An Exaltation of Soups (37 page)
Read An Exaltation of Soups Online
Authors: Patricia Solley
OLAND
HUNTER STEW
BIGOS
Serves 6 to 8
N
OT FOR VEGETARIANS
! This soup is just crammed with meats and sausages, with the sweetness of apples more than balanced by the sharpness of sauerkraut, but it’s hearty and delicious and really quite unforgettable. Traditionally served in Poland as a good luck dish on New Year’s Day, it was originally eaten only by the Polish aristocracy (they being the only ones allowed to hunt game on their estates and the only ones who could afford so much meat). It’s tough trying to find game these days unless you’re a hunter, of course. Venison, rabbit, and pheasant will hugely add to the authenticity of this dish, but in the last analysis, it’s the sauerkraut, sausage, paprika, and mushrooms that define the taste. Serve it hot as a filling meal, with boiled potatoes, a dish of sour cream, lots of rye bread on the side, and good beer or dry mead.
Wesolych Swiat!
1 cup chopped raw bacon
1 pound boneless pork, cut into small cubes, or a mixture of boneless pork, venison, rabbit, pheasant, and/or other game
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium onions, diced
½ pound fresh mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered (preferably boletes—and it’s fine to use ½ to 1 cup dried mushrooms that have been rehydrated with warm water; of course you’d want to stir the mushroom liquid right into the soup broth)
2 cups Beef Stock
2 cups diced canned tomatoes, with juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 bay leaves
2 cups sauerkraut, rinsed under cold water and drained
3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1 cup diced cooked ham
1½ cups diced Polish sausage (kielbasa)
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream, for garnish
O
P
REPARE
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. Fry the bacon in a large soup pot to render the fat, then toss in the pork chunks, garlic, onions, and mushrooms. Sauté over medium-high heat until the meat is browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour in the stock (including any reserved mushroom liquid), tomatoes with their juice, sugar, bay leaves, sauerkraut, and apples, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 2 hours. Stir in the ham and sausage, then cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes more.
O
S
ERVE
Remove the bay leaves and taste the soup for seasoning. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with boiled potatoes, a bowl of sour cream, and thick, crusty bread on the side.
B
RINGING
I
N THE
N
EW
Y
EAR WITH THE
S
YLVESTERS
New Year celebrations in Poland are linked with the December 31 feast day of St. Sylvester, who served as Pope from
A.D.
314 to 335 and was one of the first non-martyrs honored as a saint. Interestingly, it is another Pope Sylvester who is the real hero—credited with saving mankind on December 31, 999, when the dragon Leviathan was supposed to be released onto earth to devour all life and set fire to the heavens. At midnight, on the cusp of the year
A.D.
1000, all the bells of Rome began to toll. People crowded into the streets. Then Pope Sylvester II stepped out in torchlight onto the balcony of the Lateran Palace and blessed the Eternal City and the world, ushering in the new millennium. What a relief! St. Sylvester vespers and parties on New Year’s Eve have been traditional ever since.
“P
AN
T
ADEUSZ
”
Bigos is being cooked in every kettle.
In human language it is hard to settle
The marvels of its odour, hue and taste;
In poetry’s description one has traced
Only the clinking words and clanking rhymes;
No city stomach to its rapture climbs.
To savour Lithuanian songs and cooks,
One must have health, reside in country nooks
And be returning from a hunting party.
Even without such sauce to make one hearty,
This bigos is no ordinary dish,
For it is aptly framed to meet your wish.
Founded upon good cabbage, sliced and sour,
Which, as men say, by its own zest and power
Melts in one’s mouth, it settles in a pot
And in its dewy bosom folds a lot
Of the best portions of selected meat;
Scullions parboil it then, until the heat
Draws from its substance all the living juices,
And, from the pot’s edge, boiling fluid sluices
And all the Air is fragrant with its scent.
The bigos was soon done. With armament
Of spoons, with triple shout, the hunting gang
Assailed the kettle; then the copper rang;
The steams burst forth; by hungry valour banished,
The bigos flew away, like camphor vanished;
Only the steams remained, the pots’ curators,
As in extinct volcanoes’ smoking craters.
—A
DAM
M
ICKIEWICZ
,
nineteenth-century Polish poet
IBET
FORTUNE NOODLE SOUP
GUTUK
Serves 9
N
EVER THINK THAT
gutuk
is too exotic to make. It’s a rich, thick, and deeply beefy soup, enlivened by the green of peas and the greens and also by the white of barley and radish—only exotic in its fragrant use of fenugreek. Not only is it a wonderful—and humorous—way to bring in the New Year, it is also, without the fortune dumplings, a great stick-to-the-ribs wintertime soup.
F
OR THE DUMPLINGS
1½ cups whole wheat flour
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water, or more as needed
1 egg, beaten with a few teaspoons water
9 “fortunes” to put in 9 stuffed dumplings, either traditional or tasty fillings, but never meat, as this would signify sealing off good luck
F
OR THE SOUP
12 cups (3 quarts) Beef Stock
2 hot chile peppers
2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and crushed
1 cup barley
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup chopped green onion, white and some green parts
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound boneless beef, partially frozen (for ease in cutting), trimmed, and cut into strips
Salt to taste
1 daikon radish, peeled and cut into a dice (2 to 3 cups)—if it comes with leaves, you should wash and slice them and use them in place of the greens below
1 cup fresh peas
½ cup greens (spinach, watercress, etc.), washed, stems removed, stacked, and sliced
O
P
REPARE
1. In a large bowl, mix the flours for the dumplings and work in the water to a stiff dough. Depending on the dryness of the flour, you may have to use more water. Knead well, for at least 15 minutes, until the dough is elastic. Let the dough rest under a damp towel.
2. Prep the remaining ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. In a large soup pot, bring the stock to a boil over mediumhigh heat with the whole chile peppers and crushed ginger. Pour in the barley, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer while you prepare the vegetables and seasonings.
2. In a skillet or wok, heat the butter over medium heat and sauté the fenugreek seeds, stirring, until they are deep brown; be careful not to burn them. Remove from the pan and discard. Stir in the onion and garlic and sauté until lightly browned. Toss in the meat strips and sauté until they have lost their red color.
3. Remove the peppers and ginger from the soup pot, discarding them, and scrape the contents of the skillet into the soup. Wash the skillet out with some of the broth and pour back into the soup. You don’t want to miss a drop of flavor. Continue to simmer for another hour.