No. 127 — Whitefish, Pike or Pike-Perch Soup with Sour Cream
Complete English translation of recipe No. 127 in Elena Molokhovets’ 1901 Russian cookbook, preserving the historical preparation, quantities and sources.
Prepare stock from soup roots, salt, pepper, bay leaves and a bunch of greens; strain and let cool. Clean a whole whitefish, pike or pike-perch weighing about 3 Russian pounds and put it into the cooled stock. Place over high heat, bring to the boil and immediately reduce to low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes.
Meanwhile chop an onion finely and fry it in a spoonful of butter. Add ½ glass of flour, stir and fry, then pour in about two glasses of strained fish stock. Mix, boil and strain. Cook potatoes in this thickened broth, add sour cream, bring to the boil and pour into a tureen over green dill. Serve immediately.
Serve the fish separately as a second course with potatoes, butter and eggs, or another accompaniment. Alternatively, serve the same sour-cream soup with cheese meatballs No. 225 or with fish quenelles No. 229 made from the fillets of the same large fish, using its bones, skin and head to prepare the broth.
To provide
2–3 onions, 1 carrot, 1 celery root and 1 parsnip 1 parsley root and 1 leek; 2–3 bay leaves 15–20 allspice berries; 3 Russian pounds of fish | 1 spoonful of butter and ½ glass of flour ½–1 glass of sour cream; parsley and dill About 12 potatoes; ingredients for fish quenelles or cheese meatballs |