Kharcho soup

I am wondering, who and when has said that the mutton soup is really made of mutton? It is same as to fill the Olivier salad with sunflower oil. It’s so unfair to treat this soup in such a way, and same the Olivier salad. Kharcho – is the Georgian national soup and it is made only from beef.
Usually, when the recipe is being specified, we mean the area of Georgia, from which this recipe has come from. There are Georgian style soups, megrelian style soups and other. But the real meaning of the soup has never been changed — it is a hot beef soup with tkemali and nuts. The soup should be spicy, with the great amount of garlic and herbs. It is much more thicker then those soups we used to know, and there is a rule for cooking it which has never been observed – «It should be half liquid soup».
Nowadays kharcho soup is cooked from different kinds of meat: lamb, veal and even bird’s meat. But you can clearly see from its original name that it should be cooked with a beef: harko (cargo რჩოარჩო) – literally: beef soup, «derohis hortzi harshhot».
Kharcho always has an acid base – plum tkemali. While cooking it can be replaced with more usual for us – tomato paste. However, there is an opinion – not to use tkemali, and instead of it to use so-called «sour lavash». Lavash – is not a bread, as many people think. It is a dried pulp of tkemali or dogwood. The puree from fruits is being dried in the sun in the shape of huge cakes – pita breads. They are called – Tklapi (პაპი) – and you should break it into pieces, soak with sauce or add to the soup, or other dishes.
Kharcho often can be found in recipes – Tklapi, piece of palm. The second important ingredient is a walnut.
It is worth saying that in the Caucasus only wine is prepared without walnuts. Walnut is the basic ingredient for the famus Bazaar sauce ( which is not so common for us). But everybody knows Satsivi, which is actually a bird( meat, fish) in bazhe sauce.
Let’s back to meat. Better do not add any lamb, pork or poultry. Only fat beef is preferable, or with a bone ( there is enough fat in it too). Kharcho soup with beef! Just like that! You can hear lots of fair arguments about what to add or not to add in soup. But don’t forget that Ukrainian borsch soup is totally different in every cooker. Take it easy.
The final composition of «hops-sunels» is very complex, so it can be changed.
Soup kharcho — beef soup
2 | |
Калорийность: | – |
15 min | |
120 min | |
2 h 15 min | |
Кухня: | Европейская |
Автор рецепта: | Sergey Djurenko |