Chefs Binge · Polish · Serves 6 servings
Polish Beetroot Soup (Barszcz Czerwony)
A clear, deep red Polish beetroot soup, sharp and lightly sweet, built on beetroot kvass for depth. Served over uszka at Christmas, or drunk from a mug the rest of the year.
Prep
10 min
Cook
35 min
Total
45 min
Serves
6 servings
Per serving
150 kcal
Ingredients
Ingredients for Borscht
1.5 L Vegetable stock - chicken stock works just as well and makes it richer
500 g Beetroot - Peeled and sliced
2 Bay leaves
5 Allspice berries
1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
1 tsp Sugar - to taste
Salt and black pepper - to taste
1 tsp Dried marjoram
2 Garlic cloves - crushed, added at the end
500 ml Beetroot Kvass - optional, but it is what makes it barszcz rather than beetroot soup. Shop-bought or homemade
Equipment
Large Pot · Slotted Spoon · Fine Mesh Sieve
Method
1
Preparation. Peel the beetroots and slice them thinly. If you are using homemade Beetroot Kvass, ensure it's prepared ahead of time.
2
Cooking. In a large pot, bring the vegetable or chicken broth to a boil. Add the sliced beetroots, bay leaves, and all spice berries to the pot. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes or until the beetroots are tender.
3
Removing Beetroot and Spices. Once the beetroots are tender, use a slotted spoon to remove them along with the bay leaves and all spice berries from the soup.
4
Adding Kvass. If you are using beetroot kvass, stir it into the soup at this stage.
5
Final Seasoning. Stir in the crushed garlic and the marjoram, rubbing the marjoram between your fingers as it goes in to wake it up. Add the white wine vinegar, sugar, salt and black pepper to taste, then let it sit on the lowest heat for five minutes. Both the garlic and the herb go in at this stage rather than earlier: long simmering turns garlic sweet and mild, and it is the sharp edge you want here.
6
Serving. Depending on the occasion, serve the barszcz over uszka z grzybami, or with a boiled egg, potatoes, a spoonful of soured cream, or krokiety alongside. It is also very good on its own, drunk from a mug. A little chopped dill or parsley finishes it. Do not throw away the strained-out beetroot: dressed with oil and vinegar it makes a good salad.
Chef’s notes
- Keep it below a simmer. The red pigments in beetroot break down with heat, so a hard boil turns a ruby pot dull and brownish. Gentle throughout, including when reheating.
- Kvass goes in off the boil. It is a live ferment and boiling flattens the sourness.
- Season last and slowly. Barszcz wants to be sweet and sour at once. Add the vinegar a little at a time.
- Better the next day. Keeps four or five days in the fridge and freezes for three months. Freeze it before any cream goes near it.
- Tempering cream. Stir a ladle of hot soup into the cream, not the other way round, or it splits.
Per serving Calories 150 kcal · Protein 3 g · Carbs 16 g · Fat 4.2 g · Saturates 1.9 g · Fibre 2.5 g · Sugar 6 g · Sodium 500 mg
Recipe © Chef Łukasz Babral · chefsbinge.com · for personal use only
chefsbinge.com/polish-beetroot-soup-barszcz-czerwony
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