Shchi has long been considered the main hot dish of Russian national cuisine. In the old days, almost all stews were called shchi, but a little later this name was assigned only to soups with sauerkraut or fresh cabbage. Despite local differences in the recipes of this dish and its various variations, the principle of cooking has remained unchanged for a long time.
A little excursion into the history of the dish
Russian cabbage soup was popular both in the families of the poor and the rich. Only the common people rarely had meat on the table, so they cooked from what was: seasoned with crushed lard, and sometimes just from cabbage and onions. In general, over the long history of cabbage soup, only one amendment has been made to the principle of their preparation. In the 19th century, Russian cuisine was influenced by French cuisine, as the nobility invited chefs from France for themselves. It was during this period that the flour dressing, which had been added to the dish earlier, was removed from the cabbage soup. And, of course, in modern cabbage soup recipes, the bouquet of spices that were previously inaccessible has become much richer.
Time passed, tastes changed, but the people's love for cabbage soup remained unchanged. To date, there are a huge number of ways to cook cabbage soup, but more on that later. And now consider the recipe for classic sour cabbage soup.
Compound:
- meat (preferably beef on the bone) - 0.5-1 kg;
- sour cabbage - 300-500 g;
- onions - 1 pc.;
- medium-sized carrots - 1 pc.;
- tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l. (You can substitute fresh tomatoes if you like)
- potatoes - 3-4 pieces;
- celery or parsley root;
- black peppercorns - 5-6 pcs.;
- garlic - 3-4 cloves;
- dill - 1 bunch;
- vegetable oil;
- sour cream for dressing an already prepared dish.
With the ingredients sorted out, we proceed to the preparation of our culinary masterpiece.
Cooking:
By the way, when preparing cabbage soup with sauerkraut, you need to carefully salt the broth, since the cabbage itself is salty.
Shchi cooking options
As mentioned above, there are a lot of options for preparing cabbage soup, their taste and aroma cannot be compared with anything.
So, cabbage soup is cooked in meat, fish or mushroom broth. Moreover, for the preparation of meat broth, they take not only beef, but also pork, poultry meat. For good nutrition during fasting, sour lean cabbage soup with mushrooms is also perfect (their recipe will also be interesting for vegetarians). They also prepare daily, rustic, white, cold cabbage soup from sturgeon, “Bogatyrskie”, lazy, etc. And with sour cabbage, you also get wonderful borscht. Perhaps, all the recipes can not be counted. After all, each housewife adds something of her own to the preparation of this dish.
In early spring, sorrel, spinach or even nettles are often added to cabbage soup. Sauerkraut soup is often cooked on fish broth, and sturgeon head is used to prepare the broth itself. Boiled eggs are placed in green cabbage soup.
