Polish sour pickle soup?

[yumyum]

I had heard good things about this soup at a Polish restaurant in the Boston area. But then I tried it and I cannot stop thinking about it. Tangy, light, with some simple veggies, a good amount of pickle brine and good butter, I'd love to replicate it at home. I found a few recipes online like this one, but am looking for anyone's mom's or grandmom's recipe. Does anyone make this at home?

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/...

[yumyum]

mirage and I tried to make the soup last night and we are both happy with the results. My method:

I followed this recipe with a few modifications --> http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/...
1. I threw in some carrots
2. I didn't have Polish butter, so used Land O Lakes.
3. I used Wondra instead of AP flour.
4. I used my own home made chix broth.

I probably would dice the pickles finer next time and cook the potatoes a little longer (was impatient and couldn't wait.)

And I think the choice of dairy really depends on what you have or want to use. The sour cream, once tempered, stirred into the pot easily. It's lightly thickened but not chowdery.

[galleygirl]

Of course, I haven't even had the soup yet,but I'm drooling....I'll bet creme fraiche would work even better than sour cream, cuz if it was a Polish recipe they probably used smetana, which is basically CF....

[hill food]

or quark if you can find it.

[yumyum]

Galley -- you'd love it. I think the type of dairy doesn't matter so much. Mirage used heavy cream with the enrichment of an egg yolk. I used sour cream. Mom's CF recipe would be perfect too. The key is to temper whatever dairy you add before you stir it into the hot soup.

[mirage]

Having shared the soup with yumyum I, too, was on a quest. I feel like I hit it tonight. Of course I don't *really* remember the soup in enough detail to be sure it is identical, but tonight's soup was very good. I combined two recipes we found to get:

2 Tbsp butter (Olselka)
1 largish onion, halved and sliced
4 c chicken broth
3 c chopped dill pickles (Babushka Dill Pickles)
2/3 c pickle liquid from jar
2 1/2 c chopped peeled potatoes
1 c heavy cream
2 Tbsp Wondra
salt and white pepper
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp butter - maybe a bit more, I didn't measure

Saute onions in 2 Tbsp butter until translucent. Add broth, pickles, pickle liquid and potatoes. Simmer 20 minutes, until potatoes are very tender. Blend wondra and
cream. Add to broth, bring to boil and remove from heat. Stir in egg yolk
and butter. S and P.

This is a thin, light, but rich tasting broth. I'm very pleased!!!!

[olia]

In Russia we call similar type pickle soup rassolnik and this is similar to a recipe my mom uses
http://www.recipezaar.com/Rassolnik-I... but with turkey
the thick texture comes from the barley but additional creaminess can be achieved by adding sour cream when serving.

[hill food]

I had it once in SoCal. could not tell you more other than it was veg (or maybe veal) broth and cream based, I don't think it had potatoes or cauliflower but that may have just been that chef's version. the SO almost, almost replicated it once - close enough, but that was years ago,

if using dairy the key is to avoid a curdle.

and good luck - a worthy goal.

[Oodles of Noodles]

How about this?

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/...

[three of us]

Thicker than any I've ever had. Garlic, mustard seed, and scallions were not ingredients the babcias and aunties ever used but if they're ingredients you like, then use them.

Now after this, who's up for czarnina?

[Taralli]

From a Polish website:

Dill Pickle Soup: (Zupa Ogorkowa)

6 cups of beef broth
1 lb cauliflower (cut into small flowerettes)
2T of instant flour
1C milk
1 egg yolks
2T soft butter
4 large Dill Pickles
2/3C liquid from the jar
2.5C boiled and sliced potatoes

Bring broth to boil.
+ flour mixed with .5C of milk
bring just to boil. remove from heat.
+ egg yolks mixed w/ butter
+ pickles, potaotes and liguid

heat but DO NOT BOIL

serves 12 although if you eat it like a polish person then i say it serves 4. lol

i also tend to add some dill to this (1t-1T depending on how much you like dill)

[DoubleMan]

Sounds good, but entirely different than the version at Cafe Polonia. That version seems to be dairy free and made with chicken broth.

[yumyum]

Actually there is some debate among the group of us at the restaurant as to if the soup that night was creamy or not. I think it was slightly creamy, perhaps with some sour cream in the broth, but others remember differently. The broth definitely had some body to it, not just brothy. On the other hand, the picture of the soup in the Globe (below) looks too thick. The good news is most of the ingredients are the same across the recipes I've found so it should taste right.

[JRL]

Thanks for reminding me about the Globe recipe. Made it quite a few times last winter and it is wonderful. You can make it as thick or thin as you like. It is not made with dill pickles, but with 1/2 sours. I use Jewish 1/2 sours (Batampte is what my supermarket carries) which are pickled in brine rather than vinegar (don't know if 1/2 sours are ever pickled in vinegar).
I found that, unlike most soups, it is only really good the day it is made; it loses a lot of its flavor once refrigerated.

[yumyum]

Taralli, thanks. Have you made this one? I found it in my search too, but the version at Cafe Polonia definitely didn't have cauliflower. Is this a close approximation?

[three of us]

Polish girl,here. Here' what I remember. Typically, add-ins like cauliflower or mashed vs. sliced potatoes had to do with what was in the fridge that needed to be used up. I've had it with small dumpings when there were no potatoes (rare in a Polish household but it happens!)