A Siberian fish soup from the Ob and Yenisei rivers, made with pike, perch or sterlet and potatoes, seasoned simply. The fisherman's one-pot dinner, cooked over a campfire by the riverbank.
Shcherba is a Siberian fish soup, the riverbank version of ukha, made by fishing communities along the Ob and Yenisei rivers. Unlike the more refined court-style ukha, shcherba is a rough, one-pot dish: whatever fish the river provided (pike, perch, sterlet or omul) is boiled with potatoes, onion and bay leaf in river water over an open fire. The Siberian fishermen cooked it on the riverbank, the fish caught and cleaned on the spot, the soup eaten from the pot with wooden spoons. The simplicity is the point: fresh fish, clean water, potato and onion, nothing else. The broth is light and clean, flavoured only by the fish bones and a bay leaf, and the fish is firm and sweet.
A clear, light, clean broth with firm pieces of river fish and soft potatoes, a bay leaf floating, the flavour pure and fresh. Eaten hot from the pot by the river, the simplest fish dinner.
The technique is a simple, fast simmer of fresh fish in water. The fish is cleaned and cut into chunks (heads and bones left in for flavour). Water is brought to a boil with potato chunks, onion and a bay leaf, then the fish added and simmered gently for 15 to 20 minutes, no longer, as the fish falls apart if overcooked. The broth is not strained; the bones are picked out at the table. No stock is made in advance; the fish itself flavours the water. Salt and black pepper are the only seasonings. The Siberian version is rougher than the European Russian ukha, using whatever fish is available and cooking over open fire, but the principle is the same: fresh fish, clean water, minimal intervention.
Variations
Some add millet for a thicker soup. A splash of vodka in the broth is a riverbank tradition.
On the Palate
Where Shcherba sits in the Russian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
5 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Clean and cut 800g fresh river fish (pike, perch or sterlet) into chunks, leaving bones in.
- 25 min
Bring 2 litres water to a boil with 3 diced potatoes, 1 onion and 2 bay leaves.
- 37 min
Add the fish chunks; simmer gently 15 to 20 minutes until the fish is just cooked.
Watch outSimmer the fish only fifteen to twenty minutes until it just flakes off the bone — any longer and it disintegrates into the broth.
- 43 min
Season with salt and black pepper; pick out bones at the table.
- 53 min
Eat hot from deep bowls with bread.
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