A non recipie for Barszcz

So, my friend Jen said that maybe I should include the recipe for Barszcz. Therein lies the problem. In Poland, each family has its own unique recipe. B.’s aunt and his mother make it completely differently, even having grown up with the same recipe. And Polish Borsch is very different than Russian Borsch. When I went to the Polish store, the lady behind the counter (guessing I wasn’t Polish) asked if I was making it to drink or eat with a spoon. The version that I’ve had is the type that you drink. It’s very invigorating.

I’ve seen B.’s mom make it twice now: once for Christmas and once at Easter. I think the one she made at Christmas was more traditional. When she visited at Easter, she showed me how to make a “quick version” of Borsch, using store-bought beetroot concentrate, vegetable broth, and misc. spices. Howeer, even her "quick version " was not that easy--and she isn't big on written recopies. Altough she and I cooked it together, there was so much going on that day that I was not able to write down all that she did.

Since then, I’ve made it from instant Polish Borsch mixes a few times, adding in a few of the key spices I was shown (allspice, peppercorns, Majeranek. I think the last one is Marjoram, but I’m not sure). When I made it last time, I started by making a large soup pan full of vegetable broth, made from a loaf of dehydrated vegetables bought at the Polish store. After straining the broth and discarding the vegetables, I added a bottle of beet concentrate, two packets of instant Borsch seasoning (I wanted to make enough to last several days), seven or eight allspice corns, salt, pepper, one beef bullion cube, a large pinch of Majeranek, and a couple cloves of diced fresh garlic. I did a lot of tasting and adding spices here and there and cooked it over low/medium heat for about an hour. (You don’t want to boil Borsch, because it causes the soup to lose some of its beautiful color). That was my make-shift recipe.

B. and I are flying to Nashville soon, as his niece is being baptized and B. has been asked to be the Godfather (an honor I’m sure makes him a little nervous and makes him feel loved at the same time). I think there will be a fair amount of traditional food at the celebration. I’m planning on getting the real Borsh recipe (the kind that takes more than a couple hours to make) so that I can make it from scratch on my own.

I'll add it to the blog then.