Polish Duck Soup/ Czarnina
This soup is part of my Polish heritage. My Busha (Polish grandmother) made it and my mother made it and I make it. It is a rich, sweet and sour duck soup which actually has prunes and pear halves in it. That isn’t even the strange part. There is a special ingredient in Czarnina that tends to freak people out. That ingredient is duck blood. Yes, duck blood.
For those of you who are still reading, let me explain. Using the blood from animals is not that uncommon. People used every part of an animal in the past. Lots of cultures make some sort of blood sausage or blood pudding (which is really a sausage) and even beverages with blood. One time, Food Network even included Czarnina in the mystery basket on Chopped. It was a Halloween themed show, but still.
Good news is, there are two versions of my Mom’s Czarnina recipe. One using duck blood and the other one, not using blood in the soup at all. Both recipes are included in this post.
This is going to be a longer post than normal. Feel free to just scroll on down to the recipes. I think the background information is kind of important, but again, not critical to making the soup.
I decided to post this recipe on my blog for the first time ever in honor of my Mom on Mother’s Day. I know it will freak some people out. I get that. As a kid, it was always strange to tell a friend what was in that soup. The looks I would get. Truth is, I loved Czarnina, even though I went through a phase when I wouldn’t eat it. I think you would love it, too. You don’t even need duck blood to make it!!
The non-blood version happened when my Mom’s source for duck blood dried up. There was some poultry place near the West Side Market, where my Dad got her duck blood. Once they closed, they didn’t know of another place to get duck blood. She was very upset. She thought my Dad should ask if any of his hunting buddies could save the blood next time they went hunting ducks. It never happened- not really a big surprise there.
Mom had been watching a cooking show where someone was making what I assume was a mole sauce. At least it was a sauce with unsweetened chocolate in it, or perhaps cocoa. Either way, that day, an idea was born out of necessity. Mom was convinced that the blood didn’t really add that much flavor to the soup, but rather it’s distinctive brownish color. She made her soup as usual, but used cocoa and balsamic vinegar to mimic what she lacked from the loss of blood. She was pretty pleased with how it turned out. We all had to taste it. She sent samples to other family members to try. She got thumbs up. I honestly don’t know if she told them about the ingredient switch. Pretty sure she did blind tastings, so she would get an unbiased report.
Eventually Mom found a couple of sources for duck blood. One was some place on Broadway Avenue. My brother always drove her there, so I don’t honestly have a clue about that one.
I took her to the other place. There is a large Polish-American community around Fleet Avenue in Cleveland. We went to a Polish market/deli place on Fleet and asked for duck blood. The guy went to the freezer and got a carton of frozen duck blood. It always comes frozen. Apparently only in one size. We also bought a Muscovy duck to use in the soup. Mom was very pleased to have a duck blood source again. If I could remember the name of the place, or let you know if they still sell duck blood, I would. Where ever you live, seek out local producers of duck. They would be your best source for duck blood, I would think.
I still make Czarnina, but I use the cocoa version, most of the time. No one seems to noticed the difference. I was making it at a cooking class in Independence one time. After class, one of the guys from the cleaning crew popped his head in the kitchen and asked if that was Czarnina he had been smelling. I was sure to give him some to taste and he loved it.
Once you get over the blood part, the soup is really tasty and pretty unique in other ways. I already mentioned pears and prunes, in a soup. It has a fair amount of sugar and vinegar, too. Sweet and sour is a pretty common flavor profile in Polish cooking.
Mom served hers with cooked, shell pasta, so that is normally what I use. Spaetzle or kluski are more traditional, I suppose. You add the pasta to each bowl as you serve it. Never dump the pasta in the pot of soup.
The recipe makes a lot of soup. It freezes well, but you can easily cut the recipe in half. Still use a whole duck. Mom always cut the duck into pieces, once it was cooked. When you served the soup, people would get pieces of duck to eat with it. I found it easier to serve if you take the duck out of the soup once it is cooked. Cool it down, then take all the meat off the bones, cut it up and return the meat to the soup.
Another change Mom made to her Czarnina, was to skin the duck before adding it to the soup. She would render all the duck skin and fat to have duck fat for cooking with and duck cracklings for snacking. She said otherwise, you just end up skimming all that fat off of the soup anyway. Mom never liked to waste food. Now you know where I got that.
Thanks for letting me share a little part of my culinary heritage with you. Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there.
Here are the recipes for Czarnina. One with the blood, one without. I left them the way Mom wrote them. Not all the ingredients are exact measurements- like celery or onions in the stock. Other things are pretty specific. Hers came out the same every time.
Enjoy!!
Irene’s Duck Soup/ Czarnina– Original Version
7 qts. Duck stock
1 duck, skinned if you prefer
Celery, onion and parsley
Cook together, covered, until duck is very tender. Remove duck, cut into serving pieces, skin if desired, and set aside.
Combine the following in a medium bowl, stirring until smooth.
1 ½ c. flour
1 c. duck blood, thawed, if frozen
1 c. water
2/3 c. each vinegar and sugar
¼ c. salt
Add mixture to stock and simmer until thickened and flavors have blended, about 30-45 minutes, stirring often. Strain and return duck pieces to soup.
Also add: ¾ lb. pitted prunes
2 large cans pears in heavy syrup , undrained
Heat through and serve with cooked shells or other pasta or kluski.
Serves 20.
Irene’s Duck Soup/ Czarnina- The new version
7 qts. Duck or chicken stock
1 duck, skinned
Celery, onion and parsley
Cook together, covered, until duck is very tender. Remove duck, cut into serving pieces, and set aside.
Combine the following in a medium bowl, whisking until smooth.
2 c. flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 c. water
2/3 c. each balsamic vinegar and sugar
¼ c. salt
Add mixture to stock and simmer until thickened and flavors have blended, about 30-45 minutes, stirring often. Strain and return duck pieces to soup or remove duck meat from the bones. Cut up the duck meat and return meat only to the soup.
Also add: ¾ lb. Prunes
2 large cans pears, undrained
Heat through and serve with cooked shells or other pasta or kluski.
Serves 20.
Note: While this soup freezes well you can cut the recipe in half, still using a whole duck.
