Traditional Ukrainian borscht is the biggest secret of a real housewife, who certainly has a couple of features that distinguish her dish from all others. Unique, rich, tasty and hot - this borscht will become an adornment of any dinner.
What is necessary
Foreigners mistrustfully call red borscht "boiled salad", but soon they become imbued with incredible taste peculiarities and beg for a recipe. Someone cooks borsch with fish, someone with sauerkraut, someone with mushrooms. But the most important and main ingredient that distinguishes it from other soups is beets. By the way, cabbage soup should never be called green borscht, this is not true. Such a name is permissible only for traditional red borscht, which will require:
-0.5 kg of beef on the bone (can be replaced with the same amount of lean pork);
-50 g lard;
-0, 3 kg of fresh beets (about 3-4 pieces);
-3 large potatoes;
-1 onion (preferably red);
-1 carrots;
-0.2 kg of white cabbage (this is about 1.5 cups chopped);
-2 tablespoons of mild tomato paste;
-6 black peppercorns;
-4 liters of filtered or boiled water;
-a pair of bay leaves;
-sunflower oil for frying;
-1 clove of garlic;
-1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar without a slide;
-2 tbsp. l. vinegar (six percent);
- salt, pepper, dill, parsley - "by eye".
How to cook
To begin with, the washed meat on the bone (it does not creep on the bone, it cooks faster), put it to boil in water for an hour and a half. When foam begins to form, it must be removed and the heat reduced. Add peppercorns, bay leaves and salt to a saucepan.
While the broth is preparing, you can do the vegetables. Grate the beets, chop the cabbage, cut the potatoes, carrots and onions into cubes of the usual size. After an hour and a half, the meat must be removed from the water, carefully strain the broth from possible bone fragments.
Separate the main bone from the pulp and cut the beef into pieces. Then send it back to cook in the broth, adding potatoes there.
Now you can fry onions and carrots in sunflower oil until golden, then add beets, vinegar, sugar and a little more salt (a third of a teaspoon) to the same deep frying pan. Let this mixture simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes. Then you need to add tomato paste to it and fry for several minutes without a lid, stirring, after these manipulations, send the contents of the pan into the pan. Now you can add cabbage there and leave under a lid over low heat for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, greaves can be made. Finely chop the bacon and fry it. Those who don't like cracklings can skip this cooking point. Remove the fried bacon from the pan, separating it from the melted fat, dry it a little and send it to the pan with other ingredients for another 5-7 minutes.
Now you can turn off the fire. Squeeze or chop the garlic directly into a saucepan. Borscht must be served hot, with a spoonful of sour cream and garnished with herbs. Donuts or black fresh bread are perfect for it.
