Svekolnik Cold Beet Soup

Svekolnik cold beet soup–sometimes erroneously called “cold borscht”–makes a perfect meal for a warm summer day. This refreshing dish of chilled beet-flavored broth and fresh chopped vegetables, attributed to Russian or Polish cuisine, is enjoyed throughout the region. Though often served with a garnish of sliced hard-boiled egg and smetana (sour cream) you can prepare it entirely vegan. Like its cousin okroshka, it is salad in liquid form.

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Borscht or svekolnik cold beet soup

Svekolnik (свекольник from the Russian word for ‘beet’ свёкла) is a beet soup for sure. But there its similarity with borscht ends. If you define borscht as “beet soup,” then you can get away with calling this “cold borscht.” After all, svekolnik is indeed cold beet soup. Borscht, however, is so much more than beet soup. It’s really more a thin meat and vegetable stew, heavy on the beets. Svekolnik has no meat, usually, unless you add some bologna or sliced frankfurters as a garnish. You certainly do not make it with a meat stock, anyway.

Complicating matters, svekolnik may also appear as kholodnik (холодник ‘cold thing’) in some recipe collections. Elena Molokhovets included a very similar soup called khlodnik pol’skij so smetanoju (‘Polish cold soup with smetana’) in her famous 1861 Russian cookbook A Gift to Young Housewives. I am differentiating the two soups, however. Kholodnik will appear on this blog in the future as a variation of svekolnik. The main difference is that kholodnik always includes smetana or kefir, some kind of sour dairy component. The resulting soup has a bright pink color. Svekolnik, on the other hand, you can make without any dairy or animal products whatsoever.

Making the broth

You have a few options for making the beet broth. You can bake the beets first, cook them in the stock or a combination of these two. When I make borscht I bake the beets first and then put them in a beef vegetable broth to finish cooking. This method keeps some beety flavor (and color) in the beets themselves. You can make the svekolnik broth from raw beets but by the time your soup is finished the beets have lost all color and flavor. An alternative is to use a couple beets to make broth then discard them with other flavoring vegetables and add baked beets at the end for eating in the soup. This will require a couple more beets than my recipe calls for.

The method I use instead is baking the beets first and adding them at the end, just as I do for borscht. They impart plenty of flavor and color to the broth while still maintaining enough of both on their own. Plus, this recipe already makes a good, flavorful vegetable stock in the process. Start by cutting the greens from the beets and setting them aside (you’ll put them in the soup later). Wrap the beets in foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour at 350°F.

In the meantime, put three ounces of celery root, one or two parsley roots, half a large onion, 1 large carrot cut in chunks, one bay leaf and two potatoes in a stock pot with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer. Maintain a simmer for about an hour while the beets bake. After about a half hour, remove the potatoes and set aside to cool.

Beetification

After about an hour of simmering, the stock will be ready. It will be crystal clear because there is no fat or animal product in it. Strain out the flavoring vegetables and discard them. Alternatively, you could use a quart of store bought vegetable stock plus 2 cups of water if you want to save time. Then continue with the recipe from here.

Unwrap the baked beets and let them cool enough to handle. Baked beets peel easily, even without a peeler. I recommend wearing gloves because they also stain easily. Slice and then dice the beets in half-inch cubes. Put them in the vegetable broth. Next peel the cooked potatoes and dice them as well. Add to the broth.

Building flavor

With the beet-potato broth on no heat, continue building flavor by adding the juice of half a lemon or 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Slice the reserved beet greens into ribbons and add them to the pot. Next, dice 2 cloves of fresh garlic, chop about two tablespoons each of fresh dill and parsley; put these into the soup. Add ½ teaspoon of sugar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring this to a boil and then turn off the heat.

Let the soup cool on the stovetop. It will still be remarkably clear. The beets will still have a deep red color. Before serving you will refrigerate the soup for a few hours. Some people even serve it with ice cubes to make sure it’s super chilled at the table. While the soup is chilling, you will prepare all the fresh vegetable garnishes.

Prepping the garnishes

You could serve just about any fresh vegetables you like with the svekolnik. Traditional ones include scallions, cucumbers, and radishes. Additionally it’s customary to add chopped pickled cucumbers as well. You can also add more chopped fresh herbs, some sour cream (smetana) and a sliced hard-boiled egg. The last two are optional, of course, if you want a vegan recipe. Remove the svekolnik from the refrigerator and squeeze in the juice of the second half of your lemon.

Dice the vegetables into ¼-inch cubes. Put a few pinches of each in the bottom of a serving bowl and ladle the svekolnik over them. Add remaining garnishes of your choice and ice cubes, if you prefer.