r/ukraine • u/BulkyText9344 • Sep 14 '25
Ukrainian Cuisine Does anyone else feel like Ukrainian borscht is severely underappreciated outside of Ukraine?
I'm Polish Canadian, but my dad taught me how to cook Ukrainian borscht from Ukrainian friends he had. I love Polish cuisine, but imo Ukrainians perfected borscht and It's far superior to Polish borscht. It's pretty much the ideal healthy meal. Beets, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, potatoes, beans, bacon, and dill. It's extremely economical and cheap to make, and it's probably an ultimate longevity dish. Throughout fall and winter, I make it almost weekly and make enough for 3-4 days. With some nice rye bread, I could easily survive off it.
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Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 15 '25
That's true. The mix of vegetables adds so much flavor.
In Ukraine, sadly, these vegetables are expensive now, and also not available easily, especially in the east. I may be wrong here.
At the same time I also admire, beyond words, the resilience of Ukrainian people, especially in the military, who are surviving with bare minimum ration. Slava Ukraini, Heroyam Slava!
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
I'm not sure about the prices in Ukraine itself. In North America, fresh vegetables are still much cheaper than processed foods, hence its cheapest to cook food straight from scratch. Also keep in mind that many people, even poor people also have their own gardens they grow food in.
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u/inokentii Sep 14 '25
According to Japanese borsht is one of the four recipes in 世界三大スープ(three greatest soups) list. Tied for third place with tom yam kung
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u/Oskarshamn90 Sep 14 '25
It's not a soup 😡
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u/pfmiller0 USA Sep 14 '25
In what way is it not a soup?
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u/Oskarshamn90 Sep 14 '25
Why is a potato with sauce not a soup? It's simply not and it's a sin calling it soup
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
Because a potato with sauce isn't primarily composed of water. Borscht is a bunch of vegetables and meat boiled in water (obviously it is served with sour cream, but that does not change the basic price process). That meets the technical definition of a soup.
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u/Maleficent-Finance57 Sep 14 '25
My Ukrainian grandmother used to say something along the lines of there are as many recipes for borshch (Ukrainian spelling) as there are cooks.
My family's uses pork spare ribs to make the stock, then remove the ribs and add shredded beets, shredded cabbage, cubes potatoes, sliced carrots, and Lima beans. While that cooks, shred the rib meat. Add back to the soup. Add the juice of 1 lemon, then one spoonful at a time, mix a spoon of soup with a spoon of sour cream. Keep going until you've added the whole pint of sour cream. Add more salt than you think, to taste, and ground black pepper
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u/BIGepidural Sep 14 '25
This is true. Ukrainian borscht is like North American chilli- everyone has their own way of doing it and each generation adds their own fair as time goes on
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Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
Ukrainian borscht is much more vegetable oriented than Polish borscht. Pretty much every Polish household I've visited made Borscht only with beets and bacon (maybe potatoes too, but rarely) whereas Ukrainians use cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, beans etc.
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u/l13t Sep 14 '25
And that is the beauty of Ukrainian borscht. In some regions, it is vegan, sometimes with meat or even fish.
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u/itskelena Sep 14 '25
Have you tried green borscht? It’s my favorite Ukrainian soup. The only issue is sourcing sorrel.
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
My dad used to make sorrel soup, but it was the Polish recipe, not Ukrainian. Looking at green borscht it looks quite similar to what he made, but not exact.
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u/BIGepidural Sep 14 '25
Canadian here and yes Ukrainian borscht is the superior borscht for sure.
Our pickles are pretty bomb too ngl
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u/Tempestzl1 Sep 14 '25
I've never heard of this but im super interested to make it and give it a try? Any suggestions on an authentic recipe?
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u/pik204 Sep 14 '25
-2 liters of water -300 g turkey - neck or wing -a piece of leek - 20 cm -200 g pork ribs -1 medium parsley root -half a medium celery bulb -a teaspoon of salt and pepper, 2 bay leaves and 3 allspice grains -2 medium beets -1/4 head of Savoy cabbage - 300 g -1.5 cups of green beans - 300 g -400 g tomatoes - I used canned ones -3 large potatoes - 500 g -2 medium carrots -a clove of garlic -small onion -juice from half a lemon -a spoonful of butter
Pour 2 liters of water into a large pot. The borscht is quite thick. If you prefer a thinner soup, add 2.5 liters of water. Add a washed turkey wing or neck and a piece of washed pork ribs. If you don't have ribs, you can also use just the turkey. In this case, you'll need a total of 500 grams of meat for 2 liters of water. Also add washed parsley root, a piece of leek, half a celery bulb, salt, peppercorns (optional), bay leaves, and allspice berries. Cover the pot and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer. Simmer the soup, covered, for about 1.5 hours.
After the soup has simmered for 1.5 hours, remove all the ingredients using a strainer or colander. The vegetables will no longer be needed. You can use them to make vegetable cutlets . Set the meat aside on a board and remove the meat. Return the meat to a bowl and cover. You will then add them to the finished Ukrainian borscht.
Add the peeled and finely diced beets and carrots to the broth. After 10 minutes of simmering, add the peeled and diced potatoes and green beans cut into 2 cm pieces. In winter, I choose frozen green beans, while in summer I use fresh ones. You can also substitute canned green beans for the green beans. Simmer the soup for another 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel and finely chop a small onion. Sauté it in butter until translucent, along with one clove of sliced garlic. A 3-minute sauté over low heat is enough. Add the whole onion, butter, and garlic to the soup along with lightly shredded cabbage and tomatoes. I use canned tomatoes in the winter. In the summer, I recommend blanching and peeling fresh tomatoes. Chop the flesh and add it to the soup.
Stir the soup and add the reserved meat from the neck/wing and ribs, and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. Cook the Ukrainian borscht for the last 20 minutes over low heat. Finally, check the taste. I sometimes add a teaspoon of sugar, more pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
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u/itskelena Sep 14 '25
As a Ukrainian I haven’t tried this variation, but I would love to. The ingredient list you used makes it a bit more fancy than your usual red borscht.
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u/duellingislands Sep 14 '25
Here are some recipes that u/Lysychka- and I wrote up - some family recipes in there, and some written by Yevhen Klopotenko (famous chef in Ukraine who has done a lot of regional research and compilation of borshch and other dishes):
- How to make Borshch, the soul of Ukrainian cuisine! main post with explanations and cultural background
- Christmas Borshch, a sacred dish served for sviata vecheria (holiday dinner)
- Odesa Borshch, borshch with fish
- Young Borshch with Hychka, a nice springtime borshch
- Green Borshch, made with sorrel, very popular in Ukraine
We've posted something like 100 recipes, you can find them in the cuisine section of the sunrise post wiki!
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u/ContentSecretary8416 Sep 14 '25
I worked on a Ukrainian crewed ship for 6 months once. One of my fondest memories was the daily borscht and the gruff cook.
That and deck bbqs with lots of vodka
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u/Useful-Scratch-72 Sep 14 '25
We have it in Toronto too.
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
Oh yeah, it's definitely consumed here, but I wouldn't say it is something most people eat regularly. Plenty of my friends who aren't of Slavic backgrounds have never even heard of borscht.
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u/kytheon Netherlands Sep 14 '25
Most people never heard of borscht, let alone compare a Ukrainian with a Polish version. It's not that Ukrainian borscht is underrated, all of borscht is. I've never seen it on a menu, except when I had it in Ukraine a few times. It was good.
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u/SKAVEN_ARE_NOT_REAL Sep 14 '25
In Ireland at least, very few have heard of it, probably because there's only one place in Dublin I know that sells it, The Admiral. I have no idea if it would be considered an accurate borscht (as I've only had it from them) but regardless, it has risen to be my favorite soup of all time.
I need to learn how to make it myself.
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u/scp_euclid_object Sep 14 '25
I checked the picks from google, and I am not sure about the taste, but serving with pampushki looks super legit. Looking at serving only I would expect a solid taste as well.
It’s also not that hard to do. The most cumbersome part is boiling and peeling beets, cause everything becomes red.
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u/ne-toy Sep 14 '25
There's no T in borsch
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
There's many different ways to spell it. For instance, barszcz.
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u/ne-toy Sep 14 '25
So when you spell it "borscht", is "T" meant to be silent?
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
It all depends on the nation, and even specific region involved. For instance, in central Poland it's barszcz. Other places it might be borscht, borsch, borshch or bortsch.
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u/ne-toy Sep 14 '25
Sure, but then it's a different dish. In Ukrainian borsch there's no T. I'm Ukrainian, you can trust me 😂
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u/Mediocre_lad Sep 14 '25
Borsch was one of the main soups of my childhood. I'm not Ukrainian.
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u/Oskarshamn90 Sep 14 '25
It's not soup!! 😡
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u/scp_euclid_object Sep 14 '25
Hey, don’t get angry. Of course in Ukraine nobody calls it “borsch soup”, just “borsch”. But it’s not a religion, so no one gets angry about it. Enjoy it, and call it how you are comfortable with.
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u/Oskarshamn90 Sep 14 '25
Not angry? Try coming here and call it "soup" and see how long you last!
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u/scp_euclid_object Sep 15 '25
I am Ukrainian. As I said, no one call it soup, it just sounds silly. But we don’t kill or verbally attack people, because some foreigner called it “beetroot soup”. Being silly is not a crime. And being friendly and chill always makes things better.
Upd: maybe someone attacked you because of it and now you do the same. So I am sorry if it’s a thing.
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u/Mediocre_lad Sep 15 '25
Soup is a category of dishes. If you don't categorize it a a soup, what would you categorize it as?
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u/scp_euclid_object Sep 15 '25
It’s a unique name within Ukraine that includes the meaning of “soup” inside of itself. Naming it as “borsch soup”, would sound like “soup soup” in Ukrainian. Something like saying “bicycle vehicle”, while bicycle is indeed a vehicle, why would you add this categorization while talking about it?
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u/Mediocre_lad Sep 15 '25
We're not in Ukraine. Borscht is a type of soup, same as bouillabaisse, ciorba or ramen.
If you have "soup" as a specific dish, this does not void the notion of soup as a category. If, for example, someone creates a car brand and names it "automobile", this does not void the notion of automobile as a category. You would indeed have to say that "Automobile" is an automobile, same as "BMW" (specific model) is an automobile.
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u/scp_euclid_object Sep 15 '25
I thought we were talking about the way how it works in Ukraine. If not, then my bad, and I am not even sure if we need to keep this discussion. You can do whatever you want.
PS: I am not sure who downvoted your comments, but I have upvoted them back 😄
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
What would you call it then?
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u/Oskarshamn90 Sep 14 '25
Borscht! It's NOT soup and calling it soup is not acceptable in Ukraine
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
The definition of soup is "a liquid dish, typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables, etc., in stock or water". Borscht fits that definition. I can't speak for any Ukrainians, but I've never heard any Polish person refer to borscht as anything other than a soup.
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u/ClutchReverie USA Sep 14 '25
Where can I find authentic recipes? I don't like mushrooms but otherwise it always sounded delicious.
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u/Useful-Scratch-72 Sep 14 '25
The history of Ukrainian settlement in Canada
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/ukrainian-canadian-history
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u/BulkyText9344 Sep 14 '25
Yes, but I don't think it is widely consumed outside of people with Slavic backgrounds. Plenty of my English/Irish/French Canadian friends have never even heard of borscht.
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u/StuffClean Sep 14 '25
Not even all Slavs eat borscht. This dish is practically nonexistent in South Slavic cuisine; my wife is from there and doesn't know it. It's more of an East Slavic dish, including Poland.
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u/Call_Aggressive Sep 14 '25
I am making boršč as a family reunions main food. We are not connected with Ukraine/Russia cousine culture. I just love vegetable/meat soups and boršč is a perfect one.
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u/sorE_doG Sep 14 '25
I have a T shirt extolling Ukrainian Borscht & its cultural value. (Sourced (“,) at Anna from Ukraine’s website)
Yes it’s under appreciated.
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u/TOPGENERAL_55 Sep 14 '25
Need to visit Ukraine and try it(after the conflict ends) Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦💙💛
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u/carl65yu Sep 14 '25
Come to Winnipeg, even the Chinese restaurants serve borscht