(for god’s sake, do I really want to share this?)
Uuuuhhh… okay, the other night I was trying to do a quickie, half-arsed Borscht-test for the first time ever, and… it kinda kicked my arse?
Here’s the goods–
Ukrainian Borscht recipe, as shared here:
https://piefed.social/post/1960602
And… instead of powdering the bay leaves, or just leaving them intact, in a major-genius move, I decided to break them up in to chunks, for the soup, to better-quickly disseminate. I kinda just do that in general, because I like fibre in my diet, if that makes sense.
Flash-forward 45min, and my half-arsed Borscht-test absolutely came out BEAUTIFULLY. Like- total beet-taste, lovely potato chunks, nice cabbage-part, excellent seasonings (“hot,” as I always like it), no sugar added, and I was sooooo proud of myself.
Except that, my throat kept scratching for the next hour. I figured it was just one little bit that I needed to swallow down, and did all I could on that score. Then I figured that maybe I’d carelessly scratched-up my esophagus via whatever? Yeah well, whatever, that should heal fast, dude.
Except no-- it just didn’t go away, like a PITA post-nasal drip at its worst. (raise your hand…)
Eh, so after an hour of stupid mind-games such as that, something still seemed wrong at a fundamental level, so I grabbed my best, completely overpowered torch*, went to the bathroom mirror, and took a good, hard look. So far so good, everything seemed intact! Then I reached down to manually open my throat, and VOILA, the immediate prolonged hacking response, and a HUGE chunk of bay leaf I coughed up. oO
Holy shit, ma dudes. Bonus points for that chunk being hilariously Brasil-shaped roughly, as I’ve been listening to a lot of Bossa Nova lately. (I swear)
In any case, PLEASE be careful with yon Bay Leaf chunks out there, my friends. It’s really kind of a badass, in truth… oO
(note to myself: “good job, dude, now everyone across the Fediverse knows that you’re a complete idiot” XD)
* lithium-battery flashlight in this case, rather blinding in most cases
Thanks! It’s really delicious, just on its own.
I honestly don’t get why the traditional recipes call for so much artificial sugar.
It’s completely unneeded, IME.
I believe when it comes to adding sugar to savoury foods, it’s commonly done to counter astringency or to round off acidity a little. I know it’s decently common in e.g. tomato soup. It’s all up to individual preference though. As someone who just quit sugary things cold turkey some years ago I get not wanting to add it. Onions and beetroots are plenty sweet as it is.
Oh yeah. Never added sugar to borsch myself. Maybe a bit of maple syrup because it is a necessary nutrient for Canadians.
At least that would be adding an interesting flavor!
I actually have some maple syrup hot sauce (actually comes in a glass grenade, haha) that I wouldn’t mind trying out next time I make this.