Main Page
National cuisine
Classic pickle with pearl barley and beef

Classic rassolnik (pickle soup) with pearl barley and beef

Incredibly tasty, made from simple ingredients, and great for the whole family! Classic rassolnik is made with beef, pearl barley, and brined cucumbers. In this recipe it's made without a saute and without any oil, so the soup is fairly low in calories. Even so, the rassolnik comes out very filling and rich.

Maria

Recipe author

Classic pickle with pearl barley and beef

Watch the video

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Water

Beef (bone-in)

300

Pickle brine

200

Pearl barley

Potatoes

Pickles

Onion

Carrots

Celery root

Bay leaf

Ground black pepper

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 29 % 2 g

Fats 14 % 1 g

Carbohydrates 57 % 4 g

33 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make rassolnik with beef and pearl barley? Gather your ingredients. For a richer soup, choose bone-in beef. Cucumbers for rassolnik are traditionally brined ones; if you can't find those, use ordinary vinegar-pickled ones.
Step 2:

Wash and peel the carrots, onion, and celery.
Step 3:

Cover the meat with cold water and add the whole onion, half a carrot, the celery root, and the bay leaf. Set the pot over moderate heat and bring the water to a boil. Skim off the foam that forms with a slotted spoon. Then turn down the heat. Cook the broth until the meat is done. The cooking time depends on the meat — which part of the carcass the cut is from, the age of the animal, whether it's bone-in. Mine cooked for 1 hour.
Step 4:

When the meat is done, take it out, let it cool a little, separate it from the bones if there are any, and cut it into pieces. Strain the broth and discard the vegetables that were cooked in it.
Step 5:

Cut the remaining half carrot and the pickles into sticks.
Step 6:

Return the pot of broth to the stove and add the carrot, the pearl barley (rinse the grain well first), and the chopped meat. Cook everything together for 40 minutes from the boil, over low heat.
Step 7:

Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.
Step 8:

Add the potatoes to the pot.
Step 9:

Add the pickles and pour in the brine.
Step 10:

Cook the rassolnik over low heat, covered, for another 20 minutes. Taste it for salt and add more if needed. Let the finished soup rest, covered, for 20 minutes, then ladle it into bowls. Serve the rassolnik with sour cream.

Important! Whether or not the recipe gives an amount of water for the soup, it's best to go by your own preference (whether you like a thick or a thinner soup), as well as the size of your pot and the ingredients you're using. Keep in mind the author has their own idea of how much meat, potato, grain, and so on belongs in the soup, which may not match yours. In practice, that means if you're making it for the first time, don't cook a whole pot at once. Make a tasting batch — for one or two people. Scale all the ingredients down to 1 or 2 servings and figure the water at roughly one cup per serving for a very thick soup, up to 1.5 to 2 cups for a thinner one. Don't forget that some of the liquid will boil off during cooking. Once you've tasted a small batch, you can adjust both the amount of liquid and the proportions to your taste. From then on, like most experienced cooks, you'll be able to add water and ingredients by eye.
You can swap the beef for any other meat you prefer. But keep in mind the cooking time, taste, and calorie count will change. Pork and lamb are usually fattier than beef, while chicken or turkey are leaner. And the cooking time depends not just on the type of meat but also on which part of the carcass is used and how old or young the meat is.
For cooking, it's best to use filtered or bottled water with a neutral taste. If you use tap water, keep in mind it can give the dish an unpleasant off-flavor.