Luo Songtang is a soup that can be found everywhere in eastern European countries such as Russia and Poland, and it is also common in the United States and other western countries. The main ingredient is beet, and other vegetables such as cabbage and potatoes are usually added. Luo Songtang got its name from the transliteration of Russian "Luo Song" by Shanghai literati.

Brief introduction of Luo Songtang

Jews who immigrated from Russia, Poland and other eastern European countries are the main disseminators of this soup all over the world. The northern suburb of new york is an area where Jews live relatively intensively. It was once called Luo Songtang Belt or Luo Songtang Circle. -Luo Songtang is the Jewish word for this soup. In Russia, this soup is written as Luo Songtang, which comes from the Russian name of beet or parsnip, the main ingredient of this soup.

Besides beets, other vegetables such as cabbage and potatoes are usually added to Luo Songtang, and some of them also contain meat, which is even more eclectic. This is because this soup was not invented by the great chef. It used to be one of the main foods for ordinary Russians, so how to do it mainly depends on what is at home. It usually reflects putting everything in. The simplest Luo Songtang consists of beet, salt, sugar, pepper and a little lemon juice. Other vegetables often added include cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, celery and onions. The composition varies from place to place. Poles often add cabbage and potatoes, and Ukrainians often add tomatoes. Occasionally make it with beef brisket or clear soup. After the soup is cooked, you can enjoy it both hot and cold. This soup can be drunk hot in winter and cold in summer. Generally speaking, before eating, Luo Songtang should be decorated with a little foamed sour cream and dill coriander. Sweet and sour is a major feature of soup.

Related allusions

Russian English is Russia, which means Russian. So Shanghai literati transliterated Tang from Russia as.

During the October Revolution, a large number of Russians moved to Shanghai. They brought vodka and Russian-style western food. The first western food club in Shanghai was opened by Russians. This soup evolved from Russian-style red cabbage soup. Russian-style red vegetable soup, hot and sour, more sour than sweet. Shanghai people are not used to it. Later, influenced by the purchased raw materials and local tastes, Luo Songtang with unique Shanghai characteristics was gradually formed, which was sweet in acid, fragrant in sweetness, fat but not greasy, fresh, smooth and refreshing. This kind of Shanghai-style Luo Songtang is not only eaten when eating western food, but also common in schools, units, families and Chinese restaurants. Over time, this soup has formed various schools and branches in Shanghai, among which the most representative ones are "restaurant school", "canteen school" and "family school". Among them, the "Hotel School" represented by Huaihai Western Food Club, after being introduced to Luo Songtang in that year, has finally become a leading figure in Luo Songtang after several improvements and technical updates. Later, various western restaurants and even individual Chinese restaurants followed suit. "Canteen School" is also called "Alley School". Soup is usually put in a big pot or a warm tea bucket, with no tomato sauce or only a little for coloring. Soup is often "clear soup and clear water", with only a few red sausages floating and tomatoes not peeled. Anyway, it's very different from western restaurants in Luo Songtang. Strangely, even this "tomato boiled water" tastes refreshing. People of "family school" have no chance to learn the cooking methods of western restaurants, and they don't want to degenerate like "canteen school". They can only explore various cooking methods by themselves, among which beef is the main substitute for sausages, and they are short of food.

Borscht practice

Exercise 1

Ingredients: cabbage 1, carrot 2, potato 3, tomato 4, onion 2, celery 2, half a catty of beef, sausage 1 (preferably sausage).

Seasoning: tomato sauce 1 tin, tomato sauce 1 bottle, pepper 100g, cream 100g, one or two grains of flour, proper amount of oil, salt and sugar for later use.

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1. Wash the beef and cut it into small pieces. Prepare a soup pot, enlarge half a pot of water, put the beef in the pot, blanch it with cold water, bring it to a boil with high fire, switch to low fire, skim the foam with a spoon, and simmer for 3 hours.

2. Wash vegetables one by one, peel potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, cut Chinese cabbage into an inch-long diamond, cut potatoes into hob blocks, slice carrots, cut tomatoes into small pieces, shred onions, dice celery and slice sausages for later use.

3. After the beef soup is boiled for 3 hours, take a large wok, heat the wok, add 100g oil and 100g cream, heat the oil, add potato pieces, stir-fry until cooked, add sausage, stir-fry other vegetables, and then add tomato sauce and tomato sauce (as much as possible according to the amount of soup).

4. Then wash the wok, dry it, dry it with a small torch, put the flour into the wok, fry it repeatedly until the flour is hot, and put it into the soup when it is slightly yellow, and mix well with a large spoon. Cook for another 20 minutes, add salt and sugar according to personal taste, and add pepper to serve.

Put it in a bowl with a spoon and eat a piece of whole wheat bread, which is the authentic way of eating in Luo Song dynasty.

Exercise 2

Ingredients: (one person) cream 10g, onion 15g, diced carrot 15g, diced potato 15g, diced white radish 15g, beef soup 300g, diced beef 20g, Chinese cabbage 40g, diced tomato (peeled

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1. Cross the tomato with a knife, scald it with hot water, then soak it in cold water and peel it.

2. Melt the cream with low heat, add diced onion and stir-fry until soft, add diced carrot, diced potato and diced radish and stir-fry until cooked.

3. Add beef stock and cook for15min. Turn to low heat and add diced beef, Chinese cabbage, diced tomato, black pepper and bay leaf, and cook for15min.

4. Take out the laurel leaves and season.

Exercise 3

Ingredients: a piece of beef or pork, an onion, a potato, a carrot, a tomato, tomato sauce, two cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of flour and salt.

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1. All materials are cut into small pieces [garlic needs to be broken], and the meat pieces are scalded with hot water to remove blood.

2. Saute garlic with two spoonfuls of salad oil, add meat and onion, stir fry with tomato sauce, and serve.

3. Boil a pot of hot water, put all the ingredients in boiling water (water must cover all the ingredients) and turn to low heat until carrots and potatoes are soft.

4. Add a bowl of flour and water and thicken with salt to taste.

Exercise 4

Lazy Luo Songtang

1. Slice an onion, half a carrot, an American celery and a quarter of cabbage, and stir-fry with cream until it changes color.

2. Open a can of braised beef, put it in the pot and add six bowls of water.

3. Boil until boiling, add tomato sauce (or the third bottle of tomato sauce), and add vinegar and sugar to taste as appropriate.

4. Cover and stew for 20 to 30 minutes.

Exercise 5

Russian Luo Songtang

Ingredients: one and a half onion (diced), two potatoes (diced), three carrots (diced), Chinese cabbage (diced), a box of beef/beef tendon (diced), three cloves of garlic (diced), a can of tomato, a can of tomato sauce (mixed with three glasses of water), salt, black pepper and pepper.

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1. Add garlic and stir-fry, then add beef tendon and stir-fry until soft.

2. Add the remaining beef, stir-fry until it changes color, and then stir-fry the potatoes and carrots in the pot.

3. After about three minutes, stir-fry the cabbage until it becomes soft.

4. Then put the seasoning, tomato and ketchup into the pot and simmer for about an hour or more until the beef is soft and cooked.

Be the secret of a good Luo Songtang.

Luo Songtang is delicious, but it's hard to make. If you simply cook the ingredients in one pot, it can only be called "mixed vegetable soup". It is said that more than 50 years ago, in Huaihai Middle Road (formerly known as Linsen Road), several restaurants dealing in Russian cuisine were opened. Some masters are said to be chefs of the czar's noble family and are quite famous in St. Petersburg. The "Luo Songtang" they made was neither strong nor light, and the soup was bright and fragrant. The original secret lies in four frying pans:

1. Stir-fry onions in the oil pan first, and be sure to stir-fry the fragrance;

2. Stir-fry cabbage, beet head, carrot, potato and other vegetables in the oil pan again, dehydrate them and put them into the cooked beef soup. After the soup is boiled, stew it with slow fire, not with urgent fire, otherwise the soup will have no taste;

3. Ketchup must also be fried;

4. frying the oil surface is the key. If the fire is not warm, the ratio of oil to flour should be appropriate. The soup is ready, add salt, monosodium glutamate and pepper, and finally add tomato sauce and oil noodles. You'd better add some butter or whipped cream before serving.

Only a few steps can make a really good "Luo Songtang".