By Steven Biggs
How to Make the Best Borsch
When Mom served her homemade borsch we’d empty the pot. It was rich, filling, tangy – and always topped with a dollop of sour cream or “smetana.”
Her borsch was different every time, because she used what she had in the kitchen, and in the garden or cold cupboard.
But it always had beets.
Garden-to-Table Cooking…in Winter
I think about borsch as I plan my vegetable garden because it’s full of vegetables that store well.
Beets, carrots, onions, and garlic all keep well in a cold room or root cellar.
(Mom sometimes used dried lima beans, another food that stores well.)
Borsch Backstory
There are many variations on borsch.
Make the best borsch! Most recipes use red beets, but if you’re growing yellow or white beets, you can use these too (but the final colour of your borsch will be different.
Some are thicker and stew-like; some more soup-like. Some are tarter; some are sweeter.
It’s eaten hot or cold.
There are summer and winter styles, depending on what’s in the garden.
It’s not just the ingredients and cooking styles that vary: So does the spelling of the name. You might come across borscht, borsch, bortsch, borstch, borshtch, borsh, or borshch.
That’s because it’s a staple in many Eastern European cultures.
What most variations share is lots of chopped veggies—especially beets. And there’s usually a combination of tangy and sweet.
Depending on the recipe, the tanginess might come from vinegar, sour cream, sauerkraut, kvass (a drink made from fermented grains), or lemon juice.
The Stock for Making Borsch
Mom’s borsch was decidedly full of meat. The stock depended on what she had on hand.
I simmer a ham bone or smoked pork hock for the better part of a day to get a rich stock.
You can also make a great borsch using vegetable stock. (See the recipe below.)
Essential Ingredients
Here are two ingredients that I love in borsch:
Dill
Sour cream
When there’s fresh dill available, I always use it. Through the winter, I use chopped, frozen dill saved during the summer.
Sometimes I also add dill seed—which is like little nuggets of dill flavour. Use dry dill seed in the winter, and in the summer, try fresh dill seed.
Sometimes a dollop of sour cream is served atop a bowl of borsch. I like that…but I also like to mix a bit into the borsch when I’m almost done cooking to give a tangy, creamy finish.
Top Borsch-Making Tip
During cooking, you lose colour contrast as the ingredients in your pot of borsch all take on the red colour of the beets.
So create contrast in texture by chopping the different vegetables into different sizes and shapes. (I like long, thin strips of cabbage!)
Then, when it’s serving time, the dollop of sour cream on top is like a white island in the sea of red. If you top this combination with fresh chopped dill, you’ve added two more colours to your ruby-coloured soup.
Serving Ideas
Toasted, buttered rye bread is all that you need with a bowl of borsch. I love a caraway rye bread (which has caraway seeds in it.)
Storage
I make soup by the pot. I keep enough in the fridge for the week, and then freeze some to use at a later time.
Beet Borsch Recipe
Ingredients:
The Veggies
Remember, chop the different veggies in different ways to create texture. The quantities below are approximate. Vary it up depending on what you have on hand, what you like, and the size of the veggies.
6 medium beets, peeled and chopped
¼ - ½ head of cabbage, shredded
2 onions, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Liquid
4 cups water
1 tbsp. vinegar
2 cups stock (I make mine from a ham bone or smoked pork hock, but you can use chicken or vegetable stock, depending on your preference)
Herbs and Spices
3 tbsp. chopped dill
½ tsp. caraway seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Thickener
½ cup sour cream or kefir
1 tbsp. flour
Optional
½ cup dry lima beans
Or, if you have shelling beans in the garden, substitute these for the lima beans
I like to chop up and add the beet leaves and stems to the soup too
Directions
Soak lima beans in water overnight
Combine chopped vegetables and liquids in a large pot
Cook over medium heat
Add vinegar as soup begins to boil
Simmer for a couple of hours, until the vegetables are soft
Add dill, caraway seeds, pepper, and salt
Simmer for a few more minutes
Final but important step: The flour thickens the borsch just a little bit. Mix flour into the sour cream or kefir, and then stir this mixture into the soup and simmer for a couple of minutes. (Don’t add the flour straight to the boiling soup or you might get little dumplings!)