Quick-and-Dirty "Borscht" Cook-along, or How to Trigger Slavs in 30 Minutes or Less

Hey guys, remember me? It's the pot roast user from a few days ago, I did a cook-along for that in this thread I've been eating pot roast leftovers for days, so now I wanf something a little different for dinner. I got w good amount of beef stock from the pot roast, and it's a rainy yet still warm day outside, so I think a light vegetable soup is in order. That and I've had a can of sliced beets bouncing around in my cabinet for months now. Time to make a non-traditional borscht.

Disclaimer: This will not be like babushka used to make, and I'm not even related to any Slavs. This is more like a borscht inspired soup than actual borscht.

looks fucking promising let's do this

ПEPECTAHЬ ПИДOP EБAHHЫЙ CУКA БЛЯTЬ EБAHЫЙ ПИДOOOOP

So first lets get the stock. As you can see I've kept the pot roast in the fridge, there's plenty of liquid, and the fat has congealed out of the stock. I'm going to use this to my advantage to strain a lot of the grease out, since I'm not a fan of greasy soups. I'm also going to strain out the spices and bits of whatever so we have a nice, clean, flavorful broth.

Here you can see how dark this stuff is. Funny, the pot roast has basically turned the questionable store-bought beef stock I cooked with into legit homemade stock with meat drippings, spices, and vegetables getting their essence all up inside it. I'm going to strain about two cups for this 'borscht'.

Into the pot it goes on low, so it can simmer while I process the vegetables.

The juice from the canned beets goes in too, it's the cheatcode to get a deep red color without simmering for hours and hours.

The beets themselves looked so good on my cutting board I had to snap a pic. Look at that nice ruby red!

Listen, I like canned beets as much as the next guy, but you're really shorting yourself on flavor if you don't use fresh beets

They're already quite tender from being canned, so they're easily chopped and added in.

I'm sure, but frankly I'm doing this specifically to get rid of the canned beats. Plus I want dinner soon.

Now I added the beets in and chopped up a large carrot, which went in too.

Next goes in the cabbage, chopped up roughly.

Finally, some yellow onion.

Now I'm gonna mince a garlic clove and throw that in. I'm going to try out the salt and knife method because I haven't tried it before. So first we cut off the woody bit.

Add sea salt(closest I have to kosher salt).

Then you chop with a rocking motion. The idea is the salt helps grind the garlic a little and draws out some moisture, I think. My knife is fucking shit, but it seems to get the job done here at least. God I need to get a job already so I can afford nicer utensils.

When minced, simply slide it on the knife and then slide it into the pot. My hands barely touches the garlic the while time, so my fingers don't smell. I usually don't care, but this seems to annoy some people so I thought I'd demonstrate the technique.

Now some spices. I added a little more sea salt, black pepper, and a couple pinches of Hungarian paprika because I'm a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules.

fuck I haven't read past the first three posts and I'm already giggling like an idiot

>it's a real cooking thread
man

Finally, a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

Bring her to a rolling boil for 15 minutes or so.

Then reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer until it's done. I'm probably going to wait around 30 minutes.

Gah, I always forget the pic at least once.

I make mine almost exactly the same except I use fresh garden beets which I roast until tender and use fresh squeezed lemon juice instead of vinegar.

Does the lemon juice make it sweeter in your opinion?

Good to know the recipe I was working off is accurate. How do you feel about my use of Hungarian paprika? I figure the sweet taste would compliment the dish, but it seems like a non-traditional ingredient based on my research.

Final product plus a couple slices of toasted and buttered pumpernickel from a local bakery.

you can also put sliced beetroot on burgers and it tastes good

Damn, this turned out better than I expected.

Thanks for the tip user, gonna have to try that on the 4th of July.

Fuck me, this is straight up comfort food. Why have I never done this before? With fresh beets this must be ORGASMIC.

burger here with bulgarian parents, vegetable soups with beets that are fresh are 10x better than beets that are shit. I grow my own beet and you have a good start but you have overcomplicated it a bit. try les ingerdianst with less salt and more finely chopped ingerdianst and homw grown beets and then you will be true slav

Definitely agree on the salt part, the broth was just too salty. I'll keep your advice in mind next time, thanks.

My family was irradiated by Chernobyl and basically cant digest meat or most dairy. Im 95% vegetarian and making a good vegetable beet soup that takes a lot of time to make and is slow cooked can be almost as savory as a steak. sucks that I dont have much time on hand and i mostly eat buckwheat/oatmeal/redquinoa

nice. but one concern i have with it. this is not even close to pumpernickel. greets from germanistan and keep up the good work

I hate american pumpernickel. Russians make some good shit tho

Guten tag meine Deutscher Freund, es ist Amerikanisch Pumpernickel.

I live in Asheville!

i see now. but hey, if you like it then eat it even if it's not the real deal. that's kind of a slogan for me (shitty translated though but i think you'll understand what i mean)

Well shit, so do I. I highly recommend Annie's Bakery, it's a significant step up from most American bread and not much more expensive either. I usually buy it from Hopey & Co. grocers because they sell it a little cheaper than elsewhere. Gotta be careful though, most of what they sell is near the expiration date(hence the reduced price), and sometimes I've seen a little mold starting to grow on the bread.

I understand, a very respectable opinion.

>accurate

Lol, I'm not slav, I'm white and grow a big garden. I'm just a guy who scours recipes all the time and puts together what I think I'd like.

>Asheville
what a coincidence
i started reading the collected stories of thomas wolfe yesterday. titled 'Tod, der stolze Bruder'

OP here, as a further coincidence I happen to have a copy of "Look Homeward, Angel" I've been meaning to read in more depth for a while. Let's get a Veeky Forumsentist in here to calculate the odds.

Russian guy here. I usually roast the carrots, cabbage and onion before I add them to the stock. I also use diced potatoes, meatballs, soup meat and a little bit tomato paste. Add a spoon of creme fraiche to your serving so it will taste even better!

>Add a spoon of creme fraiche to your serving so it will taste even better!
AH! I FORGOT! I BOUGHT SOUR CREAM SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS RECIPE, HAD IT IN THE OP PIC , AND I STILL FUCKING FORGOT TO ACTUALLY PUT IT ON THE SOUP AT THE END!

makes u think

Looks good. Would eat / 10.

I always use a well browned finely chopped mirepoix as a base to impart flavors, and then add additional larger chopped veggies to simmer down and provide some mouth texture.

For that, I'd do finely chopped onion, carrot, and bell pepper, saute until onion is browned, then add garlic till fragrant, deglaze, and then add the rest of the stuff and simmer.

Well done, regardless.

I think that your sour cream is a little bit different from our smetana. It's thicker and has more spices. But creme fraiche comes pretty close. Here in germoney we use sour cream mostly as a dip for our potato wedges.

I don't think sour cream has any spices in it, but it is common to mix spices in when you use it as a dip. We Americans use it pretty much like you do. Creme fraiche probably is closer, but it's stupidly expensive around here because it sounds foreign and exotic.

good work OP

>meatballs
never.
>creme fraiche
maybe

otherwise seems to be good advice. now i am going to the dreamland. germany out....

oh hey i am the germanistan poster. where are you study?