It's hard to imagine a Russian person who does not know what borsch is. Even more difficult to imagine a foreigner who, having arrived in Russia, never asked about borsch. Many peoples are fighting for the right to be called the ancestors of this delicious first dish, and this dispute, perhaps, will last forever.
Such different borscht
Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Lithuanians, Poles, Romanians - all claim the honorary title of pioneers of borsch. In some, it is served hot, others have cold, the third borsch is a self-sufficient dish, someone appears in a whole composition of culinary delights.
In Russia cooked borscht always on beef broth, added smoked pork lard. When the time came, the dish was added pieces of sausage, ham and sausages, boiled beef. Next to the plate was definitely sour cream. In some houses black bread and feathers of green onion were also served.
The Black Sea Fleet is preparing a borscht "Flotsky", and, of course, it is not at all Ukrainian and not Russian, much less Romanian and not Lithuanian. Sailors cook broth from beef and pork. Cabbage is cut not with straws, but in the form of squares, cut into potatoes not with cubes, but in cubes. It is important that the "Navy" borsch is served only when the sea is restless. Pleases the eye with greens and smoked brisket, without which this kind of borsch is no longer borsch. A distinctive feature of this dish is some carelessness of its preparation, everything is cut somehow large and uneven. This gives the impression that a plate of borscht is a quiet sea after a violent storm, in which ship wrecks float.
I would like to note that the borscht soup with potatoes, which has become familiar to everyone, appeared relatively recently. Now we plant this root with hectares, and before that, we did not even know what a potato was.
Secrets of cooking borscht
How many bacon housewives in the world have so many recipes for this dish. But there are various tricks and receivers that will be of interest to cooks. Use them, and you will be able to cook really delicious borsch!
- To make borscht a bright color, it is recommended to add a little vinegar to the broth.
- If your dish lacks consistency, add a tablespoon of mustard at the very end of the cooking.
- Try adding sugar not to the broth, but to the beet when extinguishing.
- The main advice - do not overdo with spices and additives. Borscht includes the whole palette of tastes: salty, sweet, sour, spicy, bitter. He does not need any further improvements.
In order to understand what kind of recipe suits you, try to cook some completely different borscht. When you decide on a choice, you can add something from yourself, and, maybe, invent something completely new.
Prepare yourself for sure! Borsch, like any other dish, is a reflection of the human soul.