Initially, it was a vegetarian dish on a vegetable or mushroom broth, and then they made it into a savory dish, adding broth. Depending on the composition of the ingredients, shchi was either "rich" (meaty) or "empty". The recipe originated around the 18th century and it was thanks to the coachmen who deliver mail across the vast expanses of Russia. The basis of the cabbage soup then was the so-called "welding" - a mixture of sauerkraut with onions, stewed in a Russian oven. Here are the cast irons with this very welding and the coachmen took with them on the road. The stationmasters were not obliged to feed them, but by royal decree they were to, at the first request, give the driver as much boiling water as requested. With this same boiling water, welding was bred, after which the “empty” cabbage soup mentioned above was obtained. One of the coachmen noticed an interesting feature of welding: in winter, when the cast iron froze through and through on a long journey, cabbage soup turned out to be especially tasty. Modern cooking explains this by the fact that intercellular membranes are destroyed in already caramelized cabbage and additional sugar is released. Shchi turns out "sweet" and with a bright smell. Why are they "daily"? It's simple: with the then cooking technology, cast irons first stood for several hours and languished in the furnace for the remains of coals, and then, at night, they were exposed in the canopy, where, by about the middle of the next day, they froze through. So it turned out that somewhere in about a day it was possible to cook a dish.
Ingredients: Welding:, Sauerkraut, Onion, Sunflower oil, Water (a little, cover the bottom pot), For the broth:, Meat, Turnips, Carrots, Tomatoes (optional), Cilantro (roots for broth, tops for serve), Salt
Cooking method:
First of all, we prepare welding. To do this, chop sauerkraut so that the pieces are not long. We put them in pots evenly. Next, cut the onion into cubes (finely). It turns out half an onion for each serving. In each pot, add 1 tbsp. oil, mix, crush with a spoon, add a little water and send to the oven.
The first 2 hours we cook at T 160 C. The second 2 hours - T 140 C. And so on, until you reach T 40 C. Then turn off the oven. Doesn't take out pots. Let them cool inside the oven. At night, remove from the freezer or on the balcony (if it's minus outside).
The broth is prepared in the process of cooking welding. Let the meat boil, remove the foam and put half a turnip, cilantro roots, carrots and a pinch of salt into the broth. Cook until the beef crumbles like stew. After that, strain the broth, disassemble the meat into pieces.
In the morning, we take out the frozen cabbage from the cold and begin to lay food in pots. Put the meat on top of the cabbage, then grated half of the turnip on a coarse grater (equally in each pot), half of the tomato (optional) and pour the broth. We send it to the oven for 2 hours - T 160 C.
Serve with herbs and sour cream 😋. My video recipe: