Żurek

Ingredients

• 400 ml zakwas (fermented rye sour), shop-bought or homemade
• 150 g smoked streaky bacon, diced
• 400 g Polish white sausage (biała kiełbasa)
• 1.2 litres water
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 5 allspice berries
• 300 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm dice
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 120 ml soured cream
• 2 tsp dried marjoram
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Salt, to taste

Before you cook

• Shake the jar of zakwas well so the settled rye flour is mixed back through the liquid, then measure out 400 ml.
• Dice the bacon, chop the onion, crush the garlic, and peel and dice the potatoes and carrot.
• Prick each white sausage two or three times with a fork so it does not burst as it cooks.

Steps

1. Put the eggs in a small pan, cover them with cold water and bring to the boil.
2. Boil the eggs for 9 minutes, then drain them and sit them in cold water until you need them.
3. Set a large pot over medium heat and add the diced bacon.
4. Fry the bacon for 7 minutes, stirring, until the fat has rendered and the pieces are crisp.
5. Add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes until it turns translucent and picks up the bacon fat.
6. Stir in the crushed garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
7. Pour in the 1.2 litres of water and add the bay leaves and allspice berries.
8. Bring the pot to a simmer, then lower in the whole white sausages.
9. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, keeping the water just trembling so the sausages stay plump.
10. Lift the sausages out onto a board and leave them to cool for a few minutes.
11. Add the diced potatoes and carrot to the broth and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender at the point of a knife.
12. Slice the cooled sausages into thick coins and return them to the pot.
13. Pour in the zakwas in a steady stream while stirring, then bring the soup back to a bare simmer.
14. Cook for 8 minutes without letting it boil hard, which would split the sour rye.
15. Whisk a ladleful of the hot soup into the soured cream in a small bowl until smooth.
16. Stir the loosened cream back into the pot and take the soup off the heat.
17. Crush the dried marjoram between your palms over the pot and stir it through with the black pepper.
18. Taste and add salt, then more zakwas by the spoonful if you want it sharper.
19. Peel the eggs and cut each one in half.
20. Ladle the soup into four bowls and lay two egg halves in each, cut side up.