Żurek

Ingredients

Żur (sour rye starter, made 5 days ahead)

• 150 gwholemeal rye flour
• 750 mllukewarm boiled water
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• 2bay leaves
• 4allspice berries
• 1crust of rye bread, to kick-start the ferment

Soup

• 500 gsmoked pork ribs, for the broth
• 2 litreswater
• 400 gbiała kiełbasa (raw white sausage), left whole
• 150 gsmoked bacon, diced
• 1onion, diced
• 3garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tspdried marjoram, rubbed between the palms
• 1 tbspfreshly grated horseradish
• 150 mlsoured cream
• salt and black pepper

To serve

• 6eggs, boiled 8 minutes and halved
• boiled potatoes, or hollowed round loaves

Directions

1. Five days ahead, whisk the rye flour into the lukewarm water in a scalded jar, add the garlic, bay, allspice and bread crust, cover with muslin and leave at room temperature.
2. Stir it daily. By day four or five it should smell sharply sour and yeasty, clean like sourdough and never cheesy or musty, and will have separated into cloudy liquid over a pale sediment. Shake before using.
3. Simmer the smoked ribs in the water with the onion for 1 hour, then strain to about 1.5 litres of broth.
4. Poach the white sausage whole in the broth for 25 minutes, lift it out and slice it into 2 cm rounds. Keeping it whole stops the broth turning cloudy and greasy.
5. Render the diced bacon until crisp, fry the grated garlic in the fat for 30 seconds and tip both into the broth.
6. Shake the żur and pour in 400–500 ml, whisking as you go, then simmer 10 minutes without a hard boil. Add the marjoram and horseradish.
7. Temper the soured cream with a ladle of the hot soup, stir it back in and taste. It should be sour first, smoky second, with marjoram over the top. If it is flat, add more żur, never vinegar.
8. Serve with the sausage rounds, half an egg per bowl and boiled potatoes, or ladled into a hollowed loaf.

Technique

• Żur simply means sour. The fermented rye liquid is the entire identity of the soup and cannot be faked with lemon or vinegar; Polish shops sell it ready-made as zakwas na żurek if you have not the five days.
• The starter is a live ferment. Use a scalded jar, keep it covered but breathing, and throw it out if you see fuzzy mould or smell solvent. Refrigerated, it keeps a month and gets sourer.
• Żurek is the Easter Saturday soup, made with the sausage and eggs blessed in the święconka basket. Biały barszcz is its close cousin, made with wheat flour and often with milk.
• Do not boil after the cream goes in, or it will curdle into threads.

Substitutions

• No biała kiełbasa: any raw, coarse, garlicky pork sausage, poached rather than fried. Smoked sausage changes the character but is common in restaurants.
• No fresh horseradish: a spoonful of hot mustard, less clean but effective.
• No smoked ribs: a smoked ham hock or a piece of smoked bacon on the bone.

Variations

• Żurek w chlebie, served in a hollowed bread loaf, the tourist standard and genuinely good.
• A Silesian version with diced potato cooked into the soup.
• A Lenten żurek built on dried mushroom broth instead of the smoked ribs.

History

Soup soured with fermented rye starter kept in every household jar; it is eaten at Easter breakfast with white sausage and egg.

Frequently asked questions

What is Żurek?

Żurek is a soup & stew from Poland: sour fermented-rye soup with white sausage and halved egg. Soup soured with fermented rye starter kept in every household jar; it is eaten at Easter breakfast with white sausage and egg.

How long does Żurek take to make?

Żurek takes 30 min of preparation and 5 days for the żur, then 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Żurek?

Yes, within limits. No biała kiełbasa: any raw, coarse, garlicky pork sausage, poached rather than fried. Smoked sausage changes the character but is common in restaurants. No fresh horseradish: a spoonful of hot mustard, less clean but effective. No smoked ribs: a smoked ham hock or a piece of smoked bacon on the bone.

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

Stir it daily. By day four or five it should smell sharply sour and yeasty, clean like sourdough and never cheesy or musty, and will have separated into cloudy liquid over a pale sediment. Shake before using.