Good day, dear Take in Mind readers! Many thanks to everyone who responded to our initiative of creating a folk collection of mankind’s masterpieces, the intangible and oral cultural heritage.
Honestly, when we just came up with this idea, we could not imagine what amount of invaluable information you are ready to share with us. We received (and continue to receive!) numerous answers that show the great love of our readers for their lands, cultures, cuisines, and traditions.
We are especially pleased with our Ukrainian respondents for their activity. Many decided not to limit themselves to a single answer but sent us two or even three options. Some readers even decided, by their own initiative, to add new questions increasing the questionnaire up to 20 items!
Nevertheless, in answering one of the questions, our Ukrainian readers were almost unanimous. In the category of the favorite folk’s dish, the almost absolute winner became… “his majesty” – Borsch! As a gratitude to our Ukrainian friends and with tremendous respect for this national heritage, we decided to dedicate this article to this culinary pearl.
Dear friends! It would be a complete blasphemy to present here any recipe for this dish, or even more so, to present it as “the original recipe”. Every district, or even every Ukrainian house, has its own, unique in composition, color and, most importantly, taste, REAL Borscht. Therefore, abandoning the idea of finding the truth in cookbooks, we turned to encyclopedias and reference books to somehow convey the magic and diversity of this dish. Perhaps, the most “lively and tasty” description was found in the book of the famous researcher and popularizer of cookery W. V. Pokhlyobkin in his book “About cooking from A to Z. Dictionary -reference book”.
In the best of our knowledge, the book has not translated into English, so we present our own translation of the original author’s description:
“BORSCHT. The main first dish of Ukrainian cuisine. It has received wide international distribution. It has several regional varieties. In Borscht, not only pork is used, but also beef, lamb, ham, sausages, chicken, duck, goose, or only bone broth (without meat). The vegetable part is even more diverse – potatoes, cabbage, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, apples, turnips, carrots, pea pods, bell peppers, corn.
But regardless of the number and diversity of vegetables that are used in either form of Borscht, the main component determining its taste is a beetroot. It can be fresh, pickled, in the form of pickles and tops, but it always dominates in any Borscht.
The abundant use of spicy plants is also an important distinguishing feature. Without onions, garlic, pepper (red and black), lovage, wild celery (angelica), dill, marjoram, savory, coriander, parsley, celery, there is no real Borscht. Some types of Borsch are filled with dough products. So, dumplings are added to Poltavian Borscht, small dumplings in Lithuanian Borscht, “ears” (small pieces of dough) or noodles in Odessa’s type, the flour-like mixture in Chernihiv’s Borscht.
The liquid part of Borscht only partially consists of water (to boil meat or bones), but mainly from special liquids: beet kvass, beet brine, or, in extreme cases, ordinary bread kvass. The choice of this or that liquid depends on the composition of the Borscht, is associated with its name, and naturally affects the overall taste. That is why Lviv’s Borscht is not similar to Odessa’s Borscht, Poltavian Borscht – to Volyn’s, Chernihiv’s to Kiev’s, Transcarpathian – to Kharkov’s, etc. Some types of Borscht also include with mushrooms and mustard. Sour cream, like beetroot, is common for all types as its filling. It is included in almost every Borscht, except for Odessa’s and Lithuanian.
Thus, Borscht is complex even in its composition and in the range of products; which includes on average up to twenty or more components. If we proceed from the cooking technology, then it belongs to the category of filling soups, some of the products of which are pre-sautéed in a pan, and only then put into the broth.
It takes at least two-three hours to cook Borscht. Ukrainian Borscht is usually served with wheat donuts or donuts with onions. Only with them, and not with black bread, the taste of real Ukrainian Borsch is delicious.”
I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I got my appetite even from the description.
P.S. We continue to collect the true folk list of cultural heritage. Write to us on the site’s email or as the comments on our Facebook page. Thank you in advance!
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