The subtleties of preparing a classic brine

In the midst of festive fun, it is difficult to deny yourself an extra spoonful of olive salad or a glass of wine. And if in the morning after the holiday you felt an unpleasant heaviness - a thick and fragrant brine will come to the rescue.





Meat or fish soup, brewed on cucumber brine, known in Russia from the XV-XVI centuries. However, in those days, brine was called not only soup, but also a pie filled with guttings, meat or fish with pickles.





"Site" will tell about the intricacies of cooking this brine - one of the most colorful dishes of Russian cuisine, which always pleases us in the cold season, warming and causing a healthy appetite.

How to cook a brine

1. Meat and cereal
   A distinctive feature of brine, according to the culinary dictionary of William Pokhlebkin, is the use of giblets instead of meat. But today there are other options for cooking.
   
   
   
   For example, a Leningrad recipe from Soviet-era cookbooks includes beef. The brine is also prepared with poultry, chicken giblets, kidneys, beef heart, catfish, perch, fresh and dried mushrooms.
   
   Therefore, cereals for brine should be combined with meat products. Perlovaya will go to the brine with kidneys and beef, rice is used with chicken and turkey guts, barley is ideal for duck and goose guts, buckwheat and rice - for vegetarian brine.
   
   When preparing brine from pearl cereals, it is worth boiling it separately and adding it to the broth, otherwise the soup may acquire a bluish tint.
   
   
2. Cucumbers and brine
   The real highlight of the brine is the mandatory use of pickles and brine. In this case, the brine should be a quarter of the entire liquid, it should be pre-boiled and strained.
   
   
   
   Cucumbers should be salty, not pickled. It is advisable to clean them from the skin, clean the seeds and cut in small cubes. If you cook brine with potatoes, put pickles at the very end, otherwise the potatoes will become stiff.
   
   
3. Other ingredients
   Mandatory ingredients, except meat, cucumbers and cereals, are potatoes, carrots, onions. Some housewives add mushrooms, olives, parsley root, vinegar, tomato paste to the brine.
4. Taste secrets
   Traditionally, sour cream is served to brine - it softens the salty taste of the soup, making it pleasant and tender. Sometimes add the root of parsley, which gives the dish a piquant note.
   
   
   
   Experienced housewives advise not to salt the brine, but to regulate its taste with brine or pickles.
   
   
5. Smoke
   Like borscht, baking You have to insist. Let the finished soup “rest” under the lid for 20 minutes, so that its taste becomes rich and rich.

Homemade Ingredients

• 1.5 liters of meat broth
• 180ml cucumber brine
• 4 pickles
• 0.5 cup pearl cereal
• 3 potatoes
• 1 carrot
• 1 parsley root
• 100g cabbage
• 1 bulb
• 0.5 small beam of dill
• 2 bay leaves
• black pepper and sour cream to taste
• vegetable-oil

Preparation

1. Wash the pearl cereal, boil it to half-ready, drain the broth, and wash it again to remove mucus.
   
   
   
2. Cut the potatoes in small pieces. Cut the onions, carrots, parsley root and fresh cabbage with straw. By the way, the blank for the brine can be prepared in advance. In winter or on weekdays, when there is no time to prepare lunch, the brine in the bank literally saves. Comfortable! The broth boiled, the jar turned over - ready!
   
   
3. Roast the onions and carrots until soft in vegetable oil.
4. Clean the salted cucumbers from the skin, cut slices and pour boiling water.
   
   
   
5. Strain the broth and put it on the fire, and when it boils, put cabbage in it. Wait for re-boiling, add potatoes and parsley root.
6. After 5 minutes, add passered onions and carrots, prepared pearl cereal. Cook until ready.
   
   
   
7. For 5-10 minutes before readiness, put crushed greens, pepper peas and bay leaf in the brine.
   
   
   
8. When it is ready, pour a boiled cucumber brine into it.
9. When serving on the table, add sour cream to the plate.
10. Branberry with barley and cucumbers ready. Bon appetit!