Zur

Adapted from Anne Applebaum and Danielle Crittenden at Splendid Table. Serves 4–6. 13 steps

soup
1 large onion	coarsely chopped			fry until lightly browned
2 cloves garlic	finely chopped
1/4 litres water			Bring to boil, lower heat, simmer uncovered 40 minutes. Strain, and discard vegetables.	cook at low boil for 20 minutes
1 large onion	halved
1 large carrot	trimmed, peeled
1 large parsnip
1/2 celery root
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
120ml light cream				stir in, bring to boil
zakwas
115g rye flour		Place in 1 litre preserving jar with a valve top. Leave in a warm place for 4–5 days, agitating from time to time. Strain. This should yield 2 cups of sour fermented zakwas.
2 cloves garlic	slice
500ml water	warm
1 tablespoon salt
3 allspice berries
6 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf	broken

Serve over halved hard-boiled eggs. Optionally, add dried mushrooms to the soup.

Keep a tablespoon of the zakwas and use it to kick-start the next batch. The first batch can sometimes taste off. If off-flavours persist, try using boiled chilled water. The zakwas should turn an intense off-white, and smell sour. The strained zakwas can be bottled and kept in the fridge.

The original version had 115g bacon and 1kg biały kiełbasa fried with the onion, plus 55g grated horseradish stirred in with the cream.