Borscht with Smoked Ribs and Beans

Kateryna Bondar
Borscht with Smoked Ribs and BeansBorscht with Smoked Ribs and Beans
Cuisine
Course
Serves 6 people
Prep time
30m
Cook Time
2h 0m

Smoked ribs do in minutes what fresh meat needs hours for: they hand over smoke and rendered fat almost immediately. An hour and a half of simmering instead of three, and the pot already has character. Add beans and this stops being a starter and becomes dinner.

Soak the beans a full 10 hours in cold water and do not trim that down. Under-soaked beans cook unevenly, and some will still be chalky when the rest have gone to mush. They go into the broth first, alongside the potatoes, because even soaked they outlast every vegetable in the pot.

The sautéed base — zazharka in Ukrainian kitchens — is where borscht is won or lost. Beet, onion, and carrot braise covered in oil almost to tender, and only then does the tomato paste join them. The order is chemistry, not tradition: acid added early firms up the vegetables’ cell walls and the beet will never soften afterward. That same acid, added later, locks in the beet pigment, which is why the finished base goes into the pot last, once everything else has cooked through.

Use as much cabbage as you like; it sets the thickness. If the finished pot tastes flat, another spoonful of tomato paste and a return to the boil will sharpen it. Two liters of water is roughly 8 cups, so plan on a 4-quart pot at minimum. Rest it covered half an hour before serving, and serve with smetana (full-fat sour cream) and rye bread with salo — Ukrainian cured pork fat, closest in spirit to a firmer, saltier lardo.

Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 464 more recipes in the section.

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Ingredients

  • For the broth:
  • 2 Liters
    water
  • 700 Grams
    smoked pork ribs
  • 1
    onion
  • 1
    carrot
  • For the borscht:
  • 0.66
    cups of dried beans
  • 3-4
    potatoes
  • 1
    bell pepper
  • cabbage, as much as your usual thickness needs
  • salt and spices to taste
  • For the sautéed base:
  • 2
    onions
  • 1
    carrot
  • 1
    small beet
  • 3 Tablespoons
    tomato paste
  • oil for braising

Instructions

  1. Prep
    Soak the beans for 10 hours in cold water.

  2. Broth
    Cook a broth from 2 liters of water, the smoked ribs, the onion, and the carrot.

  3. Strain the broth, pull the meat off the bones, and return it to the pot.

  4. Add the beans and the diced potatoes to the boiling broth.

  5. Sautéed base
    Finely chop the onions, carrot, and beet and braise them covered in oil almost until tender.

  6. Add the tomato paste and braise a few minutes more.

  7. Assembly
    When the potatoes are nearly done, add the bell pepper cut into thin strips and the shredded cabbage.

  8. As soon as everything returns to a boil, add the sautéed base, salt, and spices.

  9. Taste: if it needs more acidity, add another spoonful of tomato paste and cook until done.

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