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Cold weather = bring on the soups!

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mhof86:
Sounds good dharma. Gonna have to try that one. And the lima beans would get me a whole pot of soup to myself. The wife is not a fan. That might work out great for me!

I was at a polish resteraunt and had dill pickle soup. Anyone have a good authentic recipe for this? It was the only place I have ever had it up in Hamtramck. There are recipies online but wondering if anyone here has a good one for it.

Dharma:
My father's ancestors made this dill pickle soup. It's called Rassolnik. Traditionally, the meat used is beef or pork kidneys. But you can use the same recipe for Shchi, making the following adjustments:

Use ground pork instead of the kidneys in the same quantities above. But if you use kidneys, you need to use a pound of them. They have to be prepared and cooked properly before adding them to the soup. The smell of that going on won't be a real family-pleaser, by the way.

You need to add 1/2 cup of pearl barley to the soup along with the potato.

Dice dill pickles to make one cup and add them to the soup, along with a cup of the pickle juice, for the last thirty minutes. You need to use real pickled, fermented cucumber pickles. Ones fermented and then pickled in brine, not vinegar. Look for the brands Hermann's or Bubbies. Omit the sauerkraut entirely.

Add 2 teaspoons of dill instead of one.

Omit the turnip and use 1 large carrot, cut into 1" thin matchstick strips.

Omit the tomato sauce.

The secret to making it great is to sprinkle a couple tablespoons of chopped, fresh dill over the soup after you ladle it into a bowl. Rassolnik is a traditional Russian hangover cure. It's also traditionally served to pregnant women. Just sayin'...

There's a variation called Solyanka. In this one, you use a pound of cooked beef, ham, chicken, and smoked sausage (often a Russian hunter sausage called kabanosy, which is also what Poles call this sausage) and diced and mixed together. Omit the sauerkraut, omit the turnip, omit the barley, use a 16oz can of diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. Use the dill pickles and brine as in Rassolnik. Use one cup of shredded fresh cabbage, added with the potato.

Everyone has different recipes for these soups. You have to experiment to find your own favourite. This is how it's done. You use these recipes as the beta test versions and then you discover for yourself the way you like it best.

FYI, during World War Two, the Soviet army marched into Berlin from the USSR on nothing but these soups and kasha. Mostly on Shchi. A little Lend-Lease Spam if they were lucky enough to get it and it was often added to these soups as the meat when they had it. Soviet field kitchens were basically huge steel cauldrons with wood fires built underneath them and mounted on a wagon pulled by horses or a Bactrian camel. They called them "soup cannons" because of the large smokestack it had. The Wehrmacht knew the Soviets were real close when they could smell kasha and shchi cooking. They knew the Soviets were right on top of them when they could smell the mahorka being smoked. The Soviets printed newspapers with very thin paper so they could be re-used as rolling papers to roll up the mahorka tobacco in for smoking. Each Soviet soldier carried his soup spoon tucked into the top of his boot. That was all that was needed for the army diet and meals: A spoon.

mhof86:
Dharma,

Thank you for sharing the family recipes. I love the history to go with them as well. Makes me want to try them even more now with a good back story to accompany them. I have a good friend that is a WW2 buff and likes to eat. This would make an interesting evening indeed. Especially if we cooked it outside in the MI winter for the full effect  ;). Might not be as harsh as over there and no Germans to worry about (minus the one in the mirrior) but I think I will take this along on the next winter camping trip.

okiecountryboy:
I've copied and pasted this one in a folder.

Between you and Pat, I got 2 dang good new recipes now!

Ron

jeffhalfrack:
Oh Dharma!!   you can't  stop there,,,this sounds great I love kasha! man post some more of these recipies please I cant wait to try them thanks JeffW

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