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🇷🇺 Russian Federation, 🇺🇦 Ukraine, and 🇩🇪 Germany · Russia; widespread in the former USSR and East Germany

SolyankaRussian sour meat soup

A thick, sour and salty Russian soup, usually meat-based, with pickled cucumbers, olives, capers, tomato, onion and smoked meats, finished with smetana and dill; fish and mushroom forms exist.

Solyanka (Russian sour meat soup)

Origin and history

Solyanka began as a sour Russian village dish, often written selyanka. The 1794 Dictionary of the Russian Academy describes a dish of sauerkraut with fish or beef, ham, vinegar and pepper, eaten as a main course. In the 19th century it became a soup, and by the second half of the century meat, fish and mushroom solyankas were fixtures of Moscow taverns and restaurants. After 1917 it became a home dish across the Soviet Union, and in East Germany Soljanka became a restaurant classic.

Make it at home

Makes
6 servings
Total time
2 h 45 min
Hands-on
45 min

Ingredients

Units
  • 600 g1.3 lb beef on the bone (brisket or shank), for the broth
  • 2.5 l10½ cups cold water
  • 3 onions, 1 halved for the broth, 2 finely chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 150 g5 oz cooked ham, cut in strips
  • 150 g5 oz smoked sausage (hunters' sausages, kolbasa), sliced
  • 100 g3.5 oz smoked pork loin or smoked brisket, cut in strips
  • 2–3 frankfurters, sliced
  • 2 tbsp butter or sunflower oil
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 4 (about 250 g)4 (about 9 oz) salt-brined (not vinegar) pickled cucumbers, diced or cut in thin strips
  • 150 ml⅔ cup cucumber brine (rassol), strained
  • 1 tbsp capers, drained
  • 18 black olives (maslini), pitted
  • salt and black pepper, to taste; taste first, the pickles and meats are salty
  • 6 thin slices lemon, to serve
  • 6 tbsp smetana or sour cream, to serve
  • 2 tbsp chopped dill, to serve

Method

  1. 1. Put the beef in a pot with the cold water, bring to the boil and skim off the foam.

  2. 2. Add the halved onion, 1 bay leaf and the peppercorns, cover and simmer very gently for about 2 hours, until the meat is tender.

  3. 3. Lift out the beef, strain the broth (you need about 2 l / 8½ cups) and cut the meat into small strips, discarding the bone.

  4. 4. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the chopped onions for 6–8 minutes, until soft and golden.

  5. 5. Stir in the tomato paste and fry for 2 minutes, until it darkens slightly.

  6. 6. Add the pickled cucumbers and a ladle of broth and simmer for 8–10 minutes, until the cucumbers soften.

  7. 7. Brown the ham, sausage, smoked pork and frankfurters in a dry pan for 2–3 minutes to bring out their smoky flavour.

  8. 8. Bring the broth back to the boil and add the beef, the browned meats, the onion and cucumber mixture, the brine and the capers; simmer for 10 minutes.

  9. 9. Add the olives and the second bay leaf and simmer 2–3 minutes more. Taste: it should be sour and salty; add more brine if it is flat, water if it is too salty.

  10. 10. Take the pot off the heat, cover and let it stand for 10–15 minutes.

  11. 11. Serve each bowl with a slice of lemon, a spoonful of smetana and a little dill.

Notes

  • This is sbornaya myasnaya solyanka (mixed-meat solyanka), the most common form: a strong beef broth with several cooked and smoked meats, soured with pickles and their brine. Use whatever good meats you have; boiled tongue or smoked ribs are classic additions.
  • Fish solyanka (rybnaya) is made on a fish broth with sturgeon, salmon or pike-perch, and mushroom solyanka (gribnaya) on fresh and salted or pickled mushrooms, for fast days. Elena Molokhovets' 19th-century recipe adds sautéed cabbage and mushrooms to the meat version.
  • Solyanka na skovorode is a different, older dish: braised sauerkraut with meat or fish, served as a main course.
  • In East Germany Soljanka became a restaurant and canteen classic, often made with Jagdwurst and Letscho (pepper and tomato stew); Kurt Drummer's 1963 TV cookbook called it a Soviet national dish and also gave a fish version, which coastal restaurants served.
  • Use cucumbers fermented in salt brine (Russian solyonye, Polish ogórki kiszone). Sweet vinegar gherkins give a different, sugary sour; if you must use them, cut back the brine and add lemon juice.
  • Olives and lemon are often added only in the bowl. Many cooks fish out the lemon pips first, as they turn the soup bitter if left in the pot.
  • Solyanka is better the next day. It keeps for 3 days in the fridge.

Adapted from Vokrug Sveta: Sup dlya sborki, istoriya i retsept solyanki (after Elena Molokhovets) and Lifehacker.ru: Sbornaya myasnaya solyanka.

At the festivals

Served at 3 festivals in Germany.

Earlier editions

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