Kapusniak

The story

Kapusniak is Ukraine's sauerkraut soup: pork and salo simmered with fermented cabbage and potatoes, sometimes with beans or millet, and finished at the table with smetana, the Ukrainian sour cream. It is cooked across the country and is named among the common local dishes of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where it is made with pork. Chef Ievgen Klopotenko admits he once doubted the soup and changed his mind on a research trip to Cherkasy region, where he recorded a version in the village of Stebliv. He now calls kapusniak a dish that, together with borscht, forms the foundation of the country's culinary identity. The Stebliv recipe simmers pork ribs, thickens the broth with millet and mashed potatoes, adds tomato juice and tops each bowl with salo fried with onion; he lets the pot steep for an hour before serving. Other cooks vary the pot. Some rinse the sauerkraut before it goes in, Klopotenko adds a handful of fresh cabbage to the fermented, and Myroslava Pekaryuk, a MasterChef contestant, fries smoked ribs and stews them with the sauerkraut. Kapusniak improves overnight, so cook it on a weekend and reheat it for weeknight suppers with rye bread, garlic and sour cream.