Other regional recipes

There are local variations in the basic borscht recipe:

* In Belarusian the tomatoes are standard, sometimes in addition with beets. It is usually served with smetana (eastern-European style sour cream) and a traditional accompaniment of pampushki (sing. pampushka), small hot breads topped with fresh chopped garlic.

* In Polish cuisine, the beets are not standard. Besides the Ukrainian-style beet soup, Polish people enjoy a white Easter borscht. White borshch is made from a base of fermented rye, usually added to a broth of boiled white fresh kiełbasa. It is served hot with cubed rye bread and diced hard-boiled eggs added to the broth, and horseradish is often added to taste.
* In Russian cuisine, it usually includes beets, meat, and cabbage and optionally potatoes.
* In East Prussia sour cream (Schmand) and beef was served with the Beetenbartsch (lit. beetroot-borscht).
* In Lithuanian cuisine, dried mushrooms are often added.
* In Romanian cuisine, it is the name for any sour soup, prepared usually with fermented wheat bran (which is also called borş), which gives it a sour taste. In fact, the Romanian gastronomy uses with no discrimination the words ciorbă, borş or, sometimes, zeamă/acritură. One ingredient that is required in all recipes by the Romanian tradition is the lovage. Its leaves give a special taste, enhancing the palate experience, which makes the Romanian borş so appreciated by the international travelers.
* In Armenian cuisine, it is served warm with fresh sour cream.
* In Doukhobor cuisine, the main ingredient is cabbage, and the soup also contains beets, potatoes, tomatoes and heavy cream along with dill and leeks. This style of borscht is orange in colour, and is always eaten hot.
* In Hong Kong-style western cuisine, it includes tomatoes instead of beets, and also beef, cabbage, potatoes, bell peppers and carrots. Sometimes chili pepper is added.
* In Mennonite cuisine, borscht is a cabbage, beef, potato and tomato soup flavoured with onions, dill and black pepper. This soup is part of the cuisine absorbed by Mennonites in Ukraine and Russia. Mennonite "Summer Borscht" is made with sorrel and is garnished with a cold, boiled egg.
* In northern Chinese cuisine, particularly found in and around the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province, an area with a long history of trade with Eastern Russia, the soup known as hóngtāng ("red soup") is mainly made with red cabbage.
* In mainland China borshch was borrowed as 罗宋汤 Luósòng-tāng via English ("Russian soup"), Luósòng is not the usual Chinese word for "Russia(n)" (usually: 俄罗斯 Éluósī) but borrowed from the English sound, it is identical to the Russian beef-based borshch.

This soup is from Russia and Poland.

Ingredient
* 10 cups canned beef broth
* 1 1-pound meaty cross-cut bone-in beef shank slice
* 1 large onion, quartered


* 4 large beets, peeled, chopped
* 4 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
* 1 12- to 14-ounce russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 2 cups thinly sliced savoy cabbage
* 3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
* 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

Preparation
Bring 6 cups broth, beef shank, and onion to boil in large pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Transfer meat to work surface; trim fat, sinew and bone and discard. Chop meat; cover and chill. Cool broth slightly. Chill uncovered in pot until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Spoon fat from top of chilled broth and discard. Add remaining 4 cups canned broth, beets, carrots, and potato; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in cabbage and 1/2 cup dill; cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in vinegar. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with yogurt and remaining 1/4 cup dill.

Borscht Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 cups beef broth*
• 1 pound slice of meaty bone-in beef shank
• 1 large onion, peeled, quartered
• 4 large beets, peeled, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled, chopped
• 1 large russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 cup sour cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

*Use gluten-free broth if you are cooking gluten-free

Method

1 Bring 4 cups of the beef broth, the beef shank, and onion to boil in large pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

2 Transfer meat to work surface; trim fat, sinew and bone and discard. Chop meat; cover and chill. Cool broth slightly. Chill in pot until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

3 Spoon fat from top of chilled broth and discard. Add remaining 4 cups broth, beets, carrots, and potato; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

4 Stir in meat, cabbage and 1/2 cup dill; cook until cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in vinegar.

Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sour cream and remaining 1/4 cup dill.

Polish variants

The basic Polish borscht (barszcz) recipe includes red beetroot, onions, garlic, and other vegetables such as carrots and celery or parsnip. The ingredients are cooked for some time together to produce kind of clear broth (when strained) served as boullion in cups or in other ways. Some recipes include bacon as well, which gives the soup its distinctive, "smoky" taste.

Other versions are richer as they include meat and cut vegetables of various kinds where beetroots aren't the main one (though this soup isn't always called barszcz, but rather beetroot soup). This variation of barszcz isn't strained and vegetable contents are left in it. Such soup can make the main course of obiad (main meal eaten in the early afternoon).

Barszcz in its strictly vegetarian version is the first course during the Christmas Eve feast. It's served with ravioli-type dumplings called "uszka" (lit. "little ears") with mushroom filling (sauerkraut can be used as well, again depending on the family tradition). Typically, this version does not include any meat ingredients, although some variants do.

A key component to the taste of barszcz is acidity. Whilst barszcz can be made easily within a few hours by simply cooking the ingredients and adding vinegar, lemon juice or citric acid; the traditional way is to prepare barszcz several days before and allow it to naturally sour. Depending on the technique; the level of acidity required and the ingredients available, barszcz takes 3–7 days to prepare in this way.

Hot and cold Borscht

There are two main variants of borscht, generally referred to as hot and cold. Both are based on beets, but are otherwise prepared and served differently.

Hot Borscht

Hot borscht (mostly Ukrainian and Russian), the kind most popular in the majority of cultures is a hearty soup with many common optional ingredients, depending on the cuisine, including various vegetables (beans, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, potatoes, onions, or tomatoes), mushrooms, and meats (chicken, pork, or beef). It is more akin to a stew than most soups, and may be eaten as a meal in itself, usually with thick dark bread.

Cold Borscht

Cold borscht exists in many different cultures. Some of these include Lithuanian (šaltibarščiai), Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian cultures.

Borscht

Borscht (also borsht, barszcz or borshch) is a soup that is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries. It is made with beetroot as a main ingredient which gives it a strong red color. Other, non-beet varieties also exist, such as the tomato paste-based orange borscht and the green (zelioni) borscht (sorrel soup).

Etymology

The soup is a staple part of the local culinary heritage of many Eastern and Central European nations.

It made its way into North American cuisine and English vernacular by way of Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and other immigrants. Alternative spellings are borshch and borsch.

The name was earlier applied to hogweed soup, and originally to the plant hogweed.