Polish Sour Rye Soup
Żurek – a traditional Polish filling soup, which is definitely associated with Easter.
Today I want to tell you about sour rye soup, which I prepare with crispy greaves, fried white sausage, potatoes, carrots and marjoram, and homemade rye sourdough.
The first step in preparing sour rye soup is to prepare sourdough. It is the key ingredient that gives the soup its characteristic sour taste. We make homemade sourdough from rye flour and water, which we leave to ferment for a few days. After this time, our sourdough is ready to be added to the soup. But of course you can use store-bought sourdough 😉
The preparation of the sour soup is very simple. Just cook the stock of vegetables and raw white sausage, then add potatoes, sourdough, bacon cracklings, sliced sausage and the soup is ready!
Of course, no sour soup will taste good without marjoram or garlic. It is thanks to them that we get a distinct taste.
Read below the exact recipe for Easter soup:
Polish Żurek – Traditional Sour Rye Soup
Polish Żurek Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 carrots
- 1 leek
- ¼ celeriac
- 2 parsley root
- 1 burned onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 5 grains allspice
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 dried mushrooms
- 1,5 l cold water
- 3 raw sausages
- 3 potatoes
- 300 g smoked bacon
- 1 onion
- 1 l sourdough
- 1 tbsp horseradish
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- salt
- pepper
- 2 tbsp marjoram
Instructions
- First, prepare the stock. Put peeled vegetables (you can cut them into smaller pieces) carrots, parsley root, celery, burnt onion and leek into the pot. Add 3 sausages, dried mushrooms, spices and pour 1.5l of cold water. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for about 1h.2 carrots, 1 leek, ¼ celeriac, 2 parsley root, 1 burned onion, 5 grains allspice, 3 bay leaves, 4 dried mushrooms, 1,5 l cold water, 3 raw sausages, 2 tbsp marjoram, 3 cloves garlic
- While the broth is boiling, cut the bacon and onion into small cubes. Put the bacon in a dry pan and start frying it over low heat. This will ensure that the fat from the bacon will slowly start to render and the cracklings will be crispy. When the cracklings are already golden, add chopped onions and fry. Transfer the cracklings with the fried onions to paper to get rid of excess fat. (Do not wash the pan yet and pour out the fat from the bacon. You'll fry the sausage on it later).300 g smoked bacon, 1 onion
- Once the vegetables are soft, take everything out of the broth. Cut the cooked carrots into slices and peel the sausage from the casings and also cut into slices. Fry the sausage in the bacon fat until golden brown.
- Add the cut potatoes to the broth and cook for about 20 minutes. Once the potatoes are soft, add the sourdough. Then add horseradish, cracklings, fried sausage and carrots. You can also add heavy cream, but remember to temper it beforehand by first adding a couple of tablespoons of soup to the cream and only then add all the cream to the soup. This will prevent the cream from curdling. Add pepper and salt to taste. Serve with a hard boiled egg. Enjoy!3 potatoes, 1 l sourdough, 1 tbsp horseradish, ⅓ cup heavy cream, salt, pepper
Video
Notes
How to thicken the sour soup? Add 2 tablespoons of rye flour type 2000 mixed with 100 ml of water.
Nutrition
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet