♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - This week on Milk Street, we traveled to Ukraine, and explore classic combinations of roasted meat with fruit.

Now the first is a really new look at borsch, and I made a version that highlights the marriage of duck and prunes, also with the addition of potatoes and cabbage.

Next we roast a pork shoulder on a rack over apples, apricots, and sauerkraut.

So please stay tuned as we explore the flavors of Ukraine.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- That meal.

You sautéed, you seared, and you served, cooking with All-Clad, bonded cookware designed, engineered, and assembled in the U.S.A. for over 50 years.

All-Clad-- for all your kitchen adventures.

- This is true of Ukrainian cuisine in general, I think.

And this is how I think and feel about cooking is being led by ingredients and by seasons.

If it's summer, I'm going to have some tomatoes, some red peppers, et cetera.

And then I just look at the ingredients and then I just figure out what I'm going to cook.

And because the ingredients are so good already this is like half a job done.

I have to do minimal things to the ingredients to make it taste good.

So it's kind of like being led by your family, being led by the seasons.

♪ ♪ Borsch, a quintessential Ukrainian dish, our national dish, really.

This one I came across in Central Poltava and it involves duck, and prunes, and it's just absolutely gorgeous.

But, of course, there are different versions all over Ukraine and beyond.

So we're gonna start with stock.

A couple of liters of water.

For the stock, you can use duck legs or pork ribs.

But for this particular borsch, I love to get just a whole duck, taking the darker part is not actually as complicated as you might think.

What we're gonna do is just make a gentle slash between the thigh and the breast and then... just hear it pop (joint popping) And then cut.

Just kind of like fish around with your knife.

Don't cut through the bone, you're just cutting between the joints.

That's it and then just... okay, your legs are off.

You don't want the super intense fatty bits from the duck in your borsch.

A little bit of fat is nice, but you can always take it off.

Don't throw it away, of course.

You can just render it in a pan and you'll get delicious duck scratchings and also loads of duck fat that you can roast your potatoes in.

And now for the breast.

Just make a slash across the breast bone and just almost like peel it away from the bone, cutting it gently, just like this.

And the breast can be simply roasted, frozen, and used another day.

I'm after the delicious flavor that's in these bones.

In the bones of the carcass.

I'm just going to take the skin of the back, again, just not to add too much fat.

You want some fat because fat is flavor, of course, but you don't want it overly fatty.

And what we call in the U.K. parson's nose.

Going to take that off as well.

Just throw it in when you're... with your fat when you're rendering it.

It will become really crispy and delicious.

Okay.

The carcass I'm going to cut into as well just to make it a bit easier.

Ukrainian stock is extremely simple.

All I want here is the meat flavor.

So I'm not going to add any vegetables.

All of the vegetable flavor is going to go in once the stock is actually ready.

So literally just cold water, put your pieces of duck in.

I've got legs... wings... and the carcass split in two.

And then I'm going to put a couple of bay leaves... onion going in... A little bit of salt... (pilot light clicking) So the stock is on.

At some point, some foamy bits are going to come up to the surface.

I'm just going to skim them off.

And it's just going to take about an hour and a half until the duck is soft and falling apart.

All over Ukraine you get very diverse kind of versions of borsch.

It also varies depending on the season, what grows locally, or what kind of meat you use locally.

And this one is actually a Christmas borsch.

So you add kind of like dried fruit to borsch during Christmastime.

Initially it would have been to add more nutrition, but of course it also gives it like this amazing flavor.

And the reason why I make it with duck is because my mom actually rears ducks in Ukraine (chuckling): so we always have ducks at hand.

Like all the freezers are full of ducks.

So... and it... it just really goes well with prunes, I think.

So, yeah, it's one of my favorite borsches.

So now the stock has been on for about ten minutes and there's some impurities that have come up to the surface.

You just need to skim them off.

Citrusy bay and duck is just like one of my favorite smells.

So I've peeled my beetroot, but if it's young, I sometimes don't even bother to peel it.

I'm just going to slice it into thin matchsticks and then I'm just going to very quickly pickle it in a little bit of red wine vinegar.

Whenever you are cutting vegetables that are really round, you want them to be stable.

And the easiest thing to do is literally just to cut a little cheek off, just like that and put it on the cut side and then you've got a stable beetroot.

And what we're going to do is I'm just going to slice it... ...rather thinly.

Okay.

And now we need to cut it into matchsticks.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take a couple of slices, just like that, put them one on top of the other, and then... slice again.

So, in fancy chef talk this is called julienning, but really you're just cutting matchsticks.

Just like that.

This is the type of thing that you want.

And I'm just going to put it directly into the vinegar.

We just need to chop this onion as finely as you can.

(chopping) And the onion is there, of course, to add sweetness to borsch, which is very important.

It needs to be really brilliantly balanced.

So another element that will bring sweetness to borsch is carrot.

And you can julienne it like we did with beetroot, but you have my permission to go the easy way and just give it a rough grating on the grater.

And this will actually help to draw out as much of the natural sugars out of the carrot whilst it's cooking.

Okay, cool, so carrot done, onion done, we'll put the onion in first.

(sizzling) So once the onion is nice and soft and golden, we can add in our grated carrot.

And this is a Ukrainian technique called smazhennia.

Like an Italian sofrito, but without the celery.

Just give it a stir.

I'm just going to cut this potato.

Again, make sure that it's stable.

Just like we did with the beetroot, just slice a little bit off, now it doesn't roll around.

And then we're just gonna do kind of like chunks.

And now that you're done with that and that the onion and the carrots are soft, I'm just going to add the beetroot.

You can use the vinegar in a dressing for a salad or something.

Don't waste it.

The cabbage... What we want is to start slicing it as thin as possible.

And then once your edge is like a little bit too flat, I'm just going to rotate it and slides the corner off, just so you don't get such long strands of cabbage.

You want them to be a little bit shorter.

So just keep rotating it.

Okay, this is plenty.

The beetroot's in.

It's all looking nice and soft and it smells delicious.

When I was growing up as a kid, I think we would have it at least three times a week.

And actually it keeps really well and becomes even better each day.

So, you know, we probably had it pretty much every day at certain points in, um... in the year.

So tinned tomatoes.

Just adding them to the onion, carrot, and beetroot.

Now the stock is ready.

I just need to lift the meat out and let it cool down so then I can just pick the meat off the bones.

The duck is nice and soft and I can just see the meat separating from the bone.

You don't need much meat.

It's mostly there for flavoring, you know, it's all about that gorgeous veg.

Okay.

So this gorgeous golden stock is going into the... beetroot, and carrots, and onions.

Now that the stock is in with our vegetables, I just need to cook these potatoes for ten minutes.

Now I've got my prunes.

I'm just going to tear them in half.

So you don't get like one intense prune.

And I'm just going to add them to the potatoes and the rest of the borsch.

Okay, give this a stir.

So with the duck, I am going to pick it off the bones because it's just much easier for my children to eat.

And if you feel funny about the skin, you can discard it, but my kids love it and I really like it as well.

There's actually so much meat on the carcass.

There's loads of bits clinging to it and I'm just going to pick them off and add it to the rest.

Right, getting the last bits of meat off the carcass.

And of course, do not forget about the oysters at the back.

So just in the dimples of the back there's a really delicious morsel.

When we were traveling all around Ukraine collecting recipes and stories for my cookbook Summer Kitchens, we found so many different types of borsch, even including baby eel in north of Ukraine.

There are just so many variations.

Like today, a summer borsch, which also involves red peppers.

In winter in my area of Ukraine you would also dry fish and dried tomatoes and then pound-pound them into kind of like flakes.

Almost, you know, it's almost like Japanese in this nature, you know.

It all... it was almost like making dashi with the dried fish in it.

It's got something that ties all of the borsches together.

Obviously you've got the beetroot, you've got the tomato, you've got either meat or vegetables, but every regional borsch is also unique in its way.

So the potatoes have been cooking for about ten minutes and they are almost soft.

You can always use an edge of a knife to test them.

Now I'm just going to put the picked meat back into the borsch.

We're also going to add the cabbage.

Make sure you don't overcook the cabbage.

About two minutes for the cabbage and then we'll switch off the heat.

So life's too short to chop garlic so I'm just going to grate it in.

And it's literally for the last one, two minutes of cooking.

Then we're going to switch the borsch off the heat, and just let it stand for a little bit, and then I'm going to serve it with loads of dill and crème fraîche.

So my Grandma Lusia used to say, "The borsch should have "so many vegetables in it that when you stick "a wooden spoon in its center, it will not budge, it will just stay there."

And I think today, I mean this kind of thing (chuckling): makes me extremely happy.

I don't need much, but it's working.

Lusia would definitely be proud.

♪ ♪ The kids are home and this is the ultimate test.

What are... what's the flavor profile?

- Beetroot.

- And?

- Duck - And?

- Dill.

- Like, is it sweet, is it sour, is it...?

- It's a bit sweet.

- How's the balance of flavor?

- Great, it's a bit... it's salty, a bit sweet, a little bit bitter.

♪ ♪ I like it.

♪ ♪ - Today I'm gonna show you how to make an incredible roast pork recipe which involves all of my most favorite ingredients.

So kraut, apples, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, mustard.

It's warming and delicious and it actually started life as a Christmas dish, but we love it so much, we make it all throughout autumn and winter.

So for the rub we've got some garlic, and some mustard, cider vinegar, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, ground coriander, sea salt and pepper.

So my pork has already been scored.

If yours isn't, you will need a really sharp knife to cut through that tough skin and do as many kind of slashes throughout the skin as possible.

That will make sure that the pork will really crisp up at the end of cooking.

Now to make our rub.

Fennel seeds.

And carraway seeds.

Some salt.

And garlic.

And now I'm ready to do a little bit of bashing around.

You can also do this in a food processor.

You want the garlic kind of like finely ground.

If the spices are roughly ground, that's absolutely fine.

So the garlic is crushed, the spices smell amazing, I'm just going to add coriander.

And of course you can use coriander seeds as well.

And then I'm going to also add the mustard.

You can experiment with your mustards.

Normally I would use Dijon, but today, I'm using something else.

It's actually a wasabi mustard and it smells amazing.

And then cider vinegar.

A little bit of pepper.

And then we can put it all over the pork.

Maybe a tiny bit more salt.

So I'm just gonna take a couple of spoonfuls and put them in the fridge.

I'm going to use it later.

I mean you can use a spoon but I'm gonna go in with my hands.

Just to make sure that you rub it all inside the meat and the skin.

(quietly): Okay.

(water running) So I've got a liter and a half of water in here.

Now I'm going to create a bit of a tent with foil so the steam is trapped in.

Okay.

So we've created a bit of a dome.

So now the pork is going to go into the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours.

We're going to check in a little bit.

Be careful because you've got water in there.

♪ ♪ So the pork has been in the oven for about three hours and it's nearly there.

So I'm just going to peel and cut this onion into wedges and I'm going to do the same with the apples.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This mixture smells amazing.

Okay, I'm gonna take the pork out of the oven.

♪ ♪ Are you ready for the reveal?

(chuckles) Okay, the last one.

And now I'm just going to take the rack off, transfer it over here, and then I'm gonna skim some of the fat off the top of the liquid.

So I'm just going to put the kraut, apple, and onion mixture all around the edge of the tray.

So I'm going to leave a little bit of space in the middle.

So when I put the rack with the pork back on, there is enough space for the air to circulate, and roast the pork further.

So I've got all of my mixture here: the apples, and kraut, and dried fruit, and onions.

And then I've got a little empty space here just to let the air circulate under the pork.

And now we're just going to put the pork right over, still on its rack.

So the pork is over the empty space.

And now I'm gonna come clean.

So two pieces of my pork did touch the foil and they became browner than these two.

But that's not the end of the world.

If that happened to you, just grab a little bit of foil and cover the darker ones.

And then when these two pieces will catch up with the more brown ones, we're just going to take the foil off and crisp it all up at the very end.

And I've just lowered my oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

And I'm going to put the pork in and cook it for another hour and a half, two hours.

♪ ♪ To me it looks amazing.

What you do is take it off the rack and rest it for about ten minutes.

I'm just going to mix the kraut and apple mixture through just to collect all of those juices.

And then, you know, plate a little bit of everything.

Bit of kraut, a bit of apple... a little bit of the onion.

This would be amazing in a bun, just saying.

The bone is going to come out so easily.

(crunching loudly) So, look, a little bit of pork then a little bit of this apple as well, and maybe some of this crispy situation here.

I don't know how to describe this to you how good this is.

It's just the best pork recipe that I know.

It's so delicious!

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Please access our content, including our step-by-step recipe videos, from your smartphone, your tablet, or your computer.

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Call 855-MILK-177 or order online.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following: - That meal.

You sautéed, you seared, and you served, cooking with All-Clad, bonded cookware designed, engineered, and assembled in the U.S.A. for over 50 years.

All-Clad-- for all your kitchen adventures.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to be the first to welcome you to Tel Aviv... - Welcome to Oaxaca's airport.

- Welcome to Beirut.

♪ ♪ (man speaking Hebrew) - (speaking world language) - Bonjour, je m'appelle Chris.

- We call it supa kanja.

It's the word for gumbo.

♪ ♪ - Christopher, you have to make the authentic, original cotoletta alla Bolognese for me.

♪ ♪ - So this is the Eduardo García blender.

- This is the no electricity.

♪ ♪ - Next is dessert.

- That is really good.

♪ ♪ I notice when you cook sometimes, you add a little bit of something, and then you just put the whole bowl in.

- I like to be generous with my food.

Generosity is important in cooking.

- That's true.

♪ ♪ - Can start building bridges, and food is definitely a perfect common ground.

♪ ♪ - This is a generational thing.

It's, it's something that you inherit.

♪ ♪ - Yeah, that was great.

(woman speaking Mandarin) - What was this for?

What did she say?

- You get one more chance.

- Salute.

- How is it?

He's speechless.

- I'm speechless.

That's so good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪