Polish Borscht - Uncle Bill's Style

William (Uncle Bill) Anatooskin's Note:

It took me many tries to come up with this tasty Borscht. This can be served with chunky ingredients or you may puree the borscht. This recipe is served as a broth and is very tasty.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 680.38 g pork spareribs
• 1 large onion, chopped small
• 1 large bay leaf
• 4 whole allspice
• 4 whole black peppercorns
• 29.58 ml white vinegar
• 9.85 ml granulated sugar
• 9.85 ml salt
• 2.46 ml black pepper
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 large celery rib, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1419.54 ml water
• 5 medium red beets, scrubbed
• 946.36 ml water
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 946.36 ml water
• 473.18 ml sour cream
• 473.18 ml whole milk, homogenized
• 44.37 ml all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In a large cooking pot, add spareribs, onion, bay leaf, allspice, black peppercorns, white vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, carrots, celery and cover with 6 cups of water or more if required to cover.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the spareribs are tender.
3. In large saucepan, add scrubbed beets and cover with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until beets are fork tender.
4. Drain well and cover with cold water and let cool for 10 minutes.
5. Peel and grate beets and set aside.
6. In the meantime in a large saucepan, add potatoes and cover with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain well, mash and set aside.
7. When the spareribs are tender, remove from cooking pot and strip the meat off the bones and return meat to the cooking pot. Add the grated beets to pot.
8. Remove bay leaf and discard.
9. Puree the soup in batches in a food processor or blender and return to cooking pot.
10. Strain the soup through a sieve and return to cooking pot, discarding any solids.
11. In a large bowl, whisk together sour cream, whole milk and flour until blended.
12. Add 2 cups of hot broth to the sour cream mixture slowly, and whisk continuously until well blended. Strain the mixture through a sieve into the cooking pot, stirring continuously; discard any solids.
13. Heat the broth over medium heat to a gentle simmer, but do not allow to boil. Boiling could cause the sour cream mixture to curdle.
14. Immediately remove from heat.
15. Add some mashed potatoes into serving bowls, pour broth over and serve.
16. Refrigerate any unused portions.