Russian Borsch Recipes

RUSSIAN BORSCHT SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine the beets, carrots, onion and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. , Add tomatoes and cabbage; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Stir in salt, dill and pepper. Top each serving with sour cream if desired.

RUSSIAN CABBAGE BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place sliced potatoes and beets in a medium saucepan over high heat; cover with stock, and boil until vegetables are tender. Remove potatoes and beets with a slotted spoon, and reserve stock.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, caraway seeds, and salt; cook until onions become soft and translucent. Then stir in celery, carrots, and cabbage. Mix in reserved stock; cook, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add potatoes and beets to the skillet. Season with black pepper and dill weed. Stir in cider vinegar, honey, and tomato puree. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer at least 30 minutes. Serve topped with sour cream, extra dill weed, and chopped fresh tomatoes.

TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN BORSCHT

Steps:

• In a heavy stockpot, heat oil over high heat. Add the stew meat and sear until nicely browned. Remove from pot and set aside; immediately add the pork sausage, and stir, breaking it up into pieces while it browns. When sausage has browned nicely, return the stew meat to the pot, as well as the tomatoes, garlic, onion and beets. Add the beef stock, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. After 2 hours, add the carrots and potatoes. Simmer, covered, for 1 more hour, then add the cabbage, 1/2 cup of the dill, and the red wine vinegar (and taste for salt and pepper addition at this time). Cover and simmer for 15 more minutes. To serve, ladle soup into a bowl and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and fresh dill.

RUSSIAN BORSH/BORSCH

Steps:

• Cook meat for 2 hours in *water* or until meat is very tender -reserve liquid (*add water if needed along the way)
• Get meat out of pot and shred-set aside.
• Sauté onion, carrots in small skillet-set aside with meat.
• Boil beets in meat broth/water until soft.
• Take beets out and shred.
• Cut up raw potatoes and raw cabbage.
• Put all-(the sautéed mixture--beets, meat, raw ingredients)--together in broth/water.
• Boil until potatoes are done (about 30 minutes).
• Add spices according to taste.
• SERVE WITH SOUR CREAM!

RUSSIAN BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place the first six ingredients in a large soup kettle or Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute beets in 1 tablespoon oil for 3 minutes. stir in vinegar; set aside. Remove beef with a slotted spoon; cool. Remove meat from the bones; discard bones. Cut meat into chunks; set aside. strain broth, discarding peppercorns and bay leaves. Skim fat. Add enough water to broth to measure 6 cups; return to kettle. Add potatoes, carrots, cabbage, parsley and beets. Bring to a boil., In a skillet, saute onion in remaining oil for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle with flour; stir until blended. Whisk into soup. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. add tomatoes. process soup in small batches in a blender or food processor; pour into a large saucepan. Add beef; heat through. Garnish with sour cream.

HOT BORSCHT FROM THE RUSSIAN TEA ROOM

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in a large pot with sufficient water to cover them. Add a pinch of salt, and cook on low heat for 4 hours. Skim off fat from the top and discard. Remove approximately 1 cup of meat to use later as garnish for top of dish.
• Place beets in enough water to cover them and slowly simmer for 40 minutes, (do not boil.) Add remaining beet broth ingredients. Simmer on lowest heat for 3 to 4 hours. Peel beets. Strain the broth from the beets and keep them separately.
• Fry the bacon in a large pot in 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil until crispy. Discard bacon; only the fat is needed. To the bacon fat, add 2 tablespoons butter and the onion, carrot, cabbage and garlic. Cook on medium-low heat until the vegetables are soft. Add tarragon and dill. Add equal parts of meat bouillon and beet broth. Add cooked beets. Simmer for 15 minutes. Garnish with shredded meat, sour cream and dill.

UKRAINIAN BORSCHT

Steps:

• Cook beets, carrots and onion in the 3 cans beef broth for 20 minutes.
• Add cabbage and butter, and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes.
• Season to taste.
• Stir in lemon juice.
• Now let it sit (but you don't have to), for an hour or so. Reheat or leave at temperature and serve with sour cream.
• This is better the next day!

COLD RUSSIAN BORSCHT

Steps:

• Remove stems and leaves from beets, but leave on skins. In a deep pot, cover beets with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil until fork tender, about 40 minutes.
• Drain beets, but reserve two cups of the liquid. Strain the liquid and add to a large saucepan. Remove skin from beets. Grate beets through coarsest blade of grater. Add to beet liquid. Add beef broth, onion, salt, pepper and vinegar. Bring to a boil, and then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat.
• Chill in refrigerator for one hour, or until cold before serving. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with cucumber and a big spoonful of sour cream.

RUSSIAN BORSCH - OLD TRADITIONAL RECIPE (BORSCHT)

Steps:

• We will start with the broth. Fill the pot half way with water and put over high heat. Wash the chicken with all the giblets and throw it in the pot. Peel 1 carrot and 1 onion, cut them into 3-4 pieces and throw in a pot along with the bay leaves and peppercorns. Salt. As soon as the water boils, set temperature to med-low so that the broth simmers. In 15 minutes collect all the scum. Some prefer to change the water at this stage (pour out the old water and fill up the pot with clean water, you will get a cleaner broth). I prefer to leave the water and just collect all the scum, as I think that it makes a much tastier broth. The broth will simmer for a total of 1-1.5 hours, during which you will prepare the rest of the ingredients. To read step by step recipe with photos of the whole process, follow this link - http://ruslankuznetsov.livejournal.com/75850.html

AUTHENTIC RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN BORSCHT

Steps:

• To a large pot (I use 8qts), add the meat and enough water to fill up the pot to halfway.
• Remove all froth that comes up from the meat.
• Continue to boil on med-high until no more froth comes up.
• Reduce heat to low and add consomme mix, whole onion, dill, beats, cabbage, and tomato sauce.
• Fill with water, cover partially with lid, and let cook for 90min.
• After that hour and a half of cooking, make sure meat is soft - then add the carrots, and squeeze all the juice you can possible juice from the lemons into the soup.
• You can add the rice and/or potatoes at this point, if you like.
• Cook, partially covered, for another 30-45 minutes, until making sure the potatoes and carrots are tender, and the rice (if you put any in) is ready.
• The soup is great on day 1, but tastes much better on days 2-3.
• Enjoy the soup while it's very hot.

BORSCH (((AUTHENTIC UKRAINIAN CLASSIC BORSCH)))

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the diced bacon or panchetta in a Dutch oven or stockpot and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat, until the fat begins to render, about 3 minutes.
• Add the beef and continue to cook, stirring, until the beef is brown on all sides, about 6 minutes.
• Remove both meats from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
• Add the onions and carrot to the fat in the Dutch oven or stockpot and stir to coat.
• Cook until soft, about 4 minutes.
• Add the garlic, oregano, dill seeds and bay leaves and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
• Add the red wine vinegar and stir to deglaze the pot.
• Return both meats to the pot and add the water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the beef is tender, about 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, place the beets on a baking sheet and brush with the oil.
• Roast until tender and can be pierced easily with a fork or knife, about 1 hour.
• Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
• When the beets are cool enough to handle, trim the stem and root ends and remove the skins.
• Coarsely grate or chop and set aside.
• When the meat is tender and falling apart, add the beets, potatoes, cabbage, parsley, tomato paste and celery salt or seeds and simmer over low heat for another 30 minutes.
• Season with additional red wine vinegar, salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar to taste.
• Ladle borsch into bowls and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a pinch of fresh dill.
• Also, serve with Russian black bread.