Russian Cookbook

Beef (with or without bones) - 0.7 lbs. (320 g)
Red beets - 1.5 lbs. (700 g)
Cabbage - 0.5 lbs. (200 g);
Potatoes - 0.5 lbs. (200 g)
Carrots - 0.2 lbs. (100 g)
Parsley - 0.7 ounces (20 g)
Onions - 3
Garlic - 0.2 ounces (5 g)
Tomato paste or tomatoes - 2 ounces (50 g) or 2 tomatoes
Sugar - 0.5 teaspoon
Margarine - 2 tablespoons
Vinegar - 0.5 teaspoon
Bay leaf - 1
Bell pepper (red) - 2.5 ounces (75 g) or 1 pepper
Sour cream - 1 tablespoon
Dill - 0.5 teaspoon

Put beef into a large saucepan and cover with 1.2 gal. (4.5 l) cold water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Remove the grease and froth from the broth surface with a spoon. Add one onion. Cook at low heat for 1-2 hours. If beef is with bones, filter the broth.

Melt 1 tablespoon margarine in a saucepan. Cut red beets into sticks and add them into the cooking pot. Add sugar, tomato paste or sliced tomato, 0.13 gal. (0.5 l) meat broth. Simmer at low heat for 1.5 hours. Add vinegar.

Melt 1 tablespoon margarine in a frying pan. Add chopped onions and carrots cut into sticks. Cover and saute at low heat 250 F. (120 Celsius) for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Heat broth to boiling. Add chopped cabbage and potatoes cut into bars. Cook for 5 minutes. Add saute and cook another 10 minutes. Add bell pepper cut into sticks and simmered red beets. Cook another 5 minutes. Add salt, black pepper, and grated garlic. Served with chopped dill and sour cream.

Servings: 3-4.

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5 cups beef stock
300 gr beef, rump, trimmed of fat, cut into 1-cm cubes
200 gr veal, trimmed of fat, cut into 1-cm cubes
100 gr ham, sliced
3 beef frankfurters, sliced
3 tablespoons butter
100 gr onions, thinly sliced
3 medium sour pickled gherkins, sliced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
15 olives
1 lemon, thinly sliced

Put the beef stock, beef and veal into a large, heavy casserole. Bring to the boil over a high heat, skimming off all the foam and scum with a large spoon as they rise to the surface. Then partly cover the casserole, reduce the heat to moderate and simmer for about 1 hours, until the meat is tender enough.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large, heavy frying-pan over a high heat. Add the onions, reduce the heat to moderate and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the onions are soft but not brown. Drop in the cucumbers and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are tender but still slightly firm. Then stir in the chopped tomatoes and cook an additional 10 minutes. Season with the salt and a few grindings of black pepper, and transfer the contents of the frying-pan to the casserole. Add the ham and frankfurters and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the meat is heated through.

Addolives to the soup. Taste for seasoning, pour into a large heated tureen, and float the lemon slices on top. Serve hot.

2 pound soup meat
1 pound lean fresh pork
1/2 pound smoked pork
10 cups cold water
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
1 bunch soup greens
8 medium-sized beets
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 large onions
3 large potatoes
6 tomatoes or 1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
1 clove garlic
5 frankfurters
1 tbsp butter
1tbsp flour
1/2 cup cooked navy beans

Any kind of smoked pork is good for this soup, but the best flavor is obtained from “smoked backs”. These are inexpensive and wonderfully flavorsome, but have almost no meat on them. They can be served in the soup. If you use smoked backs, you’ll need 1 pound instead of 1/2 pound.

Put your soup meat and your two kinds of pork in a large heavy pot with the water. Bring to a boil. Skim, then add the bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, and soup greens. The soup green should include parsley, Russian parsley, a carrot, celery, and a leek. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

In the meantime, cook 7 beets, unpealed, till tender. Grate 1 raw beet and mix 3 tablespoons of cold water. This is to use for coloring. When the seven beets are done, peel them and cut each beet in eight pieces.

Take the meat out of the soup pot. Discard the smoked backs, if this is what you have used. If you have used a more meaty cut of smoked pork, take it out and put it aside.

Strain the soup; pour it back in the pot; add the beets, cabbage, and the onions and potatoes cut in quarters. Peel and seed the tomatoes before putting them in. Add the vinegar and sugar.

Now put all the pieces of meat. Boil up. Let simmer for one hour. Add cooked navy beans. Cut the frankfurters in thick slices. Add them to the soup 20 minutes before serving.

When you’re ready to eat, skim the excess fat from the soup. Thicken the soup with the flour browned in butter. Add the juice of the raw beet mixed with water. Salt if needed. Cut all the meat in thick slices and put back in the soup. Serve piping hot, with a bowl of sour cream on the side. Very fancy Russian gourmets add strips of cold roast duck to this borsch a few minutes before serving.

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