Borsch is, probably, the most widespread dish of Slavic kitchen. This kind of vegetable soups has received the name from a name of a usual beet (beetroot) which on the Old Slavonic was called "áúðùü" (“brsch”) and which is an obligatory component of this dish.
For the last centuries borsch has won the world glory. Skilful culinary specialists have presented people Moscow, Siberian, Belarus, Polish, Kishinev and other types of borsches, each of which, having high flavoring qualities, reflects one or other national and geographical features of a folk character, country.
Usually borsches are cooked on a meat broth with a ham, bacon, salted pork fat, sausages, a duck, the goose, and also on a fish broth and with jowl. The borsch can be cooked with mushrooms, prunes, and dried fruits or only with vegetables. Cabbage and a beet are the basic vegetables in the borsch; some people put in borsch carrots, onions, parsley, celery, a tomato-mashed potatoes or tomatoes. It is possible to use a beet tops, leaves of a rhubarb, spinach, oxalate sorrel etc. instead of a cabbage. In some kinds of a borsch put a potato. For keeping in a borsch a beet color and also for improvement of taste add vinegar, sour kvass, a citric acid, a brine of cabbage or tomatoes. Before serving borsch should be strewed with finely cut greens of a parsley or dill.
Depending on a products combination or on the form of the cut vegetables borsch can be called as the Ukrainian, Moscow, naval, etc. Ukrainian borsch is cooked with bacon and potato; in Moscow borsch put a beef, a ham and sausages before serving; vegetables for a naval borsch should be sliced , and for all others types-cut stick-like.
The excellent flavoring bouquet of a borsch (its composition includes 18-20 various products and seasonings) provides to it the highest estimations at the international culinary competitions during many years.
As a rule, borsches are cooked on a meat or bone broth. The brisket is more suitable for the broth. Bones cook 4 - 6 hours, meat 2-2, 5 hours. By the end of cooking in a borsch should remain no more than 300-350 g. of a pure broth for the portion, therefore water in the beginning of cooking should be taken at least twice more. Beef brisket and pork put usually in the ratio 2:1 or 1:1. It is possible also to cook a borsch on a goose or chicken broth. In this case you shouldn’t add other types of a meat. The preliminary separate treatment of vegetables is very important for the vegetable part of a borsch. A beet, for example, stew separately from other vegetables, preliminary sprinkled with vinegar or having added a citric acid or a lemon juice to keep red color.
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