Borsch is a kind of soup cooked on the basis of beets, giving it a pink-red color. Some say that the name of borsch comes from a combination of the words “brown cabbage soup”, while others come from a plant of hogweed, the leaves of which were used for food. This dish was invented in Kievan Rus, although it has been prepared since ancient times all over the world. The most important thing when cooking this first dish is to know how to preserve the color of beets in borsch.
Types of Borsch
It should be noted that there is no single way to cook borsch. Everyone cooks in different ways: with poultry, bacon, mushrooms, beans, fish. And by European standards, it should not contain pork. Only one ingredient remains constant - beets. All borscht recipes are divided into two groups:
- Cold. They prefer to cook it in the hot season without the use of meat. Pickled, boiled beets are taken as a basis, parsley, onion, dill, garlic, sausage, boiled eggs and sour-milk products are added.
- Hot (red). Its preparation takes a lot of time, the hostesses use meat broth, beets and many other vegetables. And it is necessary to cook it so that the beets do not lose color in the borsch. The dish is served with garlic, sometimes with donuts instead of bread.
What is added to borsch?
Borsch is a source of vitamins, so all vegetables must be taken fresh and of high quality. The main products needed to prepare a delicious rich and fragrant first:
- Meat. Everyone has different preferences: a mixture of beef and lamb, pork ribs, poultry (goose, duck, chicken or turkey legs), a set of smoked meats with lard.
- Vegetables. For saturated red color choose dark and sweet beets. Potatoes are taken in hard varieties, and for a thick soup, boiled vegetables are used, adding fresh juicy cabbage and ripe tomatoes. In addition, carrots and turnips are required.
- Seasonings. To enhance the taste, add black pepper - peas and ground. Significantly improves the aroma of garlic and herbs, consisting of dill, parsley and celery. In conclusion, you need to add a bay leaf.
- Various additives. You can add fish and canned fish, mushrooms, beans and even dried fruits to the borsch. The main thing is not to make a mistake in the compatibility of products.
It is advisable to try everything and not be afraid to experiment. And the most important thing is that the beets in the borsch do not lose color and look bright, colorful and rich.
How to cook beets quickly?
Many dishes are cooked from boiled beets. It is not recommended to clean and cut the root before cooking and baking, otherwise it will brighten and lose mineral salts. After rinsing thoroughly, it is placed in boiling water and tightly closed with a lid. To speed up the cooking process, proceed as follows:
- put a pot of beets on the fire and cook it for an hour;
- remove from heat and hold for 10 minutes under a stream of cold water;
- large root vegetables again cook on fire for a third of an hour;
- cool - and the vegetable is ready.
Beets in borscht do not lose color if you put half a teaspoon of sugar per liter of water when boiling it in water. The same effect will be with the addition of citric acid and vinegar. It should be noted that in the best beet varieties the root crop has a flattened shape and a thin skin.
How to keep beet color without vinegar?
Often, borsch and salads use mashed beets. In order to keep its color juicy and bright, it is densely sprinkled with table salt and for some time left in a plate until it is completely dissolved. At the same time, it is necessary to mix periodically so that all the contents are completely saturated. Once the salt has dissolved, the beets are watered with vegetable oil to fix the effect. The resulting mass is added to the soup. You can not be afraid that the color of beets during boiling will change. This description will be the answer to the question of how to preserve beet color in borsch? You just need to remember that the beets were salty, and not to salt the soup.
Chef's Tips for Cooking Borsch
In order to be able to cook delicious and beautiful borsch, we follow the advice of a professional. He gives the following recommendations:
- Meat. A non-greasy piece is more suitable for borsch, better without bones, from which a darker and muddy broth is obtained, and also a specific smell appears. Before cooking, the meat must be thoroughly washed.
- Bouillon. It is recommended that you cook over low heat. With strong drilling, the broth becomes cloudy. To improve the taste, onions are added to it - cleanses the dregs, carrots - gives a beautiful color, celery - improves the taste.
- Beet. For beetroot soup use only raw beets.
- Frying. It is made from carrots, onions and beets. So that the beets do not lose color in the borsch, the vegetables are stewed in a small amount of oil with the addition of broth and over low heat. At the same time, they give their whole aroma and acquire a rich shade.
- Acidify. A small amount of tomato paste is put in the finished frying to give a special taste and color. Lemon juice or dry wine is sometimes used for acidification.
- Salt. Salt is put before laying the beets so as not to spoil the color.
- How to keep beetroot color in borsch? To do this, only after the potatoes and cabbage are ready, put the frying in the pan and no longer boil.
- Insist. Cooked borsch must always stand at least half an hour, vegetables during this time will give their taste to the broth.
- To warm. Ready soup can be heated, but not boiled, otherwise it will become cloudy and its color will deteriorate.
Add acid to make borscht red
The aromatic and rich color of the soup stimulates the appetite and brings pleasure with food. But here's the trouble: often beets in borscht lose their color. What to do? You can give the soup a bright burgundy shade in many ways. One of them is the addition of acid. To do this, use:
- Apple or wine vinegar - sprinkle beets before stewing it.
- Tomato paste - attach during the preparation of stewed beets.
- Lemon juice - at the beginning of the passerie add a small amount of juice. It is used by those who do not like vinegar.
In order to make the borscht beautiful and bright, you need to try several methods and choose the best.
A few secrets to keep borscht bright
Some people do not like or cannot eat fried vegetables, then there are other ways to make borscht saturated bright color. How to preserve the color of beets when cooking borsch, without resorting to frying? To do this, proceed as follows:
- Remove the meat from the prepared broth, lower the beets, previously peeled and cut in half, there. Add the remaining vegetables to the broth. After a third of an hour, get the beets, grate them and, after all vegetables are ready, add to the pan. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat, leaving to insist.
- Cook the beets in a peel. To do this, thoroughly rinse the vegetable, dip it in boiling unsalted water and cook for one hour. Grate the beets and add to the finished borsch, which is left on the fire for another two minutes.
- Grate cleanly washed and peeled raw beets in a raw form. Put in a bowl and pour boiling water. After this, start cooking borsch. Add beets to a fully prepared soup and keep on fire for about five minutes.
If the option you have chosen does not give the desired result, experiment again. Next, we discuss why beets lose color when cooking borsch.
Cooking Tricks
Many people are unaware of why the beautiful red color of borsch at the beginning of cooking by the end loses its attractiveness and becomes yellowish. The secret is as follows:
- Long beet processing. When beets are added, immediately after the broth is ready, pigment is digested and the broth acquires an ugly color. Beets are laid when the soup is completely ready, and keep it on fire for no more than five minutes. On the second day, while heating up the borsch, do not bring it to a boil, so as not to spoil the color of the broth.
- Use special varieties of beets. The beauty and taste of your borscht depends on the selected root variety. Salad beet varieties are well suited, having a maroon color in section.
Given these two features when cooking borsch, you can count on success.
How to cook red borsch without meat?
The shade of the soup of borscht, in fact, does not affect its taste, but the burgundy color stimulates the appetite and makes it more attractive. How to preserve the red color of beets in borsch if cooked without meat? Let's consider two ways:
- Beets are cooked separately: they are washed, placed with a peel in a pot of boiling water and cooked until cooked for about an hour. It is undesirable to add salt, this will make it stiff. They take out the finished beets, rub them on a coarse grater or cut them and add them to the finished borsch, bring them to a boil and turn off the fire. Insist and serve with sour cream.
- The vegetables are baked in the oven: the previously well-washed beets are wrapped in foil and put in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. After that they are taken out, cooled, rubbed and added to the finished borsch without meat. The pan is left on the fire for another one or two minutes - and the soup is ready. Give him a brew for at least 30 minutes - and you can eat.
Everything is done very simply. To get beautiful and tasty, try different options.
Hostess's secret: the most red borsch
A lot of housewives try a large number of different recipes for cooking borsch - a soup that has millions of fans. The trick is how to cook borsch to preserve the color of beets. Here is one of them:
- Peel the beets and cut them into 4-6 parts.
- Dip the slices in a ready boiling broth and cook for a quarter of an hour.
- Add everything that is necessary according to the recipe to the pan: vegetables, meat, herbs, spices in the usual order and quantity.
- After the potatoes and cabbage are ready, turn off the fire, get pieces of beetroot. In appearance they will be pale and undercooked, but the housewives claim that it should be so.
- Cool the beets a little and grate. It turns out that inside its color remains bright.
- Add it to the soup, stir and insist for about 15 minutes. You can no longer boil borsch.
According to the proposed recipe, borscht turns out to be bright, very saturated beet color and pleasant taste. Mistresses claim that they have never seen a more colorful borsch.
Why is beetroot in borsch losing color?
Real borsch is a soup of always saturated pink-red color. But many housewives complain that after being prepared, the borscht acquires a pale orange or even a brown tint. What is the reason? In the wrong preparation of the product. Specialists give the following tips:
- For stewing vegetables must be cut, and not grated.
- Particular attention is paid to the beet variety. It should be salad with thin skin and slightly flattened in shape. The cut is dark, without whitish veins.
- Be sure to stew the vegetables and add a little acetic acid, lemon juice or tomato paste before the end.
- After adding the fry, the borsch is not boiled, but only brought to a boil and immediately turned off.
Once ready, the soup is infused and served on the table. He does not lose color the next day.
Red borsch in the slow cooker
The ingredients are the same, nothing new:
- The meat is washed and cooked in a separate pan for five minutes. Then the contents are poured into a slow cooker, chopped vegetables are added, except for beets. Put salt, herbs and seasonings. The timer is set for 20 minutes.
- While everything is boiling, they cook beets: they wash, peel and rub them on a grater or cut with a knife. Add oil to the pan and stew the vegetable until tender, adding a little water. To preserve color, it is allowed to put a little sugar and pour all the contents into a slow cooker. Borsch, tasty and bright color, ready.
It should be noted that any skill comes with experience.
Instead of a conclusion
How to keep beetroot color in borsch? This is the main task when cooking everyone's favorite first course. Often the hostess is judged by the ability to cook borsch. Like any other folk dish, it is prepared according to numerous recipes, and as a result of experiments, you can find the optimal one. Each housewife has its own subtleties and secrets of its preparation, allowing to maintain a bright beetroot color and excellent taste.