Cooking borscht: principles of Lazerson

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Ilya Lazerson is a famous chef, author of cookery books, host of cooking shows. Lazerson's famous borscht cooking principles are a great way to improve the taste of this dish without deviating from the traditional way of cooking.

Principle 1: broth

A well-prepared broth is the main component of any first course, including borscht. According to the principles of Lazerson, this dish is cooked on a good, rich broth. To achieve the right taste, it is recommended to follow the following recommendations for cooking borscht:

1. Meat needs to be prepared, ideally with good bone in it. The richest broth is obtained from meat with a bone. For example, beef brisket works well.
2. Prepared and washed meat should be poured with cold water and put on fire. When cooking, you can put a whole unpeeled (but well-washed) onion. When boiling, the foam is carefully removed.
3. Cook the broth over low heat. The main rule is the longer the cooking time isbroth, the tastier it is. Do not add heat to prevent the liquid from boiling off unnecessarily. Then the cooking process can be carried out longer.

This basic principle of cooking borscht from Lazerson will allow you to get a high-quality and tasty base for the dish.

Principle 2: beets

Since it is impossible to imagine this dish without beets, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of its preparation. According to the principles of Lazerson, vegetables are added separately stewed to borscht:

1. Beets must be cut into thin strips, washed and peeled in advance.
2. Then put it in a thick-walled dish, add a little vegetable oil and water or broth. Additionally, you need to put tomato paste, s alt and sugar.
3. Beets are stewed until soft.

In the same way, you can prepare beetroot, which is rolled into jars and stored in the refrigerator for a long time. This dressing can be used to make borscht all year round.

Principle 3: vegetables and bell peppers

Whether or not to add bell pepper to borscht - everyone decides on their own, depending on their own preferences and tastes. According to Lazerson's principles, this vegetable is not a mandatory ingredient in borscht.

However, if you decide to add it, it is best to prepare it in the following way:

1. The core and stalk are removed from the pepper, the pulp is thoroughly washed from the seeds.
2. The vegetable is cut into thinstraws.
3. Sautéing bell peppers along with onions and carrots.

Sautéing vegetables for borscht is best done with a mixture of butter and vegetable oil. In this way, a rich and full-bodied taste can be achieved.

You can't fry vegetables until they're browned or worse, browned. The best option to preserve the taste is to warm the vegetables over low heat until they reach a soft consistency.

Cabbage for borscht is thinly chopped and added directly to the boiling broth. The dressing is prepared separately - peeled garlic is ground in a blender with the addition of fresh herbs and a small amount of water.

Classic bay leaf and black pepper in the form of peas are added as additional spices to borscht.

Principle 4: Sour flavor accents

Cooking borscht according to Lazerson's principles implies that the dish itself will have a sweet and sour taste. As you remember, sugar was added during the stewing of beets, but the sour ingredient was added a little later:

1. Take some table vinegar or lemon juice. Slightly diluted citric acid is allowed.
2. Add acid to the broth where the vegetables are simmering. An important point: in order to preserve the bright purple color of the finished borscht, vinegar or lemon is added to the dish immediately before the stewed beets are poured. This fixes the color of the dish.
3. Stir the finished borscht and put the beets into it. Try it - should benice balance of sour and sweet accents. You can add a bit of sugar or, conversely, a sour ingredient to achieve the perfect combination of flavors - adjust to your liking.

After all the ingredients are added to the borscht - broth, cabbage, browned vegetables and stewed beets with spices, you need to boil it for about 5-10 minutes more. The consistency of borscht should not be too liquid - the ingredients for it should give it a pleasant thickness.

After removing from the fire, the dish is allowed to brew from several minutes to half an hour, so that the taste becomes brighter and richer, after which it is poured into plates and served.

Before serving, it is recommended to warm the plates by rinsing them with hot water. And add green onions to the finished borscht for a pleasant flavor accent.

Conclusion

The principles of cooking borscht from Ilya Lazerson allow you to achieve a pleasant and bright taste of this borscht without violating the classic cooking recipe. Try it and you will understand that preparing a delicious delicacy of Ukrainian cuisine is easy and interesting.