From botvinya to cooksi: what cold soups are prepared in restaurants
In summer, restaurants traditionally begin an unspoken competition of cold soups. Along with the invariable okroshka, guests are offered more and more unusual and original options inspired by the cuisines of different countries or ancient recipes. Izvestia found out which interesting dishes are worth trying this warm season.
The well-forgotten old
Over the past few years, Russian cuisine has been experiencing a powerful wave of reinvention, and this process has been accompanied by the return of traditional cold soups to restaurant menus. Along with the usual okroshka, our tables are increasingly receiving cold drinks, borages and wrens — dishes that until recently were considered exclusively homemade or regional. A special place is occupied by botvinya, one of the oldest cold soups in the Russian gastronomic tradition.
— Unlike the usual okroshka, there are no potatoes in Botvinya, but at the same time, the set of vegetables in it is richer, — the brand chef of the Zakroma restaurant (Yaroslavl) told Izvestia Pavel Trifonov. — The base of the dish is beetroot tops, sorrel, fresh cucumber, sour kvass, fish or crustaceans. Historically, botvinya was cooked on white kvass with a very pronounced acidity. In modern gastronomy, this soup is most often reinterpreted, preserving its essence, but offering a more adapted and understandable taste to guests. Our kitchen is also based on this approach — we find old recipes, restore them and carefully refine them without losing the basics.
Botvinya on kvass with cancerous necks
In the botvinya version, the main role in the "Bins" is played by self—made kvass - sweet and sour, with a slight edge and pronounced bread depth. To prevent the soup from being "empty" in taste, sour cream is added to it, which gives softness, density and light fat content. Beetroot tops are first blanched and then marinated — this way they retain their character, but become more delicate in texture and taste. Instead of the usual chopped greens, dill oil is used: it works as a bright flavor guide, gives freshness and aroma, but does not overload the dish. The final accent is marinated crayfish necks, which give the botvinya a light sweetness and make the taste more voluminous.
If you are going to cook botvinya, then it is better to make kvass for it yourself, our interlocutor advises. It should be lively, with a bright bread flavor, but not too sweet, otherwise the soup will turn out flat and cloying. The second important point is seasonal ingredients. For botvinya, you should choose the freshest beet tops, sorrel, cucumbers and radishes. And of course, you should not overload the botvinya with unnecessary ingredients. Its strength lies in its simplicity — sour kvass, tops, fresh vegetables and a good protein accent: fish, crayfish or cancerous necks. If you keep this balance, then you will also get a very tasty cold summer soup at home.
East—West
Russian chefs are increasingly considering cold soups as a space for bold experiments in which different culinary traditions intersect. One such example is pomegranate gazpacho in the restaurants of modern Caucasian cuisine Ullu (Moscow, Arkhyz). The traditional refreshing Spanish soup has received a completely new flavor due to the symbol of Persian gastronomy.
— I wanted to rethink the usual Mediterranean cold soup through the prism of the East, to ensure that the pomegranate becomes the center of the composition and sets the character of the whole dish, — says brand chef Mark Shah Akbari. — The grains give gazpacho a bright fruity acidity, add light tannins and characteristic tartness, making the soup not just refreshing, but truly gastronomic. In addition, the grains work as a textural element and literally explode with juice in your mouth, each time rediscovering the contrasting taste of the dish.
Pomegranate gazpacho with grilled pineapple and pistachios
Our interlocutor supplemented the gazpacho with grilled pineapple. During roasting, the sugar in it caramelizes, smoky and caramel notes appear, which delicately soften the acidity of the pomegranate. Pistachios are also used in the soup, the purpose of which is to add oiliness, nutty sweetness and combine the fruity brightness of pomegranate and the sweetness of pineapple into a single whole.
Many add only pomegranate seeds to dishes for decoration, but it is much more interesting to reveal this product comprehensively, including freshly squeezed juice, our expert believes. When working with pomegranate, it is also very important to properly balance its acidity by adding ingredients that can support or soften it. Sweet tomatoes, baked fruits, such as pineapple or peach, and nuts are great for this. When using pomegranate in soup, it must be remembered that its taste is best revealed in a chilled state, whereas too low a temperature will make this component less expressive.
Tropical taste
Exotic fruits also open up new opportunities for chefs to create interesting cold soups. Tropical fruits give dishes a vibrant look and provide a complex balance of sweetness, acidity and freshness. This summer, the restaurant of modern Thai cuisine Black Thai (Moscow) introduced cold mango soup to the menu for the first time, adding pumpkin to the recipe. Both products are not only very similar in color, but also complement each other well in taste.
"In addition to mango and pumpkin, our soup also has fish sauce, Kafir lime leaves, Thai basil leaves, and fresh lime," says Artem Martirosov, the chef of the project. — The dish has all five flavors: sour, sweet, salty, slightly insular and spicy. All the ingredients are revealed one by one. In the foreground is the sweet freshness of mango, smoothly turning into notes of basil and lime, and at the very end — light shades of fresh pumpkin.
Cold mango pumpkin soup with coconut milk jelly and chopped shrimp
If you decide to make a soup from exotic fruits, such as lychee, then you should not make them the only flavor accent in the dish. Choose products for them that can balance the brightness of the fruits and will be in harmony with them. Cucumber, Thai chili and lemongrass are good for this. A fruit like mangosteen, which is also plentiful in Thailand, will go well with galangal, and the soup with them will turn out to be quite spicy. And red ripe papaya will make a great company for bell peppers and tomatoes — you'll get Thai gazpacho.
Okroshka in Korean
With the onset of summer, traditional Korean cold cooksi soup is increasingly found on the menu of Russian restaurants. This season, it is also served on Sundays at the Moscow Rodnya, where the concept is based on author's versions of popular homemade recipes. This dish has a special meaning for the project: it came to the menu from the family cookbook of Alexander Kahn, the restaurateur and co-owner of the restaurant.
"Cooksi is fundamentally different from all other well—known cold soups in that it is served with special wheat noodles that are not boiled, but pre—soaked for a few minutes in boiling water," explained restaurateur Kan to our publication. "The broth for it is made from mashed tomatoes with the addition of cold boiled water and seasoned with a marinade with vinegar, sugar, salt and other ingredients. Cooksey is most popular as a cold soup, although it also has a hot variation, where chicken broth is used as a base.
Cooksi with beef stewed in pepper
Our interlocutor prepares for the guests a cooksi made from elastic thin noodles, balanced sweet and sour broth, beef stewed in pepper, Korean cabbage and radish salads, special peppermint paste and red vegetable oil. The dish allows for a lot of variations due to the variety of ingredients for dressing. These can be omelet pancakes, salads and stewed lean meat, while all the elements are laid out in a plate separately.
The Italian Fantasy
The love of Russian guests for Italian cuisine continues to inspire chefs to try new experiments. The Nappe Bistro restaurant (Moscow) decided to move away from classic recipes and took avocado as a basis, creating a dish that combines elements of cold vegetable soup and delicate cream.
"Although avocado itself is not one of the classic Italian products, we tried to fit it into the logic of Mediterranean culinary traditions," the Italian restaurant's team told us. — From a gastronomic point of view, our cold cream soup is based on a balance of several elements: avocado gives fat content, velvety texture and a very soft, almost buttery taste. The parmesan adds minerality, umami, and aged milky depth. Lemon or lime juice not only preserves the color of the avocado, but also removes excessive heaviness in the taste.
Cold cream soup based on avocado with parmesan cheese and green butter
You can pair some other products with avocado soup. Cucumber will give freshness, watery lightness and make the dish less dense. Fermented dairy products (yogurt, kefir, matzoni) will add freshness and lighten the texture. Spinach or green peas will enhance the green flavor and color. Zucchini in its raw form will add neutral vegetable notes. A green apple will bring acid, fruity crispness and light sweetness. And shrimp, crab or lightly salted fish will help make the soup more gastronomic.
A new classic
Despite the appearance of new cold soups on the menu of restaurants, okroshka remains the main summer favorite of the guests. However, its formulation has long ceased to be conservative. The masters of haute cuisine experiment both with the base, using different types of kvass and other suitable drinks, and with the ingredients for dressing.
"I wanted to make the okroshka more intense and interesting to taste, while preserving its summery and refreshing character,— says Timofey Sulima, brand chef of the Culture of Meeting restaurant. — Oil fish is well suited for this task due to its delicate texture and light smoked taste. Its fat content is perfectly combined with the sourness of dill kvass. Cucumber and radish in this composition are responsible for freshness and crunch, potatoes make the dish more satisfying, and egg and sour cream add softness and creaminess. The result is a familiar okroshka, but with a more modern and expressive taste.
Okroshka with oily fish and dill kvass
Dill kvass can be prepared at home on its own on the basis of unsweetened white kvass, advises our interlocutor. To do this, the dill must be quickly blanched and immediately cooled in ice water, so it retains its bright color and fresh flavor. Next, it should be punched with a small amount of kvass in a blender, mixed with the remaining liquid, allowed to stand for several hours in the refrigerator, and then carefully filtered. This method will allow you to get a pure taste of dill without excessive bitterness and will make kvass more aromatic.
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