Traditional Borscht

⏳ Time

1 hour 30 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

Did you know that the correct way to say it is: 'Scoop the borscht'? This time I tried so hard that my husband asked, 'Where's the liquid?' even though he loves ultra-thick borscht! And for it to be scooped, it should be thick and hearty. But, as is known, there are as many variations of borscht as there are cooks, starting from the type of meat to the amount of vegetables and the cooking method. For example, during my poor student years, I made borscht with chicken drumsticks, and it was delicious! Borscht is generally one of the cheapest soups, which can even be made vegetarian. The amount of vegetables can vary depending on the size of the pot and the vegetables themselves. For instance, I always take the smallest head of cabbage available in the store. You can skip frying the vegetables altogether and still get a wonderful color and taste. In general, experiment, and it will all work out! The only thing to strive for is to make the color brighter and more beautiful. And I still try.

Ingredients

Pork Blood - 2 lbs
Salad Potatoes - 10.6 oz
Turnips - 2 pieces
White Cabbage - 1 head
Yellow Beets - 2 pieces
Sour Cream - to taste
Salted pork belly - 1.8 oz
Borodinsky Bread - to taste
Bay leaf - to taste
Red Wine Vinegar - 3 tablespoons
Sweet Red Onion - 2 pieces
Garlic - 1 clove

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Place the pork in cold water, bring to a boil, and cook for half an hour (in a pressure cooker, this will be fully cooked; in a pot on the stove, I think it will be too, but just to be safe, don't taste the meat until you cut it and ensure there is no blood).

Step 2

Remove the cooked or almost cooked meat from the broth, let it cool, and cut it into small pieces so that each serving has plenty of meat for everyone to try.

Step 3

While the pork is cooking, peel, wash well, and cut the potatoes into small pieces of random sizes, placing them in a container of water to prevent browning. Remove the dirty and torn outer leaves from the cabbage, then wash the head thoroughly. You can immediately shred or simply cut the cabbage into small long strips. These ingredients will be needed first, so it's better to finish with them right away.

Step 4

After removing the meat from the broth, bring it back to a boil and add the pieces of pork and the chopped potatoes to the boiling water, cooking until done.

Step 5

While the potatoes are cooking, peel and wash the carrots, beets, and onion well (don't touch the garlic; it's for serving), grate the carrots and beets separately on a coarse grater, and finely chop the onion. Heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in a frying pan, but you can easily do without it, which is why I didn't include it in the ingredients. First, sauté the onion, then add the carrots to the same pan, sauté them, and then add the beets, cooking everything together. To keep the vegetables bright, add vinegar to the pan (I specifically use red wine vinegar, so I don't have to deal with the kind that requires cutting the lid off with scissors, and also, with wine vinegar, the borscht becomes more sour and richer).

Step 6

Once the potatoes are cooked, add the cabbage to the pot and let it cook. Meanwhile, continue sautéing the vegetables. The cabbage will settle into the broth in about 10 minutes, after which add the sautéed vegetables, stir the liquid well to evenly distribute the beautiful beet color, lower the heat, and let it simmer on low heat. Add bay leaf and black pepper—ground or whole (I can't do without it, but tastes vary, so it's not in the list).

Step 7

After 10 minutes, the borscht is ready. Let it steep for another 30 minutes, then serve in deep plates with sour cream, black bread, grated garlic, and fat! (The last three ingredients are to taste, but I believe black bread is essential).