Polish Easter Soup/Blessing of the baskets

Does anyone have a recipe for this soup? I vaguely remember how my Ma used to make it, but I don't think I have all the ingredients or the method.

I remember that she boiled Polish sausage & kept the water for a stock. Then added into that stock was chopped hard-boiled egg, chopped pickle & slices of the sausage. I also seem to remember something about swirling a raw egg into the hot soup to thicken it up.

I don't remember anything else.

Anyone remember this?

(I know I could google it, I just want a recipe from a more reliable source)

Anyone else blessing baskets this saturday? What do you put into your basket?

Thanks!

As far as the blessing goes, we would put some homemade bread, lamb-shaped butter, hard boiled eggs, horseradish, salt, pepper, some ham, and a bottle of cheap white zin....usually beringer.

On to the soup, I don't remember every having soup on Easter, but for christmas we would make white borscht using equal parts leftover sausage water and potato water, then a bit of sour cream mixed with flour and a pinch ov vinegar and salt. I hated it as a kid, but now I crave it.

Well I googled it, and there are lots of variations of Polish Easter soup, but none of them have the pickles, or the raw egg.

My mother must have been a very creative cook.

Liz in Norwood Park wrote:Well I googled it, and there are lots of variations of Polish Easter soup, but none of them have the pickles, or the raw egg.

My mother must have been a very creative cook.

My wife's Polish mother used to make what she called Easter food, which was derived from the soup. Chunks of ham, polish sausage, quartered hard boiled eggs, vinegar and grated fresh horsradish. Served cold on Sunday Evening with bakery bread and the lamb butter.

I could have sworn there was a thread here about this in the past but I can't seem to find it.

The white borscht is called "zurek" or "zhurek". It starts like you say with polish sausage cooked and the water being saved for the base of the soup.

Mysterious things are supposed to be added at this point including a fermented sour bread (don't ask me, I have never been able to get this to work). The fermented bread is called barscz on some websites but I think it is more correctly called zakvas or zur. I think that "barscz" is just the Polish word for borscht but I may not know what I am talking about.

The alternative to fermenting bread at this late hour is to buy a couple of white packets of the flavoring/starter at any Polish deli.

Then we add chunks of mild smoked ham, hard-cooked egg, vinegar and horseradish. Marjoram is a must but if you are using the white packet mix, it already contains marjoram so spice judiciously.

There is another soup called pickle soup that has a mild white creamy base. Red Apple has it sometimes. But that is not the same as what we think of as Easter white borscht.

If you google "zurek" you will be innundated with recipes.

Happy Easter to all! --Joy

Joy wrote:I could have sworn there was a thread here about this in the past but I can't seem to find it.

here's one prior discussion.

Joy wrote:Mysterious things are supposed to be added at this point including a fermented sour bread (don't ask me, I have never been able to get this to work). The fermented bread is called barscz on some websites but I think it is more correctly called zakvas or zur. I think that "barscz" is just the Polish word for borscht but I may not know what I am talking about.

The alternative to fermenting bread at this late hour is to buy a couple of white packets of the flavoring/starter at any Polish deli.

Also, most Polish delis should have the liquid zakwas/zur available as well. I know that Bobak's and Gilmart have it for certain. I'd imagine any other good deli would as well. Making it from scratch generally involves putting a mixture of rye flour, water, and garlic in a sterilized jar, and floating a piece of rye bread or crust on top. Leave in a warm place (near a radiator or heating vent) for 4-5 days. If you see mold on top, toss it. Otherwise, you should have yummy lactic acid goodness to use as a base for zurek.

Now, our Easter soup (Żurek wielkanocny) has always had a base made with zakwas/żur. The Polish name of the soup strongly suggests it. However, I'd imagine adding lactic acid fermentation pickles (like the kinds you get out of the big barrels in Polish grocery stores, not the vinegar ones) would be a quick and easy substitution for the sour component of the żur, as the basic processes involved in making naturally fermented pickles and żur are the same. Your mother's creativeness seems very sensible to me. I've also seen recipes that try to get around żur by substituting vinegar, and, to me, that flavor is all wrong. Żurek is one of my favorite soups, period, and the sour component must be lactic in flavor, not acetic.

Hi,

I have observed the blessing of the baskets at an Ukrainian Orthodox church in the Wicker Park area. They use a different calendar, which means it will be in one week's time.

Regards,

Easter just does not seem complete without the lamb butter. I bought mine a few weeks ago at Jewel:



Danish Maid is a company I usually associate with single serving butter pats, though they now will have the added glow as a source for lamb butter:



Every year I consider keeping the mold just in case lamb butter never appears again. It can't be too intensive an effort to get softened butter in there.



Regards,