No. 138 — Fish Rassolnik (Pickle-Brine Soup)
Complete English translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 138 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original quantities, preparation and source.
Prepare fish stock as in the book's general notes, from vegetable trimmings, the seeds and peels of salted cucumbers, a bunch of greens, and the skin, bones and head of cleaned fish. Add cucumber brine and salt to taste; strain through a sieve.
Bring the strained broth back to the boil. Cook portions of fresh fish fillet in it in succession, lifting out each cooked piece with a slotted spoon into cold salted water. Separately fry flour in butter, dilute with two glasses of ukha, boil, strain and mix with the rest of the broth.
Just before serving, add neatly cut white soup roots cooked separately, sliced salted cucumbers, the cooked fresh fish fillets and pieces of salted fish boiled separately. Bring once to the boil, pour into a tureen over finely chopped dill and serve.
To provide
3 Russian pounds of fish in all: 6–8 ruffe ¾ Russian pound of pike-perch or whitefish ¾ Russian pound of fresh sturgeon ¾ Russian pound of salted fish, as in the general notes | 1–2 onions; ¾ Russian pound of white roots 5–10 salted cucumbers A bunch of greens and dill; ½ glass of flour 1 spoonful of butter and cucumber brine |
Three ways to vary the rassolnik
(a) Instead of flour use ¼ glass of pearl barley cooked separately. (b) Fry the flour in crayfish butter instead of ordinary butter, and add crayfish tails to the soup. (c) Add a purée of tomatoes.