Meat solyanka

Ingredients

• Beef on the bone500 g
• Smoked ribs200 g
• Boiled sausage — in strips150 g
• Ham — in strips150 g
• Brined cucumbers — in strips4
• Cucumber brine150 ml
• Onion2
• Tomato paste3 tbsp
• Olives and capers100 g
• Lemonto taste
• Soured cream and herbsto taste
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Make a stock from the beef and the smoked ribs: an hour and a half at a bare simmer, skimming. Lift the meat out and pull it apart.

   90 min

2. 2

   Fry the onion until soft, add the tomato paste and cook three minutes, until it darkens and stops smelling raw.

   8 min

3. 3

   Add the cucumbers and cook them with the onion for five minutes, so they do not stay hard in the finished soup.

   5 min

4. 4

   Put the fried mixture, the pulled meat, the sausage and the ham into the stock, pour in the brine and simmer for fifteen minutes.

   15 min

5. 5

   Add the olives and capers, warm for five minutes and take it off. Check the salt only now: the brine and the smoked meat have already seasoned it.

   6 min

6. 6

   In the bowl: a slice of lemon, soured cream and herbs. The lemon goes into the bowl rather than the pot, where boiling would turn it bitter.

About the dish

Solyanka is a soup of leftovers taken to its logical conclusion. The point is variety: boiled meat, smoked cuts, sausage, ham — the more kinds, the more complex the result. One meat does not make a solyanka.

The brine from the cucumbers goes into the pot along with the cucumbers themselves. It is the main source of the sourness the soup exists for; the lemon only sharpens it in the bowl.

The cucumbers must be brined rather than pickled in vinegar. Vinegar gives sharpness instead of depth, and the difference is audible at once.

Worth knowing

• — Solyanka wants at least half an hour standing, better a night. This is one of the soups that is noticeably better the next day.
• — The more meats the better, but at least one has to be smoked: that smoky note has no substitute.
• — If it comes out too sour, add a spoon of sugar — not for sweetness but to take the edge off.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

32 g

Fat

26 g

Carbs

12 g

More from Russia

• Borscht — A beetroot soup on beef stock where acid holds both the colour and the flavour. The beetroot is braised separately, never boiled in the pot.
• Syrniki — Curd cheese fritters with as much curd as possible and exactly enough flour to keep them together.