I make Beet soup with canned beets I drain and save liquid and mash beets up put in pot with liquid and a little water to cover Beef Shin meat cook until beef is soft add vinegar mix in sour cream at the end or put it in bowl and spoon over soup and mix I don't use dill I use Bay Leaves (2 or 3)

Excellent soup; very easy, fine because of limited/basic ingredients.

The sour cream is used as a garnish. The vinegar is added afetr the soup is done.

My mom made the most delicious beet soup. She always made a beef stock by simmering a roast until it fell apart. Using this stock she added her sliced beets...LOTS for more flavor. She also put in a little shredded cabbage. If you want a thicker soup, cook potatoes and mash them and add to soup. You can also take the potatoes and some of the soup stock and put in a blender and add back to the soup. You can pre cook your beets in the microwave, peel when cool, then grate...MUCH EASIER....then add to the stock. Also, if you put on rubber gloves you can simple peel the skin off with the gloves on and your hands stay stain free. As for the sour cream. If you add it to hot soup it will curdle. You take a small amount of the soup and add it to a larger amount of the sour cream, whip it with a whisk or fork and very slowly add it to the soup to keep it from curdling. For a fat free stock, cook your meet the day before and put the stock in the refrigerator, then remove the fat from the top the next day. If you have a can of beets you can add that to your stock with the juice and you will not have to add the vinegar and you will get enhanced flavor.

The sour cream, vinegar and dill do not get 'cooked' in with the soup. In my polish family growing up these ingredients were garnishes or sort of like the dressing on a salad. They were added once the soup was in the bowl. We always ate it cold.

My mother used to make a Polish beet soup that was creamy, with bone pork pieces in it, and it had a milky, pink color and was thick not thin, absolutely delicious, and she would put mashed potatoes with fried onions in it. Got any ideas on that or how I can make it?

Method for Polish beet soup is rather scant......After step 3 in the recipe do you add the beets onions to the water? What do you do with the vinegar, dill weed sour cream?

What happens when the beets are cooked? How do you serve the soup? Do you strain it ? Is it served hot or cold?

Hi Min,

Because this is a soup, everything is cooked in one soup pot and none of the ingredients remain separate. You can safely assume that anything in the ingredients list is also in the soup. The beets are peeled and grated and cooked in the soup pot along with the remaining ingredients. The soup is not strained. Beet soup may be served either hot or cold (the recipe did not dictate because this is your choice).

When the beets are cooked you can serve the soup.

Hope this helps,

-- CM