No. 45 — Green Shchi with Sorrel Alone or Mixed with Spinach
English translation of the original Russian recipe No. 45 in Molokhovets’ 1901 cookbook, with historical quantities and source references.
Prepare white broth from 2–3 Russian pounds of beef with two onions. A piece of smoked ham rind may be added for flavor. Strain.
Take 1½ Russian pounds of very young sorrel. If it is older and more sour, use spinach as well in proportions to suit the taste: 1½ pounds sorrel alone, or ¾ pound each of sorrel and spinach, or ½ pound sorrel and 1 pound spinach.
Sort and wash the sorrel, squeeze it and chop finely. Put it in a small saucepan with its juice and ½ spoonful of butter, and stew in its own liquid. It may be rubbed through a sieve.
If using spinach, sort ¾–1 pound, wash repeatedly in fresh water, pour over boiling salted water with ¼ teaspoon of soda and cook uncovered. Drain, rinse with cold water, let the water run off, and rub through a sieve. Combine with sorrel, lightly fry with butter and ½ spoonful of flour and add about ½ glass of sour cream.
A quarter hour before serving, dilute with strained broth and add sliced boiled beef and ham. Let the shchi boil several times without covering the pan.
To provide
2–3 Russian pounds of beef; ½ pound of ham or a piece of smoked ham rind 2 onions and a bunch of greens Sorrel with spinach: the printed ingredient box says ½ Russian pound, which is inconsistent with the much larger quantities in the method | 1 spoonful of butter; ½ spoonful of flour; ½ glass of sour cream Optional: 1–2 dried mushrooms; another ½ glass of sour cream to serve |
Accompaniments
Serve thick buckwheat porridge, croutons of buckwheat or Smolensk groats, hard-boiled or stuffed eggs, little pies of different doughs, thin-pancake pastries, puffy buns, layered pancake pie, curd cheesecakes, and forcemeat served in shells.