Polish Żurek - Sour Rye Soup
Poland's classic sour rye soup, built on a homemade fermented rye starter with white sausage, smoked bacon and marjoram, finished with cream and served with a halved boiled egg.
Servings: 6 portions
Calories: 420kcal
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Equipment:
- 1 litre glass jar
Ingredients:
Starter Ingredients (Sour Rye):
- 500 ml Water - boiled and cooled, not chlorinated
- 5 tbsp Rye Flour - wholemeal rye, type 2000 if you can get it
- 5 Garlic Cloves - peeled and crushed
- 4 Bay leaves
- 10 Allspice Berries
Ingredients for the Zurek Soup:
- 1.5 L Vegetable Stock
- 500 ml Zurek starter - (zakwas) whisked, sediment and all
- 4 Pork sausages, small - (you can also add Polish smoked sausage - Kielbasa)
- 250 g Smoked bacon - (Boczek) in one piece, diced
- 1 tsp Marjoram
- 3 tbsp Double Cream - (soured cream works as well)
- Salt - to taste
To serve with Zurek:
- Boiled diced potatoes
- 6 Hard-boiled Eggs - cut in half
- Sourdough Bread
- Fresh Parsley - or dill, for garnish
- Black Pepper - to taste
Instructions:
Instructions for Starter (Sour Rye):
- For the starter preparation, use water free from chlorine as it can inhibit microbial growth. Boil the water and allow it to cool to room temperature before use.
- Once the water has cooled, combine all the starter ingredients in a sanitized jar. Mix them thoroughly with a clean spoon.
- Cover the jar with a cloth or paper towel and secure it with a band or tie. This ensures the starter has ventilation while remaining protected.
- Position the jar in a spot shielded from direct sunlight, maintaining room temperature, mix with clean spoon every other day. In about 5-7 days, the starter should be mature and ready. You can utilize it immediately or refrigerate it for up to two weeks. If refrigerating, remember to remove and discard any spices from the starter. If using immediately, incorporate the starter into your recipe as directed. (Alternatively you can purchase the starter)
Instructions for Vegetable Bullion (Soup Base):
- Begin by making the vegetable broth. In a large pot, combine 1 liter of water, diced carrots, 2 medium onions (quartered), a stalk of celery (chopped), and a sliced leek. Place the pot on high heat and bring the contents to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, allowing the mixture to simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and let it simmer for 1 hour.
- After the broth has been simmering for an hour, carefully strain the liquid, separating it from the vegetables. Retain the carrots for inclusion in your soup, and discard the rest of the vegetables.
Instructions for Żurek Soup
- Start by dicing the bacon. In a pan over high heat, fry the bacon for 4-5 minutes until its fat is rendered.
- To the hot stock, add the crispy bacon, cooked carrots, sausages (whole or sliced), and 1 teaspoon of marjoram. Bring the contents to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Take the Żurek starter and whisk it with the sediment, ensuring to discard any spices. Gradually pour this mixture into the soup, allowing it to simmer until the consistency becomes thicker.
- Remove the soup from the stove and extract the sausages. Once sliced, reintroduce them to the pot.
- In a separate bowl, blend the cream with a ladleful of the soup. This process ensures the cream doesn't curdle when added to the hot soup. Once mixed, pour this creamy mixture back into the main pot.
- To serve, ladle the Żurek into bowls. Add cooked potatoes to the soup and garnish with either parsley or dill, and a sprinkle of black pepper. Accompany with hard-boiled eggs (Zurek z jajkiem) and slices of fresh sourdough bread. Enjoy your meal! Smacznego!
Notes:
Warm enough for the starter: the zakwas needs somewhere above about 22°C to get going. A kitchen sitting at 18 to 19°C will leave you with a jar of flour and water and nothing happening. An airing cupboard, near a radiator or on top of the fridge all work.
Stir when the starter goes in: the flour drops straight to the bottom of the pot and catches, and a scorched base turns the whole soup bitter. Keep the heat low and stir down to the base, not round the top.
Add it gradually and taste: pour in about two thirds, taste, then decide. Starters vary in strength depending on how long they fermented and how warm they were. You can always add more sourness, you cannot take it out.
Storing the soup: two to three days in the fridge, and genuinely better on day two. Reheat gently and do not let it boil hard once the cream is in, or it can split. To freeze, hold the cream back and stir it in when you reheat; it keeps about three months.
Storing the starter: strain out the garlic, bay and allspice first, then bottle it with its flour sediment and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks. Do not leave the garlic sitting in it.
Nutrition:
Serving: 560g | Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 25g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 0.5g
