Name: Borscht
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 4 small parsnips; 3 bay leaves; 2 Cox’s apples; 1 kg beef shin or stewing steak; 3 large celery sticks; ½ medium green or white cabbage; 1 teaspoon dried dill seeds; 1 × 400 g tin chopped peeled tomatoes; 4 large beetroots; large-flaked sea salt and white pepper; 400 g uncooked whole bacon, or smoked ham hock, or gammon; 2.5 litres water; 125 ml soured cream; 50 ml white wine vinegar; 1 large onion; 1 × 400 g tin white haricot beans; 4 garlic cloves; a fistful of parsley stalks; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

What to Eat Now (Autumn & Winter)

By Valentine Warner

Published 2008

About

So often the English interpretation of borscht consists of little more than beetroot pureed in stock. There are thousands of variations from across Eastern Europe, but this recipe is the feast it can be; one to bolster hungry workers and tractor drivers, stir revolutionaries and tired writers while staining the shirts of greedy oligarchs. A statement in its blood colour alone, piping hot and full of essentials, this soup brims with vitality. Raise the red flag if serving borscht.