Czernina

Ingredients

Duck and broth

• 1duck, jointed, with giblets
• 2.5 litreswater
• 1onion
• 2carrots
• 1parsnip
• ½celeriac
• 4allspice berries
• 2bay leaves
• 6black peppercorns
• salt

Blood

• 250 mlfresh duck blood
• 2 tbspvinegar, to mix into it at once
• 2 tbspplain flour

Sweet and sour

• 100 gdried prunes
• 100 gdried pears or apples
• 100 mlsour cherry juice
• 2 tbspsugar
• 3 tbspvinegar
• dried marjoram

To serve

• egg noodles or boiled potatoes

Directions

1. Get the blood fresh from a butcher who can supply it, and make sure vinegar is mixed into it immediately. Vinegar is what stops it clotting, and blood without it sets into a solid mass and cannot be used at all.
2. Keep the blood refrigerated and use it the same day you buy it.
3. Simmer the duck and giblets with the water, vegetables, allspice, bay and peppercorns for 1 hour 30 minutes, skimming often.
4. Strain the broth, then pick the meat from the bones and shred it.
5. Add the dried fruit to the strained broth and simmer for 20 minutes until softened.
6. Season with the sugar, vinegar and cherry juice. It should taste sharply sweet-and-sour before the blood goes anywhere near it, because the blood mutes both.
7. Whisk the flour into the blood until completely smooth with no lumps at all.
8. Temper it by whisking several ladles of hot broth into the blood mixture, one at a time, before it goes back into the pot.
9. Then take the pot off the heat entirely and stir the tempered blood in.
10. Never let it boil after the blood is in. It curdles instantly into grey grains and there is no recovering it, and this is the single point at which the soup is lost.
11. Return the shredded meat, check the sweet-sour balance again, and add a good pinch of marjoram.
12. Serve over egg noodles or with boiled potatoes.
13. In old Polish custom a bowl of czernina served to a suitor was a refusal of his marriage proposal, which is worth knowing before you serve it to a guest.

Technique

• Temper, then off the heat. Those two steps are the whole difficulty of the dish.
• The colour should be a deep glossy brown rather than grey. Grey means it got too hot.
• Goose blood is used just as often as duck, and the soup is called the same thing.

Substitutions

• Goose or pig’s blood, both of which are traditional in different regions.
• There is no substitute for the blood. Without it this is simply a sweet-sour duck soup, which is pleasant and is not czernina.

Variations

• With dumplings instead of noodles.
• Made with goose, which is richer.
• With extra dried fruit for a sweeter bowl.

History

In old Polish custom a bowl of czernina served to a suitor was a refusal of his marriage proposal.

Frequently asked questions

What is Czernina?

Czernina is a soup & stew from Poland: sweet-sour duck blood soup with dried fruit and noodles. In old Polish custom a bowl of czernina served to a suitor was a refusal of his marriage proposal.

How long does Czernina take to make?

Czernina takes 30 min of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Czernina?

Yes, within limits. Goose or pig’s blood, both of which are traditional in different regions. There is no substitute for the blood. Without it this is simply a sweet-sour duck soup, which is pleasant and is not czernina.

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

Never let it boil after the blood is in. It curdles instantly into grey grains and there is no recovering it, and this is the single point at which the soup is lost.