borscht recipes

[Mirah]

Who has the best borscht recipe?

I had it for the first time this year. It had beets and beef with a little bit of sour cream on top and a piece or two of hard bread.

I am now attempting to make it at home, one of the recipes calls for tomatoes, I just added tomatoes and do not like it so much.

How many other vegetables should I add? I would like to try to keep it simple.

Thanks.

 

[Mirah]

Borscht Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 cups beef broth*
• 1 pound slice of meaty bone-in beef shank
• 1 large onion, peeled, quartered
• 4 large beets, peeled, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled, chopped
• 1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 cup sour cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

*Use gluten-free broth if you are cooking gluten-free

Method

1 Bring 4 cups of the beef broth, the beef shank, and onion to boil in large pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
2 Transfer meat to work surface; trim fat, sinew and bone and discard. Chop meat; cover and chill. Cool broth slightly. Chill in pot until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
3 Spoon fat from top of chilled broth and discard. Add remaining 4 cups broth, beets, carrots, and potato; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
4 Stir in meat, cabbage and 1/2 cup dill; cook until cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in vinegar.
Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sour cream and remaining 1/4 cup dill.
Serves 6.

 

[Mirah]

Another recipe and some notes

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 3/4 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper, divided
• 1/2 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 medium beet
• 1/2 cup canned peeled and diced tomatoes
• 3 potatoes, quartered
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes
• 3 cups finely shredded cabbage, divided
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup diced potatoes
• 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper to taste
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place water, salt, carrots, 1/2 of the bell pepper, celery, beet, tomatoes, and quartered potatoes in a large stock pot over high heat. Bring to a boil.
2. Melt 1/3 cup butter in a separate skillet over medium heat. Saute onions in butter until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove 1/2 cup of sauce from skillet, and set aside. Stir half of the cabbage into the skillet with remaining sauce, and continue simmering 5 minutes more, or until tender.
3. Remove beet from boiling liquid and discard. Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon or tongs, and place in a bowl with remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the cream. Mash together until smooth.
4. Return the 1/2 cup of reserved onion-tomato sauce to the stock pot. Stir in diced potatoes, and simmer until just tender but still firm, approximately 5 minutes. Increase heat to a low boil, and stir in remaining cabbage, tomato sauce, and mashed potatoes. Reduce heat and simmer a few minutes more. Stir in remaining bell pepper, season with black pepper, and serve.

This recipe was a good starting point, but I had to make several major adjustments to achieve something that was suitably "borscht-like" for my tastes. I used two beets rather than one (and next time, I'd use three) and I did not discard them after boiling. I chopped one beet into small dice and pureed the other. I added both right before service. Without the addition of the puree, the soup would have been bright orange rather than the deep ruby color I expect from borscht. Other changes I made: Added a tablespoon of dried dill toward the end of cooking, omitted about half of the butter and all of the celery (is "half a stalk" reallly going to add any flavor or texture?), didn't reserve the 1/2 c of tomato sauce (this step seemed unnecessary since everything gets mixed together anyway), and I used only about half of the cabbage called for and still found it to be a very cabbage-y soup (3 cups would have been serious overkill). Be sure to taste the soup before serving. I found that it needed quite a bit more salt and pepper than called for. Garnished with sour cream, of course. I will make borscht again, but not according to this recipe.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/borscht-i/Detail.aspx

 

[Loktar]

It sounds delicious. Except for the beets. Can you make beet-less borscht?

 

[Mirah]

Well according to Wikipedia there is a non beet version. I was hesitant to try this as well, not being a fan of beets, but it was really really good. You might be surprised.

 

[Loktar]

Well according to Wikipedia there is a non beet version. I was hesitant to try this as well, not being a fan of beets, but it was really really good. You might be surprised.

bookmarking this in case I don't get a chance to make this while living with my parents. I'll definitely give it a try when I move out.