Soup from Bukovina

Bukovina is a mountain region in northern Moldavia which used to be a mark of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which ruled it between 1775 and 1918. Locals thus borrowed a lot from Austrian cuisine, blending it into an original mix or recipes typical of that place. One local innovation is the so-called Radauti soup, named after a city in Bukovina.

Ștefan Baciu, 17.02.2017, 13:43

Bukovina is a mountain region in northern Moldavia which used to be a mark of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which ruled it between 1775 and 1918. Locals thus borrowed a lot from Austrian cuisine, blending it into an original mix or recipes typical of that place. One local innovation is the so-called Radauti soup, named after a city in Bukovina.

To make it you need 4 chicken thighs or breast on the bone. You also need a couple of parsnips, a few carrots, a green or red pepper, three or four egg yolks, vinegar, garlic, some fresh herbs for flavor, such as parsley or lovage, and sour cream, which is ubiquitous in local cooking.

Take a soup pot no larger than 3 liters, and boil together the roots and the meat. Boil the mix until the meat shreds easily off the bone. When it is done, strain the liquid. The meat, taken off the bone, and the roots cut into pieces are put in the liquid once again and brought to a boil.

After that, mix well the egg yolks into the sour cream, and start adding, little by little, liquid from the pot, taking care that the yolks don’t curdle, mixing the whole time. Use vinegar to make it as sour as you want.

Optionally, you can flavor it with crushed garlic, pepper to taste, and the finely chopped fresh herbs which first you shred to a small size. It is a rich soup, and could be called a comfort food. It is excellently suited for cold winter days, or for the cold mountain air of the city it was created in. Enjoy!