Żur — Sour Rye Sourdough Soup
A cloudy white soup with a frank and comforting acidity, made from a rye flour sourdough left to sour for several days. It is enriched with marjoram, garlic and, on good days, a piece of bacon or an egg.
A cloudy white soup with a frank and comforting acidity, made from a rye flour sourdough left to sour for several days. It is enriched with marjoram, garlic and, on good days, a piece of bacon or an egg.
Lithuania, my homeland, from you comes the taste of this soup! See this pot of rye that my mother kept by the hearth as one guards a sacred ember: you pour in water, flour, and wait for time to do its sour work. Believe me, the exile who has nothing left finds in this white bowl the whole smell of his village; I dipped black bread into it and closed my eyes, and all of Nowogródek returned to my Parisian table.
- •Rye flour — a good handful (base of the sourdough (zakwas))
- •Warm spring water — as needed (fermentation)
- •Garlic — a few cloves (aromatic)
- •Dried marjoram — a pinch (signature herb)
- •Smoked bacon — a piece (fat and smoke)
- •Black rye bread — as much as you like (accompaniment)
Żur — Sour Rye Sourdough Soup
A cloudy white soup with a frank and comforting acidity, made from a rye flour sourdough left to sour for several days. It is enriched with marjoram, garlic and, on good days, a piece of bacon or an egg.
Why this dish? A dish of the humble and modest émigrés, exactly the simple food that Mickiewicz ate: a sour, nourishing and cheap bowl that every Polish family in the diaspora knew how to prepare with next to nothing and a pot of maintained sourdough.
Lithuania, my homeland, from you comes the taste of this soup! See this pot of rye that my mother kept by the hearth as one guards a sacred ember: you pour in water, flour, and wait for time to do its sour work. Believe me, the exile who has nothing left finds in this white bowl the whole smell of his village; I dipped black bread into it and closed my eyes, and all of Nowogródek returned to my Parisian table.
Ingredients (period version)
- Rye flour — a good handful (base of the sourdough (zakwas))
- Warm spring water — as needed (fermentation)
- Garlic — a few cloves (aromatic)
- Dried marjoram — a pinch (signature herb)
- Smoked bacon — a piece (fat and smoke)
- Black rye bread — as much as you like (accompaniment)
Ingredients
- Rye sourdough starter (zakwas) — 300 ml (acidity (prepare 4-5 days ahead: 100 g rye flour + 400 ml warm water + 2 garlic cloves, let sour in a loosely covered jar))
- Vegetable or bacon broth — 1 liter (liquid base)
- Smoked bacon or smoked pork belly — 150 g (smoky umami)
- Garlic — 3 cloves (aromatic)
- Dried marjoram — 2 tsp (signature herb)
- Hard-boiled eggs — 2 (garnish)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Four to five days ahead, prepare the sourdough: mix rye flour, warm water and crushed garlic in a jar, cover with a cloth and let sour at room temperature, stirring daily.
- On the day, fry the diced bacon until it renders its fat, add the minced garlic.
- Pour in the broth, bring to a simmer with the marjoram.
- Stir the sourdough well and add it in a stream to the hot broth (off the boil to prevent curdling), cook for 10 minutes.
- Adjust salt and pepper; serve hot with half a hard-boiled egg per bowl and black bread.
How it was made : Żur is one of the oldest soups in Central Europe: before the potato and coffee, it was the peasant's breakfast. Every house kept its living zakwas; it was not bought, but passed on. The acidity of fermented rye also served to preserve and 'revive' bland foods during the long winters.
The contemporary twist : Serve in a hollowed-out small rye bread as an edible bowl, with a soft-boiled egg placed in the center like a sun — a nod to the żurek of modern Polish tables.
Sources : Maria Dembińska, Food and Drink in Medieval Poland (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) · Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa, 365 obiadów (1860)
Adam Mickiewicz · Charactorium