BuddyRoadhouse wrote:For about the last decade, the Roadhouse clan has been getting together every winter to make mass quantities of Sweet & Sour Cabbage Borscht following my grandmother's recipe, similar to the version served at The Bagel. We gather at my daughter, abe froeman's house, and cook up between 12-14 gallons, then portion it out and freeze it for use throughout the year.
Needless to say, S&SCB is a peasant dish from the old country, calling for inexpensive ingredients. Back in my grandmother's day, her meat of choice for making the soup was flanken, part of the short ribs cut. It was cheap, flavorful, and the fat added richness to the soup. Unfortunately, this cut has become rather trendy, causing the price to go up dramatically.
I've used beef shanks in the last few batches we've made, adding beef neck bones the last couple of years. Lately though, even those prices have gone up. One possible substitute might be pot roast, but I'm not sure if it will impart enough flavor, or if it will achieve the fall apart tenderness desired for this soup.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Buddy
Hi Buddy,
I retro engineered my mom’s recipe and ran in once a month at The Standard Club for 10 years. Flanken wasn’t so costly back then. Eight gallons soup du jour was required along with matzo ball/mish/ mash etc…
Recently, I had a taste for it. Neck bones are in the $4-5 range, knuckle/marrow the same. Shank a bit more and flanken anywhere from 8 to 13. So, five quarts required about $30 in soup meat.
I don’t have any advice other than this: watch the Carniceria Jimenez weekly ads. They ofter sell slides shank $3-4 a pound and hoard it in your freezer.
Chuck/pot will be tender enough but without bone, fat and cartilage, the viscosity will likely be weak.
If you aren’t tasting, you’re not cooking.
Last edited by
Evil Ronnie on March 7th, 2024, 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If you aren't tasting, you aren't cooking.