Bramboračka

Ingredients

The base

• 3 tablespoonslard
• or butter, or oil
• 1large onion, finely chopped
• 2carrots, diced
• 1parsnip, diced
• or half a celeriac
• 2 clovesgarlic, crushed

The mushrooms

• 30 gdried porcini
• or dried mixed forest mushrooms
• soaked in 300 ml hot water
• or 250 g fresh mushrooms
• see the safety note on foraging

The potatoes and liquid

• 800 gfloury potatoes
• peeled and diced
• 1.5 litreswater or stock
• plus the mushroom soaking liquid
• strained carefully
• 2bay leaves
• 1 teaspooncaraway seeds
• salt and black pepper

The roux

• 3 tablespoonslard or butter
• 3 tablespoonsplain flour
• 1 teaspoonsweet paprika

To finish

• 2 teaspoonsdried marjoram
• or 1 tablespoon fresh
• 1 tablespoonvinegar
• or lemon juice, optional
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• sour cream, optional

To serve

• dark rye bread
• or a bread bowl

Directions

1. Use dried mushrooms bought from a shop. Use floury potatoes for this soup. Waxy potatoes stay in firm cubes. Cover them with hot water and leave twenty minutes. It is too good to discard. Strain it through muslin or a coffee filter. Rinse them once more if they feel gritty.
2. Squeeze them out and chop them roughly. Melt the lard in a large heavy pot. Butter or oil work perfectly well. Add the chopped onion.
3. Cook it gently for about eight minutes. It should soften without browning much. Add the diced carrot and parsnip. Cook them for five minutes more. Add the garlic and cook a minute. Add the chopped soaked mushrooms. Or add fresh mushrooms and cook them until they release their water.
4. Let that water cook away before continuing. Add the diced potatoes. Add the water or stock. Add the strained mushroom liquid. Add the bay leaves and the caraway. The two are confused because of similar names in some languages.
5. Bring it to a boil and then lower it. Simmer it for about twenty-five minutes. The potatoes should be soft and beginning to break. Season it with salt and pepper. Melt the lard in a small pan. Stir in the flour. Cook it over a medium heat, stirring constantly. For this soup, cook it to a pale golden colour.
6. Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the paprika off the heat. Ladle a cup of hot soup into the roux pan. Whisk it hard until it is completely smooth. Stir it through thoroughly. Adding dry roux straight to a pot gives lumps. Stir it so it does not catch on the bottom.
7. Add it near the end rather than early. Rub it between your palms as you add it. Add a splash of vinegar if you like. Many Czech cooks do it and some do not. Taste and correct the salt. Add plenty of black pepper. Scatter chopped parsley over. Bramboračka is a thick soup.
8. Add hot water if it has gone too thick. Serve it hot in deep bowls. Serve dark rye bread alongside. It keeps four days refrigerated. Add water when reheating it. That matters less in a soup this thick.

Technique

• Do not forage wild mushrooms without expert identification learned in person. Several species are deadly, the death cap resembles edible species closely and kills people every year, symptoms are delayed by many hours, there is no reliable antidote, and cooking does not destroy the toxins. No folk test separates safe from deadly. Shop-bought dried porcini or cultivated mushrooms remove the risk entirely and are what this recipe assumes.
• Houbaření, mushroom picking, is a genuine Czech national pastime with knowledge passed down within families over decades. The atlas records that tradition with respect and also records that it includes deaths. Both are true.
• Strain the mushroom soaking liquid through muslin or a coffee filter, or pour it off leaving the last centimetre behind. It is too flavourful to discard and it holds settled grit.
• Add the roux by first whisking a ladle of hot soup into the roux pan until completely smooth, then returning that to the pot. Adding dry roux straight to a pot gives lumps every time.
• Cook the roux to pale golden and no further — three or four minutes, until it smells nutty rather than raw. A raw roux tastes floury; a dark one loses thickening power and turns bitter.
• Stir the paprika into the roux off the heat. It burns in seconds and turns bitter.
• Add the marjoram near the end. It is the defining herb of this soup — without it this is potato soup, not bramboračka — and long cooking drives its fragrance off. Rub dried marjoram between your palms as you add it.
• Use floury potatoes, which break down and thicken the soup. Grating a portion of the potato instead of dicing it all gives body without relying on the roux, and both approaches are used in Czech kitchens.
• A splash of vinegar at the end lifts a rich soup considerably. Many Czech cooks add it and some do not.
• Caraway is not cumin, though the names are confused in several languages. Its earthy anise note runs through Czech cooking — bread, cabbage, roast pork — and it belongs here.
• Brambory, the Czech word for potatoes, derives from Brandenburg, recording the route by which potatoes reached Bohemia.

Substitutions

• Dried porcini or a shop-bought dried forest mix replaces foraged mushrooms entirely and safely.
• Cultivated chestnut or button mushrooms work, giving a milder soup.
• Butter or oil replaces lard; lard is traditional and gives more depth.
• Celeriac replaces parsnip and is at least as common in Czech cooking.
• Vegetable stock and oil make a vegetarian version with no other change.
• Grating some of the potato replaces the roux as a thickener.

Variations

• Kulajda is the other great Czech mushroom soup, made with dill, cream, vinegar and a poached egg.
• A version with smoked sausage sliced in is common in some households.
• Some cooks add a handful of small pasta or barley for bulk.
• Česnečka, the garlic soup, is the other Czech soup served in a bread bowl.
• A mushroom-free version is simply bramborová polévka, potato soup.
• Zelňačka, the sauerkraut soup, is the other winter staple.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bramboračka?

Bramboračka is a soup & stew from Czechia: rustic potato soup with forest mushrooms and marjoram.

How long does Bramboračka take to make?

Bramboračka takes 30 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Bramboračka?

Yes, within limits. Dried porcini or a shop-bought dried forest mix replaces foraged mushrooms entirely and safely. Cultivated chestnut or button mushrooms work, giving a milder soup. Butter or oil replaces lard; lard is traditional and gives more depth. Celeriac replaces parsnip and is at least as common in Czech cooking. Vegetable stock and oil make a vegetarian version with no other change. Grating some of the potato replaces the roux as a thickener.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bramboračka?

Add it near the end rather than early. Rub it between your palms as you add it. Add a splash of vinegar if you like. Many Czech cooks do it and some do not. Taste and correct the salt. Add plenty of black pepper. Scatter chopped parsley over. Bramboračka is a thick soup.