More than a thousand years ago in Russia, any soup was called soup, but from about the 15th century this name was finally fixed for a rich fish soup. This dish today has several cooking recipes, some of which include the mandatory addition of cereals.
Grits suitable for fish soup
Old recipes for fish soup do not require the addition of any cereal, because since ancient times this dish was prepared exclusively from one type of fish, herbs and aromatic roots. And they ate such fish soup with bread on ordinary days and with pies on holidays. This is where such names as sterlet ear, sturgeon ear and others came from. Over time, this dish began to be prepared from several types of fish, which necessarily gives a rich, fragrant and slightly sticky broth. Such fish soup, for example, can be obtained from carp, crucian carp, carp, sterlet or halibut.
Well, to make the ear more satisfying, you can add a small amount of cereal to it. Best of all, of course, barley is suitable - it will give such a dish the viscosity it needs. Such cereals must be pre-soaked in water for several hours, otherwise it will cook for a very long time. And in the ear, it is added before the potatoes and boiled for 15-20 minutes. But in no case should there be a lot of cereals in the ear, otherwise the dish will begin to resemble more porridge than fish soup.
Millet or rice is also often added to the ear. Such cereals are thoroughly washed in cold water several times and put about 10 minutes before the end of cooking. True, although fish goes well with rice, a dish with such cereals will already more resemble fish soup than a real fish soup.
Recipe for delicious fish soup with barley and vodka
To prepare such a dish, you will need:
- 1 large fresh carp;
- 3 liters of water;
- the head of an onion;
- parsley root;
- Bay leaf;
- 4 potatoes;
- 6 peas of allspice;
- salt and black pepper to taste;
- a shot of vodka;
- 5 tbsp. tablespoons of pearl barley;
- a bunch of green onions and dill.
Wash the pearl barley and soak in cold water for 3 hours. In the meantime, clean and gut the carp, remembering to remove the gills. Wash thoroughly under running water. Cut off the head, tail and fins. Place them in a saucepan along with the parsley root and peeled onions. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Then remove the foam thoroughly, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes without a lid.
Place the head on a plate and discard the tail, fins, onions and parsley root. Strain the broth, put it on the fire again, add the remaining pieces of fresh fish and pearl barley to it. After 15 minutes, add coarsely chopped potatoes to the ear. When it's almost ready, add salt to the fish soup, add bay leaves and allspice. After 5 minutes, take out the bay leaf, pour a glass of vodka into the ear, pepper and sprinkle with herbs. Cover and let it brew for 10 minutes.
