No. 61 — Pork Blood Soup
English translation of the original Russian recipe No. 61 in Molokhovets’ 1901 cookbook, with historical quantities and source references.
Prepare soup from 3 Russian pounds of pork, preferably from along the backbone, with two onions, allspice and bay leaves. Add about two glasses of beet brine and simmer until the meat is cooked, then strain. Instead of brine, use dried pears and dried or fresh apples.
Rub 1½–2 glasses of pig's blood in a stoneware bowl with one glass of grated rye bread. Slowly dilute with the strained stock while stirring, then strain through a colander. Heat, stirring constantly, until very hot but do not let it boil. Serve with two boiled pig's kidneys cut into slices.
To provide
3 Russian pounds of pork; 2 onions; 5–10 allspice berries; 1–3 bay leaves 1½–2 glasses of blood; 1 glass of grated rye bread | 2 pig's kidneys; 10 dried pears and 10 dried apples, or 10 small fresh apples Alternatively, beet brine |