Żurek
Sour Rye Soup- Yield
- Serves 4 to 6
- Active
- 30 minutes
- Total
- 1 1/4 hours (plus 3 to 5 days if you make the starter)
- Difficulty
- Easy
The story
Żurek is Poland's sour rye soup. Its sour note comes from zakwas, a starter of whole-grain rye flour mixed with water, often with a crust of bread and a clove of garlic, then left in a warm place for three to five days. Most Polish grocery stores sell the starter ready-made in bottles, so home cooks can skip the fermenting. The Polonist food site calls żurek a classic of the "cuisine of the poor" served in peasant homes, and notes that the meatless version suited the fasting days of Lent. The fuller version is cooked on smoked bacon and fresh white sausage, biała kiełbasa, and finished with marjoram and garlic. Hard-boiled eggs are the usual garnish. Beyond that, habits vary: boiled or mashed potatoes in some regions, a few dried mushrooms in the pot, a spoonful of cream, or a hollowed loaf of bread serving as the bowl. The soup is most closely tied to Easter, but rye flour, smoked bacon and eggs are on hand all winter, and it is cooked year-round. With a bottled starter, plan about an hour and a quarter from chopping the bacon to the table.
Ingredients
- 6 oz slab or thick-cut smoked bacon, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 7 cups water
- 2 medium carrots, peeled
- 1 parsley root or 1 small parsnip, peeled
- 4 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries
- 5 black peppercorns
- 2 or 3 dried porcini slices (optional)
- 1 lb fresh (uncooked) white Polish sausage (biała kiełbasa)
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups żur starter (sour rye starter), shaken well
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
- 1/3 cup sour cream or heavy cream (optional)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For serving:
- 4 to 6 hard-boiled eggs, halved
- 1 lb small potatoes, boiled (optional)
Sold bottled as "żur" or "zakwas" at Polish and Eastern European delis and online; or ferment your own from whole-grain rye flour (see note).
Polish delis and some butchers, especially before Easter. Fresh, unsmoked bratwurst-style pork sausage is the closest substitute.
Eastern European delis and some farmers' markets; a small parsnip or a piece of celery root works.
Method
- In a 5- to 6-quart soup pot over medium heat, cook the bacon for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until it has rendered its fat and starts to brown. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes more, until soft and golden.
- Add the water, carrots, parsley root, bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns and porcini, if using. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, for 20 minutes.
- Add the whole sausages and keep the soup at a bare simmer (do not boil hard, or the casings split) for 25 to 30 minutes, until the sausages are firm and register 160°F inside on an instant-read thermometer.
- Lift out the sausages, carrots and parsley root and set them aside. Remove the bay leaves, allspice and peppercorns with a slotted spoon if you can find them.
- Shake the starter, then pour it into the simmering soup a little at a time, tasting as you go, until the soup is as sour as you like; most cooks use 1 1/2 to 2 cups. Add the garlic and marjoram and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- If using cream, whisk it in a bowl with a ladle of hot soup, then stir the mixture into the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Slice the sausages into thick rounds and the carrots and parsley root into coins, and return them to the pot to heat through.
- Ladle the soup into bowls over the halved eggs and, if you like, boiled potatoes. Serve hot with rye bread.
Note: To make your own starter, stir whole-grain rye flour into lukewarm boiled water to a thin batter, add a crust of rye bread and a crushed garlic clove, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for 3 to 5 days until pleasantly sour; strain before using. Fresh white sausage is raw: keep it at or below 40°F and cook it to 160°F.
Buying tip: Most Polish cooks buy the sour rye starter ready-made: look for bottles labeled "żur" or "zakwas na żur" in Polish delis, and check that rye flour is the main ingredient. Brands differ in sourness, so add it gradually. Buy the sausage marked "biała surowa" (raw white) rather than smoked.