# Russian Borscht



## Lifter (Oct 20, 2004)

8 cups water
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
3 medium beets
2 carrots
1 tellow onion
a tablespoon or so of lard
2 medium red potato's
1 cup shredded tomato, deseeded
1 cup sweet cream
 1 Tbspn flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and finely shred beets, carrots and onion.

Add water, and bring to a low boil

Add lard, S+P and continue to cook until vegetables are tender.

Add cubed potato and tomato.

Mix flour in a bit of cold water and stir in with cream.

Serve with sour cream...

Health food from the Prairies...


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## Audeo (Oct 21, 2004)

Wow.  That looks good, Lifter!  Using peas is an interesting idea!

Growing up, a Ukrainian mother lived next door and made her borshch always with a smoked meat (beef and ham as I recall) and cabbage, in addition to beets and beans and potatoes, and maybe even mushrooms...not too sure about that.  There were so many vegetables in the soup that you could stand a wooden spoon upright in the pot, which I remember her doing when pronouncing the dish done.

I do love a good Borscht!


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## Alix (Oct 21, 2004)

To throw in a variation of what looks like a FABULOUS recipe, we use a beef stock base, and use all the veggies listed above, but add in shredded zucchini as well. We are usually overstocked with the danged things. We also do not put in any cream. Then when we serve, we put the big tub of sour cream on the table for people to add their own. It cools the soup off to an edible heat right away.


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## Lifter (Oct 21, 2004)

From a "classic" point of view, borscht is a peasant's dinner soup, and so would not contain meat of any description...mind I do have a recipe that calls for minor amounts of veal stewmeat...

Lifter


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## Konditor (Oct 22, 2004)

*Lifter*:  This substantial soup can be served hot or cold. Serving it cold, I like to bind it with sour, rather than sweet, cream.  A small amount of brown sugar can help to counterbalance the acidity of the beets.  For an extra-hearty version, I use beef stew meat, beef stock, white cabbage, carrots, parsnips, and tomatoes. And allspice berries add impact to the overall beef flavour.  Nevertheless, the version you have offered is excellent in itself, and would certainly make for a complete meal, particulary when served with, for example, the _pirozhki_, mentioned below.

Russian-style black bread is often the _de rigueur_ accompaniment for Borshch as an appetizer soup or lunchtime dish. It is also very suitable to broaden its satisfaction by serving it with _pirozhki_ (beef, chicken, or veal pies), _vatrushki_ (savoury cheese tartlets), or _kasha_ (a type of buckwheat pancake).  A robustly fortifying meal – especially in the dead of winter.


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## buckytom (Oct 22, 2004)

mmmmm, i love borscht. my mil was from slovakia, where they made a clear borscht. i guess there were no beets. it kinda looked like dishwater, with bits of eggs and bread floating in it, but it was really good, it was usually served around easter. has anyone ever heard of this type of borscht, and might you have a recipe?


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## Alix (Oct 22, 2004)

buckytom, was it chicken based broth? I have one that has a chicken based broth, whipped eggs cooked into it and we also put thinly sliced onion in it too. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Don't know if this is what you want, but will post it if you do.


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## buckytom (Oct 25, 2004)

ok, thanks alix. but i think yours is different. i don't think it was a chicken broth, and the eggs were hard boiled first, then sliced into the soup.


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## homecook (Oct 28, 2004)

buckytom said:
			
		

> mmmmm, i love borscht. my mil was from slovakia, where they made a clear borscht. i guess there were no beets. it kinda looked like dishwater, with bits of eggs and bread floating in it, but it was really good, it was usually served around easter. has anyone ever heard of this type of borscht, and might you have a recipe?



Hi everyone!! I just joined and hope to post some good recipes and also to find some new ones. This really looks like a great site.
I happened to be lurking through all the different topics and saw this one. This is a recipe my Babcia (grandma-Polish) used to make every Easter.

Polish Easter Baszcz (Ham and Sausage Borsch)

3 quarts ham or sausage cooking liquid
3 T. flour
1 cup water
3 T. white vinegar (or to taste)
1-1/8 cups cooked ham (cut in 1-inch pieces)
6 pieces (3 inches each) cooked smoked sausage
6 eggs, hard-cooked
6 slices rye bread
6 tsp. prepared horseradish

Chill 3 quarts liquid reserved from cooking ham or sausage. Skim off all fat; measure 3 T. and return these to liquid. Heat. Blend flour and water; stir into hot liquid. Add vinegar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, place into each large, individual soup bowl: 1/4 cup ham; 1 piece sausage, cut up; 1 hard-cooked egg, sliced; 1 slice rye bread, cut in 1-inch pieces, and 1 tsp. prepared horseradish. Pour hot soup overall. Serves 6.

Brings back memories. My grandmother is still with us, she is turning 96 next week, she's just not able to do much cooking any more.

Barb


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## buckytom (Oct 28, 2004)

THAT"S IT!!!!!! thanks so much homecook/barb. my mil is slovakian, my fil is polish so it was an easter tradition in their house. i would really like to make it next year. me lost my mil in august, and now have taken in one of her best friends to live with us since she was about to lose her house, and we had the room. she is from slovakia also, and married a german/pole. getting a whole new bunch of recipes and traditions to learn from her, it's great.
lol, she wanted to make chicken soup for us since we were sick last week, and went out to my herb garden for some parsley to put in the soup. when it was done, it was very tasty, but very different. we couldn't for the life of us figure out what was different, but i noticed it tasted an awful lot like a thai soup called tom yum. then i realized she couldn't tell the difference between the cilantro and parsley, and put cilantro in it. my wife is going to try to reproduce the mistaken chicken soup tonight it was so good...


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## Audeo (Oct 28, 2004)

Way to make an entrance there, homecook!  Your recipe looks delicious..and it's obvious you've made buckytom's day with your post!

Welcome to the site!  I shall look forward to many more of your posts!  And a very special Happy Birthday wish to your grandmother.


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## kitchenelf (Oct 28, 2004)

Welcome homecook!!!!  Thanks for giving buckytom the recipe he was looking for!!!  How exciting to find something that you've been searching for.  Hope to see you around here often!!

buckytom - has anyone told you lately that you are a good man.  Well, you ARE a good man.


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## buckytom (Oct 28, 2004)

thanks elfie,     that's nice of you. trying to make up for a misspent youth, and late teens, and early 20's, and late 20's, and 30's. lol...


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## kitchenelf (Oct 28, 2004)

It's never too late and the most unexpected things can make us feel good.  Just hearing what you are doing is my "feel good" today.


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## mudbug (Oct 28, 2004)

You've succeeded, buckytom!  (and bravo to elf for officially pointing it out).  You make me laugh every time you post something.


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## buckytom (Oct 28, 2004)

uh oh, they're not ALL supposed to be funny mudbug...lol.


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## homecook (Oct 28, 2004)

buckytom, glad I could help! It is a wonderful thing you are doing.

 I've got lots of recipes from my grandmother that I have been experimenting with the past few years. She is just a wealth of information! She has taught me so much about the recipes I remember her making when I was a kid. It was quite some time ago too. lol I hope to share more with everyone soon.

Barb


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## CharlieD (Sep 6, 2007)

This came up as a link for Borscht, of course this thread is so old but I still have to say. There is no way no how, no one in Russia would put pees into Borscht. You can call it whatever you want, but it ain't no Borscht.


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## YT2095 (Sep 6, 2007)

agreed, When I stayed in Russia, I was given this several times by different families I stayed with, and it never had peas in it either 

although I did try a sort of Hybrid of Borscht, and Shii (I don`t how to transcribe the word in to english correctly) but Shii (like she) is sounding correct.


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## Claire (Sep 11, 2007)

This is so funny.  My husband's mother was Slovakian/Russian, his father Slovenian (both born in the US), and to him borsht means beet soup, which he claims to hate, so I've never tried to make it!


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## David Cottrell (Sep 11, 2007)

*Is a rose by any other name a rose? How about borsch?*

Remember guys and gals, borsch by any name (borsch is the official US transliteration for the Ukrainian word which I need the Cyrillic alphabet to spell), anyway, borsch has escaped the borders. It's anything from a very simple beet soup to a gourmet presentation. It must contain beet roots or the juice there of or kavass or puree from said vegetable. Remember beet roots. 

My well traveled Russian Literature Professor (father from Russian and mother from Ukraine, fluent Russian, traveled there many times literally from one end to the other, PhD, etc.) adds corn to his sometimes. He says that in Moscow they like to put hot dogs in it. It is good with hot dogs included.

I like the recipe I have from Lviv - authentic from a dear grandmother there - vegetarian all the way with lima beans and of course beets. Most excellent and if a grandmother born, raised, and living in Lviv calls her recipe borsch then borsch it is! Smile, it's really only a beet based vegetable soup with or without meat stock or meat. Humble beet soup which threatens to send the armies marching armed with sharpened wooden spoons!

It isn't what it was in the old days when beet roots were finally cultivated from a skinny root to what they are today. In ancient days only the greens were used. Today the greens are hardly used. Enjoy, just make sure there are beet roots.


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## Andy M. (Sep 11, 2007)

Well said, David.

It's impossible to claim a single recipe for a food such as borsch is the only acceptable version.  Every mom and grandmother in Eastern European countries has their own version and it's as legit as any other.

Sort of like beef stew or coq au vin or beef bourguignon or goulash, etc, etc.  There are home grown country dishes that sprang from what was available at the time.

Granted, each of these dishes has some basic ingredients that have to be present to qualify the dish, but after that, there's a lot of flexibility.


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## ella/TO (Sep 11, 2007)

My Bubby (Jewish grandma) used to make a clear beet/garlic borsht....a little sugar added to it, I remember, and it was served with boiled potatoes that you put in your bowl of soup at the table....Ymmmmmmy


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## CharlieD (Sep 24, 2007)

So did mine, could never stand it.


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## ella/TO (Sep 24, 2007)

Sorry Charlie!.....


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## David Cottrell (Sep 24, 2007)

*I love this place, borsch from everywhere to rice Iranian style.*

This borsch thread is one of the most fun around. I love it.  This is for fun and sharing. 

There is a blog that has a discussion going about the Ukrainian language. It's more like a dog fight and so full of silly statements I can't believe it. I would rather share a bowl of borsch and a good piece of dark bread. Yes, some perohies would be nice. Even a plate of peroshie. It's hard to argue with your mouth full of good food. Cheers!


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## CharlieD (Sep 24, 2007)

Neah, no big deal. She was a good woman.


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