Rosół (Polish Meat Soup)
Serves 4 Time 60–90 minutes Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 16 Steps 9
Rosół is a traditional Polish meat broth. The most popular variety is Rosół z kury, or clear chicken (hen) soup. It is commonly served with fine noodles, often home made, like Jewish lokshen. It is important to differentiate the type of meat used for the preparation of this particular dish. Young chicken meat will result in a different flavour than that obtained from an older cooking hen. Additionally, the type of…
Ingredients
- 1 chicken
- 1 onion
- 1 small leek
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise
- ½ celery root
- 2–3 sprigs green celery
- 1–2 parsley roots
- 1 bunch of parsley
- Salt
- Pepper
- ⅛ sweet cabbage
- Garlic, to taste
- Bay leaf, to taste
- Juniper seeds
- Dried wild mushrooms
- Allspice, to taste
Steps
- Quarter chicken. Place in stock pot with ~1.5 cold water. Do not add salt.
- Bring to boil on high heat. Simmer 30–45 min. Skim surface flotsam.
- Add peeled garlic clove, carrots, celery root, parsley root similarly prepared, and other washed vegetables.
- Sauté onion halves in minimal oil to caramelize flesh. Add to soup. Omit for clearer, less-yellow soup.
- Simmer on low heat about 2 hours or more. Do not boil; boiling makes it cloudy.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, bay leaf, allspice, juniper seeds, dried wild mushrooms, etc.
- Continue simmering. Skim fat off surface if desired.
- Remove cabbage, parsley, celery root and any undesired vegetables. Leave carrots in to serve with broth.
- Serve hot with noodles and fresh parsley. Season at table with maggi, soy sauce, freshly ground black pepper and/or chilli flakes.
Notes from the original
- Instead of chicken you may use ½ kg (1 lb) of veal or beef.
- In the traditional Polish way, the chicken is not quartered or cut whatsoever.
- To avoid having to remove surface flotsam use the blanching technique: bring large amount of water (unsalted) to a boil. Remember to leave enough space for the chicken. When in vigorous boil put the chicken in. Let it boil for about a minute. Take the chicken out and put under cold, running water until cold. Now you can add chicken to your rosół, and not worry about the flotsam. It will also make rosół clearer, which is one of the indicators of a good rosół dish.
- Adding vegetable stock or a stock cube is a personal choice. Some argue that it is unnecessary, as the vegetable and meat give enough flavour to the broth.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Rosół (Polish Meat Soup)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-07-13, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.