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On a cold and / or rainy night, a hearty borscht will make you instantly
feel better and give you great visual as well as culinary satisfaction.
I have had borscht with all kinds of protein, fish, beef, pork, poultry,
and sometimes vegetables only. My favorite two are goose and veal.
No goose to be found at my butcher today, but veal ribs in abundance.
( I wonder how old that veal really was, seemed more like ribs from a
full grown cow to me 🙂
Here is my version of borscht. You will notice i did not use sour cream
nor dill this time, although I had both at home. The reason was that the
ribs gave such a strong and rich flavor to the soup that I did not want to
distract from it by adding to many other flavors.
Meat and vegetables, pure and unadulterated 🙂
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All you want to know about Borscht
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Ingredients :
Veal Ribs,
Red beets, peeled, diced, cooked, strained, cooking liquid reserved
Potatoes, diced
Cabbage, diced
Carrots, diced
Onions, diced
Green peppers, diced
Garlic, paste
Cilantro, chopped
salt, to taste
cayenne, to taste
Method :
Simmer ribs in salted water until tender. Add potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic and simmer until vegetables are tender but firm.
Add beets, peppers, cabbage and seasoning and simmer for five minutes. Remove all ribs and vegetables into serving dish.
Add reserved red beet cooking liquid to broth, adjust seasoning if necessary and ladle broth over ribs and vegetables.
Sprinkle with cilantro or herbs of your choice.
( Note: Traditionally the beets are cooked with the other vegetables together in the broth. However, it is my opinion that the presentation improves by cooking them separate )
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ChefsOpinion 
You can also add beans.
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this is a very creative twist… and not at all what I expected under the heading. I love beetroot and will give it a try some cold and rainy evening!
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Solveiga Wallach posted on “Food Lovers” on LinkedIn :
Hello Hans, please forgive me (because I always read your recipes with great pleasure, and your blog is most informative), but coming from the country of borscht I must say that this recipe does not resemble anything I ever had served as borscht in any of the Eastern European countries. It is quite a simple soup made on the basis of beetroots and vegetable or beef stock, and in the spring made of young beetroots, served clear with small meat dumplings inside, or with a blob of sour cream. It can ve served with boiled potatoes on the side, or inside (less elegant). In the summer we have a cold version called chlodnik, where you serve the basic borscht mixed with yoghourt, sour cream, or kefir, with addition of sliced cucumbers, sliced radishes, lots of dill, and it can have some small bits of meet (like duck or veal) in it.
Again, sorry for the criticism, but sometimes simple is the best and I’m sure you know very well the classical borscht recipe.
Thank you for many pleasurable and tasty recipes in the past, and with best wishes for many more,
Solveiga.
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Hi Solveiga,
Thank you for commenting on my blog and for your positive attitude.
As you said, being from europe and being a internationally working chef for many decades, I am fully aware of the more traditional methods and ingredients to make borscht.
That’s why I called it “my version of borscht” simply referring to the red beets, cabbage and bright red color. One of my objects for ChefsOpinion is to get folks interested and engaged in these dishes, learn from the comments and may be able to make their own versions of classic dishes, which in it’s originality are sometimes overly complicated or antiquated. This should in no way disrespect the roots and wonderful tradition of those original dishes. That’s the reason why we usually name these dishes “in the style of” and in many cases I provide a direct link to a thorough explanation of the origin and originality of a specific dish. See “All you want to know about borscht” 🙂
I highly appreciate ALL comments and I am far from not able to value the involvement of my readers. Please be well and continue to participate.
Hans.
P.S.
If you comment directly on my blog instead of in this group (or even better, on both),
your comments will be seen by many more folks ( currently I have about 1450 followers and many more daily visits)
Cheers 🙂
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Absolutely clasic and a very good new verson…… it; lovely i tried it and simply unique.
some time i had can Tomato to my borscht …. hope is not wrong by doing that.
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That’s the spirit Yekeen, make your own version 🙂
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Without doubt, Borscht is one of the top five all-time Kings of Comfort Food.
Recipes were perfected all over Central and Eastern Europe by countless generations of people shuffling from one frontier to the next. Each adding their own unique little twists and tweaks.
This recipe Chef Hans, is most probably an ‘original’. Old school, rediscovered.
Thank you for this.
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