White Barszcz {Biały Barszcz}
The star of my Easter table, sour rye soup. Barszcz biały is smoky, garlicy and tiny bit sour in taste. In my home, its served first, often garnished with a teaspoon of spicy horseradish.
To make this delicious creamy soup, you will need:
2 cups of rye sour starter
4 oz of good quality smoked bacon
1/2 of smoked Polish sausage (about 6-8 inches)
2 carrots
1/2 of a parsnip
1/4 of burnt onion
6-8 allspice
6-8 peppercorns
1/2 tbs of salt
1 tbs of marjoram
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbs of flour
4 tbs of butter
1. Place bacon, sausage, carrots, parsnip and onion in a pot (about 4 quarts), cover with water and add salt. Simmer on low for about 40 minutes.
2. Remove everything from soup and add sour starter, marjoram and crushed garlic. Bring to boil and simmer on low for a few minutes.
3. Heat a small pan and make rough by sautéing flour with butter. Add to soup and stir well. Bring to boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.
4. To serve, slice white sausage {biała kiełbasa} or smoked sausage used for making this soup. Add a boiled egg and a 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish.
Sour starter is also available for purchase at most Polish delis. Its normally in a bottle. Nice shortcut if you don’t feel like messing with making sour starter or are on a time crunch.
