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The Borshch Story Already our pages have car ried the story of Marty’s effort to regain the “Borshch” as our national dish; and that UNWLA members have demonstrated borshch-cooking as a symbol of our organizational fitness. Time and again, among our recipes, we print a new variety of this soup. Recently another version came to us, in a letter from our read er. Accompanied by clippings and copies, it reported a new “borshch story.” In The New York Times mag azine, October 21, 1962 — Craig Claiborne had an article, entitled “Borscht, Borshch, Barszcz.” It referred to a Russian (!) legend dealing with this beet soup, pay ing special attention to the Ukrainian kind. The recipes of the soup, accompanied by a pas try, filled with meat or cabbage, completed the page. This is the basic story; and its development. Our reader, Mrs. Ulana Wowk from Rahway, N. J., wrote the following letter to the Food News Editor of the New York Times: Gentlemen: I have read with interest the article “Borscht, Borshch, Barszcz”. However I was sur prised that of the seven differ ent spellings of this name, given in the article, the most fitting one is missing. The proper Eng lish transliteration of this Ukrainian and Russian word is borshch. The Ukrainian origin of the name for this beet soup is in dicated in the most authoritative Russian etymological dictionary. Also it is disconcerting to find a paper, of The New York Times caliber, mis-spelling of “Ukran- ian” for “Ukrainian.” Sincerely yours Mrs. Anatole Wowk Reference: A. G. Preobrazhen sky : Etymolohichesky Slovar Moska, 1959 (a reprint from the 1910-1914 edition). Page 38: The Russian word borshch, in the sense of a soup from red beets, is borrowed from Little Russian (-Ukrainian). In reply to her letter of Nov. 5, 1962 Mrs. Wowk received the following answer on Nov. 12: Dear Mrs. Wowk: The gremlins were at work on the borshch story. This is not to weasel out of anything, but originally we did have the borshch spelling and the correct spelling of Ukrainian. Sincerely yours, Craig Claiborne Food News Editor Good writers are conscienti ous, never forgetting the perma nence of the printed word. And that they are responsible for its final correctness. They spare no pains. He goes to the compos ing room and asks to have a proof of his story “pulled” so that he himself can go over it for possible errors. Mr. Claiborne says: “origin ally we did have the borshch spelling and the correct spelling of Ukrainian.” It was his most immediate concern to see that it remained so. Glaring errors like this are usually not isolated in stances ; but have happened be fore. Writers are on the lookout for them constantly. On a great newspaper no source of infor mation is closed to him. He can check and re-check, that he may retain the confidence of his read ers, and his newspaper. In his accounts Mr. Claiborne includes a recipe for borshch, that from his reading alone, as a Food News Editor, if he reads, he is bound to know is inaccu rate. His flippant attitude about his slovenly work is an affront to a great people, already long and terribly beleaguered, as well as to the great newspaper on which he is privileged to work. We could finish this story, having expressed our thanks to Mrs. Wowk for her skillful re ply. But one glimpse at the re cipe prompted us to continue. Were “gremlins” at work here also? To get 4 quarts of borshch there are many ingredients re commended. Among them 3V2 pounds of meat with 3 Polish sausages (which means a very strong broth), 6 ribs of celery (less used in Ukraine), and only 2 large tomatoes. The meat diced and added to the soup will make it very thick and the celery will add unusual, piquant flavor. But what of the tomatoes ? They are badly needed in each borshch for their seasoning. It contrib utes to borshch’s most outstand ing quality — its sour taste. For 4 quarts of borshch about two pounds of tomatoes are neces sary. The 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, recommended in his re cipe, cannot substitute for the tomatoes. Now — to finish the Borshch Story, as we see it, our new borshch recipe is necessary. We give it now, taken from Savela Stechishin’s “Ukrainian Tradi tional Cookery”, the perfect cookbook of the Ukrainian housewife. Let’s try it. Standard Borshch ІУ 2 pounds soup m eat w ith bone 10 to 12 cups cold w ater 1 teaspoon salt 1 medium onion, chopped 2 m edium beets, cut in thin strips 1 small carrot, cut in thin strips 1 m edium potato, diced Уг cup thinly sliced celery Уг cup diced string beans or cooked w hite beans 2 to 3 cups shredded cabbage % cup strained tom atoes or tom a to juice Уг clove garlic, crushed, if desired 1 tablespoon flour beet kvas or lemon juice salt and pepper chopped dill Уг cup sour cream Cover the meat with the cold water, add the salt, bring slowly to the boiling point, then skim. Cover and simmer for ІУ 2 hours. Add the onion and beets; cook 10 to 15 minutes or until the beets are almost done. If young beets are used cook them togeth er with the other vegetables. Add the carrot, potato, celery, and string beans ; continue cook- Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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