Borsch: classic recipe with meat. How to cook borscht: step-by-step recipe. How to cook delicious borscht - recipes

January 25 - T.
This is not borscht at all. at least in my understanding.

Firstly, you don’t have to put so much meat - it’s not jellied meat. Although this is not for everyone. And you can take any meat - pork, chicken, beef. The best are beef and pork bones. I put the potatoes in first - a couple of them whole along with the meat, and cut the rest into pieces and about 20 minutes after the meat boils. When boiling, be sure to remove the foam from the broth, otherwise unsightly rags will float in the pan. Let the broth with potatoes and meat simmer. I cook until the whole potatoes start to fall apart. When the potatoes boil, salt the broth. Meanwhile, prepare the frying. Cut a large onion into small squares and fry in vegetable oil. When it becomes transparent, add grated large carrots and half a medium beet, also grated. I fry and stew all this well (but do not fry). I add 1 tsp. sugar, stirred, then about 3 tbsp. tomato paste and 0.7 liters of homemade tomato juice or crushed fresh tomatoes. If there is no fruit drink, then about half a 0.5 liter can of pasta and about a glass of water (the amount of paste depends on its quality). I evaporate it all well. Even half a veal in a pan will not save borscht with unsuccessful frying. Especially if the tomato is not well fried and evaporated. I simmer until it changes color - there is almost no liquid, and the oil on the surface becomes orange in color. After this, I take out the whole potato and all its parts that have been boiled by then from the pan and mash them with a spoon until pureed. Those potatoes that are cut into pieces remain the same. Afterwards I put it all into the broth. I stir, add finely shredded cabbage, chopped herbs (parsley, dill), bay leaf, chopped bell pepper. Add boiling water to the desired amount and thickness. While it boils, I taste it. I add what is needed - salt, sugar. If it happens that I don’t have enough tomato paste (this happens) or the paste is completely bad, then at the end I add citric acid to taste, as a last resort. And so, with experience, I learned to calculate the amount of tomato per pan. As soon as it boils, I reduce the heat. Let it simmer for a minute and immediately remove from heat. If the cabbage is young, then immediately after boiling. Never overcook cabbage. This is the second rule after a well-steamed tomato. All. Let the borscht brew for about 15 minutes and you’re ready to eat. I did not indicate the proportions of the products, since each housewife does this according to her own taste. Although. if approximately. I have a 6 liter saucepan. It takes about 1 kg of potatoes, large onions and carrots, half a beet, about half a head of medium cabbage. So that there is no porridge, but also not to chase vegetables around the plate with a spoon. Who likes it how? Well, I indicated the number of tomatoes above. It is through tomatoes that the color is achieved, and not through beets (this is not beetroot). Some people don’t like beets at all and don’t put them in borscht at all. Could be so. This is the borscht that my grandmothers and mother prepared. This recipe is from Ukraine, no doubt about it.

Borsch (photo)

How to cook borscht, step-by-step recipe with photos.

Delicious Ukrainian borscht. How cook correct red borscht. Pictures of real borscht. Preparing the borscht dressing. Cook the broth for borscht. Secrets of cooking borscht. Borscht preparation technology.

Why did I write BORSCH in capital letters? Because the recipe that I will give here is the fruit of a lot of research and experimentation. I visited Ukraine a lot (in Ukraine), my friends’ grandmother often cooked real Ukrainian borscht (Ukrainian borscht). The taste is unforgettable. I had something to compare with. Time after time we cooked borscht and gradually developed a recipe classic Ukrainian borscht in our vision. It is clear that there are a huge number of recipes for Ukrainian borscht in Ukraine itself, let there be one more.

Rule No. 1. The most basic rule of any first course is water. This applies especially to borscht. We take water from a spring, if not, then we buy bottled water, if not, then we pour it from a filter.

As we write the recipe for the right borscht, we will reveal the rest of the cooking secrets delicious borscht.

What we need to prepare borscht:

  1. Water.
  2. Meat, beef brisket.
  3. Cabbage 1/6 medium head
  4. Beetroot 4-5 medium size.
  5. Carrots 2 pcs.
  6. Onion 2 pcs.
  7. Coriander 1/2 teaspoon.
  8. Pepper, salt to taste .
  9. Lemon 1/2
  10. Potatoes 2-3 pcs.
  11. Garlic 3 cloves.
  12. Tomato paste 2 tbsp. spoons.

The meat must be fresh. I have frozen, but they froze it three days ago. They didn't calculate it.

Cook the broth for borscht. Fill the meat with water, throw in the onion, and bring to a boil. Reduce the fire. Cook for 2.5 hours until it gurgles a little. We constantly remove the foam.

We prepare the vegetables. We clean, wash. Cabbage for borscht finely chop.

Beets and carrots for dressing borscht three on a coarse grater.

Let's start preparing the dressing for borscht. Rule #2. For borscht dressing All vegetables should be fried together. They will be soaked in juice and then release juice and flavor to the broth. Fry carrots in sunflower oil.

Cut the onion into half rings.

Add to carrots borscht dressing. Fry.

Add garlic. Squeeze it into borscht dressing garlic press.

IN borscht dressing add 1/2 teaspoon of coriander.

Place the beets in the pan with the dressing. Let's stew. How to cook borscht so that it is red? Add beets to the dressing. and tomatoes.

Squeeze the lemon. (It’s clear that in Ukraine they don’t squeeze lemon; somewhere they use vinegar. We use lemon because small children eat borscht)

Simmer over low heat for one hour.

The photo shows that broth for borscht turned out transparent. This is because they did not forget to remove the foam.

If you notice that there is not enough liquid in the dressing, you can add a little broth.

Add tomato paste to the dressing and simmer for 10 minutes. Rule #3. If you have tasty tomatoes (in summer), then you need to add 4-5 pieces to the borscht dressing, the taste of the borscht will be more intense. Grate the tomatoes and discard the skins. We didn't have any tasty tomatoes.

The fourth secret is to remove the meat from the broth before adding the prepared dressing.

Salt and pepper the broth. Bring to a boil. Place the cabbage in the broth.

Cut the potatoes into small cubes.

Place the potatoes in the broth borscht after the cabbage, cook for 30 minutes.

Add borscht dressing to the broth.

Throw in a couple of bay leaves. Cook for 10 minutes.

Cutting on a board meat for borscht into portioned pieces.

Add meat to borscht.

Rule No. 4: you can’t have too much borscht, cook a large pan.

Rule No. 5: Before serving, the borscht should sit for at least a few hours.

Delicious borscht ready.

Anyone who wants it can add sour cream to the borscht. Garlic-rubbed donuts are a must for borscht.

It's hard to find a more popular dish than borscht. Hot and rich, you can fill yourself up with it, because good borscht is prepared thick enough to stand on a spoon, in broth and always served with sour cream. But for those who are just learning the basics of cooking, it may seem that cooking borscht is a very labor-intensive task and will require a lot of time and effort. The most common and familiar borscht to the common man is simple to prepare; the main thing is to remember the order in which you add the ingredients, that’s the whole secret. Today we will tell you all the secrets of cooking delicious borscht and offer a win-win recipe for its preparation.

Cooking borscht - where to start

The first thing to avoid when preparing borscht is haste. This dish takes an average of 1.5 hours to prepare - quite a long time. But this is borscht. We are taking on the task of cooking one of the most colorful first courses, and don’t be intimidated by such a long preparation. The broth itself takes up the lion's share of cooking. If you cook it in advance, the first dish will take you an hour less to cook than expected.

So, first of all, choose a recipe. A traditional recipe for red, homemade borscht should be based on three components:

  • meat broth;
  • cabbage;
  • beet.

These ingredients are the basis of our first dish, which we cannot do without. The recipe also necessarily includes potatoes, onions and carrots - essential vegetables for the most delicious meal of all time.

Depending on the possibilities, the broth can be cooked from beef, pork, but we suggest using poultry - based on it you will get a low-fat, inexpensive and enviably tasty dish. Borscht can also be lean, cooked in water (vegetarian), and this option is also acceptable, but, of course, borscht without meat is a completely different story.

Three main secrets of cooking borscht

Whatever recipe you use when cooking homemade borscht, the main goal is for the dish to end up delicious. Every housewife does not get the perfect borscht from the first time she gets acquainted with the recipe, but, nevertheless, with each preparation comes experience. Here are some important tips that will help you cook rich, thick and satisfying borscht.

  • Beets - stew

Borscht, as a first course, should be appetizing and good in appearance. Properly prepared beets give the borscht the desired color. In order for the food to retain its burgundy color after cooking, the beets need to be lightly fried and simmered in a frying pan in oil before adding them to the broth. A teaspoon of sugar and a drop of lemon juice added to the beets at the time of stewing will help the root vegetable retain its bright color.

Note! Beets cut into strips retain their color better than grated beets.

  • Potatoes for thickness

The richness of the finished broth in borscht is a matter of taste. Some people like a liquid and transparent consistency, others prefer a thicker “yushka”. For those who like thicker liquids, you will like one trick that was used by our grandmothers in preparing borscht. At the very beginning of cooking, put 1-2 whole raw potatoes in the water, cook them along with all other products and do not remove them until the very end of cooking. During the cooking process, these potatoes will be mashed and the consistency of the broth will be enveloping, thick and pleasant to the taste. Essentially, the recipe is the same, but the taste of the first dish with potatoes boiled in it will be completely different.

  • Add tomatoes

There is a widespread opinion among housewives that if there are beets in the borscht, then it is not necessary to add tomatoes - after all, the color will already be bright due to the root vegetable. This is fundamentally wrong. It is the tomato that gives the dish that sourness, without which the process of preparing borscht will be imperfect. Fresh tomatoes will be good in this dish - they can be cooked together with onions and carrots; canned ones can be rubbed through a sieve and poured into the broth.

On a note! As an alternative (to replace fresh tomatoes), the recipe recommends adding canned tomato paste; you only need a few tablespoons per pan for the full flavor of the dish.

How to cook

The recipe for making ordinary borscht is very simple. The main part of the ingredients consists of vegetables familiar to the kitchen. It is thanks to them that this incredibly tasty first course turns out nourishing and thick. Be sure to cook borscht with beets - it gives the characteristic dark red color for which this dish is so famous. You can use any available cabbage in borscht (sauerkraut, sour, red or Beijing), but only white cabbage will give the dish its characteristic aroma.

Cooking time: ~ 1 h 30 min.

Number of servings: 6.

To prepare regular homemade borscht, you will need the following ingredients:
  • 1 kg chicken or duck;
  • 1 large beet;
  • 500 g white cabbage;
  • 4 potatoes;
  • 1 large onion;
  • 1 small carrot;
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic;
  • 5 tbsp. l. tomato paste;
  • 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil (for frying);
  • 2 tbsp. l. finely chopped parsley;
  • 3 bay leaves;
  • salt, ground black pepper;
  • 0.5 tbsp. sour cream (to taste).

Recipe: Let's start cooking

1. Rinse the bird. Place in a 4-5 liter saucepan and cover the bird with cold water. Place on the fire and cook until the meat is completely cooked (about 1 hour). Periodically skim the foam from the broth. At the end of cooking, remove the finished bird from the broth, cool slightly and cut into portions.

2. Wash the beets and peel them. Cut the beets into thin strips. Heat half the prepared vegetable oil in a frying pan, add the beets, pour in a little broth and cook over medium heat until soft (about 30-40 minutes). You can periodically add water or broth. At the end of stewing the beets, add tomato paste and heat for another 10 minutes.

3. Peel the onions and carrots. Chop vegetables randomly. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a frying pan and add chopped carrots and onions. Cook vegetables until soft.

4. Peel the potatoes, cut into neat cubes or cubes. Next, chop the white cabbage into strips.

5. Bring the broth to a boil. Place the potatoes into the boiling broth, and 5-7 minutes after boiling the potatoes, add the cabbage. Cook for 15 minutes, then add beets and sautéed onions, carrots and bay leaves. Salt and pepper the dish. Cook the borscht for another 15 minutes.

Advice: To ensure that the dish retains its rich beetroot color even after boiling, add 1-2 tbsp to the broth at this stage. l. 9% vinegar.

6. When there are 10 minutes left before the end of cooking, peel and chop the garlic using a press. Place chopped garlic in borscht. Cook for another 5 minutes and turn off the heat.

7. Let the dish sit under a closed lid for 10-15 minutes. When pouring the finished dish into plates, be sure to add a tablespoon of thick sour cream to each, and sprinkle fresh chopped parsley on top.

Bon appetit!

This is how you can easily and simply prepare the most popular first course, which will find its eaters in any kitchen. The dish can also be cooked using only broth, and the meat after cooking can be used for main courses. And the last piece of advice: if frozen vegetables (beets, carrots) are used in cooking, then you do not need to defrost them first - immediately place them in a frying pan and in it they will quickly soften and be ready for further cooking.

In contact with

As you know, the birthplace of borscht is Ukraine and the southern regions of Russia. But it is prepared not only there, it is also a favorite first course in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Moldova.

It is prepared from a large amount of vegetables and meat. In some versions, mushrooms and beans are also added. But the main product that characterizes it is, of course, beets. It is this that makes its color red, rich and gives the broth its characteristic sweetish taste.

In different regions of Russia, and especially Ukraine, it is prepared differently. Therefore, a lot of recipes for its preparation have already accumulated. And this suggests that this first course is very respected, and for many it is generally the most delicious and favorite of the first courses.

I want to bring to your attention Ukrainian and Russian recipes today. So that those who love it can cook it as often as possible without repeating it!

My grandmother, when she cooked this tasty and aromatic dish, always said: “To cook delicious borscht, you need to walk around it!” I was still small then, and did not quite understand the meaning of this statement. Now I’ve been cooking everything myself for a long time, and I know exactly what this expression means.

In order for everything to turn out tasty and correctly, you first need desire and time! Nothing worthwhile will come of neither without one nor the other. Therefore, stock up on them, as well as the necessary products, and we will prepare the most delicious first course of its kind.

And the first one we will have is the recipe that is prepared most often - this is a classic one!

A classic recipe is one that is prepared in the traditional way. Today we will look at various options that may be quite surprising for you, but it’s still worth starting with the classics.


My grandmother and mother prepared this dish this way, and now I cook it too.

We will need:

  • beef on the bone (you can add a little pork) - 600 g
  • cabbage - 250-300 gr
  • carrots - 1 pc.
  • parsley or parsnip root - 50 g
  • potatoes - 3 pcs.
  • beets - 2 medium
  • tomato - 1 pc. or tomato paste
  • onion - 2 pcs
  • lemon - 1/3 part (or vinegar 3% - tablespoon)
  • flour - 1 tbsp. spoon
  • sugar - 1 teaspoon
  • salt, ground black pepper - to taste
  • dried herbs - to taste
  • bay leaf - 1 pc.
  • vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons
  • butter - 1 tbsp. spoon
  • fresh dill, parsley, green onions, garlic - for sprinkling
  • sour cream for serving

Preparation:

1. To prepare a delicious rich broth, you must take meat on the bone. If the bone is brain-shaped, it will be simply wonderful. You can also add a sugar pit. The difference is that the marrow ossicles contain the brain, while the sugar ossicles contain cartilage and connective tissue.

Both give a wonderful fat and make the dish especially tasty.

The meat is used depending on which one you like best. It turns out very tasty from beef and pork. So, for example, you can take a beef marrow bone, a piece of beef meat and add pork ribs. The taste will be simply divine.

2. The meat should be washed, put in a pan and filled with water. How to cook meat - there are two options. I will describe both of them, and you choose which one you like more.


  • Option 1. Pour water over the meat so that it is only slightly covered, and let it cook. Foam will appear throughout the boiling process and will need to be skimmed off constantly. As soon as the water boils, remove the foam and wait 3-4 minutes. Then we take out the meat and pour out the water.

The pan will need to be rinsed to remove any meat deposits; you can also rinse the meat. Then place the meat back in the pan and fill it with 2.5 liters of water. You will get 3 liters of finished soup. This makes about 6 good quality servings.

  • Option 2. Pour water over the meat, 2.5 liters at once. Place a saucepan with water and meat on the fire. During boiling, foam will appear and will need to be skimmed off constantly. As soon as the water boils, throw a pinch of salt into a pan of water; all the foam will float up, and it will be easier to remove it.

The transparency of the finished broth depends on how carefully you remove the foam. Therefore, this stage cannot be ignored. It is very important for both the taste and color of the future dish.

And I want to note that the second option is more preferable. In this case, we do not pour out the healthy broth. But you will have to stand by the pan while foam forms for some time.

If you missed the moment, and the foam has already transformed into flakes, and the broth has been boiling for at least 10 minutes, then there is no need to pour out the broth. Just strain it through cheesecloth.

3. As soon as the water with the meat boils (in both cases), the heat will need to be reduced to a minimum and the meat should be cooked until fully cooked. I cook until the meat begins to completely come off the bone.

Throughout the entire time, it is necessary that the broth boils quite a bit, just gurgles slightly. Active vigorous boiling will make the broth cloudy and tasteless.

4. As soon as the meat is ready, you need to remove it from the pan and strain the broth so that there are no small bones left in it.

5. Then cut the meat into pieces and place it back into the broth, bring it to a boil and you can slowly add all the other ingredients.


6. While we were cooking the meat, we can cut and prepare all the vegetables.

7. Cut the onion into cubes or thin half rings.


Grate carrots and parsley or parsnip root on a Korean carrot grater or cut into thin strips.


8. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and lightly fry the onion in it. As soon as the onion begins to brown slightly, pour half a glass of boiled water into the frying pan and simmer the onion until the water evaporates. The onion will become translucent and you won't be able to find it in the soup.


9. Add carrots and parsnip or parsley root, fry them with onions for 3-4 minutes, if you grate them. Or a little longer if cut into strips. In both cases, the carrots should soften slightly.


10. Add sugar and flour, mix. Flour will give a slight nutty smell when fried, and sugar will slightly caramelize the carrots.

However, sugar can also be added to beets.


Add a piece of butter. If you have ghee, then it is best to sauté vegetables in it. But if not, then just add a piece of butter, the soup will have a very pleasant aroma and taste.


You can also add dried herbs - dill, parsley. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave for a while.

11. Cut the cabbage into thin strips. Cut it thinner, so it will taste better and also cook faster. After all, you know that vegetables should not be cooked for too long to avoid loss of vitamins.


Do not try to cut the potatoes right away so that they do not darken. Clean it and put it in water, when the time comes to put it in the broth, we’ll cut it.

Chop the garlic. To do this, crush it with the back of a knife on the board. And then chop finely. Chop the greens as finely as possible.


Don't throw away the long garlic stick. It can come in handy if someone suddenly has a runny nose. If you set this stick on fire, extinguish the fire, and inhale the smoke that comes from the stick through one or the other nostril, then the runny nose will go away. And if you do this several times a day, you can even cure it.

12. Beets can be prepared using one of four options, which I will offer you a little later. It must either be boiled, fried, baked, or cut fresh (details below, in a special chapter).

I decided to cut the beets into thin strips. You need to squeeze lemon juice on it (you can pour vinegar on it) and fry it in the remaining oil.


Add tomato paste or tomato sauce. Or you can add a fresh tomato; to do this, make a cross-shaped cut on it, pour boiling water over it for 4-5 minutes, remove the skin and cut it into small cubes.


13. And so, the broth is ready, the meat is removed from the bone, chopped and sent back to the broth. Let's continue cooking.

The first thing you need to pay attention to is what kind of cabbage we use. If it is autumn cabbage, then it is most likely tough. Nowadays they grow some special hard varieties that can be stored for a long time, but the leaves of such cabbage are hard and even difficult to ferment.

If the cabbage is spring, early, then its leaves are thin and tender.

So in the first case, add cabbage to the broth and cook it for 15 minutes. Then add potatoes.


14. If the cabbage is early, with tender thin leaves, then add potatoes and cabbage at the same time. Potatoes can be cut into either small strips or cubes.


Along with adding vegetables, you will need to add salt to the broth. We didn't do this before because the salt could draw all the juice out of the meat, and the meat would turn out tough and tasteless.

In general, it is believed that in order to get tasty meat, you need to salt it at the end of cooking. And if we want to get a tasty broth, then we need to salt it at the beginning of cooking.

Therefore, there is debate on this matter: when is it better to add salt? I usually salt exactly as I described, that is, when I add vegetables to the broth.

15. Cook for 15 minutes, then add carrots, onions and white roots, and let it boil. Cook for 5 minutes.

16. Add beetroot dressing, chopped garlic and bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes, add ground black pepper to taste and cook for another 2 minutes.


17. Turn off the heat, add fresh herbs and cover tightly with a lid.

18. Leave to infuse for 15-20 minutes.

19. Then pour it into plates, sprinkle with fresh dill and season with sour cream.


20. Eat with pleasure!

Delicious homemade recipe for real Ukrainian borscht

In Ukraine, this is the main first course and it is prepared according to many different recipes. Every housewife has her own little secrets and tricks for preparing it. And everyone ends up with such a rich dish that you don’t have to eat anything else at all.

Of course, we can’t cover all the recipes in one article. Therefore, in the future I will continue to look for interesting recipes and try to cook according to them. And then I will share them with you, maybe you will like something too!

Now I’ll tell you how you can cook beets in one of four ways.

Delicious recipe for borscht in a slow cooker for preparing for the winter in jars

Today we have already looked at many different recipes where we prepared our favorite dish with all types of meat, and even fish. Did you know that you can prepare it for the winter by wrapping it in a jar.

It’s very convenient, I cooked it during the season, when all the vegetables from my garden were saturated with warmth and sun, and hid it all in a jar. In winter, open it, add it to the meat broth and the dish is ready.

And to make cooking quicker, let's see how to cook the product in a slow cooker.

It's that simple! I like this idea, what do you think about it?

How to cook borscht with beets so that it is red

Of course, everyone wants to cook a dish with a rich, bright color. But not everyone succeeds. How to cook it so that it always turns out beautiful, dark red or burgundy?

The first thing you need is to choose ripe, burgundy beets. If the beets are red, then the borscht naturally will not turn out a rich burgundy color, but will appear faded.

It is also necessary to properly prepare and lay beets, and as I said above, there are four ways to do this.

1. Cut the beets into thin strips and simmer them in a small amount of oil or fat with tomato and vinegar. For a three-liter pan and about 1 - 2 beets, it is enough to add 1 teaspoon of 9% vinegar or 1 tablespoon of 3%. Tomato paste also contains acid, and it will also help keep the beets dark and the broth bright and beautiful.


2. Beets can be peeled and boiled whole; vinegar should be added to the water during cooking. When the beets are ready, cool them and cut into strips. Add it 10 minutes before the end of cooking along with sautéed vegetables.

3. Beets can be boiled in their skins, then peeled and grated. Sprinkle with the juice of 1/2 - 1/3 lemon and add to the soup along with sautéed vegetables 10 minutes before readiness.


4. Beets can be baked in the oven or microwave. Then also grate, sprinkle with lemon juice or vinegar and then add to the pan, also 10 minutes before the end of cooking.

I usually use the second or third method. So, in my opinion, the taste of the finished dish is more delicious, and the color is more saturated and bright.

However, there is another way to prepare beets that may be useful for our recipes. Unfortunately, I don’t always use it, but it’s simply necessary to write about it.

Pickled beets for delicious borscht

In the old days, my grandmother always fermented beets; I was still very little then, but I remember it. Having already grown up and started cooking, I asked my mother how my grandmother did it, and my mother gave me the recipe. She also said that pickled beets were used not only for first courses, but also vinaigrettes and other salads and appetizers were prepared with it.


Borscht with pickled beets turns out to be completely special and has a very pleasant taste. And fermenting it is easy and simple.

  1. Take as many beets as you want to ferment, peel them and cut them in any of the known ways. It all depends on how you are going to use it in the future.
  2. Place the beets in the jar quite tightly, leaving, however, space for the brine, which should cover the beets by 5-6 cm.
  3. Prepare the brine. To prepare it, boil water and add salt to it at the rate of 0.5 liters of water - 25 grams of salt (less than a tablespoon). Let the brine cool completely and pour it over the beets.
  4. Place a weight and place a deep plate under the jar.
  5. Leave the beets to ferment. The fermentation time may vary. Minimum 5 days, maximum 12 days.
  6. During fermentation, foam will form, which will need to be skimmed off. Excess juice will also leak out, which will also be formed during the fermentation process.
  7. It is believed that the fermentation process is complete when foam stops being released. This depends on the ambient temperature.
  8. When the foam stops releasing, the jar can be placed in the refrigerator. And use it as needed.

I hope that today’s selection will be interesting for you and the material useful. And you can cook the kind of borscht you want!

After all, as it turns out, you can cook it from any meat, as well as poultry and even fish! In addition to the traditional cabbage, carrots and beets, you can add beans or mushrooms. Today we did not touch upon them with our attention, but if you want to add mushrooms, you can safely do so.

Dried mushrooms must first be boiled and then added along with cabbage. Add fresh mushrooms before adding vegetables, bring to a boil and skim off the foam, and then add all the ingredients according to the recipe.

It should also be remembered that potatoes are always placed in the broth either before the cabbage, if it is fresh from spring, or after, if it is firm from autumn. It is better not to use potatoes with sauerkraut, or add cabbage only after the potatoes are cooked.


Beets with vinegar and tomato paste should also be added only after the potatoes are cooked, otherwise they will turn out tough and tasteless.

But the rest seems to be clear and understandable! I wish that the borscht cooked by you always turns out thick, rich, aromatic and tasty. And also so that it is always bright and beautiful!

Bon appetit!

Liquid meals are simply necessary for humans. Cold or hot soups, borscht, solyanka or kharcho - there are a lot of broth-based products.

Delicious borscht also has several cooking options. Every housewife has her own secrets that are unknown to other cooks. That is why in each family the taste and composition of this dish differ significantly. Let's look at the detailed instructions; the classic one with photos is presented in this article.

Meat selection and preparation

The soup can be made from pork or beef, poultry or rabbit. However, the correct borscht always has a basis. Still, it is better to give preference to beef tenderloin when preparing it.

When buying meat, pay attention to the presence of bones in it. It is she who will help you prepare a rich broth and subsequently delicious borscht. The meat should not be dry. The product should “play” in your palm. Sniff the selected piece. The smell should not be pungent or unpleasant. There should be small layers of fat in the meat tenderloin. This is necessary so that after cooking the product does not become hard.

If necessary, ask the seller to cut the meat into pieces of a certain size; most meat markets provide this service for a fee. You can also purchase an already processed product in the form of a goulash preparation. In this case, you need to take care of purchasing a separate bone.

Making the broth

It is necessary to thoroughly wash the meat before. The classic recipe with meat involves long-term cooking of the product. Place the processed product in a saucepan with a thick bottom and fill it with water at room temperature. The volume of the cookware depends on the desired amount of the prepared product. Do not choose small pans, as a large amount of ingredients may simply not fit there. Place the container on the fire and bring to a boil.

Any foam that rises to the surface during cooking must be carefully removed. After the first removal of the plaque, you need to salt the broth and, if necessary, add peppercorns. Cook the meat until it becomes soft. After cooking, remove the bone and proceed to further adding to the soup.

Recipe for borscht dressing

While the broth is cooking, you can not waste time, but prepare the necessary ingredients for dressing. You will need the following components:

  • half a head of cabbage;
  • two small carrots;
  • one medium-sized onion;
  • beets in the amount of two pieces;
  • herbs to taste: parsley or dill;
  • 4 cloves of garlic;
  • medium-sized potatoes in the amount of 5 pieces;
  • three tablespoons of tomato paste or one tomato.

Cooking cabbage

With meat) always implies the presence of cabbage. You need to remove the top leaves from it, and then start chopping the product. Cut a small piece of the vegetable from the side and cut it into thin strips. Repeat the procedure with the next part. In this way you should process about half of a small head of cabbage.

Next, you need to take a deep frying pan and put the shredded cabbage in it. Add a little olive oil and simmer with the lid closed for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the tomato mixture. To do this, peel the tomato by first placing it in boiling water for half a minute. Cut the vegetable into small cubes and add to the pan. You can also use regular tomato paste. In this case, just put it in the cabbage. Stir the product and simmer over low heat for another 10 minutes. After this, transfer the resulting tomato mixture into a separate bowl.

Carrots and onions

At the next stage of preparing the Borscht dish, the step-by-step recipe involves processing onions and carrots.

Peel the onion and cut it into small pieces. Place the product in a preheated frying pan with oil and fry until golden brown. During this time, grate the carrots on a coarse grater and add them to the onions. Saute the vegetables for another 5 minutes with the lid open, stirring constantly. After that, put them in a common bowl with the cabbage.

Beetroot and garlic

This product is perhaps one of the main ones that borscht contains. The step-by-step recipe says that the beets must be peeled, rinsed under running water and grated on a coarse grater.

The processing of this ingredient differs from the others in that it is not fried or sautéed.

Next, you need to peel the garlic and cut it into tiny cubes. If you have a device for processing it, then it is better to use it. Add the ingredient to the grated beets and set aside.

Potato

Take 5 medium sized potatoes and peel them. For borscht it is better to choose classic potatoes. It contains the necessary amount of starch, which does not allow the potato pieces to fall apart.

Cut into small squares or strips and soak in cold water.

Assembling borscht (classic recipe with meat)

When the broth with meat is ready, add cabbage, carrots and onions. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and cook until they boil again.

After this, you need to add also stir the broth and cook it for another 15 minutes over low heat. It is necessary to constantly ensure that the soup does not “run away”. To do this, do not use high heat and stir the dish as often as possible.

When the time indicated in the instructions is up, you can add the next ingredient - potatoes. To do this, drain the liquid from it and carefully transfer the pieces into the broth. Cook the soup for another 10 minutes after the next boil.

Finishing touches

When the potatoes are cooked and soft, add finely chopped dill or parsley to the broth. You can also add a few bay leaves. This maneuver will give the dish a special alluring aroma.

There is one more point that must be taken into account when preparing the Borscht dish. The classic recipe with meat indicates the need for the broth to infuse. To do this, you need to wait for the dish to cool down and put it in the refrigerator. The product can be consumed only after a few hours, or better yet, after a day. In this case, you will get an appetizing soup with the softest, tender meat.

Serving

The dish must be served with sour cream. It will only complement your borscht and make it even more delicious. Some families prefer to eat borscht with mayonnaise. This option is also possible, but it already differs from the classic recipe.

It is also necessary to serve the soup with regular sliced ​​bread or prepare bread that goes perfectly with this liquid dish.

Conclusion

Now you know how to cook borscht (classic recipe). You can see a photo of the prepared dish in this article.

This dish would be an excellent option for lunch or dinner. The aromatic hot broth will warm you up in cold, stormy weather.

Borscht can also be prepared for any celebration, especially if it is held in national traditions. Prepare the dish with pleasure, following the described instructions. In this case, you will achieve the desired result and receive well-deserved praise from your loved ones and guests.