The main distinguishing feature of the kidney pickle soup is its sour-salty cucumber base. Therefore, if you decide to experiment a little and put some delicious pickled in the pan, it's you in vain. Only barrel pickles with their own pickle, which can be purchased somewhere in the back of the market from a modest granny (she, by the way, will certainly offer you to taste her products before buying). After all, it was not for nothing that they gave such an underground nickname as “hangover” to this first dish even in ancient times.
According to the Russian culinary tradition, a pickle with veal or beef kidneys is being prepared. But since today you can’t find this by-product in the afternoon with fire, and so that it is fresh and of high quality, you can use any other by-products for this - offal of poultry (heart, stomach, legs, necks, liver), which you can see on the shelves is not a problem. At worst, you can take just beef (shank or curl).
In accordance with the selected meat, cereals for soup are also selected. A pickle with kidneys or beef requires the presence of pearl barley, chicken and turkey giblets impress rice, and with goose and duck offal it is better to use barley grits. There is also a pickle (vegetarian) pickle , which is recommended to cook with rice or buckwheat. The composition of spices laid in a pot with soup will also depend on the meat that you originally selected.
In order for this first dish to have a gentle, slightly salted and slightly acidic taste, you will have to work hard, namely, try to maintain a balance between the salt (cucumbers) component of the soup and salt absorbers (potatoes, cereals, root crops). Therefore, do not rush to add pure pickle to your pickle with kidneys - this should be done only if you have not enough pickled cucumbers. And even then his dose should be almost homeopathic - half a glass and a half liters of soup. Before pouring into the pan, the brine should be boiled.
Recipe: Kidney Pickle
Remove the washed kidneys (300 g) from the films and grease and soak for 7 hours in cold water. After this time, change the water, rinse offal and cook it for half an hour after boiling water. Take out the kidneys, cut them into medium slices.
Rinse the barley (two tablespoons) under cold water in a colander until the water from the cereal becomes clear. Put the pearl barley in a saucepan, pour boiling water and steam for 40 minutes. Change the water periodically so that the groats are mostly in very hot water.
With pickles (3 pieces), cut off the peel, pour it with 1.5 cups of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes over low heat. Discard the boiled peel, and in the resulting brine dip the cucumber pulp, cut into small slices (first cut the cucumbers into four parts lengthwise, and then crosswise). You can simply grate cucumbers on a coarse grater, as many are doing now. Boil the brine with pulp for another 10 minutes.
Pour 1.5 liters of water into the pan, put the kidneys there and boil for half an hour. Then add the groats and roots cut into strips (1 carrot, 1 parsley root with herbs and 1 celery root also with herbs). After 15 minutes, put 2-3 potatoes, sliced, and finely chopped onion into the soup. Now leave until the pickle is cooked until the potatoes are ready. It will take about 15 minutes. And now it is time to add the pickle with cucumbers, mix and taste if your first dish is salty enough. If necessary, add salt or top up boiled clean brine. Enter the spices (3 parsley, 6 peas of black pepper, 2 peas of allspice). Cook the pickle for another 15 minutes, season with fresh herbs (dill or parsley) and after 3 minutes turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid.
That's it! Your delicious pickle with pearl barley and kidneys is ready. And if you serve a dish with sour cream, it will be even tastier.