Sauerkraut Soup
This is probably originally a soup from historical Russian cuisine (кислые щи), but for me and many others, it is a nostalgic childhood soup associated with Estonian cuisine. I don’t remember exactly how my grandmother made it, but it looks similar to this I made myself. For me, it is a winter dish that in my childhood was associated with Christmas time. The soup itself has very old roots; no one knows when it first began to be prepared, but it has always been featured in both Estonian and Russian cookbooks.

Preparation time: Preparing the broth takes 4-5 hours, and boiling the soup takes 1.5 hours.
Level: Rather easy
Quantity: About 7L of soup
Ingredients:
Broth:
1.5 kg of soup bones
1 large onion
4 celery stalks
3 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
Sea salt
Soup:
1.5 kg of sauerkraut
800 g of lean pork cooked with broth
2-3 medium carrots, coarsely grated
4 medium potatoes
2 large onions, finely chopped
150 g of barley groats
5-6 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped
70 g of butter for frying the onions, carrots and garlic
Black pepper and sea salt for seasoning
Mixed soup herbs
1 tsp of frozen or dried dill
0.5 tsp of dried oregano
Parsley for garnish
Preparation:
- Prepare the broth by placing the bones and meat in a cooking pot, covering with water and letting it simmer. Bring to a boil. Skim off any foam.
- Once the foam has been skimmed off, add the celery stalks, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and season the broth with sea salt.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer the broth for 4-5 hours until the meat is completely tender and the broth has a beautiful, yellowish colour.
- Remove the bones, clean the meat from the bones and use it to make the soup. Remove the lean meat, let it cool and cut it into not very small pieces.
- Strain the broth through a fine sieve and use it to make the soup. You can eat the onion boiled in the broth; I have always liked it.
- To make the soup, you need to soak the groats in cold water for at least 4 hours before making the soup.
- Pour the broth into a large saucepan, add the groats and let the soup boil.
- Grate the carrots, chop the onion and garlic and fry in a pan with butter until the vegetables start to brown slightly.
- Add the fried vegetables and sauerkrout to the soup. Add the cooked meat. Boil the soup for about 20 minutes.
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces of your choice; add to the soup.
- Season the soup, add soup herbs, black pepper, sea salt, oregano and dill.
- Boil until the potatoes are almost soft.
- Serve the soup with black bread, garnish with parsley or dill.
Ready!!


























