🇷🇺 Russian Federation · Russia (an East Slavic cabbage-soup tradition that predates the modern nations)
ShchiRussian cabbage soup
Russia's oldest national soup: cabbage (fresh or, in the classic sour form, sauerkraut) simmered slowly with meat or mushroom broth, onion and carrot, finished with sour cream and dill, and traditionally rested before eating.
Origin and history
Shchi is among Russia's oldest soups. Cabbage reached the East Slavs around the 9th century, Russia Beyond says cabbage soup has been cooked since at least the 10th century, and the word 'shti' appears in Russian texts in the 16th century. The 1550s Domostroi recommends shchi for a well-to-do family, and a Dutch traveller wrote in 1702 that commoners ate it twice a day. In Soviet cookbooks borscht gradually overtook it.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 2 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 700 g1.5 lb beef brisket or short rib on the bone, in 2 or 3 pieces
- 2.5 l2.5 qt cold water
- 2 onions, one halved, one chopped
- 1 carrot, half left whole for the broth, half grated
- 1 parsley root or celery stalk, optional
- 500 g1.1 lb sauerkraut, squeezed lightly; rinse if very sour
- 300 g2/3 lb fresh white cabbage, shredded
- 3 small potatoes, peeled, diced
- 2 tbsp butter or sunflower oil
- 2 tbsp tomato paste or 2 small tomatoes, optional
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 black peppercorns
- sour cream (smetana), dill and parsley, to serve
- salt, to taste
Method
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1. Put the meat in a pot with the cold water, bring to a boil and skim the foam carefully.
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2. Add the halved onion, the whole half carrot, the parsley root or celery and the peppercorns, then simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is tender. Salt lightly, since the sauerkraut will add salt.
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3. Lift out the meat and strain the broth. Cut the meat off the bone and into bite-sized pieces.
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4. Return the broth to the pot, add the sauerkraut and simmer for 40 minutes, until it is soft.
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5. Fry the chopped onion and grated carrot in the butter for 8 minutes, add the tomato paste and cook 2 more minutes.
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6. Add the potatoes and fresh cabbage to the pot and cook for 10 minutes.
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7. Add the fried onion mixture and the bay leaves and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
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8. Return the meat, taste for salt and sourness (add a splash of sauerkraut brine if needed), remove the bay leaves, cover and rest the pot off the heat for 30 minutes.
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9. Serve with a spoon of sour cream, chopped dill and parsley, and black bread.
Notes
- Shchi is Russia's cabbage soup. Fresh cabbage was used from late summer and sauerkraut from late autumn; in spring cooks made green shchi with sorrel or nettles. This recipe uses both sauerkraut and some fresh cabbage; use sauerkraut alone for a more sour soup, or fresh cabbage alone for a milder one. Sources say there is no single canonical recipe.
- Resting is part of the tradition. Shchi was historically cooked for hours in the Russian stove and improves if left to steep; make it in the evening and eat it the next day. A covered pot in a low oven (about 160 C / 320 F) for the last hour or two imitates it.
- Wealthier households added meat, mushrooms or fish, while poorer ones made 'empty' versions without meat; a fish and mushroom shchi with sauerkraut also exists. Many cooks fry onion, carrot and tomato paste first, as here, but some readers and cooks insist traditional shchi has no such frying and no tomato, so leave it out if you prefer.
- Old recipes thickened shchi with rye flour (zaboltka); potatoes later took over that role.
- Kislye shchi ('sour shchi') originally named a kvass-like drink, though many people now use the name for shchi made with sauerkraut.
- Borscht is a different soup (beet-defined); Ukrainian kapusniak and Polish and Czech cabbage soups are the neighbours.
Adapted from The Moscow Times, Shchi made simple, Russia Beyond, Shchi: Russian cabbage soup, and Lifehacker Russia, How to cook shchi.
At the festivals
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