An easy way to make borscht. Step by step recipe for borscht with sauerkraut. Recipes for beginners: how to cook delicious borscht

Borscht is a filling vegetable soup. It is loved not only in Russia and Ukraine, but also in Poland (barshch), Lithuania (barschchai), Romania and Moldova (borsh).

In Kievan Rus, borscht was made from edible hogweed leaves (hence the name). Later they began to cook with beets (hence the color). Potatoes have been added since the 19th century.

The average cost of borscht in Russia is 220 rubles. The cheapest is borscht with delivery in Kazan: 37 rubles per serving. The most expensive borscht in the capital: a plate can cost 700 or more rubles.

What to take

For the broth:

• water - 1.5–2 liters;
• pork or beef on the bone - 400 g.

For frying:

• beets - 2 pcs. (small);
• carrots - 1 pc.;
• onion - 3 pcs. (medium);
• tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l.;
• sunflower oil - 4–5 tbsp. l.;
• citric acid - a pinch.

For borscht:

• fresh white cabbage - 300 g;
• potatoes - 4 pcs. (medium);
• salt, bay leaf, herbs - to taste.

For submission:

• sour cream - 1 tbsp. l. (in each plate);
• greenery.

How to cook

Step 1. Cook the broth

Take a 3 liter pot. Pour 1.5–2 liters of water into it, put it. Put on medium heat. Keep an eye on the broth, remove the foam before boiling.

The broth will be tastier if you use meat on the bone.

When it boils, cover the pot with a lid and simmer for an hour and a half.

Step 2. Frying

While the broth is cooking, fry the vegetables. Wash and clean beets, carrots and onions. Grate the beets on a coarse grater, and carrots on a medium grater. Cut the onion into cubes.

Pour sunflower oil into a frying pan, turn on medium heat. Fry the onions and carrots first (5 minutes), then add.

Sprinkle beets with citric acid or sprinkle with fresh lemon juice. Thanks to this, the borscht will be truly red.

Roast vegetables for another 5 minutes. After that, add tomato paste, mix and leave on gas for another 5-7 minutes.

Step 3. We collect borscht

When the broth is cooked, remove the meat from it. While the meat is cooling, put the shredded cabbage into the broth. After 5-10 minutes, add the diced potatoes.

For now, remove the meat from the bone and cut into cubes. Return meat to soup.

Salt to taste.

Add roast. Stir. Add bay leaf and finely chopped herbs. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

Borscht is ready.

Serving

Borscht can be eaten immediately after cooking. But it usually tastes even better the next day.

Borscht is a traditional peasant dish. Salo and donuts were served to him only on holidays.

Pour the borscht into deep bowls. Add fresh herbs, ground black pepper (if you like it spicier) and a slice of lemon (if you prefer it sour). They eat borscht with rye bread or buns rubbed with garlic.

Bon appetit!

Borscht is the first thing many of us think of when we hear the word soup. One of the most popular soups in Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, as well as in the cuisine of many Eastern European countries. Let with differences in recipes and names, but the most important thing they always have in common, the main vegetable ingredient is beets. Whether it's delicious borscht with meat or lean, with cabbage or beans, the right red borscht will always be with beets. This is what makes it special and loved.

In our country, borscht is always associated with a homemade dinner, mother or grandmother in the kitchen, and the unique flavors of meat and vegetables. I know a lot of people whose borscht is their favorite soup. And I can understand their feelings. By the way, every family has its own tricks and features of making delicious borscht. Someone adds pepper, someone lemon juice, vegetables are laid in a different sequence, tomatoes and spices, garlic, dumplings, lard. He diversity and dizzy can.

Most recently, I was just talking about the variant of borscht, and in this article I want to turn to borscht with meat, my favorite. And I think a lot of people will agree with me.

The easiest beef borscht recipe

First of all, I want to tell you how to cook delicious borscht with meat in beef broth. Beef meat is lean, tasty and healthy, rich in iron and protein, and also contains B vitamins. Broths that are cooked from meat with a bone are especially successful. Of course, you don’t need to cook one bone, but if you have a piece of meat with a small bone, then the broth will definitely turn out to be excellent, thick and rich, but not greasy. Therefore, borscht with beef meat can be considered a dish that is safe for your figure, the main thing is not to use too much vegetable oil when cooking frying.

For borscht you will need:

• beef - 400-500 gr (possible with a bone),
• beets - 1 large (or 2 small),
• cabbage - 300 grams,
• potatoes - 3-4 pieces,
• carrots - 1-2 pieces,
• onion - 1 piece,
• tomato paste - 2 tablespoons without top,
• garlic and herbs to taste
• bay leaf - 1-2 pieces,
• vegetable oil - 2-3 tablespoons,
• salt, peppercorns.

Cooking:

1. Delicious borscht with meat always starts with the preparation of the broth. It is necessary to thoroughly rinse the piece of meat, remove the fragments of the bones and put it to boil over medium heat. During the cooking process, be sure to constantly remove the foam that appears from the surface of the water. If it is not removed, the broth will be cloudy and not tasty. Foam is a protein that is released from meat when heated. As soon as the water boils, reduce the heat to medium or slightly lower so that there is no active boiling, but only occasional bubbles. So the beef will almost languish in the water and you get a very tasty broth. It can take two to three hours to boil, depending on what part of the carcass you used. Check readiness for softness of meat.

2. When the meat becomes soft, you can remove it from the pan so that it cools down. A little later, cut it into small pieces that will be convenient to eat. In the meantime, we will start laying vegetables. Peel potatoes, beets and carrots. Immediately cut the potatoes into cubes and place in a pot of boiling water. Fire can already be added. Boil potatoes for 10 minutes.

3. While the potatoes are cooking, cut the cabbage into thin strips. Do not make it too long, the pieces should fit in a tablespoon so that it is convenient to eat ready-made soup. Put the cabbage to boil 10 minutes after the potatoes. And cook for another 10 minutes.

If you have autumn or winter cabbage, then it is cooked longer and tougher. In this case, it can be put together with or in front of the potatoes.

4. At this time, put a frying pan with a small amount of vegetable oil on the fire. Finely chop the onion and add it to the skillet. Fry the onion until it becomes translucent and just starts to turn a little golden.

5. The next vegetable also goes into frying in a pan. It will be a carrot, it must be grated on a coarse grater. Do this in advance so that while you rub it, the onion does not overcook. Add the grated carrots to the onions and continue to sauté, stirring constantly. Carrots and onions should be soft but not browned. Fried crust will spoil the taste of the soup.

6. When the carrots soften a little and change color, it's time to put the grated beets and tomato paste. You need to add them together because the beetroot begins to lose its rich burgundy-red color during heat treatment, and the acid contained in the tomato paste prevents this process and fixes the color. Some cooks add vinegar or citric acid to the soup to fix the color, but this time we will get by with tomato paste.

7. Stir the vegetables well with the tomato paste and lower the heat under the pan. Now cook the roast on low heat until the beets soften a little. You can cover with a lid and lightly stew vegetables.

8. While the frying is stewing, we check the potatoes with cabbage. Catch a piece of vegetables with a spoon and try to cut them with a knife, if it is easy to cut and does not crunch, then they are ready. It's time to return the boiled meat, cut into pieces, to the upcoming borscht.

9. The vegetables are cooked, the frying is ready. It's time to connect them. Transfer the roast to the boiling broth with vegetables and stir well. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Salt the borscht to taste, add a bay leaf and, if desired, a few peppercorns. Then turn off the stove, cover the soup with a lid and leave it to infuse for 15-20 minutes.

10. If you want to add flavor to our delicious borscht with meat, finely chop fresh herbs and garlic. Put in soup and stir. You can add greens and garlic already in the plates when serving.

Well, our borscht with beef is ready. You can pour it into plates, add sour cream or herbs to taste. Take out fresh rye bread and call everyone to the table.

Bon appetit!

Borscht with pork ribs - step by step recipe

If you choose from what to cook delicious borscht with meat, then in second place after beef I will have pork ribs. But not smoked, as we use for, but raw. Of these, we will cook a good hearty borscht broth, it will be correct and rich, because the ribs are made of meat and bones, and the bone, as you know, is the best friend of a delicious broth.

You will need:

• pork ribs - up to 1 kg,
• beets - 1 piece (large),
• potatoes - 3-4 pieces,
• carrots - 1 piece,
• onion - 1 piece,
• tomato paste - 2 tablespoons,
• cabbage - 250-300 grams (1/4 head),
• garlic - 2-3 cloves,
• greens to taste
• Bay leaf,
• salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking:

1. Rinse pork ribs thoroughly in running water. Then divide into parts, cutting between the bones of the ribs so that one rib remains in one piece. Too long ribs can be cut in half, but then do not forget to rinse the meat again so that there are no bone fragments left. Heat the pan and fry the ribs on both sides until lightly browned for 5 minutes. After that, pour water into the pan and put them to boil for about 1 hour. Lightly fried meat will give the broth a golden color and a pleasant taste.

2. While the meat is cooking, you can prepare all the vegetables. Cabbage is peeled from the upper leaves and chopped into small strips. Peel the potatoes and cover with cold water so that they do not darken. Peel and grate beets and carrots on a coarse grater. Chop the onion into small squares. Peel the garlic and finely chop.

3. After the meat is cooked, remove it from the pan and set aside. Later we will return it to the soup when the vegetables are cooked.

4. Cut the potatoes into cubes and throw in the boiling broth to cook for 5-7 minutes.

5. Try cabbage, if it is tough from late varieties, then put it to boil 10 minutes after the potatoes. If it is young summer, then cabbage is laid after frying and boiled for only 7-10 minutes.

7. In a pan with hot oil, put the onion and fry it until soft, then add the carrots and beets. Mix everything well and lower the heat. Simmer vegetables over medium heat, stirring for 10 minutes.

8. Add tomato paste to the frying, stir and fry for another 5 minutes. Tomato paste will give the vegetables a red color and a characteristic smell. It is important not to add fire, otherwise everything will be overcooked and tasteless.

9. By the time the frying is ready, the cabbage and potatoes in the pan should become softer. Add stir-fry to soup and stir. Simmer for another 10 minutes over low heat, until it gurgles just noticeably, and does not boil actively. After that, you can add garlic and herbs. Salt and pepper the soup, put the bay leaf.

10. Taste all the vegetables, they should be cooked and soft. After that, remove the pan from the heat, return the pork ribs to the borscht and cover with a lid. Let the soup brew for 25-30 minutes. During this time, it will cool down a little and soak up the aromas and tastes of all the ingredients.

You can serve at the table!

Ukrainian borscht with pork and beans - video recipe

Since we are considering the most delicious ways to cook borscht with meat, we should not lose sight of Ukrainian borscht. It is necessarily cooked in meat broth and with pieces of meat. To this we will add bell pepper and beans, these are the important ingredients of Ukrainian borscht. The right cooking recipe will help you make a real delicious borscht, and in order not to make a mistake anywhere, it is best to watch a very detailed and visual video. Do not forget to prepare a snack of lard with garlic and put a spoonful of sour cream. Overeating!

Delicious borscht with meat and vegetables - step by step recipe

It would seem that what can be added to borscht with meat to make it even tastier, in addition to the standard set of vegetables or beans, as in the recipe for Ukrainian borscht. It turns out that celery root and parsnips will help us to enrich the taste. These roots are not so difficult to find, and besides, many of us grow them in our own garden. I suggest you cook borsch according to this recipe, and then evaluate the difference. Believe me, you will love this option too.

You will need:

• pork or beef with bone - 1-1.3 kg,
• potatoes - 3-4 pieces,
• carrots - 1 piece,
• beets - 1 pc,
• parsnip - 1 piece,
• celery stalk - 2 pieces,
• onions - 2 pcs,
• sweet pepper - 1/2 piece (or small),
• tomatoes - 400 grams (you can canned in your own juice),
• tomato paste - 1.5 tablespoons,
• spicy adjika - 1 teaspoon,
• garlic - 2 cloves,
• ground coriander - 0.5 teaspoon,
• sugar - 1 teaspoon,
• bay leaf - 1-2 pieces,
• vegetable oil 2-3 tablespoons,
• salt and black pepper to taste.

Cooking:

1. Delicious borscht with meat starts with meat. Take pieces with bones for cooking. It can be either beef or pork, the difference will be only in the time that the meat is cooked. Beef is cooked for about 2-2.5 hours, pork - 1-1.5 hours. Rinse the meat under cold running water to remove bone fragments, then place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. This is important, by no means hot. Now put it on the stove and cook. As it boils, a gray foam will appear, which must be removed so that the broth is transparent.

2. As soon as the meat boils, put two celery stalks and one small unpeeled onion into the pan. Continue to cook the meat until fully cooked.

3. While the broth is being cooked, it is necessary to prepare all the vegetable ingredients. Peel beets, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions. Grate carrots, beets and parsnips. Shred the cabbage into thin strips. Cut sweet pepper into thin strips. Cut the onion into squares or quarters of rings. Cut the potatoes into medium-sized cubes and cover them with cold water so that they do not darken.

Tomatoes also need to be prepared in advance if you have fresh ones. They need to be poured over with boiling water and peeled. Then grate or chop with a blender at low speed into gruel.

4. When the meat is cooked, remove the onion and celery stalks from the broth. They were needed only for the taste and aroma of the broth. Now they can be thrown away.

5. Remove the meat from the pan too. Let it cool slightly, then separate the bones, and cut the rest into small pieces.

6. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat and put the onion first. Fry it for literally 2 minutes.

7. Now add the grated carrots and fry for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. Sweet peppers are sent to the pan next. Continue sautéing the vegetables for another 2 minutes.

9. Now put the grated beets. Reduce heat to low and simmer vegetables for 5 minutes.

10. After five minutes of stewing, add the tomatoes in the juice along with the juice (or grated fresh) and tomato paste. Mix everything well.

11. We put fragrant and tasty spices in the frying. Ground coriander, adjika and a spoonful of sugar. We stir everything and continue to simmer the frying for another 5 minutes over low heat.

12. Now return the diced meat and diced potatoes to the broth.

13. Immediately add the white parsnip root as well. If you don’t have it, it’s not scary, you can cook without it, just the broth will have a slightly different taste. Put the same two bay leaves and cook further. As soon as it boils, remove the foam that appears, now potatoes will give it. After boiling, cook for 5-7 minutes until the potatoes are half cooked.

14. Catch the bay leaf and lay the cabbage. The cabbage should be cooked depending on how firm it is. Young cabbage cooks very quickly, and late winter cabbage should boil for at least 10 minutes. It is best to try the cabbage raw, and then while cooking, to understand when it is ready.

15. When the cabbage is almost ready, lay the fry and cook with inactive boiling in small bubbles for another 5 minutes. Now you can put garlic to make delicious borscht with meat even more fragrant.

16. Now put finely chopped greens. Cover and leave to infuse for 20-25 minutes. Borsch will not lose its temperature, but at the same time it will be wonderfully saturated with aromas.

Well, our delicious borscht with pork and various vegetables is ready. It's time to serve. Don't forget sour cream and fresh bread. Have a nice dinner with your family!

Naval borsch - a delicious video recipe for meat broth with smoked meats

Finally, I can’t help but mention this delicious recipe for borscht with meat. Naval borsch is prepared not only with boiled meat and broth, but also with the addition of fragrant ruddy smoked meats. Have you already imagined this taste and smell? For lovers of smoked meats, this borscht is just a godsend, believe me, I am one of them. The classic borscht is certainly out of competition, but this is a worthy variety.

How many women, so many borscht recipes. Every housewife knows how to cook borscht with beets so that it is not just edible, but amazingly tasty.

In many families, the secret of cooking this amazing dish is passed down from generation to generation, from grandmothers and mothers. But even experienced housewives will not mind learning something new, adding a twist so that the borscht will play with new flavors, be distinguished by piquancy and aroma.

It is difficult to say who invented borscht. Many countries attribute it to their national cuisine. Slavic peoples have traditionally eaten it since ancient times and consider it the main first course.

In the north of Russia, soup with the addition of cabbage was called shchi. The farther south, the more heat-loving vegetables grew, which can be added to first courses. It is possible that borscht was first cooked in Kievan Rus, since it was Ukrainian borscht that became most widespread and is famous all over the world.

In Russia, the first mention of borscht appeared in the 16-17th centuries, Catherine II loved it very much, but Potemkin preferred sour daily cabbage soup. In the rules and advice of Domostroy (a book of teachings and instructions from the 16th century), you can find recommendations for preparing summer soup from hogweed and beets - it became the prototype of modern food.

Each locality has its own rules and recipes for making borscht, but it can be divided into two main types: red (now popular among the Slavic peoples) and cold (reminiscent of summer okroshka).

Red borscht is a hot first course, without which we cannot even imagine a traditional lunch. Every Slavic family in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus knows how to cook borscht with beets, and they love it very much.

And the cold one was prepared in spring and summer - this is a light soup of greens and boiled beets, with the addition of boiled sliced ​​eggs and fermented milk products for dressing. It was eaten cold and often boiled potatoes were used instead of bread.

To properly cook borscht with beets, use the secrets of experienced chefs.

1. Bouillon. The richness of borscht depends on the broth. It can be anything: meat, vegetable, fish. For classic borsch, it is best to take pork or beef on the bone. Borscht based on poultry will turn out delicious: chicken, duck or any other. For lean borscht, cook a pre-saturated vegetable broth.
2. Beet. This is what gives it a bright red color. It can be cut into strips or grated, but never add raw to the liquid, otherwise it will boil out, and the borscht will become faded. Pour into a little vegetable oil and pass the beets until soft, after sprinkling with vinegar and adding a spoonful of sugar, so it does not brighten during cooking and keeps the color of borscht bright. It is even better to bake beets in foil, then it will retain its natural properties.
3. Frying. Borscht without frying is not borscht, but a soup of boiled vegetables. Diced onion is sautéed in oil until transparent, grated carrots are added and after a couple of minutes - a little flour. It can be fried separately in butter or vegetable oil. Flour will provide additional density and velvety.
4. Tomatoes. Never feel sorry for tomato paste or sauce, borscht will be sour and rich. You can use factory-made, homemade or chopped fresh tomatoes.
5. Sour cream. Many experienced housewives add sour cream during the cooking process, mixing it with tomato dressing and thus acidifying the broth. Try it, perhaps this method will be a revelation for you. Or add it directly to your plate.
6. Cabbage. Finely shredded, young or mature, white or Beijing, but it is added at the very end, almost before turning off the fire. Don't digest it! Bring to a boil and soak for 5-7 minutes.
7. Additional ingredients. Mushrooms, beans, prunes give borscht piquancy and originality. By alternating additives, you can achieve new flavors each time.
8. Intuition. Few people strictly follow the recipe and measure the right amount of ingredients. Borscht is cooked "by eye", products are added in those quantities that your feelings tell you.
9. Saturation. Borscht must be infused, soaked with aromas. Let it sit for a bit before serving. And the next day it tastes even better.
10. Serving on the table. Borscht will look very colorful if served in thick-walled painted ceramic plates. Be sure to sprinkle with finely chopped herbs on top and add a spoonful of sour cream. Put chopped lard, garlic and black bread on the table. Don't forget the garlic donuts!

Each cook praises his borscht

There are many variations on how to cook borscht with beets, sauerkraut, beans, sorrel and other ingredients. Each recipe has its own cooking secrets. Delight your loved ones with borsch prepared according to one of the recipes below.

And let's cook a real Ukrainian borscht, in compliance with the national flavor and taste preferences! Just do not wait for the calculation of the exact weight of the products - borscht should be prepared solely by intuition. So, let's begin!

The best borscht meat is beef on the bone, it takes a long time to cook, but the broth turns out delicious. Pour in cold water and bring to a boil. Remove the foam, salt, put on a minimum heat and simmer for 2-3 hours until the meat is ready. Do not forget to put the whole onion and carrot for flavor, bay leaf, a few black peppercorns.

A little secret: cook together with meat and a few peeled large potatoes.

While the meat is cooking, let's fry. We cut the fat into small pieces and fry it to the state of cracklings (translucent), add a finely chopped onion and fry until a transparent color. We cut the beets into strips, carrots can be finely chopped or grated on a coarse grater, stew vegetables together with cracklings.

Add sugar to the frying and sprinkle with vinegar to give brightness. As soon as the beetroot has become soft, ten minutes of stewing is enough, crush it with flour and mix. Now add tomato sauce or grated fresh tomatoes, simmer for a few more minutes.

The broth is ready. We extract the contents from it. We select the bones, and disassemble the meat into fibers or cut into pieces. Onions and carrots have served their purpose - we throw them away. Whole boiled potatoes are mashed into puree - this gives the density of the broth and a velvety taste.

Add diced potatoes and cook for 20 minutes. Add roast. We taste, if necessary, salt, pepper.

Shred the cabbage, send it to the pan. Bring to a boil and leave on low heat for no more than 10 minutes. Let's insist. Ukrainian borscht with lard is ready.

Serve with donuts and greens.

Soup with sauerkraut

A very fortified dish, because sauerkraut is a storehouse of useful elements. The taste is sweet and sour, original.

• Make a meat broth with pork, beef or chicken. Use the meat for second courses or chop and send back to the borscht.
• Put potatoes in cubes, cook until tender.
• Fry vegetables for frying in the following sequence: onions, beets, carrots. Simmer until soft and season with tomato paste.
• Add sauerkraut and fried cabbage to borscht, cook until tender.
• Serve with sour cream and finely chopped green onions.

Borscht with sorrel

This borscht is also called "green", and it is perfectly refreshing in summer and no less tasty in winter. True, in winter you have to use canned sorrel, which experienced housewives have been harvesting since summer specifically for this purpose.

There is nothing complicated in cooking, the green borscht is based on the classic borscht recipe, only sorrel is put instead of cabbage.

Boil the meat broth, and prepare the other ingredients. Potatoes and onions are cut into cubes, carrots are grated, beets are cut into strips, a bunch of sorrel is crumbled with a knife. Finely chop a few hard-boiled eggs, or you can cut them larger: into quarters or halves.

While the broth is cooking, prepare the stir fry. In any oil, bring the onion to a translucent state, put the beets and carrots, simmer until soft. Add tomatoes.

We cut the cooked meat into pieces. Throw potatoes and cook for 20-30 minutes. Now frying - add and boil for a few more minutes. Finally, the turn came to put sorrel and eggs, as soon as it boils, we immediately turn it off. We insist, serve to the table.

Vegetarian (lean) borscht with beans or mushrooms

Hearty borsch can be cooked not only on meat broth, but also with beans. It is especially relevant for vegetarians or fasting.

• Soak dry beans in cold water for several hours, overnight.
• Cook it until soft in salted water.
• Add potatoes and roasted vegetables: onions, beets, carrots, tomato.
• Lastly, we throw finely shredded cabbage, boil for no more than 10 minutes. Turn off the fire and let it brew.

Bean borscht is rich in satiety, especially if white sugar beans were used, because legumes are rich in proteins and in many cases can replace meat. Canned beans do not add saturation to the broth, it is better to use them for making salads.

Instead of beans, you can take mushrooms, previously fried in oil. It's even better to combine.

Naval borscht

It takes a long time to cook, but it's worth it - lick your fingers! Its main difference from the classic recipe is the addition of smoked brisket or any other smoked meats.

1. We cook the broth from meat cut into small pieces with the addition of a whole onion. When it boils, remove the foam with a slotted spoon and reduce the heat to a minimum. After an hour, salt, and after another 30-40 minutes we check the readiness of the meat - it should be soft and pierced with a fork. Take out and discard the onion.
2. Add the smoked brisket pieces and cook until the roast is cooked.
3. Cut the beets into strips, sprinkle with vinegar and fry in sunflower oil until soft. Pour the broth into it and simmer for half an hour.
4. Separately fry onions and grated carrots.
5. Chop or grate the tomatoes on a coarse grater. Add to the beets, stew everything together for several minutes. Cut the potatoes into cubes or strips, as you like. Put in a saucepan, cook until done.
6. We do not chop the cabbage, as we are used to, but cut it into squares and throw it into the borscht.
7. Next comes the frying.
8. After boiling, cook for 7 minutes.
9. Borscht is ready, we serve it to the table.

Lunch is ready! It's time for the table!

Now you know how to cook borsch with beets in meat or vegetable broth with the addition of mushrooms, beans, smoked meats or sorrel. Every time borscht turns out new, original, and most importantly - delicious. Cook with pleasure!

Admit it, you love borscht. Take a look around, make sure that there are no girlfriends and nutritionists nearby, and admit that no matter how much you would like to lose weight, it is simply impossible to deny yourself a plate of fiery red, hot borscht exuding breathtaking aromas. Sprinkled with finely chopped greens and garlic, seasoned with a spoonful of fat sour cream, served with fresh, hot donuts, borscht was and remains one of the most beloved first hot dishes in almost the entire territory of the former Soviet Union.

Despite many disagreements, the merit of the invention of this dish should be given to the Ukrainians, if only because it is in Ukrainian cuisine that there is probably the largest variety of recipes for cooking borscht. In every Ukrainian region, and sometimes in every family, borscht is prepared in its own way. And, as is the case with most other dishes of folk cuisine, a significant role in the variety of recipes for preparing borscht is played by the variety of tastes and the flight of imagination of the hostesses preparing it.

It would seem difficult to tell something new about a dish that is at least sometimes cooked in every family. Almost every housewife, every cook, every culinary specialist knows how to cook borscht. But even in the preparation of such a common dish, there are always little tricks and secrets that you might accidentally overlook. And today "Culinary Eden" tried to collect for you the most important and interesting tips that will help you cook a truly delicious and fragrant borscht.

1. How to cook borscht? The basis of any borscht is a properly prepared broth. The best broth for borscht is considered to be a broth made from beef and pork belly, laid in a ratio of 2:1. However, borscht can be cooked on other broths. For example, for Kyiv borscht you will need beef and lamb, and for Poltava or Odessa borscht - goose or duck broth. Let's try to cook a broth for a simple Ukrainian borscht. Rinse thoroughly and chop into not too large pieces 500 g beef and 300 g pork belly. Place the meat in a saucepan and cover with cold water so that it is twice as much as it is supposed to get the broth. Put the pot on the fire and let the water boil. Try to remove the foam as carefully as possible. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot with a lid, and simmer your broth over the lowest heat for 2-2.5 hours. The less your broth boils, the longer the meat languishes in weakly boiling water, the tastier and richer the borscht broth will turn out.

2. The second important feature of the preparation of borscht is the preliminary separate preparation of vegetables before putting them into the broth. Beets should be stewed in advance, separately from other vegetables. To keep the bright red color of the beets, drizzle them with a little vinegar or lemon juice. The beets are stewed, cut into small cubes or strips, laying it in well-heated pork fat or butter. In some cases, beets can be boiled or baked whole in their skins, and then peeled, chopped and put into the broth. It is extremely important when cooking borscht and the sequence of laying vegetables. According to V. Pokhlebkin, the sequence of laying vegetables is as follows: “Potatoes are laid 30 minutes before the borscht is ready, cabbage - 20 minutes, beets in prepared stew - 15 minutes. Sauteed vegetables (onions, carrots, parsley) - in 15 minutes. Spices - 5-8 minutes, garlic (separately from other spices) - 2 minutes before the end of cooking.

3. To add a special flavor to borscht, you can use almost any of your favorite spices. However, key spices are root and parsley (fresh or dried), black pepper (ground or whole peas), bay leaf. You can also experiment by adding celery root and greens, dill, coriander. Of course, we should not forget about garlic. Garlic is best added at the very end of cooking. It should first be finely chopped and pounded in a mortar or simply kneaded with the flat side of a knife blade. A classic Ukrainian spicy dressing for borscht can be called a dressing based on lard. Chop into small pieces 200 gr. gently lard, 3 - 4 cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of parsley. Mix everything together and crush in a mortar, or scroll in a blender until a smooth, homogeneous mass is obtained. Add the resulting seasoning to your borscht 2-3 minutes before it is ready.

4. To give your borsch a special sour taste and bright color, you can add pickled beet juice, beet sourdough or just fresh beet juice to the broth. You can also prepare a special beetroot dressing in advance, which can then be added to borscht. Rinse one kilogram of beets thoroughly, peel and grate on a coarse grater. Finely chop 1 kg of onion and 1 kg of sweet bell pepper. Place the vegetables in a saucepan, add ½ liter of vegetable oil, ½ liter of tomato sauce, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt, 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of sugar. Simmer everything together over low heat for 40 minutes, stirring frequently. Make sure the dressing doesn't burn! Divide prepared dressing into jars and store in the refrigerator.

5. The most widely used borscht recipe is Ukrainian plain borscht. Let's try to cook it the way V. Pokhlebkin recommends. Cook a strong broth from 500 g of beef brisket. Peel one large beet, cut into cubes and stew in pork fat, adding 1 tbsp. l. vinegar, 2 tbsp. l. sugar and ½ cup tomato paste. Cut two onions, one carrot and one parsley root into strips and fry in butter. Chop ¼ head of cabbage, cut 4 potatoes into cubes. Lower potatoes and cabbage into the broth and cook for 15 minutes. Then add stewed beets and fried vegetables to them and cook for another 10 minutes. At the end of cooking, add your favorite spices, herbs and dressing from lard, garlic and parsley. Cook for a couple more minutes and remove from heat. Before serving, season your borscht with sour cream.

6. Kiev borscht is considered to be even more tasty and fragrant. It is cooked in beef and lamb broth, which gives it a characteristic taste and aroma. Cook a strong broth from 250 grams of beef by adding ½ liter of beet kvass or sour beet juice to the water. Peel and grate one large beet on a coarse grater and stew it together with 250 gr. lamb belly, cut into small pieces. Stew three tomatoes in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Cut the onion, carrot and parsley root into strips and fry in butter. Chop ¼ head of cabbage, cut 4 potatoes into cubes. Dip the cabbage and potatoes in the boiling broth and cook for 15 minutes, then add all the stewed and fried vegetables and lamb and cook for another 10 minutes. Add three bay leaves, 3 allspice and ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper. Season the borscht with two tbsp. spoons of boiled beans and cook everything together for another 10 minutes. At the very end of cooking, season the borscht with lard, garlic and parsley. Serve hot with sour cream added.

7. Poltava borscht cooked in poultry broth is very tasty. In addition to the broth, Poltava borsch is also distinguished by the fact that it is seasoned not only with vegetables, but also dumplings. Cook borscht according to a simple Ukrainian borscht recipe in a broth made from 600 grams of goose or duck. Prepare in advance dumplings. To do this, dilute 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flour in ¼ cup boiling water. Shake thoroughly and refrigerate. To the chilled mixture, add one egg and ½ cup buckwheat or wheat flour. Knead the dough. The consistency of the dough should resemble not too thick sour cream. Take the finished dough with a teaspoon and lower it into boiling, salted water. Boil dumplings until they float, then drain in a colander. Add ready-made dumplings to your borscht 5 minutes before the end of cooking. Serve Poltava borsch with sour cream and finely chopped parsley.

8. Fans of fish dishes can be recommended to try cooking borscht with fish broth. Boil 500 g of fish fillet in 6 cups of strong fish broth made from heads and fins. Cut one medium-sized beetroot, one onion, parsley root and celery into strips and fry in butter. Add ½ cup of stock to the vegetables and simmer everything together for 10-15 minutes. Cut into strips of 50 grams of sorrel and spinach. Put 4 sliced ​​potatoes into the boiling broth and cook for 10 minutes, then add the green vegetables and cook for another 10 minutes. Put the stewed vegetables, salt, add spices to taste and cook everything together for 5 minutes. Serving to the table, put a piece of fish fillet in each plate with borscht. Season the borsch with finely chopped boiled eggs and sour cream, sprinkle with fresh herbs.

9. Vegetarians were not left without their own borscht recipe. Boil 1.5 liters of water or mushroom broth. Put the peeled whole beets in it and cook until tender. Cut the head of onion and one carrot into strips and stew in butter. Remove the prepared beets from the broth, and put two diced potatoes and a glass of finely chopped cabbage into the broth. Boil everything together for 10-15 minutes, then add the stewed vegetables and grated on a large grater boiled beets. Cook for another 10 minutes, then add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tomato paste, salt, sugar and spices to taste. Cook everything together for another 5 minutes and remove from heat. Serve to the table, seasoned with sour cream and sprinkled with fresh herbs.

10. Any borscht will seem even tastier if you serve it not with plain bread, but with fresh, hot donuts - yeast dough buns with garlic sauce. It's not hard at all to prepare them. Dilute a teaspoon of dry yeast with a little warm water with a pinch of sugar. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Pour the risen yeast into a bowl, add a glass of warm milk, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Gradually add 3 cups of flour and knead a soft dough. Knead it thoroughly, grease with vegetable oil and leave warm for one hour. The dough should double in size. Punch down the risen dough and cut into small round buns. Put the buns on a baking sheet, let them rise for 15 minutes, brush with a beaten egg and bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes. While the buns are baking, prepare the garlic sauce. Crush six cloves of garlic with a teaspoon of salt, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and mix thoroughly. Then add a tablespoon of water and stir until smooth. Remove the buns from the oven and dip hot in the garlic sauce. Serve immediately with a plate of hot, fragrant borscht.

We sincerely hope that our advice will help you more than once to please your friends and loved ones with a real, tasty and excitingly fragrant borscht. And "Culinary Eden" on its pages is always ready to offer you many new and interesting ideas and recipes on how to cook borscht, this is a favorite, tasty and satisfying dish.

Before you cook the most delicious borsch, you should know the basic subtleties of the correct preparation of the first dish of this type. Let's start with the necessary set of products.

• What do you need for borscht
• Classic Ukrainian borscht
• Borscht without meat with beans

What do you need for borscht

Beet;
cabbage;
onion;
carrot;
vegetable or meat strong broth;
tomato paste or juice;
fresh or dried herbs;
fragrant spices.

At will and taste, some housewives like to add various flavorings and other products when cooking borscht:

Fresh garlic crushed into gruel;
vinegar;
sugar;
prunes;
mushrooms;
beans of various varieties.

Advice: legumes should be added to the dish only in a pre-boiled form, since all varieties of beans are cooked for a very long time, preferably with pre-soaking overnight.

How much to cook cabbage for borscht

It all depends on the type of vegetable. So, early young varieties are prepared instantly and therefore you need to add it at the very end. If you plan to lay mid-season and late varieties of vegetables in the dish, you will have to cook cabbage shavings from 2 to 12 minutes - it all depends on the taste preferences of each. Some people like it if the plant crunches slightly when tasting, while others prefer well-cooked vegetables.

Which borscht is tastier - lean or with meat

Traditionally, this kind of first course is cooked in meat broth. At the same time, there must be bones in the protein supplement - in their structure there are substances that give a special taste to the finished soup. If vegetarianism has become the main lifestyle, you should not give up a full-fledged borscht. There are many recipes for lean dressing soups that have a rich taste and can saturate no worse than their meat counterpart.

Advice: lay chicken, pork or beef on the bone only in cold water - this will help fill the broth with a full palette of all flavor combinations.

Do I need to stew the beets separately

Here again, it all depends on taste preferences. If the pronounced taste of the root crop has its supporters in your family, you should stew the vegetable cut into thin strips with a small amount of water and sugar separately until half cooked. Beetroot always cooks longer than other ingredients, this trick will help bring it to the state of "al dente". That is, all vegetables will have the same degree of readiness.

If you want to keep the color of the potatoes in the red dressing soup, the beets are stewed with fried onions and carrots over low heat, and only then tomato paste and vinegar are added. In this case, it is better to grate the root crop on a fine grater.

It should be remembered: in an acidic environment, all foods take longer to cook, so the dish should be brought to a state of readiness immediately before adding citric acid, tomato paste or vinegar.

Several recipes for the most delicious borscht

Classic Ukrainian borscht

A traditional dish that does not have clear boundaries of belonging to the national cuisine of one or another Slavic people.

Ingredients:

5 liters of purified or drinking water;
700 g of meat on the bone (beef or pork);
white cabbage - the amount depends on one's own preference;
4 medium potatoes;
1 small beet;
2 onions of medium size;
2 small carrots;
2 tbsp. l. tomato paste;
fresh tomatoes and bell peppers - to taste and desire;
1 clove of fresh garlic;
a bunch of your favorite fresh herbs;
ground black pepper, salt and bay leaf - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Rinse the meat, pour cold water over it and send it to a strong fire under the lid.
2. As soon as it boils, reduce the fire to a minimum, remove the foam with a slotted spoon.
3. Cook until cooked, 10 minutes before laying vegetables, salt the finished broth to taste.
4. While the meat is cooking, peel and chop all the vegetables: potatoes in cubes, onions in small pieces, root vegetables and cabbage in thin strips.
5. Remove the cooked pork or beef from the broth, cut into portions.
6. Add potatoes to the broth with meat, cook until tender.
7. While the potatoes are cooking, fry the onion in lard or refined oil until transparent, put carrot chips on it.
8. As soon as the orange blank becomes soft, send the beets there, mix and cover.
9. After a few minutes, add pasta, diced peppers and tomatoes to the pan with vegetables, simmer until thickened.
10. Dilute the borscht dressing with a small amount of broth, simmer over low heat until the vegetables are fully cooked.
11. As soon as the potatoes become soft, put the cabbage in the broth, cover with a lid. Simmer over low heat until the desired readiness of the vegetable.
12. Pour the dressing into a saucepan with broth, mix. Add all spices except herbs and garlic.
13. Keep after boiling over low heat under the lid for about 5-7 minutes. Add crushed garlic and remove bay leaf.
14. When serving, flavor each serving with a large spoonful of homemade sour cream and generously sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Advice: you can’t leave a bay leaf in the finished dish - the spice will give all the necessary aromas in a few minutes, and then it can spoil the borscht with wormwood bitterness.

Borscht without meat with beans

This option will certainly come in handy for anyone who prefers not to use the meat of slaughtered animals for food.

Ingredients:

1 kg of white cabbage;
800 g of peeled potatoes;
2 medium table beets;
2 small carrots;
2 onions;
200 g boiled or canned beans in their own juice;
5 st. l. refined oil;
1-2 bay leaves;
2-4 tsp table salt;
favorite greens - to taste.

Cooking:

1. Pre-soak beans overnight. Boil until tender in a separate saucepan.
2. Pour 2.5 liters of purified or drinking water into a five-liter refractory container, cover with a lid and put on fire
3. Chop the peeled onion into a cube, fry in vegetable oil until transparent, remove with a slotted spoon into a separate container.
4. Remove the peel from the washed carrot, grate it on a coarse grater or chop it into strips and send it to the heated oil. Keep on low heat until a golden hue appears along the edges of the chips, send to the onion.
5. As soon as the water in the pan boils, put the fried vegetables in boiling water, cover and reduce the heat to a minimum.
6. Grate the washed and peeled beets on a coarse grater or chop into thin strips, fry in oil for up to 10 minutes. Send the root crop to the broth.
7. After 15 minutes, add diced potatoes to the general company.
8. Chop the cabbage into large chips. Spread the vegetable in the soup 10 minutes after boiling the potatoes.
9. Simmer on the slowest fire under the lid for another quarter of an hour (15 minutes).
10. Put beans in borscht. Add salt and pepper to taste.
11. After 10 minutes, season the dish with finely chopped herbs, cover and set aside for half an hour.
12. Serve with sour cream or crushed garlic clove.

Advice: the dish turns out to be slightly sweet, therefore, for lovers of the traditional sour taste, it is better to stew fried onions with carrots and a small amount of tomato paste, add to the dish after cabbage.

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