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1
Wash and peel the beets and cut into fine dice or grate on the coarse side of a grater.
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2
Place in a saucepan with the juice of 1/2 lemon, a pinch each of salt and sour salt, and the 5 cups water.
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3
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the beets are tender, about 40 minutes.
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4
Add the juice of another 1/2 lemon.
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5
Remove from the heat.
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6
Using whole eggs results in a creamier, thicker borscht, but it is much trickier to add the hot beet soup to the whole eggs without having them coagulate.
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7
If you feel inexperienced with this process, use just the yolks.
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8
In either case, beat the eggs with a fork until they are thin and watery.
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9
Slowly ladle some of the hot borscht into the eggs, beating constantly.
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10
When about half the soup has been added, pour the egg mixture back into the pot with the remaining soup; again pour slowly and beat constantly.
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11
When all the egg mixture is beaten into the soup, pour the soup back and forth between the pot and a bowl or pitcher about 10 or 15 times until the mixture is smooth, airy, and creamy.
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12
Halfway through, add more lemon juice to produce a winy effect; add a tiny pinch of sugar, if necessary, and salt and white pepper as needed.
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13
Continue pouring to blend.
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14
Chill thoroughly.
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15
It is best to add sour cream shortly before serving so that the borscht will keep longer.
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16
The sour cream can simply be served on the side, to be spooned in at the table.
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17
Or you can add sour cream (about 1 heaping tablespoonful per cupful of borscht) to the soup in a jar.
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18
Close tightly and shake vigorously to blend.
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19
Fluffy, dry, hot boiled potato is wonderful in the middle of this ice-cold soup.
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20
Variation: Canned beets can also be used for this soup with excellent if slightly less flavorful results.
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21
Use whole beets even though you will dice or grate them, as they have more taste and better color.
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22
For the above recipe use a 1-pound can of whole beets.
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23
Dice or grate.
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24
Cook for 10 minutes in a combination of their own canning liquid plus 1 1 /2 cans of water, to make a total of 4 cups of liquid.
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25
Proceed with the recipe as described above.
