Soups · Meat

Solyanka

Name: Solyanka
Prep time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 2000 ml Beef broth (ready-made or from cube); 250 g Smoked sausage (e.g. kabanos-style); 200 g Smoked ham (in one piece); 300 g Stewing beef (e.g. chuck); 2 szt Onion; 4 szt Pickled cucumbers (medium); 150 ml Pickle brine; 3 łyżka Tomato paste; 100 g Pitted black olives; 2 łyżka Capers; 2 szt Bay leaf; 4 szt Allspice berries; 30 g Butter; 1 łyżeczka Black pepper; 1 szt Lemon; 200 ml Sour cream 18%; 1 szt Bunch of flat-leaf parsley

Time

35'

+ 0h 25' chilling

Diff.

medium

Kcal

380

/ serving

Servings

Gather 17 ingredients before cooking

Scale

Units

01 You'll need check when you have it

02 To finish last minute: ~60 min window

Step 01 of 08

Cook the beef

300 g

2000 ml

2 szt

4 szt

Cut stewing beef (e.g. chuck) (300 g) into 2 cm cubes. Put in a pot, pour in beef broth (ready-made or from cube) (2000 ml), add bay leaf (2 szt) and allspice berries (4 szt). Simmer on low heat for 45 minutes until the meat is tender. Skim foam off the top as needed.

Tip

Stock cube broth works fine, but the beef still needs to cook — it's what gives the soup its depth.

Step 02 of 08

Slice the meats and pickles

250 g

200 g

4 szt

Cut smoked sausage (e.g. kabanos-style) (250 g) and smoked ham (in one piece) (200 g) into thin strips about 4 cm long. Peel pickled cucumbers (medium) (4 szt) if the skin is tough and dice them finely.

Step 03 of 08

Fry onion with tomato paste

30 g

2 szt

3 łyżka

In a 28 cm cm pan melt butter (30 g). Add finely chopped onion (2 szt) and fry on medium heat for 6-7 minutes until translucent. Add tomato paste (3 łyżka) and fry for another 2 minutes, stirring.

Tip

Frying the paste with onion knocks out its sourness and brings out sweetness. Skipping this step leaves the soup raw and sharp-tasting.

Step 04 of 08

Stew pickles with onion

4 szt

150 ml

Add pickled cucumbers (medium) (4 szt) to the pan with the onion. Pour in pickle brine (150 ml). Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes until the pickles soften.

Step 05 of 08

Add cured meats to the broth

250 g

200 g

When the beef is tender, add smoked sausage (e.g. kabanos-style) (250 g) and smoked ham (in one piece) (200 g) to the pot. Cook for 5 minutes.

Step 06 of 08

Combine everything

100 g

2 łyżka

1 łyżeczka

Transfer the pan contents (onion with pickles) to the pot. Add pitted black olives (100 g) and capers (2 łyżka). Season with black pepper (1 łyżeczka). Simmer for 5 minutes. Solyanka is salty from pickles, capers and olives — don't add salt before tasting.

Tip

Add salt only if the soup truly needs it after tasting. Easy to oversalt, hard to fix.

Step 07 of 08

Let the soup rest

Take the pot off the heat and let it sit covered for 20 minutes. The flavours need to meld — freshly cooked solyanka tastes flat, after resting it gains depth.

Step 08 of 08

Serve

1 szt

200 ml

1 szt

Slice lemon (1 szt) thinly. Chop bunch of flat-leaf parsley (1 szt). Ladle the soup into bowls, add a lemon slice, a spoonful of sour cream 18% (200 ml) and parsley to each. Lemon goes on the plate, not in the pot — it turns bitter in hot soup over time.

Bon appétit

How did it turn out?

Enjoy — now it's a matter of patience and a good table.

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