Dill Pickle Soup Rassolnik

Top down shot of a bowl of dill pickle soup with bread

Dill Pickle Soup Rassolnik

Dill pickle soup has tender bites of slowly cooked pork ribs, chunky potato, chewy barley and plenty of pickles all in a tangy, briny broth.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 15

Total Time1 45

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Eastern European

Keyword: dill pickle soup

Servings: people

Author: Julia Frey of Vikalinka

Ingredients

For the stock

500g / 1 lbs porks ribs or cubed pork shoulder
1/2 onion
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
2 This is an affiliate link.bay leaves
4-5 peppercorns
salt a pinch
1½ litre / 10 cups water

For the soup

100g / 1/2 cup pearl barley
2-3 potatoes cubed
3-4 / 2/3 cup dill pickles diced
125ml / 1/2 cup dill pickle brine
1 tbsp butter
1 onion chopped
1-2 carrots diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 This is an affiliate link.bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh dill or parsley for serving

Instructions

To make the stock combine the ingredients and cook over low heat for 1 hour-1.5 hours skimming the foam, which will rise to the surface once in a while. Alternatively, this could be done in Instant Pot, which will cut down the cooking time to 30 minutes on high pressure plus 20-23 for the Instant Pot to come to pressure. Alternatively, skip the first step and use already prepared beef or chicken broth. (See recipe notes at the bottom for instructions.)
Add the pearl barley to a medium pot filled with cold water, bring to a boil, then continue cooking for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water thoroughly and set aside till needed.
Once the stock is ready, remove the pork ribs from the stock, allow them to cool. Meanwhile strain the stock through a fine sieve and discard the vegetable. Once the ribs are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard visible fat and cartilage, then shred or cut into bite-sized pieces, discard the bones.
Add the strained stock to a soup pot and bring to a simmer, to the same pot add the shredded meat, the partially cooked pearl barley and cubed potatoes with a good pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes.
While the soup is cooking sauté the chopped onions and diced carrots in 1-2 tbsp of butter for 5 minutes, then add the garlic, diced dill pickles and continue sautéing over low heat for 5 minutes longer, then stir in the tomato paste and scrape the contents of the pan into the soup pot, pour in the pickle brine and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the barley is cooked all the way through.
Once finished cooking add salt and black pepper to taste. Take of the heat, cover with a lid and let it sit for 15 minutes. This will allow the flavour to meld together. Serve sprinkle with fresh dill and parsley.

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