Bortsch

Name: Bortsch
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Russian
Ingredients: fresh chives, to garnish; a couple of star anise; salt and freshly ground black pepper; salt and freshly ground black pepper; fresh soured cream, to serve; 1 kg (2¼ lb) raw whole beetroot, trimmed and scrubbed, but not peeled; 1 whole Aylesbury duckling; 1 leek, trimmed and halved; 1 onion, studded with cloves; a few juniper berries; 2 bay leaves; 3 litres (5 pints) chicken stock or water; 3 litres (5 pints) chicken stock or water; 1 onion, studded with cloves; 2 carrots, peeled and left whole

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Floyd's Fjord Fiesta

By Keith Floyd

Published 1998

About

Bortsch is not a soup widely served in Scandinavia. I was prompted to cook it during my sojourn in Kirkenes where many of the signs were in Norwegian and Russian, and road signs pointed to such places as Murmansk.

Ingredients

1 whole Aylesbury duckling
1 kg (2¼ lb) raw whole beetroot, trimmed and scrubbed, but not peeled

Europe
Norway
Russia
Norwegian
Murmansk
Winter
Soup
Scandinavia
Gluten-free
Nordic
Eastern Europe

Method

Put the duckling into a very large cooking pot with the beetroot, stock or water, carrots, onion, leek, bay leaves, juniper berries and star anise. Season with some salt and pepper.

Bring the whole lot to the boil, reduce the heat, partially cover and simmer gently. After about 40 minutes, lift the beetroot from the pan. Let them cool down a little and then peel them. Carry on cooking t