Sour Rye Soup with Egg Recipe
Żurek is one of the most characteristic Polish soups, especially popular at Easter, but happily eaten all year round. Sour, aromatic, with egg and often sausage – a bit like the Polish answer to sour soups from other countries, e.g. Ukrainian borscht, but based on a rye flour sourdough starter.
Sour rye soup with egg stands out thanks to the deep, pleasantly sour note of rye starter combined with the smoky aroma of bacon and the bold flavour of white sausage. In this soup every ingredient has its role: potatoes add heartiness, garlic boosts the flavour of the sour base, and egg softens everything and turns a bowl of żurek into a complete meal. It’s one of the few dishes that works just as well for a festive breakfast as for an ordinary chilly day when you need a proper warm-up.
Chef's tips
Shake the starter well before using and add it gradually, tasting the soup as you go – it’s easier to make it more sour at the end than to rescue an overly sour żurek. Simmer the white sausage gently, without letting it boil violently, so it doesn’t burst and lose all its flavour to the water. It’s best to add the garlic near the end of cooking or even after taking the pot off the heat so it keeps its aroma and doesn’t turn bitter.
How to serve
Serve the żurek very hot, with a half or quarter of a hard-boiled egg in each plate and a generous portion of sausage. It tastes great with a slice of sourdough bread or, for a more festive version, in a hollowed-out loaf of bread that you can nibble on along with the soup. At my place żurek appears not only at Easter; I often cook it on Friday evening so that on Saturday, after a long walk in the forest, we have something warming ready as soon as we get home.
Ingredients
- sour rye starter for żurek ready-made from the store or homemade - 500 ml
- vegetable or meat stock - 1 l
- raw white sausage you can use pre-cooked sausage, then shorten the cooking time - 300 g
- smoked bacon diced; can be omitted - 80 g
- potatoes diced - 3 pieces
- garlic pressed through a garlic press - 3 cloves
- dried marjoram rubbed between your hands - 1 tablespoon
- bay leaf - 2 pieces
- allspice - 4 grains
- cream for whitening; can be omitted - 100 ml
- eggs hard-boiled for serving - 4 pieces
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Preparation
- Pour the stock into a large pot, add the bay leaves and allspice. Bring to a boil.
- Place the whole white sausage into the stock and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes. If you are using pre-cooked sausage, 10 minutes is enough.
- Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a pan over medium heat for 5–7 minutes, until the fat renders and the pieces are lightly browned.
- Peel the potatoes, dice them and add to the pot with the stock and sausage. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
- Remove the sausage from the pot, slice it and set aside.
- Add the fried bacon together with the fat from the pan to the pot.
- Pour in the sour rye starter, stirring constantly so it doesn’t curdle. Cook over low heat for another 10 minutes.
- Add the pressed garlic and marjoram. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Pour the cream into a mug, add a few tablespoons of hot soup and mix thoroughly, then pour into the pot, stirring so the soup doesn’t curdle.
- Add the sliced sausage back into the pot and heat everything through for 2–3 minutes.
- Peel the hard-boiled eggs and cut them into halves or quarters.
- Serve the hot żurek with egg on the plate, optionally with a slice of bread.
Storage
Store the soup in the fridge for up to 2–3 days. Reheat gently, without boiling vigorously, so the cream does not split. Like many sour soups, it often tastes even better the next day after the flavours have melded.
