🔗Soup kharcho.
What could be easier than making such a… rich, thick, aromatic… and… very tasty soup!
So, I suggest you talk not just about the embodiment of the next recipe for this soup, but about the "Kharcho principle" ....
And as a basis for the discussion, we will accept the recommendations that Tamara Platonovna Sulakvelidze gives in her recipes. I highly recommend everyone to find her book. It is posted on the Internet. Everything that concerns Georgian or, more precisely, Caucasian cuisine is better, more understandable and simple ..., let's say more authentic, I, for example, have not seen in other sources. And from personal experience, everything that we did not prepare according to her recommendations has the same “Georgian”, real homemade taste.
All the science mentioned in the book is stated. Here in this one.
🔗This book, according to respected and knowledgeable people, is a cult book. Wrote it wonderful !!! … As already mentioned - Woman !!! …, And - a good, according to sources, doctor… Tamara Platonovna Sulakvelidze. And it was published only once - and only in Russian in 1959. True, they say that there was a reissue in the 62nd.
This means that the recipes that are published there are nothing more than AUTHORIZED sources.
First of all, let's summarize the long-standing controversy, reaching the gnawing of the liver and pulling out the Adam's apple from the opponent.
So Tamara Platonovna has several recipes for kharcho. Until recently, I myself was sure that since kharcho means, undoubtedly, beef, walnut and tklapi or tkemali. But it turned out ... it turned out that KHARCHO can be made from beef ... and from mutton ..., and not only even from poultry, but also from fish in general, otherwise ... it's scary to imagine without any meat or fish already mentioned. And the soup from this does not become bad, but it remains.
So, lamb HARCHO has the right to be. What confirmation is the recipe from this very book. "Soup-kharcho of lamb or beef (B)" ... that's what it says.
And there are reasons not to trust the author of the book, which, in the opinion, I repeat, many Georgians, is a textbook, if we talk about Georgian cuisine.
What I personally like about the recipe that I have adopted and as a result of using which it turns out exactly as one of my friends says: “… when I put a little of THIS in my mouth, I still understand - THIS is exactly what my friend was preparing. Aunt Fira in my naked childhood on the sunny Moldavanka ... ". In a word, it turns out the very taste of kharcho, which is remembered from childhood, when I had to try it at the home table, which was laid .... In general, it's up to you to judge, but I highly recommend trying it. You will not regret.
So, we are talking about the "kharcho principle". Taking as a basis the set of products recommended by Tamara Platonovna and the technology described by her.
Bouillon
If we are talking about soup, then you cannot do without broth. No matter how hard you try.
Cook the broth. I took everything that had accumulated in the freezer in a bag labeled "LAMB for broths." These are mainly bones from the legs and shoulder blades, which remain from cutting the lamb parts for pilaf and stuff like that.
🔗And, I would dare to advise, add medium-sized chopped pulp to the broth. For fat, this additive will not play a special role, but eating will be much more interesting. Meat, whatever one may say, should be in kharcho. And it is better that it is not small, but more.
🔗And you can, for example, take a lamb neck. There are enough bones and cartilage and meat. For me, the neck is the best choice for kharcho.
🔗But! So that you don’t take it for the broth, and after you have washed it all, put it in a saucepan, fill it with clean (it’s better not to find anything well) with cold water and put it, the pan, on high heat.
🔗I prefer to cook kharcho over an open fire. In the boiler. But, as a rule, I cook broth at home. Why? I do not "cook" the broth, I "pour out" it. You can, of course, do this in the cauldron, but it hurts a lot of fiddling with this smallest and slowest light. It was troublesome, and for a long time. That's why….
As soon as it boils, be sure that scale will begin to form. Naturally, it must be mercilessly removed, or rather removed. Because take off the first time, and she is right there again. But there will come, and very soon, the moment when the scale will cease to form.
🔗Then it is worth adding to the broth everything that water from boiled meat will make the broth.
A couple of onions (it is not necessary to peel, but remove the top husk), a couple of carrots, pea peppers - black and fragrant, a couple of lavrushkas.
🔗A mixture of roots, (if there are no fresh ones, then dried ones will do) there parsley, celery, cilantro and so on. Dried herbs ... will not hurt a little. The star anise will not be superfluous. The more aromatic the broth is, the tastier it will be. Chessword.
And of course, don't forget the salt. How many? Here only by experience.
🔗It is not harmful to run a bunch of greens like this. If the grass is already mature, then do not cut the roots. Rinse well - yes ... but no need to cut.
🔗And then we reduce the heat to the minimum possible, cover the pan with a lid and leave the broth to simmer for at least three hours. The more time passes, the richer and richer the broth will be.
Just be careful not to boil. It is important. And then a rancid taste will appear.
🔗The broth turned out to be rich and moderately fat. When it cools down, it will become very clear.
🔗But I got ahead of myself. In the meantime, the broth will be cooked. The word "boil" is somewhat inappropriate for this method. Because the broth will languish for a long, long time on a tiny fire. It will be tastier this way. Check - you won't regret it.
In general, let's get down to preparing the rest of the kharcho contained.
Products for the internal content of kharcho.
So, we are preparing the rest of the products. Melted cow butter.
🔗We also need to remove the fat from the broth, but you won't spoil the soup with melted (if the broth is not very fatty).
A couple of onions - three. We need more tomatoes. Several cloves of garlic. Determine how much. Taste. Finely chop the garlic. For example, I use a mini chopper. A handy thing.
🔗Tomatoes must be taken exclusively real. Such that the honey-herbal aroma of the whips is felt. Everyone there is standardly beautiful ... well, if you want to spoil the product, then please.
🔗And if for the real ones, "not the season" yet, then such canned food will do. Tomatoes in their own juice. They are frayed there. Better yet, take Greek. There they are in pieces and in their own juice. Although, in the end, you can get by with just tomato paste.
🔗So, even though the recipe says about tomato - pasta, I risked using a tomato bed ..., washed, cut, poured boiling water for a minute ...
🔗... and after cleaning, chopped finely. Just save the juice, it won't get any worse.
🔗Greens. A little bit of parsley, cilantro and dill. Chop finely. Garlic - chop finely, as it was said, or crush.
🔗We put everything in a bowl, you can mix and also to the side - to insist.
🔗Or you can take it and grind everything in a mortar. It won't get any worse - I'm telling you for sure.
🔗Onions need to be chopped mediocre. Very small - not worth it.
🔗Figure: For the amount that we need (there are all proportions in the recipe), we take about half a glass. We wash very well and,
🔗after soaking, we set it to the side too.
I observe such a proportion that I don't get porridge. For a liter of the alleged soup, I take a tablespoon, a little with top, of already washed rice.
🔗Spice. One of the options is as follows. A couple of lavrushkas, two tablespoons, again with a good top, tablespoons of coriander, cumin - one and a half tablespoons, black and allspice peppers, a little red (hot) pepper and salt, of course.
🔗And grind everything in a mortar. Not too shallow.
🔗And you can do it differently.
Take, for example, a tablespoon of the mixture for shurpa and kharcho that Abdullo made for me. Very aromatic and slightly spicy.
🔗On a teahouse, without a heap of spoons, utskho and hops suneli. The same dose of soft red pepper and almost a full tablespoon of dry tomatoes. And a few peas of black pepper and sweet white pepper. Yes, a couple (I got them small) Lavrushechk. Well, salt, again.
🔗Well. Everything seems to be prepared. Let's start cooking.
Cooking kharcho
We make, then, a fire under the boiler and warm it up. We do not heat up, but we warm it up. Then we send a piece of ghee, the aforementioned, cow's butter to the boiler ...
... and melt it. No need to heat up somehow. Just melt and that's it.
🔗And pour out the onion. We do not fry it, but only bring it to the state of PRE-transparency.
🔗We collect the fat from the surface of the broth, so that we grab another ladle of the broth.
🔗And into his bowler hat, to the bow. And then, constantly stirring, stew the onion for five to seven minutes.
🔗GENERAL COMMENT. When you stew the onion, and then cook the dressing, you cannot overcook it at any of the stages. If this happens, heartburn is guaranteed. And do not hold it - the taste will also "go away", the cheese will be felt. So constant attention, stirring and intuition.
When the broth has evaporated and the onion becomes soft and aromatic…. We send tomatoes to the pan. Here, you know, the measure is also important. Depending on the taste of the tomatoes, whether sweet or sour…. The measure is very important.
🔗... and continuing to stir regularly, continue to simmer over low heat. Try minutes through the heels. Maybe it will be necessary to adjust the taste somehow. Add salt there, or even add a little sugar.
🔗We catch all the bones and meat from the broth. Separate the meat from the bones and cut it, the meat into small pieces. And, of course, into his cauldron.
🔗And the spices immediately go into the cauldron.
🔗Stirring constantly, all together, over low heat, must be extinguished. No more than ten minutes. Here you have to look so as not to overdry - overcook. And as soon as the dressing, spreading an unrealistically tasty aroma, will be ready.
Strain the broth through a fine sieve, straight into the saucepan with the dressing.
🔗Mix well, bring to a boil and ... the same, I remind you, VERY well washed rice ... we also send it to the pan.
🔗Then we stir, taste and adjust in salt, bring it back to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to a minimum, but not "to coals", in general, it is necessary that the boiling process is going on in the boiler on the verge of languishing. Or vice versa, whichever is more convenient for you.
Cover with a lid and, letting it gurgle slightly, leave the boiler alone for fifteen to twenty minutes. It depends on the rice. It is very important not to cook it into mush. Therefore, measure it. Before the next step, he, the rice should have a small hard grain.
🔗And as soon as the rice is “without a minute” ready, we send the infused herbs with garlic to the pan.
Here the fire has already been removed completely. Leave only the coals.
🔗Then. Close the lid. Rak out the fire from under the pot, leave the coals small and let it brew for about fifteen minutes, if you hold on with the aromas exuding.
🔗Here. Remove the cover.
🔗There was a temptation to put the cauldron on the table just like that, in the form that he bought ..., yes ... the women, you know, had to pour a clean pot into the pot. Alas, the porcelain tureen has not yet been started.
🔗And then - please, pour carefully, eat slowly.
🔗If anyone wishes, you can still add greens with garlic ... but this is optional.
🔗Angela for you at your meal!
So that's it. Now you understand "I'm up chom?", Talking about the "principle of kharcho". For example, cook broth from duck or chicken, or even fish and ... make soup using this technology. We do not take into account the time (we do not take into account the preparation of the broth) only about forty minutes maximum. And I guarantee you pleasure.
By the way, broth can be cooked for future use, and then frozen in a tray.So surprise, for example, a late or unexpected guest with a delicious soup ... or treat yourself to your beloved and one loved one "without yourself" ... I'm not talking about a glass "before ..." This is for you, I answer, not mashed artichokes with Parmesan sauce, tormenting yourself, pushing into yourself…. This is food!!! From which (yes, I did not care about calories and other cholesterol) in the body there is joy and desire ... ... ... to live on and be less bored.
For apologists of all kinds, I will. I cooked kharcho in a different way. With nuts there, plums, or tklapi, even pomegranate juice. Because there are many great recipes for this soup. But this recipe from Tamara Platonovna, in my opinion, is the best. And don't hesitate !!!
