Soups
wild mushroom soup
living forest-kitchen tradition
Wild mushrooms, dried mushrooms, Dzūkija, potatoes, groats, sour cream, Christmas Eve table
Wild mushroom soup, Dried mushroom soup
Forest cooking
Mushroom soup shows the importance of Lithuania's forests and mushroom-gathering tradition. Dzūkija is especially associated with mushrooms, but the soup is cooked throughout Lithuania.
The Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia notes that about 6,000 mushroom species are known in Lithuania, of which about 380 are edible. In the kitchen, this abundance has always required practical caution: only precisely identified, safe mushrooms belong in soup.
Dried mushrooms make it possible to keep forest flavor for winter. That is why dried mushroom soup also suits the Christmas Eve table, where substance must be created without meat or dairy products.
The Dzūkija connection
Dzūkija is often associated with mushroom gathering, berry picking, and forest products, so mushroom soup feels especially natural there. Even so, it is not a dish of only one region: dried mushroom stores were understood across Lithuania.
Regional difference usually appears not in the basic recipe but in the mushrooms: in one place the soup is made from porcini, elsewhere from chanterelles, brown birch boletes, or a mixed set of dried mushrooms.
Fresh or dried?
Fresh mushrooms give a milder, seasonal soup. Dried mushrooms give a much more intense aroma.
The soaking liquid from dried mushrooms is valuable, but it must be strained.
Recipe
How is mushroom soup made?
For dried mushroom soup, it is worth using the soaking liquid because it carries a lot of flavor. Strain it so no sand remains.
Ingredients
- 40 g dried wild mushrooms or 400 g fresh mushrooms
- 3 potatoes
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 1.2 l water or stock
- 2 tbsp sour cream, optional
- Salt, pepper, bay leaf
Method
- Soak the dried mushrooms, then boil and slice them. Strain the liquid.
- Fry the onion and carrot, then add them to a pot with the mushrooms and liquid.
- Add the potatoes and bay leaf and cook until the potatoes are tender.
- Season with salt, pepper, and, if desired, sour cream.
Notes
For a Christmas Eve version, leave out the sour cream and use oil instead of butter.
