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Soup

Ukranian Borscht Soup

A Ukrainian soup of beef and pork stock with beets, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, beans and mushrooms.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Ukranian Borscht Soup

Oven300F
Time1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Place the beef, marrow bone, spareribs, 1 onion, 1/2 carrot, 1/2 parsley root, and 1 ounce celery root in a 4- to 5-quart pot.

  2. Add 2 1/2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoonful of salt.

  3. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, partially covered, for about 1 hour.

  4. Remove the meat, put in a bowl, cover, and reserve.

  5. Strain the stock, discarding the vegetables.

  6. Skim off all the fat.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Preheat the oven to 300F.

  2. Bake the beets for 40 minutes, or until tender.

  3. Let the beets cool.

  4. Peel and shred the beets on a coarse grater.

  5. Cut the remaining halves of carrots, parsley and celery roots and onion into thin strips.

  6. Sauté the vegetables in butter for 15 minutes, stirring often.

  7. Halve the tomatoes and grate them on a coarse grater so that the peel is left in your hand and can be discarded.

  8. Peel the potatoes and cut each into 6 cubes.

  9. Remove the core from the cabbage and cut the leaves into 1-inch squares.

  10. While the vegetables are cooking, cut the meat into 1-inch cubes.

Simmer the soup

  1. Bring the meat stock to a boil, add the potatoes and black pepper, and simmer for ten minutes.

  2. Add the cabbage and cook for 10 minutes more.

  3. Add the sautéed vegetables, beets, tomatoes, tomato paste, and simmer for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the ham, cooked beans, and mushrooms, and simmer for 5 minutes more.

  5. Remove from the heat.

  6. Add the meat, parsley, dill, and garlic to the soup.

  7. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1068Calories
85 gProtein
43 gFat
89 gCarbs

Counts 16 of 18 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 16 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Beet1/2 cup (85g)35
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Mushrooms1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  5. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beets
Provide the deep red colour and a mild sweetness that defines the borscht.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated tomato flavour, acidity and deeper colour to the broth.
Potatoes
Hold their shape when simmered and add starch that thickens the soup slightly.
Cabbage
Adds body and a mild sweetness as it cooks into tender pieces.
Beef chuck
Its connective tissue breaks down during simmering, giving the stock richness and body.
Sour cream
Adds cooling fat and a tangy acidity that balances the sweet beets.

The step that matters

Bake the beets until fully tender before adding them. Beets stay firm and earthy if underbaked; full tenderness lets them shred finely and release their sugars and colour evenly into the soup.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pork, onion, carrot, parsley, celery, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, onion, carrot, parsley, celery, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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