Borscht - HK Style

With half a head of cabbage just sitting in my fridge, and cubed beef from the beef stew possibly in danger of freezer burn, it occured to me that borscht would be a great way of using it up. Hot soup during the winter sounds mighty good to me!

Since I had Russian borscht not too long ago, I went with this. (It's also cheaper)

Ingredients (fits 8qt pot):
2 onions, cut into 1" squares
4 tomatoes, diced
2lb beef bones
1lb beef
Maggi seasoning or soy sauce
2 russet potatoes, 1" cubes
half a head of cabbage, cut into 2" squares
1 small can tomato paste
salt
hot sauce
pepper


Method:
Marinate the beef with some Maggi.
In a pot, boil the bones in about 4L of water. Skim off the foam as it appears. When the foam formation has slowed, add beef. Continue to skim off fat and foam while it boils. Remove from heat when the foam formation slows considerably.
In a larger pot, sautee the onions and tomatoes until cooked. This is the soup pot.
Transfer the beef bones to the soup pot, taking care not to transfer cooked blood and crud.
Mix, so most of the bones are on the bottom of the pot.
Strain the beef broth into the soup pot.
Take the beef, rinse with water and cut into 1" cubes. Add to pot.
Add all other ingredients except for salt, hot sauce and pepper.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for at least 2 hours.
Taste and season.


Comments:
The 2lbs of bones is a guesstimate. We had some leftover from when I made pho.

You could make the soup stock ahead of time.

You could cook the beef bones with all ingredients, but it'll look rather nasty. 

I put the bones back into the soup, but it's not necessary. I just don't think you can get all the flavour with just a quick 10-minute boil.

Some people like to rinse the bones before putting them into the soup pot. Entirely up to you. I don't do it because it means washing yet another bowl.

I season at the end because the cooking/simmering process often reduces the soup, and therefore increases the concentration of the seasonings.

Other veggies often seen in this are celery and carrots. I was so fixated on the amount of cabbage we had that I forgot about them.


Verdict:
Good, and much better the next day.