By Claire Bigg
Moscow - They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but when that man is Russian President Vladimir Putin, laying on a first-rate meal becomes an affair of state.
For Kremlin head chef Mikhail Zhukov, who has been tickling the taste buds of Russia's political elite for the past four decades, each new culinary creation is the fruit of much soul-searching and debate.
"The dish is first born in my head," he confided to AFP on a tour of his domain.
"I then prepare it, work on it, improve it, draw it on paper, and only then do I submit it to the culinary council," he said, respectfully straightening his hat.
If the new dish gets the nod from the council - a select team of top cooks, caterers, a doctor and a technical advisor - it will make it to the Kremlin tables and, perhaps, all the way to Putin's presidential plate.
Although Putin and his top aides have a private chef as well, Zhukov and his 30-strong crew cater for all presidential banquets and receptions and feed some 400 Kremlin staff members every day.
The Kremlin cooks view themselves as creators and without hesitation describe their lavish dishes as works of art.
"You can prepare this stuffed pike-perch in only half an hour if you have little time ahead of a reception," said Marina Yelizarova, a Kremlin cook for 18 years, pointing to an ornate fish posed triumphantly on a silver platter.
"But in your head, it will take days to prepare. An artist can stare at a canvas for weeks before starting to paint," she commented musingly.
Zhukov even gave the name "Mona Lisa" to one of his favourite creations, an oven-baked turkey stuffed with bacon and plums and served with fruit.
The chef was also particularly proud of his Soviet-era hit, a baked fish with mushrooms that he called "Syenka Razin," an affectionate diminutive for an 18th-century Russian revolutionary.
The gastronomic proclivities of leaders past and present is another topic that never fails to loosen tongues in the Kremlin kitchens.
"Our president is sporty, he likes healthy food," said Yelizarova of Putin, who is a black belt in judo and is often shown in Russian media enjoying outdoor activities.
But then Zhukov lowered his voice and added confidentially that the Russian president also "loves" ice cream. "And Mrs Putin likes pastries."
Asked about the preferences at table of Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, Zhukov offered a first-hand confirmation of what most people know only through hearsay: "He loved vodka, straight up -- with salted cucumbers on the side."
According to Yelizarova, Mikhail Gorbachev was a picky eater with "capricious" tastes that made it difficult for his chefs to pin down just what he might like to eat on any given day.
But when it comes to unbridled gluttony, Zhukov said that of all the leaders of the Kremlin for the past half century it was the late Soviet ruler Leonid Brezhnev who won that particular distinction hands down.
"We worked like crazy under Brezhnev: we cooked for congresses, for meetings, we cooked for him at his private residence, we literally worked non stop," he sighed.
"Back then, we were asked to prepare a lot of whole suckling-pigs, whole sturgeons, whole partridges, whole crabs."
Today, cooks at the Kremlin say Putin's relatively modest appetite and the broad choice of kitchen equipment and foodstuff made available in Russia by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 have lightened their workload.
In addition, trying too hard can also be a recipe for disaster, cooks confessed, squirming as they recalled the famous Kremlin "cake episode" at a major diplomatic banquet.
"We prepared a dish made of puff pastry, caviar and a salmon paste. We had shaped little roses out of salmon paste and made the caviar look like pearls," explained Yelizarova.
"But the guests didn't touch it - they thought it was a dessert!" she chuckled.
The Kremlin chefs said they loved their work, even if Zhukov acknowledged one drawback to his job in Russia's first kitchen: "The frustrating thing is that our work gets gulped down in a few minutes."