Solyanka
Solyanka is traditionally where leftover cured meats end up, and there is no shame in that: the point is to put in at least three different cured meats, and the more they differ the better. The other axis is acidity, from three sources at once — pickled cucumbers with their brine, capers and lemon. Without that sourness the soup is merely fatty.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Broth 90 min
- Cured meats 12 min
- Tomato base 10 min
- Simmering 20 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneSimmer a broth on the brisket
Cover the meat with cold water, bring to a boil, skim, and simmer an hour and a half over low heat with the bay, peppercorns and allspice, until the meat is tender. Brisket is a tough cut and stays chewy if cooked for less. Lift out the meat, take it off the bone and dice it; strain the broth.
Ingredients: 400 g beef brisket · 2000 ml water · 2 pcs bay leaves · 8 pcs peppercorns · 4 pcs allspice berries
Cut all the meats into batons
Slice the sausage, ham and bacon into matching batons. Three different meats is not a whim — each brings its own salt, smoke and fat, and without that variety solyanka tastes like ordinary sausage soup.
Ingredients: 200 g smoked sausage · 150 g ham · 100 g smoked bacon · 2 pcs onions · 3 tbsp tomato paste · 30 g butter
Three different meats, cut the same way.Fry the meats until browned
Render the bacon, add the rest and fry until the edges brown and crisp. This is the first source of flavour in the soup — dropped into the broth raw they would simply be boiled and dull.
Ingredients: 200 g smoked sausage · 150 g ham · 100 g smoked bacon · 2 pcs onions · 3 tbsp tomato paste · 30 g butter
Browned edges, not merely warmed through.Soften the onion and cook the paste
Add the butter and onion, soften, then stir in the tomato paste and fry for 2 minutes, until it darkens and smells sweet. Raw paste is sour and metallic — those two minutes remove that edge.
Ingredients: 200 g smoked sausage · 150 g ham · 100 g smoked bacon · 2 pcs onions · 3 tbsp tomato paste · 30 g butter
Add the pickles and their brine
Add the diced cucumbers and pour in the pickle brine. That, rather than vinegar, gives solyanka its characteristic lactic sourness. Cook 5 minutes with the tomato base.
Ingredients: 250 g pickled cucumbers · 3 tbsp capers · 100 g black olives · 1 pcs lemon · 200 g sour cream · ½ bunch dill
Pickles and brine — lactic sourness, not vinegar.Combine with the broth and simmer 20 minutes
Tip everything into the broth along with the diced brisket, add the capers and olives and simmer for 20 minutes. Salt at the very end and cautiously — the meats, capers and brine have already brought a great deal.
Ingredients: 400 g beef brisket · 2000 ml water · 2 pcs bay leaves · 8 pcs peppercorns · 4 pcs allspice berries
Serve with lemon and sour cream
Put a slice of lemon in each bowl with a spoonful of sour cream and dill. The lemon is not decoration: its fresh, bright acidity differs from the pickles' and it lifts the soup at the moment of eating.
Ingredients: 250 g pickled cucumbers · 3 tbsp capers · 100 g black olives · 1 pcs lemon · 200 g sour cream · ½ bunch dill
Before you start
The more meats the better
Solyanka takes whatever is left: ham ends, kabanos, a scrap of loin, frankfurters. It is a great way to empty the fridge, and the more mismatched the selection, the more interesting the result.
A fish version
Replace the meats with a mix of smoked and fresh fish, and make the broth from heads and bones. Everything else is identical — cucumbers, capers, olives and lemon work exactly the same.
Do not salt early
The soup salts itself as it cooks, since the cured meats release salt into the broth. Only taste after twenty minutes — it is very easy to oversalt here, and there is no good remedy.
