Potato, Cabbage, and Beef Soup
Ugly soup is good soup. Why are you judging your soup by its appearance anyway? It just wants to love you and fill you with warm, delightful feelings, but there you are, unable to get beyond its middling looks in favor of something infinitely more Instagrammable.
Wait, did this just become an episode of Love is Blind?
Oh, Messica. Things you could have accidentally killed during your time on the show: our eardrums, maybe your career, and also your dog. But go Cubs, I guess? (Sweetie, Rock Falls is a suburb of Sterling, not Chicago. Have ALL of the seats. It’s not even directly off I-80!)
But whatever, back to my ugly soup.
Sometimes you just need some goddamn comfort food, and that’s what this soup is. Packed with cabbage, it also reminds me of Charlie Bucket. Yes, Charlie Bucket, the turtleneck-loving, cabbage soup-slurping protagonist of Roald Dahl’s beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Or, if you’re a fart joke enthusiast like me, that gassy little rascal who had to fart his way out of imminent death via industrial-sized fan blades to prove his moral compass was, in fact, intact. (But like how is this not considered a prequel to Saw?)
Right, back to the soup. It is super ugly. It is filling, easy, and affordable. There are no sexy ingredients. But there is a secret ingredient that will surely make you skeptical and as always, I urge you to just make it as written and THEN send me the hate mail.
Potato, Cabbage, and Beef Soup aka Ugly Soup
Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 2 hours
Serves 6
1.5 pounds chuck roast, trimmed and cubed
1 onion, diced
2 Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 small head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 46 oz. can of tomato juice
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup spicy pickle brine (see recipe notes at the end!)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat and add oil. Season the beef well with salt and pepper on all sides.
Once the oil is shimmering, add cubed roast in batches to brown thoroughly on all sides. You’re looking for a deeply bronzed exterior; that’s flavor, y’all. Use a spider or slotted spoon to remove from the dutch oven once each batch is browned and reserve on a plate.
Add onion to the remaining hot oil and stir, letting that fond get to know the onions as they soften, 3-5 minutes.
Add chicken stock to deglaze the pan, stirring well with a wooden spoon to mix in all of those dang delicious flavors from the bottom of the pot. Throw the browned beef back in the pool along with the tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, and pickle brine. Cover and simmer over low until the meat is tender, around 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Once the beef is tender, taste broth and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add potatoes and simmer 35 minutes. Then add cabbage and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Potatoes and meat should be fork tender. Remove bay leaf.
Add a splash of pickle brine to brighten things up before serving if that’s your thing.
NOTE: I live for the Atomic Spicy refrigerated pickles at Aldi; as with most things at Aldi, they are a specialty item that tends to be a little hard to track down. Claussen Hot and Spicy pickles are my second favorite and are much easier to find. I promise this addition just adds the perfect salty-spicy kick, not an overwhelming essence of pickles. (“Which is that really so bad?” says the girl who goes through a jar of pickles a week. My insides are VERY well preserved.)