Someone's in the Kitchen with Stalin

Vladimir Lenin was famously disinterested in food and eating.  For Lenin, food was a necessary inconvenience.  Cuisine was a bourgeois extravagance.  His successor Stalin, however, brought with him a Georgian flair for dining that was in sharp contrast with the Spartan fare of the early USSR.  As Nikita Khruschev noted, "I don’t think there has ever been a leader of comparable responsibilities who wasted more time than Stalin did just sitting around the dinner table eating and drinking." 


At his Kentsevo dacha, Stalin would gather his inner circle for frequent debauches.  The events were referred to as 'lunches' but typically ran late into the night.  For those invited attendance was mandatory.  Failure to receive an invitation was often an ominous sign that a member of the inner circle had fallen out of favor.  
While Stalin kept a level head, sipping small quantities of Georgian wine, his guests were expected to imbibe heroic quantities of vodka.  Drinking games included guessing how many degrees below zero it was outside and taking a shot for each degree off one guessed.  Stalin took perverse pleasure in pushing his guests to extreme drunkenness while forcing them to dance or pull cruel pranks on one another for his entertainment.  Besides having a good laugh, the ever watchful Stalin could observe his intoxicated comrades for signs of disloyalty.

Stalin brought a Georgian sensibility to the kitchen and is credited with creating a signiture dish.  This recipe is directly lifted for the notes of Anastas Mikoyan.  He wrote, "In a big pot they'd mix eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, black pepper, bay leaf, and pieces of unfatty lamb.  It was served hot.  They added cilantro.  Stalin named it Arvagi."  Aragvi, named after a famous river in Georgia, closely resembles a dish called Chanakhi, which can serve as a guide for cooking methods and proportions, since Mikoyan's description is very vague.

The raw materials, as per Mikoyan's description: Lamb, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, cilantro, onion, black pepper, and bay leaves.  Read Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya von Bremzen for more on information on this subejct.

Begin by dicing your onion and eggplant.  Eggplant is a mainstay of Georgian cuisine.

Peel and dice your potatoes.  

Add these to water and put over heat.  Bear in mind that you are aiming for a thick stew, rather than a soup.  Adjust your ratio of water accordingly.  Ever the comedian, Stalin once announced to his dinner guests that he had poisoned their soup and that they were all about to die.  

To this, add your can of tomatoes.  Tomatoes are a core component of the Georgian flavor palette.  They were also a prop in the evening's antics.  The venerable Mikoyan confessed to bringing a spare pair of pants to dinner parties due to Stalin's habit of sneaking a tomato on to a diner's seat before they sat down as a prank.

Simmer until the vegetables begin to soften.

Cube your lamb.  This dish is sometimes made with beef or chicken, but lamb is traditional.  Stalin's appetite was legendary.  One dinner guest later noted that he dictator, "ate food in quantities that would have been enormous even for a much larger man.  He usually chose meat, a sign of his mountain origins."

Add your lamb and bring the stew to a boil.  Reduce your heat and allow to simmer until the meat is soft.

Add bay leaf and a generous quantity of black pepper.  Lenin once predicted that should Stalin succeed him, he would serve the nation "a peppery soup".

Shortly before serving, add your greens.  Bunches of fresh herbs are a quintessentially Georgian addition to a soup or stew.  Do not leave them in the heat for so long that they cook through.  They should add a crisp, fresh element to the meal.  

The final product is a rich stew.  Serve with plenty of bread.