Shchi (Russian Cabbage Soup)
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- Shchi (Russian Cabbage Soup)
00:00 Intro
00:37 Stock
02:57 Sofrito
04:55 Cabbage and Potatoes
Serves 8-12
Note about meat: If using beef, good cuts are short-ribs, shins, or a mix of chuck and some marrow bones. If using pork, good cuts are shanks, shoulder, and neck. If using pork, you can often get these cuts in the smoked form. My ideal meat mix would be some smoked pork shanks, and some fresh pork shanks or fresh pork shoulder.
Stock:
2.5 - 3.5 Lb (1-1.5 kg) meat (see the note)
3 qt (3 L) cold water if using a pressure cooker (4 if using a regular pot)
2 bay leaves
Put everything into a pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 1 hour with natural release. Or put everything into a pot and simmer gently uncovered for 3 hours or until the meat is fork tender.
Remove the meat to a plate, cool, remove and discard gristle and bones and shred. Remove the impurities from the stock with a fine mesh spoon (this step is optional). Cool the meat and the stock, cover both, and refrigerate overnight.
Sofrito:
2 Tbsp unrefined sunflower (or olive) oil
1 Lb shredded carrots
2 Tbsp butter (or more oil)
2 yellow onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups diced canned tomatoes
Salt
Put the oil into a large skillet and set over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the carrots and a generous pinch of salt. Stir, cover and cook until the bottom browns, 7 to 10 minutes. When the carrots are brown, give them a stir and cook uncovered until completely tender, 2-5 min. Get the carrots out of the pan and add the butter or more oil, the onions, salt, and do the same thing we did with the carrots. Cover until the onions start to get tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Uncover and cook until they are translucent and golden brown, about 10 min. Return the carrots back to the pan. Add the garlic and cook on moderate heat until it gets aromatic, 2-5 min. Add the tomatoes and cook until all the moisture evaporates. When it looks nice and thick, taste and adjust for salt.
The Soup
1.25 Lb (560g) boiling potatoes, peeled and diced
1 Lb (450g) shredded cabbage
25 fl. oz (740 ml) jar sauerkraut, drained, liquid reserved
Degrease your stock. Pour it into an 8 quart pot and bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust for salt. Add the potatoes and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Add the cabbage, drained sauerkraut, the meat, and another quart of water. Simmer very gently until the cabbage is almost tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the sofrito, taste and add the sauerkraut brine to taste depending on how salty and acidic you want the soup to be. Simmer for 15 min. Take off heat and let rest at least 30 min. Serve with sour cream.
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Oops, just noticed a little bug at 2:55. It should say "Sofrito" not "S". I must have been editing this video really late at night not to catch that ;)
Soffritto Is written with Two F and Two T.
@@user-wp4oh3zn5e "Sofrito" is a correct spelling as well.
Зажарка -zazharka
Ah Shchi, the best way to beat the winter cold and put joy on some ones face. I have never known a person to be sad eating Shchi.
Ahh... Shchi.... with a splash of Vodka!!!!
'keep you warm all day!! 🇨🇦🇨🇦
That “S” at 2:58 cracked me up Helen!
My childhood in a bowl 🥣…thank you xx
Always always grateful to see your videos!!!!
Ahna. Atlanta, Georgia USA
My mom utilized a pressure cooker often many years ago….in 60’s when other ways were not available. She and I watched Hulia Child tv on black and white tech. Can u believe it!!!
I love love love….to prep produce….and then cook on and on. We are able to receive Food Bank good foods….contributions…..in our County. This has enabled me to explore more the science of cooking, etc. We eat as well as possible. No junk.
Thks for your very wise and informational videos!!!
Ahna USA
I just made this. It's UNBELIEVABLY good. I used pressure canned pork shoulder chunks and their liquid, some leftover stock, homemade sauerkraut and some garlic chili sauce.
I live in Poland and LOVE all Your Russian recipes!❤️❤️❤️
ham hocks are always a good thing....thanks for a lovely recipe
I love Helen so much. I’m an obsessive cook, and I’m pretty good at it. This is the only CZcams channel I always learn from - every single video. I never knew that acidity would affect potato cooking time.
Thank you for being such an extraordinary teacher, Helen. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Food for thought:
If acidity increases potato cooking time, will basicity reduce it instead?
Would a few teaspoons of baking powder added to the cooking water make potatoes tenderize faster?
Acidity slows beans from cooking also. It takes forever if you add tomatoes or even salt too early.
@@BlurbFish I've never seen it done for potatoes but i think i've seen some recipes from America's Test Kitchen where they use a little baking soda in the cooking water when cooking dried beans to soften them more quickly.
@@adamchurvis1 a half teaspoon of baking soda will break down the pectin on the outside resulting in a sort of starchy paste coating the potato. This crisps up incredibly when roasting and I have never noticed any off flavors, probably because you don't need very much. Potatoes do tend to break down faster in alkaline environments because of the breakdown of pectin, which acts like glue between the potatoes starches. When this glue is dissolved water molecules flow in to take its place and is absorbed into the starches of the potato in a process called starch gelatinization.
@@adamchurvis1 Cool! I’ll try his method. Cheers!
Russian Borscht one of my favourite soup .. hearty and comforting
It's Ukrainian, not russian
Wow! Looks delicious!! Thanks again Helen!
My first time watching you.
I'm an American, older lady, & I must compliment you on your english! 👍🏻
I live in the Ohio Valley area, at the very bottom of Indiana. We LOVE cabbage here. I will definitely try this recipe, BUT, I'll make a cast iron skillet of delicious, yellow cornbread to go with it.
Have a lovely day. 😃
Oh, that sounds fabulous! Hoosier cornbread and eastern European cabbage soup!
@@nancylindsay4255
Yes! It sure does sound delicious, as well as healthy. 👍
Your channel and guidance are amazing thank you so much
Thank you, great recipe and looks delicious!
This was fabulous!
Great! Love It! Always Nice To See Real Traditional Soups
Just discovered your channel. Love the combination of your clear instruction and sense of humor!
Hi Rennie. I am definitely going to try this! Thanks
always enjoy your videos.
I just made this. It was my first Russian recipe and it’s beyond amazing. Thank you.
Helen is NOT messing around with this recipe! Looks amazing!
This recipe is delicious and a perfect way to add some Russian cuisine to my regular cooking!
Oh goodness! Just finished day two of making this for dinner tonight. It is so full of great flavor!! Thank you, Helen!
This was DELICIOUS. I followed your recipe exactly. I didn't realize how big of a recipe this was! It filled up my 7 1/4 quart Le creuset dutch oven ALMOST to the brim. But the broth had that great gelatinous sticky and lip-smacking mouth feel and the acidity of the sourkraut balanced the smoked meat perfectly. I think adding some crushed red pepper flakes in with the garlic would be a nice addition next time. Thank you again for a great recipe Helen!
Made this soup over the weekend, and everyone liked it. I was able to find smoked pork bones, and it is the best cabbage I have ever had. Thank you Helen!
I made this yesterday. Probably the best soup I've ever had! This is a keeper.
so glad you enjoyed it!
Great video as always
This is a super professional channel ! Better than a TV show .. Thanks for the soup recipe
I wanted you to know that I have but five Chefs that I trust for recipes. you, my first employer, Chef Franz Schoeffer, my second employer, Chef Techla Gruend, Chef Julia Child and CZcams Chef Jean Pierre.. Thank you for reminding me of the absolutely fantastic dining at the Hotel Astoria, Lenningrad in 1975- although I ate a bit too much caviar and drank too much Vodka, I do remember that night!
Thank you for the pointer to those other chefs. I appreciate it.
Thanks for explaining the need for bay leaves. I've often wondered.
Helen, you are such a treasure. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes and methods with us. You add much to our melting pot.
Cabbage soup, yum!! I will try your style 🌻Thank you Helen ❤️
The smoked meat trick changed my life
The chef at the school I work at makes this sometimes. This soup is absolutely fucking amazing, it makes me feel so good. His recipe is a little different from what I'm seeing but mmmmmmmmmmm gonna be happy regardless
I’ve been making shee for a long time, and I once added dill stems when i was making stock, and it produced the best version of this soup. since then, i make sure to do that each time.
Thanks Helen and Adam!
Looks great! I want to try this
I can't wait to try this.
Made this yesterday, following as close as I could (didn't use sauerkraut). The result is marvelous. Richer and meatier than I would have thought. With a loaf of fresh-baked bread, it's a meal. Needed some red pepper flakes IMO. Wow that's a lot of carrot and onion. Unlike Ms. Rennie, I didn't forget the bay leaves:)
so glad you enjoyed it!
Another delicious recipe
This looks delicious!
Thanks for this video.
Very interesting recipe, strangely never heard of it, but thank you! С Новым Годом, Елена! :)
I've made щи once, with a much more hard-core recipe, and by hard-core I mean a lot simpler, with less dicing and less preparation. It was delicious. Here in Serbia we do have stews with sour (and regular) cabbage, but we have nothing similar to щи. I will, definitely, try your more sophisticated version next fall or winter (it's not really a summer meal).
Lovely!
I've just discovered you, and I'm in love! I've read up on your biography, and it put a very big smile on my face. The Russians are amazing people (the government, not so much), and over the years, it has been one of my family's privileges to watch so many people like you truly blossom in America. Anyway, post retirement in 2019, and during the great Covid adventure, I've started to cook, with the help of my trusty instantpot. Soups are my best, I think it is the steppes of Ukraine in my alien blood that does the trick. My mother, rest in peace for over 30 years used to make a Jewish cabbage soup, that was to die for. Tragically, she did. Massive stroke half way through the cabbage soup, and she never wrote down the recipe. I've tried shchi, and it was amazingly mediocre. I definitely want to try yours as soon as the weather starts getting cooler. As for suggestions, if you haven't done it already, some 30 years ago when the Russians were getting out, we took in a Russian cardiac surgeon, his dentist wife, and children. First stop was to one of our larger, local farmer's markets. They insisted I buy a huge side of salmon, and showed me how to make Russian lox, with salt and sugar. We had a lot of fish, and over the years it has branched off into marinated salmon, cold smoked salmon, unsmoked salmon, grav lax salmon. You may wish to show your followers how to preserve fish Russian style, especially fish other than salmon. In advance, thank you so much. You are an absolute delight to watch in a kitchen, my grandparents would have been proud. My mother, probably not as much... David
This is a super-guilty version of щи. Nothing like the simple щи my mother used to cook for me, but I want to try this one.
Hi Helen, thank you for your dedication and inspiration for all us home cooks 🌟 Wishing you a kind and relaxing year filled with tenderness and love 💛
Regarding the recipe -- spot on! Loved that you are using smoked meats, I do this for pea soup and солянка as well. And that determination to get onions and carrots right :D My dad never separated his carrots and onions, so I just stuck with it.
I would love to see your take on every day and festive sauces. Kinda like Sauces 101. Thank you 🤗
Thank you for another inspiring video. I spend way too much time watching CZcams cooking videos. When I actually get out of my chair and cook, I've made more of your dishes than any other Tuber's. Your comment about bouillabaisse prompted me to wonder about the history and differences between bouillabaisse and cioppino. If Wikipedia is accurate, then I'm good there. But now I'm interested in seeing your take on making delicious fish soups, like bouillabaisse, cioppino and others, that trace their origins to people on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder making incredibly delicious food from the castoffs of the upper crust. I'll speculate that the basic storyline is common throughout coastal regions of the world. In any case, my neighborhood butcher takes pride in using every atom the animal and tomorrow I'm off to get some smoked pork neck and shank to give this recipe a try. Thank you for helping those of us who need instruction and inspiration to become better and happier cooks.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was fantastic! The husband wasn't a lover, but he said it was good.
I used a mix of smoked pork neck and hocks, then added shaved Brussel sprouts instead of the cabbage.
I will make this again, but probably only a half recipe! This makes a huge family sized pot!
thanks...love the soup.
Bubbies sauerkraut, I love it!! I eat the jar in two days easy.
Yum. I routinely make a cabbage soup with jarred tomato sauce as a base, but have never thought to add sauerkraut. This sounds like an amazing cosy soup for winter.
Looks yummy, and I always like cabbage or sauerkraut soups.
We had a lot of leftover bbq pork and ribs so I used it to make a similar soup to this. The smoky flavor was perfect. I would have loved to try it with sauerkraut!
Wow! Slavic recipe that was made authentically! Respect!
There’s a lot of variety when it comes to schi but it was all mentioned in this video. Although I prefer 1 type of cabbage in my soup. Never tried 2 at the time.
I can't wait to make this!
Helen your presentation is superb with each step explained simply. I make a similar cabbage soup however I use hot, farmer’s sausage and wood smoked bacon in addition to adding celery root and parsley root.
I am just starting the video…. And I have to say I’m so glad to see a great chef using the instant pot! We just got 3 in 3 different sizes because we’re a big family and the busy days leave little time to actually enjoy the cooking and the cleaning. It’s been working out great but definitely would love to actually see entire recipes cooked in it that are gourmet and delicious!
Would love to see recipes that are entirely about preparation and just put in the instant pot to finish cooking on its own! It’s such a worry free process!
We make broth the hour before with the instant pot and it comes out so flavorful!
Also - the bay leaves! Try them before you knock them. Even though they don’t “add flavor” they do! Flavor is not just an experience in the mouth but the nose too. It makes a big difference to add bay leaves when the recipe calls for it! It’s amazing!
Loved this video Helen! Found you just a little bit ago but love your videos. Concise, sweet, funny, so intelligent, talented and informative, and most recipes are so easy to follow for us who don’t have a single “chef bone”
in us!
A beautiful Russian soup that I’ll be making soon!
I tried your recipe and it is delicious! I used fresh cabbage. I have never cooked with pork neck bones before. I used smoked, like you said. The soup is yummy, and feels nourishing. I did something different, because I have psoriasis, and don't use nightshade vegetables. I used sweet potato, butternut squash, and plantains - they are are a good replacement for potatoes. Thank you!!!
Thank you, Helen. You brought me back to my childhood. The best Russian soup. For some reason Borsch is much more popular and gained more traction internationally. Maybe Schi is more difficult to pronounce 😂
We had this last night for dinner, and it was delicious! I made homemade German Vollkornbrot to accompany it, and it was the perfect meal for our chilly night (35F) here in Texas! Helen, I love your cooking videos. So informative and entertaining, too! I hope someday I can come to one of your classes in Boston. 🙂
Helen is simply stunning !
MORE!!! SLAVIC!!! RECIPES!!!
THANK YOU
Good soup
I love the bay leaves in this episode - forgetting them, but then actually telling us why bay leaves are a thing. I tended to add them in order to feel fancy, but now I think I'll go for it with more conviction!
Thank you Helen for another wonderful recipe. Also thank you for showing Bubbies sauerkraut! I am not associated with Bubbies but their sauerkraut and pickles are amazing!
Hmmm. That looks so hearty and delicious. I like the idea of a sour tang in soup. Thanks as usual for being so thorough in your instructions and adding all those little nuggets of information, like sauteing the onions and carrots separately.
Omg I’m going to make this.
I love the bay leaves; I leave them in and do actually eat them :)
Made this a ton in college! Always kept pretty well and was super affordable since we usually made it sans meat
👍🏻 Thanks, looking forward to trying this. But I'm especially grateful for your explanation about bay leaves being there for aroma rather than taste! Until now, I thought there was something wrong with me as I've never been able to taste bay leaves.
🤣 But now i know why!
PSA- if you think bay leaves are pointless, buy new ones! I had a package of bay leaves in the cupboard for years and years never understanding the point of them, then when I bought a new package, I realized that they actually smelled, right out of the container! Now I can really smell them in the food that I add them too
Here in California it's easy to buy a tree (about $35) and keep it alive and growing. I'm guessing that's the case through out must of the US, esp south of the Mason-Dixon. The tree...more like a bush...is quite ornamental in looks too.
@@mitchyoung93 that’s a great idea! I know what my next purchase is
I am going to try this with white beans and smoked salt to make it without animal products. Can't wait!
English really likes to preserve spelling of other languages, and we make up letter combinations to represent phonemes we don't actually have in english. So russian "ши" would be spelled "shi" but russian "щи" is spelled "shchi" even though most native english speakers can't hear the difference. We're very silly like that 🤷♂️
It has a C in it so we make the noise don’t be mad
Yum
Hi Helen Thank you for all of your informative videos. What about a series on cooking with fruit?
I love the Polish sour white borscht made with fermented rye flour (there's a restaurant in Brooklyn that makes it this way), so I'm eager to give this one a try! Thanks Helen!
When this kind of soup is made with rye it’s called „żurek” and when it’s made with wheat it’s called „biały barszcz” :)
I want to learn how to make żurek but I’ve heard biała kiełbasa (not sure if I spelled that right) is a fairly common ingredient and it’s difficult to source.
@@namingisdifficult408 I think that biała kiełbasa (biała means white although its real color is grey) works best with either żurek or bialy barszcz. But some cooks and recipes calls for ordinary kielbasa (like wawelska or swojska). But I think it would be okay for you to try żurek with ordinary, lightly smoked, medium ground sausage that’s local to your area. It really depends on the cook and recipe. I have eaten great vegan versions of żurek with roasted potatoes and roasted tart apples. Whatever recipe you make, just make sure that you balance out acidity either with some carrots, onion, heavy cream, milk or even sugar (just a pinch really). Żurek has got to be sour, but in order to have that full taste you need some level of counterbalance.
And lastly do not skip on marjoram (it’s very important) and hard boiled eggs.
Now THAT'S cabbage soup!
As husband said before repeatedly on yours and others channels as a normal person who just enjoys cooking and doesn't suck at it. I really appreciate your demystifying oopses. Like forgetting bay leaf. It's not going to break anything and it's not going to ruin anything and you just need to police upon it and fix it as soon as you have an opportunity to. When I think of CZcams cooks who do this? The three who spring to mind are you, Chef John, and Marco Pierre. Which is not what I would have expected from the man who made Gordon Ramsay cry. But Ramsey owns his own screw-ups too. So that's to his credit. Anyhow, that's not bad company to be in. Helen. Happy New Year!
I love the way the fat skimmed off the top in such a perfect shape.
OH YEAH THAT'S THE REAL DEAL. fresh and sour cabbage combo does miracles to this soup. side note: of course we don't call it sofrito, the russian word for this mix of sauteed veggies is zazharka, but yeah, it means the same thing
Thank you so much for reminding me the correct term for the sauteed veggies. Zazharka is what my Mom would call it, but I am never sure if something is a universal Russian cooking term or just my Mom's term.
@@helenrennie oh you're welcome! it's definitely a common word for this thing, you can even buy it in packets in russian supermarkets and the package says the same
hello helen im in ukraine i leave monday for kiev. i love your videos so much i found them yesterday. my dream is to open a restaurant for slavic cuisine. 7:34 is so cute also i love seeing someone that loves cooking this much
The cabbage is cooked in the broth, why does it not get added at the sofrito stage? Love all your video’s, this looks amazing!
This woman is so beautiful in so many ways
Sure wish the sunflower farmers weren't dying.
2:55 “S” i choked laughing
Cabbage makes my digestive tract freak out... but I'm trying new things and if I cook it long enough perhaps it'll be OK? This looks really good 👍 thank you
Thanks, this looks quite good and will certainly help me to get through a grey British winter.
P.S. I think the transliteration thing might be because the methods were all based on literary Russian. As far as I know, no-one in St Petersburg still speaks like Lev Tolstoy, so we get weird spellings.
You had me at cabbage
It's snowing hard and I have carrots, potatoes, onions and cabbage. I wonder what I will do today? 🤔
My new next door neighbor is Russian and made this yesterday.
This looks amazing! It reminds me a little of a cabbage soup I had growing up, only it had ground beef instead of the pork. Either way, time to make it since I made a big batch of beef stock just yesterday.
Yassssss
Shchi is so good. I even prefer it over borscht (another soup that magically gains silent consonants when translated ;)
Somehow, I never noticed cuts of meat were sold smoked as well as raw. One of my biggest issues with cooking is the texture of raw meat, I get shivers down my spine just touching it. (Though this also applies to the myoglobin that leaks out, bad texture but also may have pathogens like salmonella or trichnosis or whatever, depending on what meat it is.) Idk about dripping fluids, but getting smoked cuts of meat should, theoretically, help me handle it sooo much easier. What a brain wave. Hopefully I'll be able to attempt this soup pretty soon!
Looks so good. Great video Helen! Do you have a back up channel anywhere else like Rumble?
I made this last night and it is so much! Does it freeze well? Also, does anyone have any suggestions on what to serve as a compliment to the soup?