What is solyanka?
Solyanka is a traditional Russian soup.And it was not for nothing that they called it a collective. In ancient times, people cooked a soup from the remains of meat when it ran out. In hard times or on fasting days, solyanka was cooked from fish or mushrooms. The soup was called solyanka because of its sharp-salty taste, because of the pickles, salted fish and mushrooms included in the soup. Once upon a time, it was an economical, satisfying and varied dish of the Russian peasant. And later, solyanka got into the menu of inns and taverns, from where it migrated to city restaurants. Recipes acquired many variations. Of course, unlike the common people's soup, tavern and restaurant solyanka soups were not cooked from kitchen waste. Products of excellent condition were used for their preparation. And the solyanka served in the tavern often served as the calling card of the establishment, certifying that if the solyanka was good, then all other dishes would be of the proper quality. Today's cuisine includes a great many ways to prepare solyanka. Let's look at the main recipes.
Let's take a look at the refrigerator
For a classic post-holiday meat hodgepodge you will need:
- Meat with bone - for broth, about 0.5 kg (pork or beef);
- Various smoked meats - 150-200g (brisket, balyk, sausage, ham, etc.);
- Potatoes - 2-3 pcs.;
- Pickled cucumbers - 3-4 pcs.;
- Black olives (or green ones, or both) - about 300 g;
- Small onions - 3-4 pcs.;
- Lemon, it's okay if he's already cut;
- Tomato paste - 2 tbsp, tomato juice or tomatoes in any form;
- Greenery;
- Spices - pepper, coriander, garlic and whatever you like;
- Sour cream for serving - to taste.
First you need to cook the broth.Place the meat on the bone in a saucepan and put it on the fire. Add a bay leaf, a couple of peas of allspice and black pepper to the broth, and cloves if desired. Now it’s time to prepare the remaining ingredients for the soup. Cut the onions into fairly thick rings so that they don’t fall apart during cooking. Fry in the fat from roasting the ham or duck, or in vegetable oil. Bring the onion to translucency. Cut the pickles and put them in the frying pan with the onions, keep on the fire, stirring, until they turn white. Then add tomato paste, juice or finely chopped tomatoes. The amount of juice or tomatoes should be approximately 3 times greater than the volume of tomato paste. Fry everything for another couple of minutes and remove the frying pan from the stove. Peel the potatoes and chop as finely as possible. It will be very good if it boils down in the soup. Put it in a pot with broth. Carefully cut all the meat products that we collected in the refrigerator into equal-sized cubes or strips. Fry each type of meat separately in a frying pan. When the broth is cooked, the meat needs to be taken out of the pot and also cut, repeating the shape of the smoked meats, into bars or cubes. If it was a very shapeless piece that is difficult to cut beautifully, then it is better to make small pieces according to the number of servings of soup and put them in plates when serving. So, we will assemble the solyanka, it is not for nothing that we have a mixture. Increase the heat under the pot with broth - let it boil well. And throw in all the fried meat products and meat from the broth. Add fried cucumbers with onions and tomatoes. Put in the olives. If they were with brine, pour out the brine too. Wait until the soup starts to boil, and boil it for another two minutes. Turn off the stove and leave the solyanka to brew for 10-15 minutes under the lid. When serving, put a slice of lemon and greens in each plate. Add sour cream or mayonnaise to taste. And eat to your health.
But you can cook in a different way
What to do if there are no holidays andis expected, and did the family love the solyanka? Here, the method of preparing the meat solyanka will come to the rescue, which is closest to what was prepared in Rus' in ancient times. This is the basis on which you can create your own solyanka recipes. Products that will be needed:
- Beef marrow bone - 200-300 g;
- Boneless pork - 200 g;
- Chicken meat - 200-250 g;
- Cooked sausage or frankfurter - 50-100 g;
- Sauerkraut - 100 g;
- Pickled cucumbers - 1-2 pcs. depending on size;
- Salted or pickled mushrooms - about 100 g;
- Tomato paste — 1 tbsp;
- A small onion;
- A pair of cloves of garlic;
- Greenery;
- Lemon;
- Sour cream for filing.
First you need to cook the beef brothbones and chicken. Beef takes a long time to cook, so there will be time to prepare everything else. Cut the pork into pieces about 2 cm in size. Fry the meat in a frying pan until golden brown. If the pork is very lean, you can fry it in vegetable oil. Well, and a piece with lard itself will give enough melted fat. When the pork is well fried, add chopped onion and, stirring, fry a little more. And pour a little water into the frying pan, lightly salt and pepper the meat and slowly simmer it until done. Separately, put the sauerkraut to simmer in vegetable oil. Make the fire medium. Stir from time to time, making sure that the cabbage does not burn. When it is ready, add diced pickles, tomato paste and mushrooms to the dish with cabbage. If the mushrooms are small, then leave them whole. It will be beautiful. Simmer everything together for another 10-15 minutes and set aside. The broth is ready. You need to take out the bone and meat, strain the broth, because beef bones always have a lot of sharp small fragments. They should not get into the soup. Finely chop the chicken meat and meat from the bone and return to the broth. Put the stewed vegetables and pork there. Bring to a boil, add salt, spices to taste and salt. Cook the solyanka over low heat for another 15 minutes, add sliced sausage or sausage slices. By replacing or adding other types of meat or sausage, you can create original recipes. Crush the garlic with a knife and chop it. Add to the soup. Remove the pan from the heat and let the solyanka stand under the lid. Serve with sour cream and chopped herbs, putting a slice of lemon on the plate.
Solyanka - a Lenten meal?
Why not.The Lenten table should also be varied. Since there are no meat or dairy dishes on it, there should be mushrooms and vegetables. And solyanka is not only meat. It can be prepared in different ways. Here are recipes for vegetable solyanka. For a mixed solyanka with mushrooms you need:
- Two large potatoes;
- Bulb;
- Carrot;
- Bulgarian pepper;
- Mushrooms (fresh or frozen) - 250-300 g;
- Pickled cucumbers - 5 pcs.;
- Fresh or pickled cabbage - 300 g;
- Olives - 10 pcs.;
- Tomato paste — 3 tbsp;
- Lemon for filing.
Fry the carrots cut into stripsvegetable oil in a saucepan or deep frying pan. Add chopped onion, bell pepper strips, mushrooms, and potato cubes one by one, lightly frying each ingredient. Pour in water and simmer until the potatoes are done. Separately simmer the cabbage and pickles with tomato paste. When the potatoes are done, combine the contents of both pans, add water to make a thick soup. Bring the soup to a boil, add olives, simmer for another 5 minutes, adding pepper, salt, and garlic to taste. When serving, sprinkle the soup with herbs and garnish with a slice of lemon. But some people don’t like mushrooms either. A method for preparing a Lenten solyanka without mushrooms will help out - let everyone be happy. By adding other vegetables, you can diversify the solyanka recipes. For this, take:
- Large pickled cucumbers - 4 pcs.;
- Potatoes - 2 pcs.;
- Carrot;
- The bulb is medium;
- Olives - 10 pcs.;
- Greenery;
- Lemon for filing.
Peel the cucumbers and remove the seeds.Cut into strips. Pour boiling water (about 0.5 l) over the peel and seeds. Leave to infuse. Fry the carrots cut into strips in vegetable oil, add chopped onion, fry, stirring, until the onion is translucent, add the potatoes cut into strips. When the potatoes are almost ready, add the pickles to the pan and heat the vegetables for another 5 minutes, stirring so that they do not burn. Strain the infusion from the cucumber seeds and peel and pour into the vegetables. Add hot water until the solyanka reaches the desired thickness. Bring to a boil, add salt and season to taste. Add olive rings and chopped garlic to the soup. Remove from heat and let the solyanka sit covered for 10-15 minutes. Serve with a slice of lemon and herbs.
Soup from fish, but not ear
Not fish soup, but a mixed fish solyanka. Its recipes can also vary. As with any mixed solyanka, you will first have to prepare the ingredients separately, and then combine everything. You will need:
- Fish for broth - sea, river, large or small, heads, tails from large red fish - 500 g or more;
- Crayfish or shrimp, crabs, squid - 300-500 g;
- Fresh frozen fish fillet - 200-300 g;
- Smoked fish - 200 g;
- Carrots average;
- Pickled cucumbers - 3-4 pcs.;
- Mushrooms (salted, pickled) - about 100 g;
- Several small bulbs;
- Tomato paste — 3 tbsp;
- Olives.
First you need to prepare the crayfish, ifdecided to use them. Throw fresh crayfish into boiling water and boil for a few minutes until they turn red. Cool them slightly and cut them up. Separate the crayfish neck. Set the meat aside, do not throw away the shell. Remove all the entrails from the crayfish body. Leave the shell and claws. Now start cooking the broth from the fish and peeled crayfish shells. Put the whole carrots, bay leaf, black and allspice peppercorns in a saucepan. Quickly boil over high heat, remove the foam and continue to cook over very low heat for about an hour. Cut the onion into rings. Fry it until transparent in butter, add tomato paste and heat for another 5 minutes. Peel large pickles and cut into cubes or strips. Chop the mushrooms, if they are large. Prepare the shrimp, squid, if they are used for the hodgepodge. Boil the shrimp in salted water with dill and peel. Peel the squid, boil for 2-3 minutes in a small amount of boiling water. Crayfish necks or shrimp, squid meat, crab cut into pieces about 1 cm in size. Cut fish fillet and smoked fish in a similar way. Different types of fish and seafood will help diversify the recipes for fish solyanka. The broth is ready and must be strained to remove all small bones. Whatever was boiled in the broth can be thrown away. Assemble the solyanka. Add fried onions with tomatoes to the strained broth, bring to a boil. Add cucumbers and mushrooms. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Now it's time for raw fish and smoked meats. The readiness of the fish will be a signal to add already boiled crayfish necks, crabs, squid to the soup. Do not cook for long, just let it boil, taste for salt, add spices and herbs to taste and remove from heat. Leave for 20 minutes under the lid to infuse the solyanka. Different types of fish and seafood will help to diversify the recipes for fish solyanka. Serve with a slice of lemon and sour cream. Using the provided recipes and varying the ingredients of the soup, which provides such scope for imagination, every housewife will be able to give her family the opportunity to enjoy solyanka at any time of the year. Bon appetit to all!
