Beer soup - a must for a beer lover

As we are talking about the Old Polish (baroque) cuisine it is necessary to mention the beer soup. It was a custom to start a day with this noutritious soup or another in kind of borsch or a soup made of the fermentated rye flour.

The beer soup was extremely popular not only to its distinctive flavour (you know what I mean) but also due to the fact that it supplied the people with vitamins (vitamin B and niacin) that could be hardly achieved within their dull and simple diet. The proteins from the yeasts (contained in beer) supplied them with all the indispensable amino acids. That was so important as the peasants usually don't eat much meat but mainly grains. The gentry ate it with cheese and eggs added. It must be a nice dish especially that many of the nobility were producing their own beer. The habits has changed much since then. The fashion of eating bread for breakfast came from France in the XVIII century and it finally won. We don't eat the nourishing soups in the morning today but commonly we eat sandwiches.

Beer soup with croutons- recipe

500 ml beer
150 g sour cream (18% fat) or double cream
2 egg yolks
2 slices of bread (preferably Russian rye bread)
3 Tbsps sugar
pinch of cinnamon

1. Cut the crust off the slices and cut the crumb into small cubes. Brown the cubes on the dry frying pan.
2. Cut the bead crust into small segments. Keep 2 tablespoons of beer separately. Bring to boil the rest of beer with the crust. Let it become overcooked.
3. In a pot mix the cream with the egg yolks, the cold beer and a tablespoon of sugar.
4. Slowly add the warm beer to the cream, stirring constantly. Place on the stove and heat slowly, stirring. Heat it well but do not boil! (Aha, here you can smell the amazing almond aroma).
5. In a bowl or a cup place a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Pour in the soup and sprinkle with the croutons.




Makes 2-4 portions, depends on how you like the soup. I warn, if you use a strong beer, you will get a strong, aromatic, a little bitter soup with this amazing almond aroma. The soup does not become thick but still i can fill you up. Croutons are generally not necessary for that. If you like beer, this soup is really great.