by Michael A. Gardiner
December 22, 2025
In Eastern Europe the classic Christmas Dinner is served on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas day itself. With a wife of Polish descent and a mother born just over Poland’s eastern border in Lithuania, it was easy for me to adapt to that paradigm. The classic starter for such a Christmas Eve dinner – known as Wigilia ((Polish pronunciation: [vʲiˈɡʲilja])– is Borscht.
If Americans think of Borscht at all, what generally comes to mind is the Ukrainian soup of meat stock, beets, and other vegetables. But there are innumerable variations on borscht throughout many of the Eastern European countries. My wife’s Polish family borscht tradition was not, first and foremost, one characterized by beets. Rather, the star of the Gorczyca family’s Wigilia was a mushroom-based borscht.
While I liked my family’s beet-based tradition, I’ve never met a mushroom I didn’t like. So, several years ago we decided to experiment in her family’s traditional direction. While the results were good, we missed the beets. So we decided to blend our two family traditions. The result was this Mushroom Consommé with Beet Strips and Chervil:
Mushroom Consommé with Beet Strips and Chervil
Ingredients
For the Beet Strips
- 2 large beets
- Kosher Salt
For the Mushroom Soup
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced in half moons
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 bulb fennel, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 pound button mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 hand full dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated
For the Clarification
- 4 egg whites
- Kosher salt
For the Garnish
- Several sprigs of fresh Chervil (or Italian parsley)
Make the Beet Strips. The day before serving, peel and thinly slice the beets, about 1/8 inch thick. Julienne the beet slices (cut them in even strips). Place the julienned beets in a dehydrator at approximately 140° Fahrenheit overnight. Check the next morning. The strips should be dry but not hard. If necessary, dehydrate longer.
Make the Mushroom Soup. Sweat the onion, leeks, carrots, celery and fennel in a soup pot for five minutes. Add the bay leaf and tomatoes, and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the mushrooms and 8 cups of water, then bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for three hours. Cool the stock over night.
Clarify the Consomme. The next day, to clarify the soup, lightly whip the egg whites and season well with the kosher salt. Whip this concoction into the cold stock and place over medium heat. Bring the liquid up to the point just before a boil, making sure the bottom doesn’t burn (stirring occasionally). As the proteins in the egg white coagulate a “raft” will appear on the surface. Don’t worry: you’ll know it when you see it. As this starts to happen, stop stirring and leave to simmer very gently for about half an hour, breaking the surface of the raft as necessary to allow some of the pressure to escape. Do not allow the soup to boil at this stage.
Serve the Soup. Pour a cup of soup in each bowl. Garnish with about equal amounts of beet strips and chervil.
