Classic hodgepodge recipe

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

Solyanka is a hearty meat, mushroom or fish soup in a thick rich broth. This dish is loved not only in our country, but also far beyond its borders, and the name is not translated into other languages. If, while away from home, you want to taste familiar and native food, go to a Russian restaurant and look for the name solyanka in the menu.

He who knows the recipe for a delicious hodgepodge and knows how to cook this dish can rightfully call himself a good cook. This restaurant dish can really be the pride of any cook. Well, for those who are just starting to comprehend the basics of mastery, our article will come in handy. We'll take a look at the fascinating history of hodgepodge, how it's made, and talk about when and how to serve this soup.

Food of the villagers

This amazing dish has a very unusual story. The first mention of this dish dates back to the 15th century. Of course, we are well aware that a simple Russian peasant did not have and could not have a hunting sausage, olives, or even a lemon in those days, which means that the composition of the dish was significantly different from the modern one. But the meatoffal and pickles were available, so the basis of two recipes from different centuries is still the same.

Researchers of the history of culinary tend to think that the hodgepodge turned out quite by accident, like many other wonderful foods (for example, pizza). Most likely, the housewives found a use for leftover food. Meat, bones, offal made it possible to obtain a very satisfying rich broth, the addition of roots made the taste piquant and expressive, and pickles and pickled cucumbers added sourness and saturate the food with vitamins and amino acids.

Such properties of food made it an excellent option for strong alcohol. Helped hodgepodge and "improve he alth" after the festive gatherings. Related to this is another common name for the dish - "hangover".

On the one hand, this contributed to even greater love for the dish on the part of the common people, but on the other hand, it became the reason that the nobility perceived this thick brew exclusively as food for the poor, greedy for strong drinks. Solyanka was not served in decent houses until the 19th century.

Cookery historians know another name for the dish - "selyanka". There is a version that it was the original, but many sources claim that it is secondary. Probably, it is connected with the belief that this is the food of the villagers, villagers.

Over time, the old recipe for the national team's hodgepodge was somewhat modified and supplemented. Gradually, the dish gained popularity among all segments of the population.

New ingredients, new taste

Today, many chefs prefer to add sausage to the combined hodgepodge. The classic recipe has undergone many changes in general, because the products available to the common man in the 15th century were significantly different from those familiar to us in the 21st century. And practice has shown that an old recipe can sparkle with new colors if you supplement it with smoked meats and hunting sausages.

Adding tomato paste allows you to get a wonderful shade of food - ruddy golden, very appetizing.

Overseas delicacies came in handy - olives and olives (today this product can be purchased quite inexpensively in any supermarket).

And in order to get the sourness necessary according to the old canons for hodgepodge, modern cooks use not vinegar and pickle from cucumbers, but lemon. It makes the taste quite expressive, and looks very nice on the plate.

Solyanka in modern Russian cuisine

The assertion that serving this dish in the house of an aristocrat is the height of bad taste has long since sunk into oblivion. Today, hodgepodge is deservedly considered an exquisite restaurant-level dish. It is on a par with such gems of Russian cuisine as baked goose, stuffed pike, pancakes with caviar and kurnik.

This dish is considered winter. Rich broth retains heat for a long time, quickly helps to satisfy hunger, warm up, and restore strength. And, of course, do not forget about the pleasure that this magnificent treat gives to every gourmet!

Cooking a hodgepodge is customary for the holidays. Due to the rather high cost, this dish cannot be called everyday. Excellentthe occasion for preparing this dish can be Christmas or Easter, birthday or christening. And you can also serve a hodgepodge to long-awaited guests who had to overcome a difficult path. After the road, especially when the weather is not at all happy, everyone will be happy with a rich aromatic soup with a lot of meat. By the way, as in past centuries, today this dish is also often combined with high-quality strong alcohol.

So we figured out the history and role in modern cuisine, and also learned the main components of the hodgepodge recipe. Sausage, red and white meat, offal, bacon - all this can be used for broth. Crispy pickles, capers and olives are essential to spice up the dish and saturate it with vitamins. And when serving, you need a lemon. It's time to consider in detail the step-by-step recipe (with photo) of the classic hodgepodge.

Components

Let's start with an approximate list of products, which you can supplement and change at your discretion, trying not to deviate too much from the recommended proportions.

For a five-liter pot you will need:

• meat and offal - 700 g;
• smoked meats - 300 g;
• sausages - 250 g;
• onion - 1 large head or 2 small ones;
• s alted, pickled or pickled cucumbers - 3-4 pieces;
• potatoes and carrots (optional) - 2 each;
• tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l.;
• olives or black olives - 100 g;
• capers (optional) - 50g;
• oil for frying;
• bay leaf– 1 piece;
• allspice (peas) - 3 pcs.;
• lemon and herbs for serving.

If everything is clear with vegetables, the first items on the list can cause a lot of questions for a novice cook who wants to master the art of making hodgepodge. What meat and offal to use? It can be pork, beef, poultry. Both lean meat and fat will do.

For hodgepodge, you can use pork and beef kidneys, which must first be boiled, changing the water. The heart is also suitable, including chicken and turkey, as well as bird stomachs. Liver, lung, udder and brain are not recommended for this dish.

Among smoked meats, you can choose ribs, chicken breast or legs, turkey rump, boiled pork, loin.

When choosing sausage, give preference to high-quality ham, mahan, hunting sausages, good dry-cured and raw-smoked varieties. Of course, in order to reduce the cost, some recommend using budget sausages and boiled sausage, but in this case the dish will not turn out so fragrant, tasty and solemn.

Having prepared everything you need, you can get down to business.

Cooking stock

Many recipes for combined hodgepodge regulate the laying of meat components in cold water, this will ensure that the broth is filled with a special expressive taste. Do not cut the meat into pieces yet.

If you use potatoes, at the same stage you should send it to the broth. It is desirable to cut the vegetable into not very large pieces (as in Olivier).

Cookthe broth should be over medium heat under the lid, periodically removing the noise. When the meat is cooked, remove it from the broth and let it cool slightly. In the meantime, add smoked meats and sausages, cut into pieces, to the pan.

When the meat has cooled down a bit, remove all the bones (if any), chop the flesh and send it back to the broth.

An equally important step in our step-by-step recipe for a combined hodgepodge is the preparation of a roast.

Vegetables and spices

Cut the onion into small cubes. Carrots are optional, but many cooks choose to add them for their beautiful color and delicate texture. Grind it with a fine grater.

Fry vegetables in oil until golden brown. Add the cucumbers cut into small pieces and sauté a little. Add tomato paste diluted in a small amount of broth to the fry.

In some recipes for mixed sausage, it is also recommended to fry the sausage a little before putting it into the broth. This moment is unprincipled, you can act on your own.

Final stage

When the broth boils after adding smoked meats, add bay leaf and pepper to it, carefully add the fry. You don’t need to s alt the food yet, because a lot depends on the cucumbers. In some cases, they provide enough s alt.

Stirring, bring the soup to a boil again, reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Add the pitted olives, capers, sliced into circles. Atadjust the s alt if necessary and season with your favorite spices. Cover the pot with a lid, remove from heat and let it steep for a while.

Our hodgepodge recipe allows the use of young greens. It can be added to a pot or served at the table so that each guest can pour it into a plate at their discretion.

Cooking in a slow cooker

The recipe for a classic team hodgepodge with potatoes, meat and sausage can easily be adapted for a slow cooker. Use our Ingredients List to calculate the amount of ingredients based on the size of your bowl.

Pour a little oil into the bowl, heat on the "Frying" mode and add the chopped onion. Cook for 10 minutes, then add cucumbers, and after another 5 minutes, tomato paste and a little water. Leave the lid on the bowl and cook for 10 more minutes.

Reload the roast and add the meat and chopped potatoes to the bowl. Pour in water and set the "Boiling" mode for half an hour. The lid must be closed, but do not forget to periodically open and remove the foam.

After half an hour, take out the meat, add smoked meats and sausages to the broth, without changing the mode. After 10 minutes, enter the roast and load the meat, cut into pieces.

Before the end of cooking, add olives, capers, spices; adjust the s alt.

Mushroom hodgepodge

The lucky mushroom picker knows many recipes for preparing delicacies from forest gifts. Have you tried to master the recipe for a combined hodgepodge with potatoes and mushrooms? A kilogram of forest treasures is enough to cook threeliters of food.

The cooking scheme is the same, but due attention should be paid to the preparation of mushrooms.

Only noble mushrooms do not need pre-boiling. The rest of the mushrooms need to be sorted out according to varieties and sizes, thoroughly cleaned, cut into equal pieces. Next, the mushrooms should be boiled in lightly s alted water for at least half an hour. Primary broth from mushrooms should never be used for cooking. It needs to be drained.

Pour water into the pan, add bay leaf. When the water boils, add finely chopped potatoes (2-3 tubers) and mushrooms.

At this time, you can start frying: chop the onion and brown it, add a couple of pickles, sweat a little and pour over the tomato.

Combine the mushroom part with the vegetable part, wait until it boils, level the s alt and add olives, olives, capers, herbs. Try not to use too harsh spices for this dish, otherwise they will drown out the noble taste of mushrooms.

This dish can also be served during church fasts. In terms of taste, it is in no way inferior to the meat variations of the recipe.

Fish variant

In Russia, recipes for mixed fish hodgepodge appeared somewhat later than meat ones. Ancient cookbooks recommend using exclusively noble fish for this dish, such as sterlet, sturgeon, salmon or whitefish. In modern realities, it is problematic to bring the old recipe to life, so today fish hodgepodge is cooked a little differently.

Wash 0.5 kg of any smallfish, put in a saucepan with a volume of 3 liters. Add a small parsley root, an onion cut in half and a small carrot; fill with cold water and set to boil.

Prepare the stir-fry (as for other recipes).

Pumpkin or salmon fillet (0.4 kg), remove bones and skin, cut into pieces. Strain the broth carefully through a sieve lined with gauze. Enter the fry and add the fish fillet. Cook over low heat until the fish is fully cooked. At the very end, add capers, olives and herbs, s alt if necessary.

Serving to the table

To adequately present such a dish, you should pick up beautiful plates and cutlery. Both a classic service and Russian-style dishes will do.

Serving is complemented by gravy boats with sour cream and plates with lemon cut into half rings. Take care of delicious bread, homemade cakes are perfect.