How to start preparing a tasty borsch?
Surprisingly, it was prepared by one housewifethis soup may seem like a real culinary masterpiece, while another person may find this soup with the addition of beets tasteless or bland, although it would seem that the same borscht recipe was used. Delicious borscht is a multi-component dish, and in order for it to turn out excellent, you need to know not only the sequence of adding ingredients during cooking, but also have an idea of how to choose the best products for preparing the dish. In addition, the method of preparing this soup largely depends on its variety, of which there are two - regular and the so-called green soup with beets, which has a unique recipe and is prepared with the addition of a large amount of green sorrel. There are slight differences in the recipe and method of preparing regular and green borscht, and it is very important to accurately master some of the subtleties of how to cook borscht in order to please your family with this delicious dish. There are also several variations of the simple borscht recipe that are little known to the general public, which include mushrooms, sauerkraut, and so on. Cooking a delicious borscht is not that difficult, but you need to know the recipe for the most delicious borscht and the features of how to cook this soup with beets while preserving all the useful qualities of the products. One of the most important stages of cooking a delicious borscht is choosing the necessary products. Some may think that this is not so important, but it is the wrong products or products of poor quality that are usually the cause of failure when preparing the usual version of this dish. So, first of all, you need to take care of purchasing meat, since this is the main ingredient in the traditional version of this soup, without which it will be difficult to cook it deliciously.
Choose meat for cooking any variant of borsch
Basically, for making borschtBeef, chicken, pork, turkey, veal and other meats are used. But any good housewife knows that the choice of meat should be approached seriously, since the broth is the basis of the future borscht. In many ways, the choice of meat depends on personal preferences, but there are some peculiarities of this matter. If you want to cook this dish based on beef, then it is best to take a piece of beef brisket or use a combination of a small amount of beef brisket and a large sugar bone. If beef with bone is taken as the basis for the broth, the cooking time will increase significantly so that the bone is well cooked. It is best to buy fresh beef or veal, and preferably not frozen, but chilled. Soup with the addition of beets, cooked with beef or veal, is not too fatty, so it is perfect even for feeding kindergarten-aged children. If you want to get a richer broth, it is best to take pork ribs or a piece of pork on the bone. Pork has one clear advantage, which is that it gives an unusual, pleasant taste to the broth, which makes the soup with pork softer in taste. Poultry meat can be used to make borscht, but it is best to use backs or thighs, since when cooking broth on chicken breast, it will turn out very bland and not rich. In addition, you get a very tasty borscht if you cook it on rabbit meat, but it is usually difficult to find in stores. Separately, it is necessary to say about cooking meat, since many make a mistake in this matter. In order for the soup with the addition of beets to turn out with the most rich taste, it is very important to cook the meat correctly. During the cooking of the broth, you need to add salt so that the meat fully reveals its taste, and in addition, you need to remove the foam that forms on the surface of the water in time so that the broth is transparent. If the moment was missed and the foam was not removed in time, you can strain the broth through cheesecloth to correct this flaw. In order to get the most delicious beetroot soup, you need to start adding the remaining ingredients only after the meat is completely cooked, then in the process of subsequent cooking it will boil down, making the taste more intense.
The easiest way to cook ordinary borsch
So, first you need to prepare all the ingredientsfor the future soup with the addition of beets, popularly called borscht. For a 5-liter saucepan, you will need about 800-900 g of suitable meat, 0.5 kg of potatoes, 2-3 beets, a small head of cabbage, 1-2 small carrots, 2-3 small onions, sweet peppers, tomato paste, salt, fresh herbs. In addition, if desired, you can include beans and fresh tomatoes in cooking. If a person wants the final result to be with a pronounced sourness, you will need 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar. Some housewives are faced with the fact that the borscht ultimately does not have a rich red color, and therefore looks completely unappetizing, this happens precisely because the vegetables containing the pigment were incorrectly added to this soup. The method of preparing this soup is quite simple, but you need to know some little things that will help make the dish not only tasty, but also beautiful. First of all, of course, the broth is prepared, and it is imperative to follow the advice presented above, because all recipes contain this method of preparing meat for borscht. Borscht with properly prepared broth will be rich. After the meat is completely cooked, you should take about 0.5 broth to prepare the dressing and add pre-peeled and diced potatoes to the pan with the broth. While the potatoes are cooking, you need to grate all the vegetables and start preparing the dressing. There is a little trick on how to cook borscht with a rich color - it's all about the dressing. First, you need to pour a small amount of sunflower oil into a heated frying pan and pour in the onion for frying. When the onion becomes colorless, you need to add the grated carrots and after about 2-3 minutes, add the beets cut into strips to the pan. Fry the vegetable mixture for the dressing for at least 10 minutes, after which you need to add 2-3 tablespoons of thick tomato paste to the pan. The final touch in preparing the dressing will be adding about 0.5 liters of broth. The dressing should be simmered over low heat for at least 15 minutes, after which the mixture will acquire a rich burgundy color, which will subsequently be transferred to the borsch. The dressing should be added only after the potatoes are completely cooked, since in this case the potatoes will end up slightly overcooked, which will have a positive effect on the quality of the taste, lastly add the shredded cabbage.
Little subtleties of cooking a common borsch
Many housewives, when preparing borscht, cannot achieve,so that it turns out a rich red color, and the thing is that they add beets incorrectly, the pigment of which in this case disintegrates, and the soup with beets is no longer distinguished by its redness. If desired, you can not include beets in the dressing, but add this root vegetable at the final stage of cooking, but be sure to add cabbage. In addition, to preserve the natural red pigment of beets, you can pre-boil this root vegetable and add mashed boiled beets to the borscht. In this case, the effect will be no worse than when frying. In addition, often the whole impression of the finished borscht can be spoiled by overcooked cabbage. It is necessary to remember that cabbage is an extremely picky product, and if cooked for too long, the cabbage will cease to be crispy. The optimal cooking time for cabbage can be considered 15 minutes, so it should be added at the very end of cooking, since only in this case will you get a truly beautiful and tasty borscht. Those who want to cook borscht often want to make a delicious soup with a sour taste, but they make a big mistake by adding citric acid to this soup with beets. Citric acid, despite the fact that it can add sourness, spoils the overall taste picture, so it is best to achieve the effect of "sourness" with the help of vinegar. It is enough to add 2 tablespoons of acetic acid 5 minutes before the end of cooking to give the borscht a sour taste without spoiling the taste of the finished dish. In addition to everything else, it is highly recommended to add bay leaf and herbs to borscht. Bay leaf perfectly emphasizes the taste, making it more intense, so you should not neglect this product. As for herbs, finely chopped dill or parsley are best. In order for the herbs to retain all their beneficial properties, they need to be added 2-3 minutes before the end of cooking. If desired, you can make a "simmered" delicious borscht, but for this you will need a large pot and an oven, since the last stage of cooking the borscht will take place using these items. You need to start cooking such a delicious borscht, as usual, on the stove until the moment when you need to add the dressing. Then you will need to pour the half-ready brew into the pot, add the dressing and cabbage, and then move the pot to the oven preheated to 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
A great way to diversify the menu, using ordinary borsch
It's hard to find a housewife who doesn't know howcook simple delicious borscht, but not everyone knows that there are many variations of this dish. The most common and most delicious versions of regular borscht include soup with beets, cooked in mushroom broth, and also borscht with sauerkraut. Both methods of cooking delicious borscht need to be described in more detail. First of all, it is worth telling in more detail about how to cook simple borscht with the addition of sauerkraut. Such borscht will be appreciated by those who prefer a sour taste. In this case, there is no need to change the recipe for simple borscht much, it is enough to replace fresh cabbage with 200-300 g of sauerkraut when preparing it, but you still need to be careful with sauerkraut and not allow a large amount of marinade juice to get into the borscht, since this can make the soup with beets too sour. In order for borscht with sauerkraut to turn out great, it is best to squeeze the cabbage when adding it or leave it in a colander for 30 minutes beforehand so that the juice drains. To prepare the simplest "mushroom borscht", you will need about 1.5 kg of mushrooms, and porcini mushrooms are best suited for this, but if you do not have any, you can also use champignons. Mushrooms are used as a substitute for meat for making broth. Mushrooms need to be thoroughly washed, cut into slices and cooked for at least 40 minutes, after which all the other ingredients of the dish can be added in order. Properly prepared delicious mushroom borscht has a spicy rich taste, so it is worth trying this cooking option.
The recipe for cooking green borsch
As mentioned earlier, in addition to simple borschtThere is a "green" method, which is characterized not only by its recipe, but also has some taste differences. Green borscht is considered a healthier option for making soup. Green borscht is notable for the fact that it contains a significant amount of sorrel, rich in vitamin C and other useful substances, as well as parsley, considered a storehouse of calcium, so necessary for the body. Cooking delicious green borscht is no more difficult than regular borscht, so you can diversify your diet with it. To prepare green borscht, you will need a 2-3 liter saucepan, about 500 g of meat, a small beetroot, 3-5 potatoes, carrots, onions, 1-2 bunches of sorrel, parsley root, tomato paste, sunflower oil, ½ spoon of vinegar, ½ tbsp. spoon of flour, bay leaf, salt, peppercorns. The method for preparing broth and dressing for green borscht is no different from how these elements are prepared for simple borscht. When it's time to add the dressing to the broth, immediately throw in the peeled parsley root, vinegar, bay leaf, peppercorns and flour. About 15 minutes before the end of cooking, add finely chopped sorrel. Borscht prepared according to this recipe should be set aside for about 20-30 minutes to infuse, and only then serve. When preparing green borscht, some housewives make one serious mistake - they do not add vinegar, because they believe that since sorrel is sour, it will impart sourness to the borscht, and vinegar will be superfluous. The thing is that vinegar in this case is added not to impart flavor to the borscht, but to keep the sorrel dense. It is because of preparing green borscht without vinegar that many housewives end up with sorrel that boils down, becoming like mush. Properly prepared delicious borscht is not just an everyday dish, but a real masterpiece of culinary art. It is equally important to serve both plain and green borscht to the table. The best sauces for this dish are sour cream and mayonnaise. In addition, a few peeled cloves of garlic and rye bread will not be superfluous.
