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Close up of a bowl of Borscht in Short Rib Stock topped with sour cream and fresh dill.

BORSCHT WITH SHORT RIB STOCK

A cozy, stick to your ribs soup jam packed with all the healthy winter veggies. With the added tang of sour cream. Because everyone should enjoy one bright pink soup.
Course Soup
Cuisine Eastern European
Keyword apple cider vinegar, beets, cabbage, short ribs
Prep Time 4 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

Short Rib Stock

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 pounds beef short ribs, , cut into 3- to 4-inch pieces
  • 1 large onion , sliced
  • 10-11 cups water, depending on how large your pot is,
  • 2 celery stalks , chopped
  • 1 medium carrot , coarsely chopped
  • 12 whole black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 whole cloves

BORSCHT

  • 5 medium beets (about 2 inches in diameter), rinsed, tops trimmed, cut in half
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup diced carrots, a bit more is fine
  • 1/2 cup chopped onions, a bit more is fine
  • 3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage a bit more is fine
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 yellow potato, peeled, diced
  • 1/2 tsp crushed caraway seeds, or less if you so desire
  • 1/2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp (or more) red wine vinegar, can also use sherry vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cups shredded Short Rib meat from the Stock, should be about half of the meat that was shredded when making the stock.
  • Sour cream, or Greek Yogurt or even Crême Fraîche
  • fresh dill, chopped for garnish

Instructions

STOCK, makes enough for two batches of Borscht Soup

  1. Heat vegetable oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add half of beef ribs and sauté until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate. Repeat with remaining ribs; transfer to plate.
  2. Add sliced onion to pot. Sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Return ribs and any juices to pot.

  3. Add the water and remaining stock ingredients. Bring to boil, skimming any foam from surface.

  4. Reduce heat and simmer until ribs are very tender, skimming foam occasionally, about 2 1/2 hours.
  5. Using tongs, transfer ribs to plate. Strain stock into large bowl. Chill stock until fat solidifies on top, at least 3 hours.

  6. Chill the meat. Remove meat from bones; cut away excess fat. Shred meat finely, you should have about 4-5 cups of meat. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover meat and chill. Keep stock chilled.)

BORSCHT

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Arrange beets in single layer in a baking dish; add 1/2 cup water. Cover; bake beets until tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour. Cool beets. Peel and cut into small dice.

  2. Remove fat from surface of stock.

  3. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large pot over medium-low heat. Add diced carrots and chopped onions and sauté 10 minutes.

  4. Add cabbage and garlic and sauté 5 minutes. Add 5 cups beef stock, beets, potato, caraway seeds, paprika, 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper, and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar. Simmer until cabbage and potato are tender, about 20 minutes.

  5. Add the shredded meat; simmer 5 minutes. Season with additional red wine vinegar, salt and pepper as desired.

  6. Ladle borscht into bowls. Top each with dollop of sour cream, fresh dill, and serve.

Recipe Notes

This soup freezes well if you find you have too much left over.

Option: make and freeze the stock and meat in containers, each divided into two portions. Then you can have one container of stock and one container of meat ready to go, and all you'll have to do is roast up half of the beets etc.

Feel free to use any cabbage you have on hand, whether red or napa etc.

You can make this vegetarian by using vegetable broth in place of the stock.