Now let’s cook
Shchi, and nothing fancy. A tablecloth is optional.
Ingredients
- 500 g beef brisketbone-in beef brisket: the cut from the breast or lower chest of the carcass
- 2000 ml waterplain tap water
- 150 g onionbulb onion: the bulbs are peeled and cut
- 61 g carrota root vegetable, peeled and cut or grated
- 500 g white cabbageordinary white cabbage: a head of pale, tightly packed leaves
- 639 g potatotubers eaten as a vegetable
- 2 tbsp vegetable oilmade from plant seeds or fruit
- 150 g onionbulb onion: the bulbs are peeled and cut
- 61 g carrota root vegetable, peeled and cut or grated
- 546 g tomatofresh ripe red tomato
- 18 g saltfine table salt
- 1 g black pepperground black pepper
- 3 g garlicfresh garlic: the cloves are peeled and grated
- 1 bay leafdried leaf of the bay laurel: a spice for soups and boiled dishes
- 120 g sour creamthick soured cream made from cream and a starter culture
- 10 g dillfresh dill leaves, used as an aromatic seasoning
Method
Rinse the brisket, cut it into 2–3 pieces and put them in a large pot. Pour in 2 l of cold water, set over a high heat and skim off the foam once it boils.
Halve one onion and hold it over an open flame, or cut side down in a dry frying pan, until the cut sides darken. Peel one carrot. Add the onion and carrot to the pot, turn the heat down and simmer for 1 hour, until the beef is cooked through: at least 63 °C in the thickest part.
Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pot and throw away the onion and carrot. Take the meat off the bones and cut it into cubes. Moisten the meat with a little broth and keep it no longer than two hours before it goes back into the soup. If it has to wait longer, put it in the fridge.
Shred the cabbage finely. Cut the potatoes into cubes, the remaining carrot into thin strips, and chop the remaining onion small.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the onion lightly. Then add the carrot and fry, stirring, for 3 minutes. Grate the tomatoes on the coarse side of a grater and throw the skins away. Add the pulp to the vegetables, season with a little salt and pepper and stew over a low heat for 7 minutes.
Bring the strained broth back to the boil, add the cabbage and potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes. Return the beef to the pot, add the stewed vegetables, bring back to the boil and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes.
Crush the garlic with the salt and stir it into the nearly finished soup together with the bay leaf. Bring to the boil, add more salt and pepper if needed and switch off the heat. Leave the pot covered for 15 minutes.
Ladle the soup into bowls, put a spoonful of sour cream into each and scatter with chopped dill.
Where this dish comes from
Shchi is a classic soup of Russian cuisine: chopped white cabbage, fresh or fermented as sauerkraut. It is cooked in a meat, fish, mushroom or vegetable broth. In Russia it was most often made with beef. Sour cream is served with it.
