🇷🇴 Romania
Ciorbă de văcuțăRomanian sour beef soup
A Romanian ciorbă of bone-in beef simmered with onion, carrot, parsnip, celery, pepper and potato, soured with borș (or tomatoes or vinegar) and finished with lovage and parsley.
Origin and history
Ciorbă de văcuță is the beef member of Romania's family of soured ciorbe. Adevărul places it among the soups Romanians like best and links it with generous family lunches, noting it can be soured with fresh borș, vinegar or just tomatoes. BZI calls one version a dish inherited from ancestors. The sources consulted give no date or origin.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 2 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 500 g1.1 lb bone-in beef, shank, ribs or brisket
- 2.5 l2 1/2 quarts cold water, at least 2 l
- 2 carrots, small dice
- 1 parsnip, small dice
- 1 small celery root (celeriac), small dice
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 potatoes, cubed
- 1 tbsp rice
- 200 ml3/4 cup tomato passata, or 3 fresh tomatoes
- 200 ml3/4 cup borș (fermented wheat-bran sour liquid), boiled separately first; or use lemon juice or vinegar to taste
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 bunch lovage (leuștean), chopped
- 1 bunch parsley, chopped
- a little sunflower oil
- salt and black pepper, to taste
Method
-
1. Put the beef in a large pot with the cold water and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, skim off the foam, then simmer gently with the lid ajar for about 2 hours, skimming now and then, until the meat is well cooked.
-
2. Lift out the meat, cool it a little, take it off the bones and cut it in small pieces.
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3. Warm the oil in a pan and soften the onions and pepper for 5 minutes, then add them with the carrots, parsnip and celeriac to the broth. Simmer for 20 minutes.
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4. Add the potatoes and rice and cook 15 minutes more, until the potatoes are nearly done.
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5. Return the meat, then stir in the passata and paprika and simmer for 5 minutes.
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6. Bring the borș to a boil in a separate pot, pour it into the soup and simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
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7. Turn off the heat, stir in the lovage and parsley, and serve hot.
Notes
- The BZI recipes agree on the shape: a long simmer of bone-in beef (shank, ribs or brisket; a pressure cooker is faster but, the article says, less flavourful), diced root vegetables, and a souring added at the end.
- Souring varies: Adevărul says this ciorbă may be soured with fresh borș, with vinegar or just with tomatoes. A village-style BZI version uses tomato juice only, adds peas and green beans, and treats borș as optional, to taste.
- Boil the borș separately before adding it, as BZI advises. Without borș, use lemon juice or vinegar, a little at a time.
- BZI finishes with lovage and parsley; the village version offers celery leaves as a stand-in for lovage.
- Quantities follow BZI's borș recipe (500 g beef, at least 2 l water, 200 ml borș, 200 ml strained tomatoes); the village version uses 700 g of beef and 4 l of water for a bigger pot.
Adapted from BZI: Rețetă pentru ciorbă de văcuță cu borș and BZI: Ciorbă de văcuță țărănească.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.