Barszcz biały
White Borscht with Egg and White Sausage- Yield
- About 2 1/2 quarts; serves 6
- Active
- 45 minutes
- Total
- 2 hours (plus 4 to 6 days if you make the starter)
- Difficulty
- Medium
The story
Barszcz biały is the white soup served at Easter breakfast in many Polish homes. On Holy Saturday, March 27, 2027, families carry baskets of eggs, bread, salt, horseradish and sausage to church for the święconka blessing, and the food stays untouched until Sunday morning. On Easter Sunday, March 28, after the Resurrection procession, eggs and white sausage often go into a bowl of this soup.
It is easy to confuse with żurek, and Polish Easter menus name the two side by side. Żurek is soured with a fermented rye-flour starter and tastes sharp. Barszcz biały uses a wheat-flour starter and is finished with cream, which makes it milder, with a slightly sweet, milky taste. Some regions sour it in other ways, with sauerkraut juice, soured milk or pickle brine. The base is a smoked pork broth with root vegetables, bay leaf and allspice, seasoned at the end with marjoram, garlic and horseradish.
The homemade starter needs four to six days, so begin it on the Monday of Holy Week, March 22, or buy a bottle at a Polish deli. Put out rye bread and a platter of cold meats with the soup.
Ingredients
- For the starter:
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 cups lukewarm boiled water
- 2 garlic cloves, halved
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 allspice berries
- For the soup:
- 1 lb smoked pork spareribs, cut into 2-rib pieces
- 8 cups cold water
- 2 medium carrots, peeled
- 1 parsley root or small parsnip, peeled
- 1 (4 oz) piece celery root, peeled
- 1 leek, white part only, rinsed well
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 allspice berries
- 5 black peppercorns
- 5 oz smoked slab bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 lb fresh (raw) Polish white sausage (biała kiełbasa), about 4 links
- 2 cups white-borscht starter (homemade above or bottled), shaken
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
- 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 2/3 cup full-fat sour cream
- Freshly ground black pepper
- To serve:
- 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
- Rye bread
Bottled at Polish delis and online before Easter. Otherwise use 2 cups more broth plus 3 tablespoons vinegar, and whisk 1 tablespoon flour into the sour cream.
Sold fresh at Polish delis and some Midwest and Northeast supermarkets; otherwise use fresh, unsmoked bratwurst.
Found in Eastern European markets and larger supermarkets; a small parsnip is the closest substitute.
Method
- Make the starter 4 to 6 days ahead: Stir the whole wheat flour into the lukewarm water in a clean 1-quart glass jar, add the halved garlic, bay leaf and allspice, cover with cheesecloth and keep at cool room temperature, no warmer than 68°F.
- Stir the starter twice a day. It is ready when it smells pleasantly sour and tastes tart; strain out the garlic and spices and refrigerate it for up to 2 weeks.
- For the soup, put the ribs in a 5-quart pot with the 8 cups cold water, bring to a boil, skim off the foam, then cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
- Add the carrots, parsley root, celery root, leek, bay leaves, allspice and peppercorns, return to a simmer and cook, covered, for 1 hour, until the meat is tender.
- Strain the broth into a clean pot. Set the ribs and carrots aside and discard the other vegetables and spices.
- Cook the bacon in a dry skillet over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly golden, and add it with its fat to the broth.
- Prick the sausages a few times with a toothpick, add them to the broth and simmer gently, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until they reach 160°F inside. Lift them out and slice them or leave them whole.
- Shake the starter, stir 1 1/2 cups of it into the simmering broth, taste, and add the rest if you want the soup sharper. Add the crushed garlic, horseradish, marjoram and 1 teaspoon salt and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring.
- Whisk the sour cream in a bowl with about 1/2 cup of the hot soup until smooth, stir it back into the pot and heat until steaming without letting it boil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pull the rib meat from the bones, dice it with the carrots, and return both to the soup with the sausage.
- Ladle into bowls, add two egg halves to each, and serve with rye bread.
Note: This is not the Żurek from our Winter edition: barszcz biały is soured with a wheat-flour starter instead of rye, so it is milder and creamier. Fresh white sausage must reach 160°F inside; refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat within 2 days.
Buying tip: Polish delis sell bottled white-borscht starter and fresh white sausage, with larger supplies in the weeks before Easter. Buy the raw (surowa) sausage, not the smoked kind, and keep it refrigerated until cooking.