Volkonsky Cabbage Soup
⏳ Time
5 hours
🥕 Ingredients
18
🍽️ Servings
15
Description
This dish can be called a 'weekend soup.' It takes quite a long time to prepare. In the original recipe, it is cooked in a Russian oven, which allows all the ingredients to simmer and acquire a unique aroma and flavor. If you don't have an oven, you can also cook it on the stove.
Ingredients
- Duck - 3 lbs
- Goose fat - 3 lbs
- Pitted Wild Apricots - 5.3 oz
- Sauerkraut - 4 lbs
- Onion - 2 pieces
- Ground Caraway - 0.5 teaspoon
- Carrot - 1 piece
- Parsley - 2 pieces
- Brandy - 1 fl oz
- Dried Chamomile - 0.5 teaspoon
- Bay leaf - 2 pieces
- Ground Black Pepper - 0.5 teaspoon
- Honey - 2 tablespoons
- Salt - to taste
- Water - 8 qt
- Pickled Apples - 3 pieces
- Dried Chinese mushrooms - 7.1 oz
- Chicken offal - 7.1 oz
Step by Step guide
Step 1
Scald the duck and goose carcasses over an open flame and clean them. Rinse thoroughly, completely removing excess fat, skin, and bones. Rub the fillet pieces with salt, pepper, thyme, and honey, and let them marinate for 2 hours. Clean and rinse the offal (mainly the liver, but gizzards can also be used). Salt and pour brandy over them. Soak the mushrooms for 2 hours.
Step 2
In a cast iron pot, pour in the water, add the skin, bones, heads, necks, and all the trimmings left over from preparing the birds. Add one onion, carrot, parsley, and bay leaf. Place over heat. Once boiling, skim off the foam, salt, and simmer covered on low heat for 3 hours. Strain the finished broth through a sieve.
Step 3
Cut the duck and goose meat into 5–6 cm pieces, and fry in a skillet with the rendered bird fat and remaining marinade until browned (about 5–6 minutes on each side). After frying the meat, in the same skillet, fry the liver with brandy. The liver should be cooked for no more than 2 minutes, otherwise it will become dry.
Step 4
The cabbage for this soup should be without carrots, well and long fermented, and most importantly—frozen, meaning left in the freezer for at least 10–15 days. After this, thawed cabbage acquires a certain color and flavor. Rinse the prepared cabbage in cold water for 10 minutes. In a cast iron pot (large saucepan), melt the fat rendered from the duck and goose, add the cabbage, fried meat, dried mushrooms, caraway seeds, and finely chopped onion. Pour in 2 liters of the prepared broth. Simmer covered on low heat for 2 hours until the cabbage is soft. During cooking, taste and add salt if necessary.
Step 5
Rinse the pitted prunes and add them whole (not chopped) to the cabbage 15 minutes before it is done. At the end of cooking, add the liver and remove from heat after a minute.
Step 6
Combine the broth and the stewed cabbage with the meat. Bring to a boil, add the fermented Antonovka apples, sliced into thin wedges. Simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat, wrap in a blanket, and let it 'rest' for another hour. If using a Russian oven, they can simmer in a warm (but not hot!) oven for about an hour.
Step 7
This soup is not served with sour cream. According to the recipe, it is served with a chicken pie.
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