Can you name a Polish dish? I didn’t think so. Frankly, I don’t blame you – Polish cuisine never made it to the charts and it’s not just due to difficult spelling.

True, some exceptions can be found here and there, mostly around New York and Chicago, where the word kielbasa is used for sausage and pierogi means polish dumplings.

Nevertheless, Polish cuisine has always been an extremely important part of our national identity. When asked to name some traditional dishes, school children in Sweden put down pizza, kebab and hamburgers. Now I’m sure their Polish peers eat just as much of those fast foods, but they would never call them Polish.

One of the dishes any child would surely mention as traditionally Polish is barszcz or borsch in more pronunciation-friendly spelling. This red beet soup is more than tradition – it is our heritage. It is a must at the Christmas table but it is also an every-day soup in the fall and winter months.

My Grandmother was born and raised in a place called Barszczowice, a small village in the Ukraine which belonged to Poland at the time. Now with a heritage like that, there is no way to escape barszcz and I would probably find the ingredients even if I lived in Thailand.

But how can I make you want to make barszcz? Firstly, you need to like the taste of red beet, or, alternatively, be willing to try it. Secondly, you need to like the rich aroma of dried mushrooms, garlic and homemade stock. Barszcz is a deep ruby-red. Like a good wine, it gets better if allowed to mature and will work just like mulled wine when you are cold.

What you need are some essential yet not very expensive ingredients, one big casserole and a bit of attention. This soup will mature and improve in flavour while you’re busy doing other things.

Prepare barszcz at least a couple of days in advance and let it mature in a cool place.

I wouldn’t advise you to make a smaller quantity, even if it might seem convenient it will affect the quality negatively.

There are two ways to make barszcz: the old-fashioned one and the modern one. If you are in the mood to play Heston Blumenthal (yes, do Google it!) you should try the first way.

A week ahead of time, prepare fermented beetroot juice, as follows:

Wash the beetroots, cut into thin slices, place in a glass jar.

Cover completely with the lukewarm water, throw in bread crust, covered only with thin cloth and place in a warm place in the kitchen. After a few days, remove the foam from the surface of the jar. In case you suspect I’m trying to poison you, just consider the fact that I’m alive after having eaten this Barszczowice, Ukraine brew all my life. You can use the soured beet juice right away or pour it into clean bottles, cork them and store in a cool place for months.

In the modern version I simply use lemon juice to give the soup a sour note. Grandmother probably wouldn’t approve, but at least I make my own meat and vegetable stock. Nothing is easier to make and nothing makes a bigger difference in cooking! Make sure the stock for barszcz contains carrots, celery root, onions, bay leaf, parsley and pimento.

Here is what you need:

Wash the beetroots, cut into slices or chunks, put them into the stock, add pepper, mushrooms, some salt and bring to boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer for about an hour. I usually reheat the soup without boiling it several times during the day and let it simmer – the longer the better.

You can leave barszcz over night in a cool place before giving it the final touch.

Remove the beets and pour the soup through a sieve if necessary – I confess I don’t bother with that. Add some finely chopped garlic and lemon juice to taste.

At this point you can also add about 1l of soured beet juice if you’ve made some.

Reheat the soup but don’t allow it to boil since it will destroy the ruby-red colour.

The final taste of barszcz is up to your individual palate, but it should be a bit sour, a bit sweet from the beets, have a note of garlic and mushrooms.

You can drink barszcz or serve it as a soup with dumplings and sour cream.

Na zdrowie – to your health!