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Cooking secrets: borscht. Delicious borscht: secrets of delicious borscht

Many consider borscht one of their favorite soups. It’s so rich and aromatic – it’s a shame not to love it! But not everyone can make it bright red. During the cooking process, the capricious soup loses color and turns orange. Honestly, borscht doesn't have to be burgundy. Color has no effect on taste. But what if you just want to? Or household members bang their fists or spoons on the table and definitely demand red borscht! Let's see what we can do to give the soup just the right color.

What affects color?

To understand how to get red borscht, you must first understand why you are not achieving results. After all, it also happens that during the cooking process the soup looks rich burgundy, and at the end of cooking it turns into orange.

The color of borscht depends mainly on the beets. Therefore, if it doesn’t turn out red for you, perhaps you are doing the wrong thing with this vegetable. Two main “beetroot” rules:

  1. Beets lose color from prolonged heat treatment. Perhaps you are adding this vegetable to the soup too early? Or do you just cook the borscht for a long time? To prevent the dish from losing color, try cooking the beets for no more than 10-15 minutes. It should be borne in mind that even if you managed to make the borscht burgundy, it may “shed” when reheated. Therefore, try to heat the soup quickly, in small portions. If you have a microwave, it's best.
  2. Borsch requires the use of special varieties of beets. It’s better to take lettuce or dark burgundy. Or the “Kuban borscht” variety - it is rich red, with dark veins.

Now let’s figure out what to do to preserve the color we need.

Acid will help

Don't be alarmed, we won't add hydrochloric or sulfuric acid to the borscht. Let's leave them for experiments in chemistry lessons. Tomato paste, vinegar or lemon will save us. The acid will help the beets remain bright (but this does not mean that after this treatment they will be digestible).

To turn the soup burgundy, use one of the following methods.

  1. Sauté beets separately from other vegetables. After placing it in the frying pan, immediately pour in tomato paste and simmer.
  2. If you don't mind borscht with vinegar (some are against adding it to this soup), you can use another method. Before sautéing, sprinkle the beets with a small amount of vinegar and mix well. Don't overdo it! Vinegar must be of good quality so as not to spoil the taste of the borscht. It is better not to use a regular canteen. It is more advisable to take wine, apple or raspberry vinegar. The taste and aroma of the soup will be softer.
  3. Would you like some vinegar? The color of beets can be preserved by using lemon juice. Everything is the same: add a small amount at the beginning of sauteing.

Acid-treated beets are added to the soup last, after all other vegetables. Otherwise, it may prevent the potatoes or cabbage from cooking well.

other methods

Don't want to add acid to borscht? Don't add! It can be made red in other ways. For example, use sugar. When you have sautéed the beets, add a little sugar and stir. This will not only help preserve the color, but also give the soup a unique flavor. By the way, sugar used to be added to almost any first and second course - soups, meat, sauces. This was done in order to enhance the taste of the dish. Unfortunately, now this tradition is almost forgotten. We recommend that it be revived. You will feel the difference! Roughly speaking, sugar is a kind of analogue of monosodium glutamate. Only harmless. Any dishes with the addition of a minimal amount of sugar turn out much tastier.

What if you don't want to roast the beets? It's OK. We can make borscht burgundy without this step. There are several other ways to preserve the desired shade of soup. They will especially appeal to people who do not like to add a lot of fried foods to their first courses.

  1. This method is incredibly simple. When your broth is ready, remove the meat from it. Now put the whole peeled beets into the boiling broth. If the vegetable is too large, then the “full size” may not have time to cook entirely. Cut large beets in half or into quarters. Next, lower the potatoes into the broth and cook the borscht as usual. After 10-15 minutes, remove the beets and set aside for now. Wait until the soup is almost ready. Now you can grate the beets, add them to the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 3-5 minutes. “To be on the safe side,” so that the color is certainly preserved, the grated vegetable can be sprinkled with vinegar or lemon juice. But this is no longer necessary.
  2. You can do it differently. Cook the beets separately. Whole, in peel. Wash the beets well, pour hot water so as to completely cover the root vegetables. Important detail: there is no need to salt the water! Salt will make the beets tough. You need to cook the vegetable for 50-60 minutes. You can also bake beets in the oven. Wash it, wrap it in foil and place it in a hot (180-200 degrees) oven. Beets are baked from 50 minutes (small) to one and a half hours (very large). You can do without foil, but then the root vegetables will shrink (this will not affect the taste).

So, we have finished beets. We need to grate it and put it in the already cooked borscht. Then the color will be perfectly preserved. Let the soup simmer for just a minute or two and remove from heat.

And the last method is also very simple. When you start preparing the soup, wash, peel and grate the beets raw (!). Now put it in a bowl (preferably a metal one - it will retain the temperature better) and pour boiling water over it. That's it, they forgot about the beets! Prepare borscht as usual. And when there are literally 5 minutes left until the end of cooking, drain the water from the beets and add it to the soup. That's it, boil for 5 minutes and that's enough. The borscht will turn out to be a very rich shade.

Now you know why your favorite soup may change color. And what to do to avoid this. We wish you successful culinary experiments and bon appetit. And also inspiration. And your borscht will definitely turn out exactly the shade that you worked so hard to achieve!

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The ongoing debate about which borscht tastes better - Ukrainian or Russian - leads nowhere. But the fact remains that this delicious first course has conquered the whole world and has become the hallmark of Slavic cuisine.

There are, of course, classic ones (you can read about this from the famous V. Pokhlebkin and in other cookbooks), but whether in Russia or Ukraine, each locality has its own version of this dish, and each housewife prepares borscht in her own way . That’s why there are a lot of borscht recipes.

We, having collected recipes from friends, relatives and acquaintances, rummaged through old magazines, chose the most interesting ones. Both experienced and novice housewives can use these recipes.

In addition, you will get acquainted with some culinary secrets.

Borscht with meat and bone broth

The whole secret of this borscht is that vegetables, except potatoes and cabbage, are first stewed separately in a frying pan and only then added 7-10 minutes before readiness to the pan with cabbage and potatoes.

Place a beef bone for broth in cold (!) water, cook without salt, skimming off the foam, for about 40 minutes. Then, about 20 minutes after the bone, add the meat, cut into pieces.

While the broth is cooking, you can cook frying .

To do this, fry coarsely chopped onions in a mixture of vegetable (preferably unrefined) and butter until golden brown. Add 1 tbsp. spoon of flour and mix well (the flour should “fry”, i.e. stop being white). After this, put the carrots and cut into strips and simmer for 5 minutes. Now you need to add the beets, also cut into strips, stir for another 5-7 minutes, add tomatoes or tomato paste, stir for 3 minutes. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer over moderate heat, adding a little water, until almost done. Don't add salt!

When the broth is cooked, strain, return the meat to the pan, and bring to a boil. Add coarsely shredded cabbage. After 10 minutes (if the borscht is with fresh cabbage) - potatoes, cut into large cubes. Bring to a boil, add bay leaf, a few grinds of black pepper (if you like, you can add cloves), salt to taste.

Now it's time for the frying. Place it in a saucepan, if necessary, add salt and pepper, add chopped garlic, herbs and, if desired, your favorite spices, for example.

Turn off the heat and leave covered for a while.

And the next day the borscht becomes even tastier!

Or here’s another little secret: you can grind a handful of dry porcini mushrooms in a coffee grinder about 10 minutes before the end of cooking and carefully add this powder to the borscht. Surprisingly, this does not give the borscht a mushroom aroma at all, but the taste of the borscht becomes extraordinary.

Let this be, so to speak, the basic recipe for our borscht, on the basis of which you can always cook your own, having done only the manipulations known to you.

Now it's time to take a peek and some secrets of making delicious borscht .

...It is customary to cook borscht in strong meat broth. You can use different meats, but you shouldn’t save time on preparing the broth. The longer it cooks, the richer and more aromatic it becomes. Very often, when cooking broth, the water boils away a lot; you can add it, but only boiling water, cold water can spoil both the taste and aroma of the borscht.

...Beets are considered an indispensable vegetable for borscht; they are added to borscht raw, sautéed, boiled or stewed. Beetroot is considered the main component of borscht. Borscht also contains tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, and carrots.

...The process of adding vegetables to the broth is of no small importance.

The first vegetable that goes into the broth is potatoes. Some recipes even recommend frying it a little. This will add even more richness and richness to the taste of the borscht.

Once half cooked, you need to add cabbage. While the cabbage is cooking, under no circumstances should you cover the borscht with a lid, otherwise the unpleasant smell of the cabbage will spoil the entire aroma of the borscht.

Some housewives put a couple of whole potatoes in the borscht, then mash them and put them back into the pan along with the frying.

It is advisable to pre-sauce all other vegetables (onions, carrots, parsley or celery root, peppers, tomatoes) and stew them well.

...You shouldn’t neglect spices and spices. The borscht is piquantly decorated with garlic, allspice and bay leaf.

The rich red color of borscht comes, of course, from its main ingredient, beets. And so that our borscht is not only tasty, but also beautiful, let's learn some more secrets that different housewives use.

...Use dark cherry-colored beets for borscht (Bordeaux, Egyptian, and Cylinder varieties are excellent). So juicy and sweet in taste.

...Beets will not lose their color if you sprinkle them with lemon juice.

You can boil the beets separately in their peels, and add a tablespoon of vinegar to the cooking water. After this, peel the beets, grate them on a coarse grater or cut them into strips and add them to the almost finished borscht. Let it simmer a little more.

...To prepare rich red borscht, you can use this method: grated beets and pour boiling water over them. Then drain this liquid, but do not pour it out. Place beets in borscht. Pour in the beet liquid at the very end of cooking. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat.

...Roasted beets should be added to the borscht at the end of cooking.

...Tomato paste also plays a certain role in the color of borscht. Even if you cook borscht with fresh tomatoes in the summer, a spoonful of tomato paste won’t hurt. And in winter, tomato paste can be combined with homemade tomatoes or canned tomatoes.

...In order for the borscht to turn out red, you need to maintain the proportions of beets, carrots and onions. So they usually take 3 parts beets, 2 parts carrots and 1 part onions. Simmer in a frying pan with the addition of sunflower oil, oil, water and sugar until the beets give juice. Add to the pan when the cabbage and potatoes are cooked in the broth. At the end of cooking, you can add crushed garlic and ground red pepper.

And now the recipes.

Borsch "Red"

Pour the meat (preferably, of course, beef, but it doesn’t matter, you can use any meat) with water and put it on the fire. When it boils, remove the foam, reduce the heat to low, add a whole peeled onion and cook until the meat is ready, from 1 hour to 2.5 hours (depending on the meat used). At the end, add salt to the broth and remove the onion.

Throw the potatoes, cut into strips, into the broth.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the roast: fry finely chopped onion in a frying pan in vegetable oil until golden brown, add grated carrots and grated beets, fry. Then add, of your choice (whatever is available), fresh grated tomatoes or tomato paste diluted with water or broth, simmer until the liquid has almost completely evaporated.

Chop fresh cabbage very thinly.

Once the potatoes are cooked, add the fryer and bring to a boil. After this, add the cabbage and bring to a boil again. Add bay leaf, ground black pepper, cook for 3 minutes. Add finely chopped herbs and turn off the heat.

Russian borsh

Required 400 g pork, 400 g roast beef, 1 onion, 200 g carrots, 300 g beets, 200 g white cabbage, 500 g red tomatoes, 50 g parsley root or celery root. Besides , 2 bay leaves, 5 peas of black and allspice, 1 teaspoon of salt, 50 ml of vegetable oil, 20 ml of table vinegar, 20 g of sugar.

Pour the washed meat with clean cold water (3.5-4 liters) and bring to a boil over high heat. After this, reduce the heat so that it simmers just a little, skim off the foam that appears on the surface. Cook the meat for about 1.5 hours. When it can be easily pierced with a fork or knife, it is ready.

About halfway through the cooking process, add the bay leaf and peppercorns.

Cut the onion into cubes. To do this, peel the onion, cut into 4 parts and chop finely. The bulb should be quite large.

Cut carrots and beets into thin strips. It is believed that chopped vegetables are better suited for borscht than grated ones.

Chop the cabbage thinly and cut the parsley or celery into strips.

When the meat is ready, remove it from the broth and cut into portions.

Strain the broth, return to the pan, add salt and add chopped meat. Please note that salt is added at the end of cooking the broth.

Place cabbage in the strained broth and cook until done.

Place beets, onions, carrots and celery (parsley) in a frying pan or saucepan with vegetable oil, add a little (100-150 ml) of broth and simmer covered over low heat for about 20 minutes.

During the stewing process, vegetables need to be stirred so that they do not burn.

Halfway through cooking, add peeled and chopped tomatoes, sugar and vinegar to the vegetables. Simmer until the vegetables are fully cooked, then add them to the broth with the cooked cabbage. Turn off the finished borscht and cover with a lid to let it steep a little.

When serving, add sour cream and herbs to the borscht. Garlic and black bread go great with borscht.

Borscht is a very mysterious and unusual dish, the methods of preparation of which are still debated. In different Slavic countries, borscht is cooked in its own way - with sausages, smoked meats, fish, horseradish, zucchini, beans and even apples. Every family has its own secrets of delicious borscht, which are passed down from generation to generation, but one thing remains unchanged - the love for this amazingly tasty dish, which is impossible to resist. Small children also love it, so cookbooks for newborns contain tips and recommendations for preparing this soup for infants. Now borscht has become almost an international dish, and if you want to please your family with borscht, choose any recipe - Ukrainian with pampushki, Moldavian with chicken, Starolithian with mushrooms and kohlrabi, Polish with bread kvass or Siberian with meatballs. Borscht has always been a symbol of home warmth and comfort, so it is important that it be tasty and aromatic.

Borscht starts with broth

Borscht is usually cooked in a strong meat broth made from good beef, pork or chicken, and if you decide to use beef, use brisket as it is softer and juicier. Some housewives add lamb bones to the broth to make the soup more rich, others cook borscht with duck, goose and rabbit, others make do with minced meat and stew, and some manage to cook a vegetarian version of real Ukrainian borscht. If you are making meat broth, simmer it for as long as possible to create a richer broth. Boil the bones for 5–6 hours, and the meat for about 2.5 hours, just remember to skim off the foam. During the cooking process, you can add an onion, carrots, celery and a bunch of herbs to the meat to enrich the taste of the broth. After cooking is complete, the vegetables are removed from the pan, the broth is filtered, the meat is separated from the bones, cut into pieces and added to the broth, sometimes with ham, sausages and homemade sausage.

How to cook delicious red borscht

After the broth has been cooked, it’s time to add beets to it - it is the presence of beets that distinguishes real borscht from other first courses. An exception is green borscht, which can be prepared with or without beets, with the addition of sorrel, spinach, nettles and wild garlic.

Raw finely chopped beets can be added to the broth long before the meat is ready, or, by boiling it in the peel and cutting into pieces, add it to the soup at any stage of cooking borscht. You can put half a teaspoon of sugar in a saucepan along with the beets for a pleasant sweetness. Boiled beets are also stewed with carrots, onions, tomatoes or tomato paste - a delicious dressing is obtained. You can use pickled or pickled beets, beet brine or tops. Czech housewives let the beets ferment a little in warm water, and in the villages the beets are infused with kvass. To enhance the red color, add a little lemon juice or beet extract to the borscht, which is obtained after boiled or raw beets are passed through a juicer. However, for this purpose you can add beetroot infusion to the soup. There is a rule - you can’t spoil borscht with beets!

Tricks with vegetables when cooking borscht

If chopped onions are added to the broth immediately after the beets, by the end of cooking the borscht it will be so boiled that it will be invisible in the soup, but will give it a piquant taste and aroma. The carrots are introduced into the broth a little later, cut into strips, and then the potatoes are sent into the pan - in this case, it is better to put a couple of tubers in the soup whole. Carrots and onions are added to borscht either raw or with preliminary stewing or frying, and whole boiled potatoes can be mashed or additionally added mashed potatoes to the liquid to make the borscht thicker.

At the end of cooking, you can take care of the cabbage by finely chopping it and adding it to the borscht, although some housewives add cabbage immediately after the beets. Additionally, you can add zucchini, fresh or canned beans, bell peppers, apples, pea pods, turnips and corn to the borscht - the choice of product depends on the recipe and the taste of the eater. Do not neglect spices, use dried dill, parsley, roots, garlic, black pepper, cilantro, marjoram and fresh ginger. And the finishing touches are tomato paste added directly to the pan with borscht or tomatoes chopped in a blender with the skins removed.

Secrets of cooking borscht with frying

Roasting makes it aromatic, rich, and bright, since fried vegetables have a more pleasant taste. Frying is simple to prepare - carrots and onions are fried until golden brown in lard or oil, and then tomato paste or fresh tomatoes are added to the pan. You can first fry the onion with a small amount of flour until it becomes creamy, and only then add chopped carrots, bell peppers and boiled beets. During the process of frying vegetables, you can and should add water so that the vegetable mixture does not burn; at this stage, many people add vinegar or lemon juice to the vegetables; for piquancy, you can add sugar and garlic.

Modern culinary traditions are aimed at simplifying the process of preparing dishes as much as possible, and many housewives are mastering recipes for how to cook borscht in a slow cooker in order to feed their family delicious food in record time. But sometimes you want to devote the whole day to preparing dinner and slowly cook the broth, chop and fry vegetables, experiment with products, choose aromatic spices and let the borscht brew for half an hour, as it should be. Don't be surprised if the saucepan is empty by the end of the weekend, and don't skimp on sour cream for dressing. And you can serve this miracle not only with donuts, but also with any delicious bread. In the old days they knew that if there is borscht in the house, the household will not rest until it is eaten. As the people said, “where there is borscht, look for us there.”

Borsch! There is so much in this word... This dish is the dream of every man and the advantage of every woman. Each housewife has her own trump cards in preparing this soup. Its quality depends on many factors, including the choice of ingredients.

To make borscht rich, bright and tasty, you need to know certain subtleties and life hacks. Here we will get acquainted with the main ones.

How to cook red borscht so that the beets do not lose color. Nuances

This question may seem strange to some. Red beets - red borscht. Everything seems to be obvious. However, if you add vegetables to the soup incorrectly, the beets may lose color and the dish will not look very appetizing.

What should I do? After all, in theory, beets take longer to cook than all other vegetables and should go into the pan first?!

The answer is simple. Beets should not be added to the broth. It should be stewed in a frying pan along with carrots and onions. To fix the color, be sure to add a little vinegar or citric acid.

Meat broth for borscht should be rich. Therefore, you need to cook it on the bone for at least 2 hours. Next add potatoes and cabbage. Once the vegetables are cooked, the final step is to add the beetroot dressing. Cook the beets in the soup after adding them for no more than 5 minutes.

But there’s no need to rush here either. After removing from heat, the soup should sit for at least an hour. This way the beets will add color and flavor to the other ingredients.

So, we conclude:

  1. Beets need to be cooked separately in the form of borscht dressing, without adding a large amount of water;
  2. There you must add a tablespoon of vinegar or citric acid;
  3. After placing it in the soup, remove from heat for 5 minutes.

By adding finely chopped tomato to the beetroot dressing, you will get an even richer color and aroma!

Borscht with fresh cabbage and beets according to the classic recipe (recipe 1)

This recipe is the most popular among experienced housewives. For beginners, we will look at it step by step.

Ingredients for 3 liters of water:

  1. Beef on the bone 1kg
  2. Fresh cabbage 500g
  3. 4-5 potatoes
  4. 1 carrot
  5. 1 onion
  6. 2 tbsp tomato paste
  7. 2 cloves garlic
  8. spices for borscht
  9. 2 tbsp vinegar

Rinse the meat and place in a saucepan. Cook over low heat after boiling for an hour.

The readiness of beef is determined by the degree to which the meat separates from the bone.

While the broth is preparing, let's prepare the vegetables. Shred the cabbage using a vegetable slicer or knife. Cut the peeled potatoes into cubes. Peel the beets and carrots and cut into strips. Finely chop the onion.

Once the meat is cooked, you need to remove it and separate it from the bone. Then cut it into pieces.

To make the broth clear, skim off the foam that arises during the cooking process more often!

Add the chopped meat to the boiling broth.

Cabbage goes there too.

...and potatoes.

We send the beets with the addition of tomato paste to simmer in a frying pan hot with oil. After 10 minutes, add vinegar and wait a couple more minutes. Then remove from heat.

We also sauté carrots and onions until golden brown.

Add onions, carrots and beets to the soup.

Garlic is an important part of borscht! We add it, after chopping it with a knife, at the very end of cooking. It gives borscht that unique aroma and taste!

Remove the pan from the heat, let the borscht “rest” for 30 minutes and proceed to tasting with sour cream and herbs. Bon appetit!

How to cook Ukrainian borscht with sauerkraut and meat (recipe 2)

Borscht is a multinational dish. Many countries are fighting for the title of homeland of this soup. However, it is Ukrainian borscht that is most famous throughout the world. What's special about it? Try it!


To prepare we will need:

  1. 2 small or one medium beets
  2. 1 carrot
  3. 6 medium potatoes
  4. 300g sauerkraut
  5. 1 large onion 4 cloves garlic
  6. 1kg beef on the bone
  7. 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  8. 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  9. salt, pepper, seasonings to taste.

Wash the meat and let it cook over low heat after boiling for 1-1.5 hours. Salt the broth. Don't forget to remove the foam using a slotted spoon. While the meat is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Peel the potatoes and chop into cubes.

Finely chop the onion, cut the beets and carrots into strips.

The onion is sent first for sautéing. Fry it until golden brown. Next, carrots are sent there, followed by beets.

Once the meat is ready, remove it and separate it from the bone. Crush with a fork. Now we put the meat back into the broth. Next will be sauerkraut and potatoes.

After 20 minutes, add vegetable dressing, spices to the borscht and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Ready borscht should sit for about an hour! Bon appetit!

The rich taste and aroma of borscht bring great pleasure while eating. However, for some housewives this soup turns orange during the cooking process, and the dark cherry color disappears somewhere. How can you make the borscht turn red? There's nothing complicated about it. The main thing is to figure out why the dish gets a different color. You can give the soup a burgundy hue using different methods. You also need samples that will help you cook red borscht in the future.

Add acid to make borscht red

The color of borscht largely depends on the beets: choose salad beets, which have a dark burgundy tint. Do not add it to the soup too early and cook for about 10-15 minutes. Acid is also added to borscht to preserve color. These include:

  • tomato paste - it is placed in beets, which are sautéed in a frying pan separately from other vegetables;
  • wine or apple cider vinegar - sprinkle it over the beets before frying, but try not to overdo it;
  • lemon juice is suitable for those who do not like vinegar; A small amount is added at the beginning of sauteing.

What should I add to make the borscht red?

When frying beets, so that they retain their color, you can add 1-2 tbsp. l. Sahara. This vegetable is added to the borscht last, otherwise it will affect the color of the potatoes and cabbage during the cooking process.

How to keep borscht red: ways

Not all people like roasted vegetables, which are then added to the first dish. In this case, the borscht can be made burgundy without this process. There are other ways to fix the desired shade:

  1. Remove the meat from the prepared broth and place the peeled beets in it. Add the rest of the vegetables to the dish and continue cooking. After 15 minutes, remove the beets. Wait for the soup to cook and then grate it into a bowl.
  2. Boil the vegetable in its peel. To do this, first wash the beets and then put them in a saucepan for an hour. Do not add salt to the water, otherwise the vegetable will become tough. Now grate it and place it in the cooked borscht, which then cook for another 2 minutes.
  3. Peel the beets. Grate it raw. Place in a metal bowl and fill with hot water. Now start making the borscht, and when it’s ready, add the beets to the dish. Boil for another 5 minutes.