Ostpreußischer Beetenbartsch

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5 litre soup pot
• •Fine sieve
• •Sharp knife or mandoline for matchstick vegetables

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the broth

   Put the beef, bone, cold water, bay leaves, peppercorns, and halved onion in a heavy pot and bring it up slowly. Starting in cold water pulls flavour and gelatine from the meat and bone before the outside tightens, which gives you broth instead of boiled meat water. Skim the grey foam as it rises, because a clean broth tastes cleaner and shows the beet colour better.

2. 2

   Simmer the beef

   Lower the heat until the surface only trembles, then cook gently for about 1 hour 45 minutes, until the beef is tender but not falling to threads. A hard boil makes the broth cloudy and pushes the meat dry. Runter mit der Temperatur. Lift out the beef, strain the broth, and keep both; Weggeworfen wird nichts.

3. 3

   Sweat the roots

   Wipe the pot, warm the lard or oil, and cook the beetroot, carrots, and celeriac for 8 minutes with a pinch of salt. You are not browning them. You are coating the roots in fat so their sweetness opens before the broth goes back in, and so the beet gives colour steadily instead of bleeding out harsh and raw.

4. 4

   Cook the soup

   Pour in the strained broth, add the potatoes and leek, and simmer until the potatoes are tender and the beetroot bends easily, about 25 to 30 minutes. Keep the heat gentle. A beet soup should be clear enough to shine at the edge of the spoon, not beaten cloudy by a rolling boil.

   Use floury potatoes, not waxy ones. They soften the broth slightly at the edges and make the soup feel complete without turning it thick.
5. 5

   Slice the beef

   Trim the cooked beef, cut it into bite-size pieces, and return it to the pot for the last few minutes. Cut across the grain so the meat eats tender in the spoon; long stringy pieces are what happens when the cook forgets the knife matters too.

6. 6

   Sour and finish

   Stir in the vinegar and sugar, then taste for salt and pepper. Take the pot off the heat and whisk a ladle of hot broth into the sour cream before stirring it back into the soup. Tempering the cream warms it gently, so it enriches the broth instead of splitting. Add the dill at the end, where it stays green and sharp. Nicht aus dem Glas. This is made sour at the stove.

Chef Tips

• •Use raw beetroot and cut it yourself. Pre-cooked vacuum-packed beet tastes flat here and gives you colour without the fresh earthiness that makes the soup worth cooking.
• •Keep the simmer low from the broth to the finished soup. Boiling hard clouds the broth, dries the beef, and turns a bright beet soup into something tired.
• •Sour it at the end. Vinegar early is useful in some beet dishes, but here the clean finish matters more; the soup should taste sweet, sour, beefy, and fresh in that order.
• •Leftovers are good the next day, but reheat gently and don't boil once the sour cream is in. If you plan to make it ahead, hold the sour cream and dill back until serving.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the beef broth a day ahead, then chill it and lift off the fat from the top if you want a cleaner bowl. Keep a spoonful of the fat for sweating the roots; it belongs to the soup.
• •The vegetables can be cut up to 12 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Keep the beetroot separate, because it will dye everything it touches.
• •For the best make-ahead version, cook the soup through the vegetables and beef, then chill it without sour cream or dill. Reheat gently, then finish with vinegar, tempered sour cream, and dill just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 440g)