Moscow borscht with potatoes
6 servings
120 minutes
There are a great many borschts. You could even say that there are as many borscht recipes as there are people who cook it. We decided to make a master class in which Alexander Vasilyevich Popov, the chef of the Volna restaurant , told us about the basic principles of cooking this family of soups using Moscow borscht as an example. It was prepared with a slight deviation from the canonical recipe: Moscow borscht is usually made without potatoes.
1
Cook meat broth. Take a good piece of meat on the bone and boil it in 5.2 liters of water until it boils. Add carrots, onions, garlic, and parsley stems to the broth. Reduce the heat and let the broth simmer slowly for 1.5 hours. The readiness of the broth is also determined by the meat: it should be cooked, edible, and tender. Once everything is cooked, strain the broth.
- Bone-in meat: 1.5 kg
- Carrot: 3 pieces
- Onion: 3 heads
- Garlic: 1 head
- Parsley: 1 bunch
2
Chop the beet into strips, place in a pan or pot, add vegetable oil, and sauté for 5-10 minutes.
- Beetroot: 4 pieces
- Vegetable oil: 50 ml
3
The taste of borscht comes from the beetroot. How it is marinated will determine the borscht's flavor. Pour 30-50 ml of vinegar over the beetroot, mix it, then add tomato paste. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, salt, black pepper to taste, and 3 large bay leaves; mix and add 2 ladles of broth. Don't add too much broth; otherwise, the beetroot will boil instead of stew. Place the pot with the marinated beetroot on low heat, cover with a lid or foil and let it stew for 1 hour or even up to 1.5 hours.
- 9% table vinegar: 40 ml
- Tomato paste: 100 g
- Sugar: 2 tablespoons
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: to taste
- Bay leaf: 3 pieces
4
When the beet is almost ready, slice 2 onions into half rings. Fry the onion in a pan with vegetable oil. At the same time, heat the broth.
- Onion: 3 heads
- Vegetable oil: 50 ml
5
While the onion is frying, cut 2 medium carrots into strips, add to the onion, and fry.
- Carrot: 3 pieces
6
Cut the cabbage into strips. Blanch it to release the cabbage flavor.
- White cabbage: 0.5 piece
7
Add cabbage to the hot broth and let it cook. Cabbage should be added first so it has time to cook; it takes longer to become tender than potatoes, not to mention the almost ready beets, carrots, and onions. Bring the broth with cabbage to a boil, let it simmer for 1 minute, and reduce the heat to minimum.
- White cabbage: 0.5 piece
8
Cut the potatoes into sticks. Add to the broth with cabbage. This step can be skipped, as the borscht will be good even without potatoes.
- Potato: 4 pieces
9
Chop 2-3 cloves of garlic and parsley leaves.
- Garlic: 1 head
- Parsley: 1 bunch
10
After 12-15 minutes of adding cabbage, add sautéed onions and carrots to the broth. Bring to a boil. Chop the beef that was used for the broth and add it to the pot. Transfer the beet along with all its juices into the broth. Then add garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and let the borscht simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Serve with parsley and sour cream.
- Onion: 3 heads
- Carrot: 3 pieces
- Bone-in meat: 1.5 kg
- Beetroot: 4 pieces
- Garlic: 1 head
- Ground black pepper: to taste
- Salt: to taste
- Sour cream: to taste
