The magnificent dish that will be discussed, solyanka with smoked meats, always causes a lot of controversy and disagreement. After all, not only in Russian, but probably in world cuisine, there is no other dish like this, the recipe, consistency and even the name of which is not precisely defined anywhere and by anyone. Some call him a villager, and others call him a hodgepodge. It is prepared as a soup or baked in pans as a main course.
Appetizing hodgepodge with smoked meats
This is interesting
Many interesting factors are known about hodgepodge, which we could not ignore. For example, the fact that it can be prepared from “meat and sausage cuts” or selected varieties of meat. In general, see for yourself how mysterious this dish is!
Have you already prepared sausage for hodgepodge?
History of meat soup
The history of the origin of the soup is as little known as the recipe. It is most likely that this dish originates from other well-known dishes, such as rassolnik or “hangovers”. These truly folk dishes were always prepared in brine broths with a large addition of meat and vegetables. Every Russian housewife knows how to cook solyanka with smoked meats, but each one has its own recipe.
Solyanka in a restaurant
Modern solyanka is also a restaurant dish, which requires a lot of time and skill to prepare.
The main thing in all the collected recipes is the correctly selected thick ingredients, this means the selection of exquisite varieties of fish, unusual types of meat products, including sausages. In addition, the composition of solyanka in its modern form may include olives, capers and other seasonings that are far from traditional. Although the traditional preparation of this dish, which includes cabbage stewed in cucumber brine and excellent roasted beef or pork, has not lost its popularity.
Today the name “solyanka” hides an exquisite, labor-intensive restaurant dish and an everyday home dish, which has long become traditional and beloved by gourmets and ordinary villagers.
This hodgepodge can be enjoyed in a restaurant or prepared at home.
Special soup
Solyanka is truly a special soup. After all, it can be an excellent first course and at the same time it can be served as a main course on holidays - it all depends on the recipe you choose.
What is it like?
Solyankas come with meat, fish, vegetables and poultry.
Fish solyanka is no less tasty and appetizing
Potatoes are rarely added to this dish. But sausages, brisket and ham are very common ingredients for preparing a delicious thick dish. An excellent option for cooking is solyanka soup with smoked meats.
It is believed that food cooked in a thick pan will be much tastier than food cooked in an ordinary pan. After all, thick dishes contribute to long simmering of the dish, which leads to an increase in taste. If he prepares hodgepodge in clay pots, then nothing can compare with such deliciousness.
There is also an option for preparing Lenten solyanka. By the way, in terms of taste, it is practically not inferior to meat.
Some useful information about cooking
The basis for preparing any of the variants of Solyanka soup is traditionally broth, which is combined with boiled cucumber brine. Therefore, depending on what kind of hodgepodge the housewives will prepare, it is initially necessary to cook a strong fish, meat or mushroom broth. The cucumber brine is usually strained and then brought to a boil in a saucepan, skimming off any foam that forms. The brine should boil for about 5 minutes. Combine the brine and hot broth in the amount of 1 cup of brine per one and a half liters of broth.
Hodgepodge
Solyanka with smoked meats is a delicious dish, the preparation of which, depending on the recipe, can be quite a labor-intensive process. But it's worth it. Most modern chefs believe that delicious solyanka with smoked meats is a worthy treat and is an aristocratic dish.
Before preparing a dish called “hodgepodge with smoked meats,” you should stock up on a variety of meat products. In order to cook a good broth, lean beef on the bone is best.
In addition, the composition of hodgepodge can include absolutely any sausages, meat delicacies and products that the housewife can afford to buy. But it is worth considering the fact that the dish will be tastier if it combines smoked meats with spicy sausages, boiled meat and offal (for example, tongue or liver). At the same time, the greater the variety of smoked meat products used in the preparation of solyanka, the richer and tastier it is.
How to serve solyanka beautifully
Thanks to the large number of ingredients, the hodgepodge looks self-sufficient. But to make the dish truly pleasing to the eye, it is decorated with olives and lemon. In this case, the products are placed separately in different parts of the plate. Chopped greens perfectly set off the color of the dish.
Solyanka is an excellent choice for lunch.
And if it is cooked with smoked meats, then such a dish will definitely not leave anyone indifferent. This soup will become one of the regular ones in the diet, since its unique taste and original aroma give true pleasure.
Very tasty recipe
So here's the first recipe.
To prepare this dish you will need:
- Smoked beef ribs - 300 g,
- onions - 400 g,
- tomato paste - 100 g,
- beef tongue - 100 g,
- smoked beef and pork - 150 g each,
- 5 sausages,
- pickled cucumbers - 400 g,
- cucumber pickle - 200 g,
- 1 can of olives,
- half a lemon, herbs and sour cream if desired.
Cooking instructions
Boil smoked beef ribs for 40 minutes in two liters of water. Cut all ingredients into strips. Fry the onion in a frying pan in vegetable oil, add tomato paste. At the same time, in another frying pan, fry smoked beef, pork, boiled beef tongue, sausages and meat from ribs previously boiled in broth. Separately, saute the pickled cucumbers. First add cucumbers to the broth that remains after boiling the ribs, then meat and onions, cucumber pickle and olives. 5 minutes before the end of cooking, place a laurel leaf into the container with the dish.
Add squeezed lemon juice to the cooked hodgepodge and garnish with herbs. Such a delicious hodgepodge with smoked meats will definitely delight all guests and household members.
In a slow cooker
Solyanka soup can also be prepared in a slow cooker. The process is quite simple, and the result will definitely please you.
Required ingredients:
• one onion; • half a kilogram of various smoked meats; • seasonings to your taste; • four pickled cucumbers; • fresh herbs and two tablespoons of tomato paste; • three medium potatoes.
Cooking process:
1. Immediately turn on the appliance to the “Baking” mode and set the time to 40 minutes. 2. Pour chopped onions into the bowl. 3. We also chop the smoked meat and add it to the onion. 4. Add tomato paste and mix. 5. Now cut the potatoes, add them to the rest of the ingredients and add water to the maximum mark. 6. When 25 minutes have passed, add chopped cucumbers, spices and cover the lid. 7. We wait for the program to end and leave the soup for a while under the lid. Before serving, sprinkle with herbs.
Solyanka with smoked meats and olives
The following recipe for hodgepodge with smoked meats is similar to the restaurant version. You can cook it in a pressure cooker.
To prepare you will need:
- 1 piece of beef brisket,
- smoked pork ribs - 4 pcs.,
- “hunting” sausages - 3 pcs.,
- new potatoes - 4 pcs.,
- cabbage - 1 pc.,
- onions - 1 pc.,
- carrots - 1 pc.,
- tomato sauce - 3 tbsp. l.,
- bell pepper - 1 pc.,
- pickles - 3 pcs.,
- olives - 1 jar,
- lemon - 1 pc.
Cooking instructions
- First, boil the brisket for one and a half to two hours so that it is well-cooked, and the resulting hodgepodge soup with smoked meats has a fairly rich taste. To improve the taste of the dish, add 3-4 peas of allspice and a little cloves to the water.
- Beef should be selected with “sugar” bones. Smoked pork ribs can be replaced with smoked chicken or loin, but always with a bone. Each rib is separated from each other.
- “Hunting” sausages (if you don’t like them, then you can choose some other version of smoked sausages or even sausages) must be cut into circles.
- Grate or finely chop fresh onions, carrots, bell peppers and pickles. Place everything in a frying pan, add a little olive oil, cucumber pickle and tomato sauce. Simmer over low heat until done. Separately boil the potatoes and chopped cabbage. When the cabbage and potatoes are ready, you need to add them to the other vegetables in the frying pan and simmer a little more over low heat.
- In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add squeezed lemon juice, sliced olives and various spices to the dish, for example, red paprika, bay leaf, ground black pepper, suneli hops.
A hodgepodge prepared in this way with smoked meats and olives will turn out rich and aromatic.
Subtleties of cooking
- Solyanka has always been based on concentrated broth . You need to cook it with several types of meat and always on the bones. Add dried mushrooms, onions, parsley root, celery root, allspice, bay leaf to the broth. Place all ingredients in cold water and simmer over low heat for several hours. You need to skim the foam constantly to make the broth clear. Let the finished broth brew for several hours, then strain.
- It is better to take pickled cucumbers, “barrel”, and not pickled from a jar. It is better to peel cucumbers that are too large and remove rough skin. In addition to cucumbers, you can use sauerkraut.
- The frying for solyanka is called brez . It takes a long time to cook until all the vegetables become soft and even chewy. You can fry in a mixture of several oils: vegetable and butter. You can add a little fat removed from the broth to the pan.
- Brez can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator or freezer so you can prepare the hodgepodge at any time.
- The more types of meat in the hodgepodge, the better. Any type of meat is suitable: boiled, smoked or raw smoked sausage, smoked chicken, boiled pork or beef. But there should not be too much smoked meat, otherwise the soup will turn out too spicy.
- Shred the meat into pieces so that they fit in a spoon. Straws or cubes - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the pieces are the same.
- It is better to fry smoked meats before storing them to remove excess fat.
- The sour taste of the soup can be enhanced with brine, pickled caper liquid, rye kvass or lemon juice.
- Capers and green onions will give the solyanka a unique taste . But they cannot be overcooked, otherwise the soup will taste bitter. Solyanka should be turned off immediately after adding these ingredients.
- There is no need to add salt to the soup - this is taboo . But you can add potatoes and pickled mushrooms - anything that can add satiety to the soup.
Another original recipe for solyanka with smoked meats
Even the simplest homemade solyanka can be made very tasty and original. You just have to show a little imagination. For example, you can try to prepare a simple and at the same time special smoked solyanka with the addition of corn. To do this, you need to chop half a head of fresh cabbage into strips. Cut 4 potatoes into strips, and 5 smoked sausages into slices. Then pour vegetable oil into a deep frying pan or cauldron, heat it and fry the cabbage in it until golden brown. This must be done, stirring constantly, over medium heat.
Potatoes and sausages are fried separately until cooked. Also, thinly sliced onions and grated carrots are fried in vegetable oil (preferably on a coarse grater).
All components are connected. You can add a little salt, black pepper and a pinch of curry to the dish. After this, under the covered lid, continue to simmer everything together for 10 minutes.
A few minutes before it is completely ready, you need to add one small can of canned corn, but without liquid, to the solyanka being prepared.
Serve to the table, decorating the hodgepodge dish with herbs. Bon appetit everyone!
How to cook with beans
Required Products:
• about 400 grams of smoked meat; • seasonings to your taste; • two spoons of tomato paste; • half a glass of beans; • onions and carrots – one each; • three potatoes.
This is interesting:
Cooking process:
1. Soak the beans in advance, then rinse and cook until soft. 2. Fill another pan with water and as soon as it boils, add the chopped potatoes. 3. Chop the onion and lightly fry, then add grated carrots, chopped smoked meat and tomato paste to it. Stir and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. 4. Transfer this mixture to a saucepan with potatoes and add already boiled beans there. Season the composition with the selected spices, you can squeeze a little lemon juice into it. 5. Keep the soup on low heat for about 7 minutes. Then, turning off the stove, steep the prepared hodgepodge for 10 minutes.
Fish solyanka
Fish solyanka is a delicious and aromatic soup. It can be prepared from almost any meaty fish, including smoked fish. The parts of the fish that give a good fat: tail, bones, fins, belly and head, are used to prepare the broth; the fillet is added to the soup at the last stages of cooking (this is the only way the fish will not boil over).
We bring to your attention a recipe for salmon solyanka.
Salmon is a fairly large fish, so you only need a piece of fillet, about 0.5 kg. The rest can be fried and put in at the end.
Ingredients for 5 liters of solyanka:
- Salmon trimmings (head, fins, tail);
- salmon fillet - 600 g;
- potatoes - 4 pcs.;
- pickled cucumbers - 4 pcs.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- 1 can of olives;
- tomato paste - 2 tbsp. spoons;
- lemon - 10 cloves;
- a set of seasonings (salt, pepper, ground paprika, bay leaf, vegetable oil).
Cooking instructions:
- Make a steep broth from the fish scraps (don’t forget to put a bay leaf, a little salt, and peppercorns in it). Strain. Remove meat from bones, add to broth, discard bones.
Ingredients for fish stock - Finely chop the onion and pickled cucumbers and fry in a frying pan with the addition of vegetable oil. Season with tomato.
- Cut the salmon fillet into small pieces.
Salmon fillet pieces - Add diced potatoes and chopped cucumbers to the pan with the broth and bring to a boil. Then add the fish fillet. Cook until the potatoes are ready.
- At the end of cooking, add the olives along with the liquid from the jar, salt and paprika. Add lemon slices and herbs, immediately turning off the heat. All is ready!
Cooking at home
Required ingredients:
• one onion; • spices to your taste, for example, pepper, bay leaf, lemon zest; • 20 grams of tomato paste; • about 500 grams of various smoked meats; • three pickled cucumbers; • four potatoes; • 10 black olives or olives.
Classic solyanka never contains potatoes. However, our housewives add this ingredient to make it more filling... And they win!
Cooking process:
1. Cut the selected smoked meats into strips. You need to chop the potatoes in the same way, only the cubes will be a little thicker. Smoked meats need to be lightly fried. 2. Cut the cucumbers and onions into small cubes. Fry the onions with tomato paste in a frying pan, and simmer the cucumbers with a little water. 3. After the contents boil, add the chopped meat and potatoes to a saucepan with water and cook for five minutes. 4. Then add the onion, tomato and cucumbers, continue cooking for another 10 minutes. 5. Add your chosen spices, such as bay leaf and pepper. You can also add crushed garlic. 6. Wait for the dish to sit under the lid and serve along with the olives.
