Borscht
My Mother loved borscht. Fran, however, also loves it, and has spoken about her Mother’s borscht with such longing, that I decided to give it a try.
This is basically a sweet and sour type of soup, which can be served hot or cold, with or without meat, I shredded the roasted short ribs, and added them, before turning the stove off, just to warm them up, trying to recreate Fran’s Mother’s borscht, which I would have done, had I not added sour cream – a shanda, according to Fran.
You must start with beef stock, in order to have the complexity that you want in your finished product. You may use a good quality, already prepared stock, but it will never be as good as what you make yourself. I try to keep, chicken, beef, and ham stock in the freezer, below is my recipe for stock.
Ingredients:
Beef Stock
2-3 pounds of Beets
1 large Onion
2 tablespoons of Sugar
2 tablespoons of Lemon Juice
Salt to taste
A dollop of Sour Cream – optional
Directions:
Wash the beets well, peel and grate them, if you can – if not, you may boil them, in enough stock to cover them, until you are able to peel them and cut them into sticks – do this on a plate, so that you are able to return the beautifully rich stock into the pot; either way you want to boil the beets, with the finely diced onion, until tender, add sugar, lemon juice, and salt, correcting the flavor. Before turning off the heat, add shredded short ribs.
Options:
You could also add shredded cabbage, about 1 ½ cups, for a little more substance, and 2-3 shredded carrots. This is a recipe which has as many variations as there are Mothers – play with it, and see what taste good to your Fran.
Beef Stock
You will need beef bones, which you can buy at the grocery store. If you do not see them displayed, asks the butcher – most will be happy to help.
In general, most of us have rather wasteful kitchens. Making stock allows you to make amends, as everything, with the exception of greens like cabbage or spinach, can go in a stock pot, but it does require planning and storage. If you are making a roast, and trim the fat, or it is a roast or piece of beef with bones, as long you have not served the bones, you can save them for stock – removing the meat, and reserving the bones. It is the marrow which holds the wonderful flavor which you are seeking. Once the stock is finished, you can reduce it as much as you like – so instead of storing 10 cups of stock, you are storing 1 cup, you can then add a teaspoon of stock, to your recipe, and water, to reconstitute the stock.
Ingredients:
6- 8 pounds of Beef Bones – roasted for at least three hours
2 Onions – chopped, with skin on them
4 Carrots
4 ribs of Celery
2 Bay Leaves
1 tablespoon of Thyme
1 tablespoon of Parsley
2 tablespoons of Garlic
Directions:
This may feel overwhelming, but it simply takes a long time, as opposed to being time consuming. You first want to wash your beef bones and any extra pieces of beef which you may have saved for the stock, if they were uncooked. Put the beef in the oven, ideally in a pan which will then be put on top of the stove with the water and vegetables. Roast for about two hours, you could add a pound of short ribs, or some other inexpensive beef, if you like.
After the bones have roasted, cover with water, and add remaining ingredients. Let this cook for about 10 hours, on a low simmering heat, when it is finished, remove from stove, cool, and strain the stock. You will be discarding those solid ingredients – I give them to the ducks! Do not salt the stock. Refrigerate, overnight, so that the fats form a solid film, on top of the stock. The next day, you can remove the film and reduce the stock, or store as is, in the freezer, for six months or refrigerator, one week – unless you leave the fat, which would serve as a seal. It is good to store it in 1 cup measures, in small, freezer bags.
Do not be alarmed by a jellied consistency, as that is a sign of a great stock!
