Russian cuisine is a distinctive phenomenon, which at the same time includes traditions of nobility and poor people, regulated by the observance of the Orthodox fast, which prohibits the use of animal products on fast days, and at the same time, does not exclude the preparation of the “larks” on the day of the vernal equinox, which marks the arrival of spring and revered in the pagan traditions of the Slavs: in general, few people now remember that gingerbread, caravan, pancakes were Old Slavic cult pastry.
In addition, the multinational composition of the population and its close, often related plexus created such a multi-layered and harmonious palette of dishes, which has long been recognized throughout the world as Russian national cuisine, that even the ethnically Russian population of the country considers, for example, dumplings to be Russian food, although so far, their exact place of birth is not completely clarified - Ancient China or the territory of modern Finland.
Many now believe that shanezhki and noodles are a Russian culinary achievement, without attaching importance to the influence of the Turkic cuisine. There are plenty of such examples.
Schi, without exaggeration, is the main hot dish of Russian cuisine with a thousand-year history and it is impossible to talk about cooking this dish without touching on interesting historical facts.
If there is only one recipe for Poltava borscht in the world and its analogues do not exist, then the soup is worthy of writing an encyclopedia, thanks to their species diversity.
There is no doubt about Russianness.
Try to ask any German, Englishman or Frenchman to pronounce the word “soup” and, especially, to write it using transliteration: it will immediately become clear where this dish comes from, because such a sound combination in the name is characteristic only of Slavic languages.
Despite the significant influence that European cuisine had in the nineteenth century on the court cooks of Russian kings and boyars, the soup remained a “relict” dish in our kitchen, which does not lose its popularity and national love. Interesting historical fact: while the Russian tsars tried their best to introduce European tastes and habits into Russian life, the French, meanwhile, were carefully studying Russian cuisine, and the famous Dumas was so impressed with her that he wrote the culinary a book in which Russian shchi took a special place.
Cabbage - the main component of the dish was cultivated in Russia before the beginning of the Christian period, and the first mentions of this date from the beginning of the ninth century. It is natural to assume that due to the lack of refrigeration equipment and modern methods of canning, it was harvested for the winter in a natural biological way - with souring, and in the cold season, due to the lack of fresh greens, sour cabbage was cooked. It should be added that cabbage, besides vitamins, is rich in proteins, therefore it is a nourishing product. Hence, given the climatic conditions that forced people to take care of preserving cabbage in the cold season, it is not difficult to guess that in winter it was sour cabbage, along with brine. The circle is closed.
For the sake of justice, it should be noted that sauerkraut has also been present in German cuisine for a long time, but in Germany, cabbage sauerkraut is not cooked. Yes, in German cuisine there is a recipe for sauerkraut soup, but its technology is completely different from the Russian soup cooking method, and the history of its appearance is not so ancient because the tomatoes used in the German dish appeared in Europe after the discovery of America.
Cabbage and sauerkraut - basic technological principles
Until now, in those regions where Russian ovens are still preserved, soup is prepared almost as much as they were prepared in the pre-Christian era of the Russian state, with the exception of some details: the appearance of new spicy supplements in the ingredients that have become more accessible these days.
After preliminary preparation of the ingredients and their laying in the cast-iron or ceramic pots, the soup was languishing in ovens, because sauerkraut, insisting in the oven, gives off its smell and taste to the whole dish, and this process can last from half an hour to 24 hours. It is an extract of the soup at a temperature when the boiling already stops, and a sufficiently high temperature is maintained, and creates a unique taste. Moreover, unlike other first hot dishes, the flavor of cabbage soup from sauerkraut only improves after steeping. Surprisingly, sauerkraut in the soup is not boring, as is the dish itself: probably for this reason, cabbage soup is present in Russian cuisine for so long.
Of course, the emergence and development of the restaurant business in our country, the subsequent era of urbanization and the development of new technologies made some adjustments to cooking, in particular, concerning the improvements in heat treatment methods, but the basic principles of their preparation, as well as the main set of ingredients remained everywhere .
Changes in heat treatment technology mainly occurred due to a significant reduction in the preparation time of the first dish. If earlier, with the old way of life, the hostess, having flooded the stove and preparing the cauldron with the cabbage soup, left it in the oven before dinner and went to the field itself, then in modern conditions, at the current pace of life, the cooking time has drastically reduced, leave the oven turned on in the city apartment, going to work. At catering establishments, the heat treatment mode for the cabaret has been changed due to the dictated economic conditions, in which the profit depends more on the number of visitors served, and not on the preservation of the old technology. The improvement of the taste of soup nowadays is achieved not by cooking, but by flavorings that have not been previously used in cooking soup.
In addition to the base, sauerkraut or fresh cabbage, traditionally, the ingredients include:
Meat, and for lean or vegetarian cabbage soup - salted or fresh mushrooms, fish; less common soup with beans; An old lean version of the cabbage soup - poor or empty soup, in which the listed products were completely absent. The traditional meat component is beef fatty varieties, which are boiled in whole pieces, but for teams of shchi, meat of several, different varieties is used, which is pre-cut into pieces. Nowadays, meat is often used for cooking soup. Such a substitution on the taste of the soup does not significantly affect and is quite acceptable; Fresh roots of parsley, celery, carrots, onions; sometimes the roots are added to the soup twice: for cooking the meat - whole, and the second part - it is crushed and passaged;
Spicy dressing is a component already composed of green onions, celery leaves and parsley, dill, garlic (or wild garlic). This includes spices - pepper (crushed or crushed), bay leaves. Despite the fact that spices most often create taste in all dishes, they do not play a leading role in soup. The well-known Russian cuisine researcher V. V. Pokhlebkin, however, focuses on the fact that spices, and especially onions, create a special flavor, but, according to some other sources, the prototypes are a nutritious drink consisting of one sauerkraut, pork in the oven.
Up to the fourteenth century, all Russian dishes were single-component, that is, consisted of one product, which means that sour soup consisted of sauerkraut, which created the basis of the dish. At the same time, until the tenth century, spicy roots and herbs were not yet used: this continued until the beginning of wars with nomads and the onset of the period of Byzantine influence.
Sour dressing is an essential component that makes soup. In the role of sour dressing for cabbage, as a rule, cabbage pickle or cabbage mass is used. For cabbage soup from fresh cabbage, you can use cabbage pickle, sour apples, and for cabbage soup from fresh cabbage - sour cream, which was served to the soup on the table. Sour cream is also served to cabbage soup from sauerkraut, reducing the amount of sour dressing.
As already mentioned above, the basic cabbage mass is sour or fresh, which in some species is replaced by sorrel, nettle, snyt, borshevik. At the same time in the soup for the density is added to the acid-neutral vegetable mass: turnip or radish. With the advent of potatoes in Russia, soup became more and more thickened with potatoes.
It is also known that for a long time the cabbage soup was thickened with flour dressing, which was added along with cabbage, or grits - most often black porridge was used for this purpose, that is, buckwheat. Gas stations for cabbage are currently used in the southern regions of Russia. As for the question of consistency of cabbage soup, now, in general, preference is given to moderate density, but this is solved on an individual basis, in each individual kitchen.
So, this story is common, and the continuation of the Russian tradition is in our hands. If we talk about home cooking, which is not clamped into the framework of technological cards of the public catering, then each hostess has her own company secret, and even it sometimes changes, depending on the season or even mood.
1. Recipe daily cabbage soup of sauerkraut in the oven
Ingredients:
Ready meat broth 0.5 L
Cabbage 300 g
Low-fat pork (pieces) 350 g
Onions 150g
Garlic 10 g
Parsley, celery (roots) 70 g
Spice
Red carrot 50 g
Dough, yeast (savory) 170 g
Egg 1 pc.
Chopped greens, sour cream (for filing)
Preparation:
Chop onions and spicy straw roots. Put the sliced meat, vegetables into heat-resistant dishes, pour the broth and simmer for 2-2.5 hours in the oven, covered with a lid, on ground fire. Then remove the pan and cover it with a round cake made of dough, close up tightly around the edges. Dough beforehand let rise. Beat the egg and grease the surface of the dough. Again, send the soup, cooked in a dough cake, and bake until it is browned. Leave the soup in the oven. When cool, cover the cake with a napkin. Before serving, mix the sour cream with greens, garlic and ground pepper. The next day, heat the soup in the oven, removing the napkin and covering the cake with foil.
2. Recipe for poor soup of sauerkraut with egg and rye crackers
Ingredients:
Cabbage with cumin and pepper 800 g
Onions 300g
Fat 100 ml
Carrots 250 g
Brine 500 ml
Greens (leaves) 150 g
Spicy Vegetable Roots 100 g
Cold water
Eggs 6 pcs.
Millet 160 g
Garlic
Celery
Rye crackers 150 g
Cooking:
Root carrot, parsley and celery roots, add shredded onions, quickly fry in a cast iron pan, adding a spoonful of any fat. Or bake them whole in the oven, and then, grinding, throw in a saucepan with cabbage, add water and simmer until soft. Put the washed cereal, boil the soup until it is full. Beat the eggs and mix them with water; Pour the egg mass into the soup in a thin stream, without stopping their stirring. After a couple of minutes, when the eggs brew, add cubes of rye crackers and fresh greens.
3. Sauerkraut soup with baked apples
Product Composition:
Apples, sour (large) 4 pcs.
Carrots 150g
Cabbage with carrots pickled 450 g
Onions 200g
Celery (roots) 50 g
Smoked meat 350 g
Fresh greens
Meat and bone broth 1.6 l
Spice
Prunes 150 g
Garlic 15-20 g
Preparation:
Wash apples and bake in the oven. Puree them and combine with cabbage and washed prunes without stones, put in broth. Boil for about twenty minutes on low heat, add the meat, grated celery root and spices. Chop the carrots and onions in any fat and, bringing them to softness and transparency, transfer the steaming to the pan with salami, removing the boiled prunes from it (it is needed to add flavor to the broth). Add the chopped parsley or dill, and immediately turn off the plate.
4. Recipe for rich (national teams) cabbage soup
Products:
Chicken, gutted 0.8 kg
Duck breast 450g
Beef breast 350 g
Brisket 150 g
Smoked sausage 350 g
Onions 200g
Bone broth
Flour 50 g
Red carrots 120 g
Sauce, sweet and sour, tomato 180 ml
Cabbage, sour 600 g
Spices, greens (chopped)
Celery 80g
Spicy roots of fennel or parsley
Potato 350 g
Sour cream (for filing)
Preparation:
Chicken meat, duck breast and beef put in a pan and cover with bone broth. Boil, removing the foam, and then add spicy roots, a small carrot and a whole onion. Remove the prepared meat from the pan, cooling, cut into cubes. Pass the broth through a fine sieve or cheesecloth, discard the roots. Putting the sliced meat in a clean pan again, adding cubes of peeled potatoes, pour over the broth and cook until the potatoes begin to crumble over low heat.
Separately, simmer white cabbage in a saucepan, topping up some broth and seasoning with grated spicy roots and a spoon of butter. Sliced diced sausage and loin, fry them in a well-heated pan, lightly heat the fat, add chopped onion and grated carrots. Fry again until soft, add about 200-300 ml of broth from their casseroles, tomato, sweet and sour sauce. Continue to simmer until thickened, and then put the dressing in the pan. Then add the stewed cabbage, spices, garlic, chopped greens. Now cook very slowly, 7-8 minutes, covered with a lid. Serve with sour cream, add a little more fresh herbs directly to the plate.
5. Recipe for thick cabbage soup made of sauerkraut with canned beans in tomato
Ingredients:
Meat on the bone (pork or beef) 500 g
Beef, bone broth 3.0 l
A set of whole, spicy roots, red carrots and onions (for broth)
Potatoes 300 g
Canned beans in canned 1 can
White cabbage, pickled 800 g
Pepper, fresh 120 g
Spicy greens (chopped) 70 g
Onion and red carrot, shredded (for frying) 50 g
Oil (or other fat) 80 g
Garlic 25g
Preparation:
Cook the meat in bone beef broth, with spicy roots, onions and red carrots. Meat should be boiled and stewed in a saucepan for at least two hours. Go through it, removing bones and roots. Strain the broth, put the diced meat and potatoes in it again. Put on the fire and boil until potatoes are ready.
Sort out the cabbage, remove the coarse leaves, squeeze out the brine, to add it to the cabbage after cooking, if necessary. Stew the cabbage in a saucepan on butter, with the addition of 200-300 ml of meat broth. Prepare the onion and carrot roast separately in a pan, add 50-70 grams of flour to it for density. Combine fry with stewed sauerkraut, add garlic, fresh chopped greens and put everything in a saucepan with ready-made meat broth, boiled potatoes. Potatoes should be cut into cubes and well boiled when the cabbage is added. Open a can of canned beans in a tomato and add it to the ready soup. Season the dish with chopped greens and fresh pepper, chopped straw and spices. Close the lid, remove the pan from the stove and wait for the soup to infuse.
Recipe 6. Sauerkraut cabbage soup in pots with salted salmon
Ingredients:
Bone broth, beef
Pork pulp (neck) 400-450 g
Spice
Onions 150g
Cabbage, sour 300 g
Mushrooms (milk mushrooms, salted)
Tomato paste 70 g
Flour 50 g
Fat (for pripuskaniya)
Carrots 100 g
Potato 250 g
Greens (chopped)
Preparation:
Cabbage, remember to remove the brine, wash, let the water drain. Also soak the pre-salted milk mushrooms and chop. On warmed fat, add chopped onions and carrots with flour, pour in some ready broth, add pasta.
Diced potatoes, put the slices of pork in pots, cover with ready-made beef broth; Stew in the oven until soft. Take out the pots and arrange in them equally the dressing, cabbage and mushrooms. Try it. Add brine or broth, season with spices if necessary and simmer another 10 minutes, at 80-90ºC, then add the spicy chopped greens to the pots, cover them with lids and, turning off the oven, leave for some time without opening the door.
7. Sauerkraut soup with potatoes
Products:
Bones, beef 1.5 -1.7 kg
Ham 400 g
The roots of carrots, celery, parsley (for broth) 50 g
Cabbage 600 g
Onions 250 g
Spice
Potatoes 2 large tubers, whole
Greenery
Garlic 30g
Preparation:
Prepare the vegetables by washing and cleaning them. Put spicy roots, peeled potatoes, onions and carrots into whole lean meat. Potatoes should be boiled soft, after which you can add cabbage with pickle. At the very least, throw chopped garlic, fresh chopped greens and spices. Wrap a saucepan with soup or put it in a preheated 70-80ºC and turned off the oven to cool.
8. Cabbage soup with sauerkraut
Product List:
Ryzhiki 1.5 kg
Potato 400 g
Cabbage with cumin, pickled 800 g
Garlic 40g
Onions 200g
Carrots 150g
Parsley
Butter, melted 100 g
Sour cream 300 g
Preparation:
Boil mushrooms in salted water, remove the water, fry the mushrooms in creamy ghee with chopped onions and carrots. Season the mushrooms with garlic and spices. Boil potatoes in water, cut into cubes, add the mushroom dressing with vegetables. Boil until boiling, then add the cabbage, slightly squeeze the brine, dilute the sour cream in water or add some broth from the soup and pour it into the pan. Refill with greens and, turning off the heat, let stand.
9. Recipe for lazy soup of sauerkraut
Product List:
Beef Brisket 1.0 kg
Tubular bones (brain) 500 g
Roots - 1 pc.
Onion 180g
Cabbage (pickled), with brine 900 g
A mixture of fragrant and black peppers
Water
Dill
Shallot
Bay leaves
Parsley
Sour cream
Flour
Cooking:
Wash the meat, remove the film. Crush large bones and fill the meat with bones with water. When it boils, collect the foam and tantal over low heat, adding the washed and cleaned roots whole half an hour before the meat is ready. Strain the broth, removing the roots and bones, cut the meat into pieces or tear. Pour some broth into a separate cup and stir in a couple of tablespoons of flour. Pour the meat again with the broth in a clean saucepan, let it boil, add the broth with flour, stir to prevent lumps, then sauerkraut, without squeezing the brine. Tomite cabbage half an hour, add chopped greens, bay leaves and pepper, ground. Cover the soup with a lid, soak for 30-40 minutes. Serve with sour cream.
10. Recipe for cabbage cabbage soup with sour cream and eggs
Ingredients:
Cabbage, sour 400 g
Boiled ham 300 g
Carrots 100 g
Chicken broth 2,0 l
Onions 150g
Champignons 400 g
Oil 50 g
Garlic 30-40 g
Eggs 3 pcs.
Potato 250 g
140 g rice
Greens 70-80 g
Carrots 100 g
Sour cream 200 g
Working order:
Wash cabbage and squeeze pickle. Simmer it in broth (1/2 part of the total) to a soft consistency; add spicy spices. In the rest of the broth, boil potatoes, diced and rice, pre-soaked in cold water. Prepared champignons, cut into plates and fry in melted butter, with the addition of onions and carrots, cut and grated. Add sour cream, garlic, pepper to the fried champignons. Separately, fry the slices of boiled ham and throw them into the broth with potatoes and boiled rice, then mushrooms with sour cream and vegetables, and then stewed cabbage. At the end add the greens and chopped boiled eggs.
Recipe 11. Simple soup of sauerkraut with meat
Products for cooking:
Meat with bone 500 g
Onion 250g
Cabbage, sour 350 g
Carrots 150g
Potatoes 300 g
Tomato paste 75g
Spices, roots, herbs, spicy, fresh
Preparation:
Prepared meat tomma whole piece, adding roots, as described above. Prepare a dressing from onions, carrots and tomato paste, fry the chopped vegetables in cooking oil and add pasta diluted with broth: simmer the dressing until thick, add a spoonful of flour, if desired. Cabbage, first stew separately, along with the brine - also add a small amount of broth and fat. From the finished meat broth, remove the meat and chop it. Remove the roots that have been boiled with broth and discard them. Washed and peeled potatoes cut and cook until crumbly; after that add at the same time cabbage and gas station, and after 20 minutes of slow boiling, add greens and let it brew.
Recipe 12. Karelian sauerkraut fish soup in a slow cooker
If you do not want to mess around with small fish, which is traditionally used in Karelia, then take fish oil fillets for any fish soup. In general, it turns out unusual and tasty: sauerkraut gives the fish density and interesting taste. You can experiment with salted or smoked fish, but salted, still have to pre-soak in cold water.
Ingredients:
Fish broth 0,7 l
Sauerkraut 450 g
Trout fillet, river 350 g
Onions 100g
Celery 30g
Butter, melted butter 50 g
Potatoes 200 g
Carrots 70g
Spice
Preparation:
At the bottom of the multicooker, place the butter and pass in it the onions, carrots and celery, cut into strips. Put the prepared fish fillets, chopped potatoes and pour the mass with ready broth, add spices and cook, turning on the “soup” mode. Add sauerkraut, close the lid. Continue cooking for another twenty minutes. Chopped dill put in fish soup before serving.
Sauerkraut soup - tricks and tips
- Sauerkraut cabbage soup There is no need to pickle, because their taste is completely self-sufficient from the mere presence of sauerkraut.
- If you add potatoes to your soup, add sauerkraut and pickle to the pan when the potatoes are well cooked: the sour medium makes the potatoes solid and delays the process of cooking.
