I’m still worried. Only a call – the peace is over. And I won’t stop worrying until we talk to Alla. I have always been a fan of Pugacheva, but I have never been to a concert. I have no time. I love to feed and I love eaters, I am happy in my profession. The secret of home-style delicious food is knowledge, responsibility, patience and diligence. I also see thematic dreams: I don’t have time to cook something, something is burnt, some product is missing, the milk has run away … But I don’t dream of Pugacheva. We often talk about her with a friend – nee Pugacheva.
Marta Rozova and Philip Kirkorov
The recipe for “those” cutlets
In equal proportions, for example, 200 g each of pork, beef, chicken meat, pass twice through a meat grinder. Add the white loaf soaked in milk (200 g), onion, garlic, pepper, passed through a meat grinder. Knead and beat everything well, like a dough, so that the minced meat is saturated with air – then the cutlets are airy. Fry in odorless vegetable oil, always over low heat and covered. “