Borshch With Beef And Pork Food

BEEF AND BEET BORSCHT

Steps:

• Cook beef shank in a large soup pot over high heat until browned, about 3 minutes per side; add water, onion, carrots, celery, and bay leaf to the pot, bring to a simmer and cook until meat is tender and falling off the bone, about 4 hours. Strain broth and discard solids.
• Combine beef broth, beets, and cabbage in a large soup pot; cook, stirring occasionally, until beets are tender, about 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low; add vinegar, salt, and black pepper.
• Serve garnished with sour cream and dill.

BORSCHT WITH MEAT

Steps:

• Combine 1/2 cup of the beets, the vinegar, and sugar in a small bowl; refrigerate, covered, overnight. Refrigerate remaining beets.
• Place beef, water, bacon, salt, peppercorns, parsley sprigs, marjoram, and dill seeds (or basil leaves) in Dutch oven. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, simmer, partially covered, over medium heat until beef is tender (about 2 hours).
• Discard parsley sprigs. Add 3 cups beets, the cabbage, leeks, onions, carrot, and sausage; simmer, covered, over low heat 30 minutes.
• To serve, remove beef, bacon, and sausage; cut into 2-inch pieces. Return meats and reserved beet mixture to Dutch oven. Sprinkle with snipped dill. Pass sour cream.

BEEF BORSCHT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the bacon in a Dutch oven or stockpot and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until the fat begins to render, about 3 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring, until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
• To the fat in the pan, add the onions and carrots, and stir to coat. Cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, dill seeds, and bay leaves and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the red wine vinegar and stir to deglaze the pan. Return the meat to the pot and add the water, salt, and pepper and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer partially covered until the beef is tender, about 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, place the beets on a baking sheet and brush with the oil. Roast until tender and can be pierced easily with a knife, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle. Trim the stem and root ends and remove the skins. Coarsely grate and set aside.
• When the meat is tender and falling apart, add the beets, potatoes, and cabbage. Simmer over low heat for another 30 minutes. Season with additional red wine vinegar, salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
• Ladle borscht into bowls and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and pinch of fresh dill.

BORSCH

Steps:

• To make the stock, put the meat, whole onion, bay leaf and 2 litres of lightly salted cold water in a large saucepan. Cook over a very low heat for 1 hr 30 mins or until the beef shin is soft and falls apart easily - this can take up to 3 hrs. Skim off the scum with a spoon from time to time. Break up any larger pieces of beef into the broth, remove the whole onion and discard.
• Add the potatoes to the borscht, season well with salt and pepper and cook for 10-15 mins until tender. Meanwhile, heat the sunflower oil in a large, deep frying pan. Add the diced onion and carrot, and cook over a medium heat, stirring, until the carrot is soft and is about to start caramelising.
• Add the beetroot and cook for around 5 mins, stirring occasionally. Add the red pepper, if using, and cook for another 2 mins, then add the tomatoes and prunes, stir, then increase the heat and boil to reduce slightly, before adding everything to the borscht.
• Add the shredded cabbage and the kidney beans, and cook for 7-10 mins or until tender. Serve with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche, lots of chopped dill and some crusty bread.

BORSCHT (BEET SOUP)

Steps:

• Crumble the sausage into a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until no longer pink. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Fill a large pot halfway with broth and bring to a boil. If using sausage add to broth, and bring back to a boil. Add the beets and cook until they have lost their color. Add the carrots, potatoes and garlic, simmer until tender (about 15 min). Add the cabbage and the can of diced tomatoes.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until tender. Stir in the tomato paste and water until well blended. Transfer to the pot. Simmer another 5-10 minutes, and adjust seasoning (salt, pepper and sugar) to your liking. Cover, turn off heat and let soup stand for about five minutes.
• Ladle into serving bowls, and garnish with sour cream and fresh parsley.

A BETTER BORSCHT (BEET) SOUP

Steps:

• Place pork hocks in a stock pot and cover with 6 cups cold water (or enough to really cover them. Cover and place over fire until the hocks come to a boil.
• While this is coming to a boil, chop your onions, celery, carrots and beans.
• When the pot has boiled there will be a lot of foam at the top of the pot, Pour everything out and rinse the pot and meat well, then move to step 4. This is so that you don't have floaty things in the soup later (personally I often miss this step and don't mind the results at all). If you decide to miss cleaning everything just move straight to step 4 right away. Otherwise, you need to add 6 cups (or more, you need enough to cover them) clean cold water before step 4.
• Add the garlic, seasonings and the chopped vegetables.
• Bring the pot back to a boil, turn down and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the pork hock is loosened and tender.
• Remove the pork hock from the pot and cool. Return the stock to the fire and continue simmering until you've moved to the next step. While the pork hock is cooling, chop the potato and prepare the first four beets.
• To prepare the beets, peel them, cut them lengthwise in half (through the stem and top), turn cut side down and slice into 1/8" thin slices across the width of the beet. Lay the slices down and cut these into 1'8" slices across the width of the beet. This method gives the prettiest presentation.
• Add the potato to the pot and return the soup to a slow boil, then add the beet slices. DO NOT LET THE SOUP BOIL ONCE THE BEETS ARE ADDED OR IT WILL LOSE IT'S COLOR.
• While this is coming up to heat, clean the pork hock and return them to the pot. Make sure to get all the ugly bits and fat, but leave the meat as whole as you can, better to shred it in you bowl! Trust me!
• Leave this to simmer very slowly until the potato is cooked and the beets are tender. Meanwhile, chop the beet stalks (if they are tender) and the leaves; and peel and grate the final 2 beets.
• Add the peas and tops/leaves to the pot. When the peas are cooked add the grated beets (this is more to thicken the soup and add back any color that may have been lost before; and also DH loves the addition of shredded beat to this cause that's the way his mom made borscht). Continue to cook VERY SLOWLY.
• Once everything is tender you can finally add the dill and 1/2 teaspoon of sour salt. Tasting is important here, I usually add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of sour salt myself, but I prefer it a bit sour.
• I taste all the way through because I love the way the flavor builds, but it is very important at the end. Adjust the dill, salt and sour salt carefully, with some practice you'll find a soup that everyone loves.
• Add more water if this soup begins looking dry, but it is a thick soup so doesn't require a lot of broth - cream will be added at the table.
• You can park the soup overnight in the fridge and remove all the fat that rises the next day. This soup is excellent on day 1 but even better day 2, and healthier when the fat is removed.
• The broth shouldn't be sweet (the sweetness will happen with every bite) and it should have a bit of a sour tang (I like mine quite sour)and a taste of dill (and quite dilly). The soup SHOULD NEVER be salty because the meat may call for some seasoning in the bowl.
• This soup is better the next day, and may be put in jars and canned (10 minutes in a water bath) or frozen (but I find the beans go off when it's frozen so would leave them out in this case).
• Add sour cream or whipped cream at the table as a garnish. More fresh dill is pretty and tasty as well.
• Ask my friend Katlin - he loves this soup!