Veal Soup

The holidays are over, and the heavy and plentiful meals can take their toll. Sour soups are a popular remedy for this, and the choice souring agent in Romania is fermented wheat bran. Sauerkraut brine is also used, as well as vinegar.

Ștefan Baciu, 05.02.2017, 14:55

The holidays are over, and the heavy and plentiful meals can take their toll. Sour soups are a popular remedy for this, and the choice souring agent in Romania is fermented wheat bran. Sauerkraut brine is also used, as well as vinegar.

The following recipe is taken out of an old cookbook for Romanian nobility of old. It advises to use a more refined version of fermented bran, which in Romanian is called bors. It is no coincidence that it closely resembles the word borscht, because in eastern European countries the red beet soup is soured using fermented bran. This version of bors is made using lovage stalks, or sour cherry twigs. The word bors is also used to designate any sour soup made using it.

Todays recipe is veal soup. Take a half a kilo of veal, with a bit of fat, half a liter of bors, two onion, 2 or 3 carrots, a couple of tablespoons of oil, a few mushrooms, one parsnip, dried thyme, and a few sprigs of fresh parsley and lovage. Slice the mushrooms finely, then cut the veal into bite size pieces, boil, skimming the pot. Separately, sweat the finely chopped onion in oil,along with the shredded carrot and parsnip. Add the mixture to the boiling meat, along with the sliced mushrooms. Bring the bors to a boil separately, and add it to the pot when things are almost cooked through. Boil for a few more minutes, then add the thyme along with salt an pepper to taste. When serving, add finely chopped lovage and parsley. Enjoy!