Cabbage soup

Cabbage soup

Type	Soup
Serving temperature	Hot
Other information	Shchi is generally made with cabbage. Borscht can be a cabbage soup as well.
Cookbook: Cabbage soup   Media: Cabbage soup

Cabbage soup refer to any soups that has cabbages or based on cabbages, or on sauerkraut. It is known by different names in different cuisines. It is a vegetable soup, with lentils, peas or beans instead of the meat. It is cooked with different ingredients.

Cabbage soup is popular in Russian, Polish, Slovak and Ukrainian cuisine.^[1]

It is known as kapusniak in Polish, kapustnica in Slovak, and Kapusniak in Ukrainian. It is called Shchi in Russian.^[1]

Shchi is a national dish of Russia. It is made of cabbage. An idiom in Russian, "Профессор кислых щей" ("sour shchi professor"), is used to tell about a funny attitude of a person who makes imitates of being a wise and intelligent person who has wide knowledge on everything.^[2]

The 19th-century Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language defines Borscht as "a kind of shchi" with beet sour added for tartness.^[3]

There is a Polish cabbage soup known as kapusniak .^[4] It is cooked using drained and chopped sauerkraut in water with chopped pork, pieces of kielbasa and a pinch of salt until the meat is soft. Instead of meat, a ready broth is also used. Then, diced potatoes and carrots are added and boiled until they are cooked. Tomato paste and spices may be added. In some regions the soup is served with added flour and butter. A lean kapusniak is cooked with roots and fungi.^[1]

Kapuśniak is served hot, in some regions with sour cream and sprinkled with chopped parsley and dill.^[1]

In Latvia, sauerkraut soup is made with sauerkraut, potatoes, carrots and groats, but in Latgale only sauerkraut and bacon is used.^[5]

Swedish cabbage soup is made from white cabbage, which is browned before being boiled, and seasoned with a medium amounts of allspice. It is sometimes served with boiled meatballs. ^[6]

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , the protagonist's family is so poor that one of the only foods they can afford to eat is cabbage soup.^[7]

Louis de Funès was the protagonist of the French film La Soupe aux choux (Cabbage Soup).

• Borscht