No. 59 — Meat Solyanka (Selyanka)

Prepare white broth from one or two Russian pounds of beef with roots, pepper and bay leaf, and strain. When the broth is ready, add a plate of assorted cooked meats cut into small pieces: boiled or roast beef, veal, chicken, ham, goose, duck or sausages—some of each.

Finely chop an onion and fry in a spoonful of fresh butter. Add a spoonful of flour, fry lightly and dilute with stock. Add two peeled and sliced salted cucumbers, twelve olives, six to twelve champignons, six to twelve pickled saffron milk caps, six to twelve salted milk mushrooms scalded once with boiling water—or fresh porcini, saffron milk caps, slippery jacks or milk mushrooms, in which case they must be cleaned, scalded and boiled separately while removing the scum.

Pour in one or two glasses of cucumber brine. Some cooks also add fresh cabbage scalded with boiling water. When everything is ready, combine it with the assorted meats in the main broth. Add ½–1 glass of sour cream or thick cream, bring once to the boil and serve with finely chopped dill and parsley; if desired, a generous handful of chopped green onion.

To provide

• 1–3 Russian pounds of beef; almost one full plate of assorted cooked meat
• Soup roots, 1 onion, spices, 1 spoonful of butter and 1 spoonful of flour
• Almost a plate of assorted fresh or pickled mushrooms
• 12 olives; 2 salted cucumbers; 1–2 glasses of cucumber brine
• ¼ head of fresh cabbage; ½–1 glass of fresh sour cream or cream
• Dill, parsley and green onion