Borscht served in a bowl with slices of duck meat
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Ingredients:

1.2kg duck (about)
180g fatty bacon, chopped
675g lean beef (shin or silverside, for preference)
500g beef bones
3.5l water (cold)

1 bayleaf
3 cloves
1 cabbage heart, cut into strips
3 onions (1 whole, 2 chopped)
3 leeks (white part only), cut into fine strips
2 celery sticks, cut into fine strips
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

3 small, cooked, beetroot (oven-bake in their skins before cooling and peeling), finely sliced
1 raw beetroot, grated
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp sugar

sour cream or yoghurt, to serve

Method:

Add the bacon to a large saucepan and fry until lightly browned before adding the duck. Now add the beef, bones and just enough water to completely cover the contents of the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue skimming the surface until clear.

Pin the bayleaf to the whole onion with the clove then add to the pan along with the chopped onions and vegetables. Return the mixture to a boil then skim the surface once more before seasoning to taste. Add the lid, ensuring you leave a small gap, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 hours.

At this point add the finely-sliced cooked beetroot and continue cooking for 30 minutes further. In the meantime, add the grated beetroot to a pan along with the vinegar and sugar. Bring this mixture to a boil before immediately taking off the heat and straining into the main stock pan, pressing down with the back of a spoon to extract as much of the liquid as possible.

Now extract the whole onion, bones, meat and duck from the stock (serve the meat and duck separately). Stir the soup mix then ladle into warm soup bowls and garnish each portion with 2 tbsp of sour cream or yoghurt before serving.