Cabbage soup may refer to any of the variety of soups based on various cabbages, or on sauerkraut and known under different names in national cuisines. Often it is a vegetable soup, with lentils, peas or beans in place of the meat. It may be prepared with different ingredients. Vegetarian cabbage soup may use mushroom stock. Another variety is using a fish stock. There is also a preference to cook cabbage soup using a pork stock.
It is known as kapuśniak or kwaśnica in Polish, kapustnica in Slovak, and капусняк (kapusniak) in Ukrainian. It would be щи (shchi) in Russian, however.
The same goes to Czech (zelňačka or zelná polévka), German (Kohlsuppe or Krautsuppe), French (soupe aux choux) cuisine, Finnish (kaalikeitto) and Swedish (kålsoppa).
The sauerkraut variant of cabbage soup is known to Russians as "sour shchi" ("кислые щи"), as opposed to fresh cabbage shchi. An idiom in Russian, "Профессор кислых щей" ("sour shchi professor"), is used to express an ironic or humorous attitude toward a person who makes a pretense of having considerable knowledge.[1]
There is a Polish cabbage soup known as kapuśniak,[3] where drained and chopped sauerkraut is cooked in water with chopped pork, pieces of kielbasa and a bit of salt until the meat is almost tender. Instead of meat, a ready broth is also used. Afterwards, diced potatoes and carrots are added and boiled until they are cooked. Tomato paste and spices may be added. In some regions the soup is served with added flour and butter. A lean kapuśniak is cooked with roots and fungi.
Kapuśniak is served hot, in some regions with sour cream and sprinkled with chopped parsley and dill.
Swedish cabbage soup is usually made from white cabbage, which is browned before being boiled, and seasoned with generous amounts of allspice and sometimes served with boiled meatballs.
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There are various soups made with vegetables that are the same species as cabbage, but come in different form, such as caldo verde soup, made of collard.
Catherine the Great, a Russian tsarina of German origin, initially notorious at the Russian court for her poor command of Russian, was quipped to be capable of making seven misspellings in the two-letter Russian word Щи (in Cyrillic spelling), which became Schtschi in German.
