🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 144 (from laksa119)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa144.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/article/borscht-greatest-recipe-all-time\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/article/borscht-greatest-recipe-all-time\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/recipes\/article\/borscht-greatest-recipe-all-time","crawl_time":1776514160,"first_indexed_time":1505618857,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,bonappetit!www,\/recipes\/article\/borscht-greatest-recipe-all-time s443","src_root_hash":"6389551939407734344","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Borscht Is the Greatest Recipe of All Time | Bon Appétit","meta_descriptions":["Borscht is the greatest recipe of all time. Here's why."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"You know those recipes we hold near and dear to our hearts because they are really the greatest ever of all time? Well, we’re using this series as an opportunity to wax poetic about them. Associate food editor Claire Saffitz's grandmother's borscht, to be exact. They truly are the\ngreatest recipe of all time\n. Here’s why.\nMy maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn’t much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked). Although I never witnessed it, I hear she made mean blintzes and could keep two skillets going on the stove at a time. But that was about it. I have a childhood memory of spending the night at her apartment, just the two of us, and feeling excited that the advertisement of a sleepover at Nanny’s included ice cream in bed. In reality, I ate an ice cream sandwich over a bowl while sitting\nnext\nto the bed. That was Nanny.\nThe Bon Appétit daily newsletter\nOur very best recipes, editor-vetted cookware, and rigorous reporting, all in one place—in your inbox every day.\nBut no one can dispute that she made a great borscht. Nanny’s was a thick, hearty, beef and cabbage borscht made with a handful of simple ingredients but to great effect. My mom has made a few amendments to the recipe over the years: Fresh roasted beets now replace the canned ones Nanny apparently used. Prepared sauerkraut takes the place of fresh cabbage and “\nsour salt\n.” The recipe my mom handed down to my sisters and me calls for “soup meat,” which I translate as chuck or any cut that benefits from long cooking, although Nanny used flanken, a cut taken from the front of the short ribs.\nThe method is simple: cut a\npound or so of chuck\ninto 1” pieces and simmer in a large pot of water with a\nbay leaf\nand a\nwhole peeled onion\n. While the meat is cooking, roast\nthree large beets\n, peel them, and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the meat is tender, pull out the onion, let cool, and thinly slice before returning to the pot. Add\n2 cans sauerkraut plus juices\nto pot along with a\ncan of tomato paste\nand beets. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is a bright red. Add a\ncup of brown sugar\n, stir to dissolve, season with\nsalt\nand\npepper\n, and simmer about 15 minutes longer.\nYes, you read that correctly: 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s needed to balance the acid from the sauerkraut and gives the final dish that familiar sweet-and-sour flavor common in a lot of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, where my family originates.\nThis recipe is one of the few connections I have not only to my Nanny, who passed away in 2009, but also to her family. I know very little about my great grandparents, who came through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century, settled in Baltimore, and spoke only Yiddish. We have my Nanny on a home video telling stories about her family, but a lot of that information seems apocryphal. She speaks the name of the town in present day Ukraine\/Russia\/Poland where my great grandparents were from, but we could never locate it—we continue to refer to it generically as “the Old Country,” wherever that may be. We once found two different birth certificates for Nanny dated two years apart and still don’t know which was correct. The propensity for conflating fact and fiction appears genetic. My mom, whose given name is Sharon but has been called Sauci all her life, famously tells multiple competing versions of how she got that nickname.\nPerhaps that’s all just license to invent my own origin story of Nanny’s borscht. Perhaps Jacob and Sophie Cierler, my great grandparents, made a pot of this borscht and took it on the boat from their\nshtetl\nin Ukraine\/Poland\/Russia to Ellis Island and it fortified them for the entire trip. True or not, it’s a damn good soup and something I make several times a season. At least in my family, it is the greatest recipe of all time.","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/recipes\/article\/borscht-greatest-recipe-all-time#main-content)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/v2\/offers\/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/v2\/offers\/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA)\n\n[Newsletter](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=navbar)\n\n[Recipes](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/recipes)\n\n[Drinks](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/drinks)\n\n[Cooking](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/cooking)\n\n[Shopping](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/shopping)\n\n[Restaurants](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/restaurants)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/culture)\n\n[Video](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/video)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/auth\/initiate?redirectURL=%2Frecipes%2Farticle%2Fborscht-greatest-recipe-all-time&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION)\n\n[Recipes](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/recipes)\n\n[Drinks](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/drinks)\n\n[Cooking](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/cooking)\n\n[Shopping](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/shopping)\n\n[Restaurants](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/restaurants%20)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/culture)\n\n[Video](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/video)\n\n[Podcast](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/podcast\/dinner-sos)\n\n[Merch](https:\/\/shop.bonappetit.com\/)\n\n[Culinary Getaways](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/story\/culinary-getaways)\n\n[Bon Appétit Wine Shop](http:\/\/bonappetitwineshop.com\/)\n\n[Search](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/search)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/auth\/initiate?redirectURL=%2Frecipes%2Farticle%2Fborscht-greatest-recipe-all-time&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION)\n\n[Newsletter](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav)\n\n[![WHERE FOOD \\<br\\> MEETS CULTURE \\<br\\> Expand your horizons with global flavours and vibrant ideas. Just \\<strong\\>\\$3\/month\\<\/strong\\> for 1 year. \\<br\\> CTA: SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/695c2c994a6f2e333cbbbcc8\/original\/pass\/BA_Culture_Overlay_300x200_NFT_01a.gif?format=original)](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/v2\/offers\/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_NAV_ROLLOVER_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA)\n\nGet one year of unlimited access for just ~~\\$6~~ \\$3\/month—cancel anytime. [GET DIGITAL ACCESS](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/v2\/offers\/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_PAYWALL_THIN_METER_ARTICLE_1_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA)\n\n[Cooking](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/cooking)\n\n# Borscht Is the Greatest Recipe of All Time\n\nBorscht is the greatest recipe of all time. Here's why.\n\n![](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/693037fd60346653ec1d8fcc\/1:1\/w_90%2Cc_limit\/claire-saffitz.jpg)\n\nBy [Claire Saffitz](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/contributor\/claire-saffitz)\n\nMarch 11, 2015\n\n![Image may contain Plant Food Jam and Fruit](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/57d6d79cbd794aa913263a8c\/16:9\/w_2560%2Cc_limit\/BORSCHT.jpg)\n\nAlex Lau\n\nAll products featured on Bon Appétit are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links.\n\n*You know those recipes we hold near and dear to our hearts because they are really the greatest ever of all time? Well, we’re using this series as an opportunity to wax poetic about them. Associate food editor Claire Saffitz's grandmother's borscht, to be exact. They truly are the [greatest recipe of all time](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/tag\/greatest-recipe-of-all-time). Here’s why.*\n\nMy maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn’t much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked). Although I never witnessed it, I hear she made mean blintzes and could keep two skillets going on the stove at a time. But that was about it. I have a childhood memory of spending the night at her apartment, just the two of us, and feeling excited that the advertisement of a sleepover at Nanny’s included ice cream in bed. In reality, I ate an ice cream sandwich over a bowl while sitting *next* to the bed. That was Nanny.\n\n### The Bon Appétit daily newsletter\nOur very best recipes, editor-vetted cookware, and rigorous reporting, all in one place—in your inbox every day.\n\nBut no one can dispute that she made a great borscht. Nanny’s was a thick, hearty, beef and cabbage borscht made with a handful of simple ingredients but to great effect. My mom has made a few amendments to the recipe over the years: Fresh roasted beets now replace the canned ones Nanny apparently used. Prepared sauerkraut takes the place of fresh cabbage and “[sour salt](http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Gefen-Sour-Salt-Prima-Spice\/dp\/B008BMHD54).” The recipe my mom handed down to my sisters and me calls for “soup meat,” which I translate as chuck or any cut that benefits from long cooking, although Nanny used flanken, a cut taken from the front of the short ribs.\n\nWatch\n\n[Only 16 People a Night Can Eat This 17-Course Omakase](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/video\/watch\/on-the-line-only-16-people-a-night-can-eat-this-17-course-omakase)\n\nThe method is simple: cut a **pound or so of chuck** into 1” pieces and simmer in a large pot of water with a **bay leaf** and a **whole peeled onion**. While the meat is cooking, roast **three large beets**, peel them, and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the meat is tender, pull out the onion, let cool, and thinly slice before returning to the pot. Add **2 cans sauerkraut plus juices** to pot along with a **can of tomato paste** and beets. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is a bright red. Add a **cup of brown sugar**, stir to dissolve, season with **salt** and **pepper**, and simmer about 15 minutes longer.\n\nYes, you read that correctly: 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s needed to balance the acid from the sauerkraut and gives the final dish that familiar sweet-and-sour flavor common in a lot of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, where my family originates.\n\nThis recipe is one of the few connections I have not only to my Nanny, who passed away in 2009, but also to her family. I know very little about my great grandparents, who came through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century, settled in Baltimore, and spoke only Yiddish. We have my Nanny on a home video telling stories about her family, but a lot of that information seems apocryphal. She speaks the name of the town in present day Ukraine\/Russia\/Poland where my great grandparents were from, but we could never locate it—we continue to refer to it generically as “the Old Country,” wherever that may be. We once found two different birth certificates for Nanny dated two years apart and still don’t know which was correct. The propensity for conflating fact and fiction appears genetic. My mom, whose given name is Sharon but has been called Sauci all her life, famously tells multiple competing versions of how she got that nickname.\n\nPerhaps that’s all just license to invent my own origin story of Nanny’s borscht. Perhaps Jacob and Sophie Cierler, my great grandparents, made a pot of this borscht and took it on the boat from their *shtetl* in Ukraine\/Poland\/Russia to Ellis Island and it fortified them for the entire trip. True or not, it’s a damn good soup and something I make several times a season. At least in my family, it is the greatest recipe of all time.\n\n[![](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/693037fd60346653ec1d8fcc\/1:1\/w_90%2Cc_limit\/claire-saffitz.jpg)](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/contributor\/claire-saffitz)\n\nA former senior food editor at *Bon Appétit*, Claire Saffitz was the host of the popular series Gourmet Makes before leaving the company in 2020. She is the bestselling author of [*Dessert Person*](https:\/\/cna.st\/affiliate-link\/2WCz5sTzof1nrbSERuvGySoiYsgwwRpgRBUQyijR1queC1YRtmMyyyMXxdD9LvjXT6eEcP7uTdcvrhFSXsjn5sursrqHwByGyyVo6VgGxzXdi8jq6g3tJog2gHXWFRoN2yutj16QdTopYenVpUsV?cid=57320d6524818ec8198dd26b) and [*What's for Dessert*](https:\/\/cna.st\/affiliate-link\/2QvS63bbj2Qv8G9WGUiLbW5FbJKFoqvPiFUWYre1poJYv9gquGb45W64AiwW3DgMmgkfT2pAT5yLmgaqhLGz2ARFsszFf6JdZwNeTbMGiL4QW2fbzkxhAy8aGgonAa5xgNFgz2xqJCEnPNjo1jvR) and currently hosts a companion series to her books on YouTube, also called ... [Read More](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/contributor\/claire-saffitz)\n\nContributing Editor\n\nExplore Bon Appétit[Greatest Recipe of All Time](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/misc\/greatest-recipe-of-all-time)\n\n### The best of BA in your inbox every day\nRecipes to cook, products to add to your kitchen, and stories to bookmark for your lunch break.\n\nRead More\n\n- [![We’re Going to Stop Trying to Make ‘Allium’ Happen](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/69ce9afbf38396776a5176e6\/1:1\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)Cooking We’re Going to Stop Trying to Make ‘Allium’ Happen By Chris Morocco](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/story\/alliums-word-from-the-test-kitchen#intcid=recommendations_bon-appetit-article-bottom-recirc-recsys_d2a44ca6-0d48-4c6c-829c-d42de4352b93_roberta-similarity1_roberta-similarity_mongo_bucket)\n- [![Chocolate\\&\\#8211;Olive Oil Cake and More Recipes We Made This 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Just \\<strong\\>\\$3\/month\\<\/strong\\> for 1 year. \\<br\\> CTA:SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/695c2cafbe7cc209e2027f5a\/original\/pass\/BA_Culture_Desktop_940x140_NFT_01a.gif?format=original)](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/v2\/offers\/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_FOOTER_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA)\n\n[![Bon Appétit](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/verso\/static\/bonappetit-us\/assets\/logo-reverse.svg)](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/)\n\nRecipes you want to make. Cooking advice that works. 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All rights reserved. *Bon Appétit* may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. [Ad Choices](http:\/\/www.aboutads.info\/)\n\nFood Innovation Group","attrs_readable_markdown":"*You know those recipes we hold near and dear to our hearts because they are really the greatest ever of all time? Well, we’re using this series as an opportunity to wax poetic about them. Associate food editor Claire Saffitz's grandmother's borscht, to be exact. They truly are the [greatest recipe of all time](https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/tag\/greatest-recipe-of-all-time). Here’s why.*\n\nMy maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn’t much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked). Although I never witnessed it, I hear she made mean blintzes and could keep two skillets going on the stove at a time. But that was about it. I have a childhood memory of spending the night at her apartment, just the two of us, and feeling excited that the advertisement of a sleepover at Nanny’s included ice cream in bed. In reality, I ate an ice cream sandwich over a bowl while sitting *next* to the bed. That was Nanny.\n\n### The Bon Appétit daily newsletter\nOur very best recipes, editor-vetted cookware, and rigorous reporting, all in one place—in your inbox every day.\n\nBut no one can dispute that she made a great borscht. Nanny’s was a thick, hearty, beef and cabbage borscht made with a handful of simple ingredients but to great effect. My mom has made a few amendments to the recipe over the years: Fresh roasted beets now replace the canned ones Nanny apparently used. Prepared sauerkraut takes the place of fresh cabbage and “[sour salt](http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Gefen-Sour-Salt-Prima-Spice\/dp\/B008BMHD54).” The recipe my mom handed down to my sisters and me calls for “soup meat,” which I translate as chuck or any cut that benefits from long cooking, although Nanny used flanken, a cut taken from the front of the short ribs.\n\nThe method is simple: cut a **pound or so of chuck** into 1” pieces and simmer in a large pot of water with a **bay leaf** and a **whole peeled onion**. While the meat is cooking, roast **three large beets**, peel them, and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the meat is tender, pull out the onion, let cool, and thinly slice before returning to the pot. Add **2 cans sauerkraut plus juices** to pot along with a **can of tomato paste** and beets. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is a bright red. Add a **cup of brown sugar**, stir to dissolve, season with **salt** and **pepper**, and simmer about 15 minutes longer.\n\nYes, you read that correctly: 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s needed to balance the acid from the sauerkraut and gives the final dish that familiar sweet-and-sour flavor common in a lot of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, where my family originates.\n\nThis recipe is one of the few connections I have not only to my Nanny, who passed away in 2009, but also to her family. I know very little about my great grandparents, who came through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century, settled in Baltimore, and spoke only Yiddish. We have my Nanny on a home video telling stories about her family, but a lot of that information seems apocryphal. She speaks the name of the town in present day Ukraine\/Russia\/Poland where my great grandparents were from, but we could never locate it—we continue to refer to it generically as “the Old Country,” wherever that may be. We once found two different birth certificates for Nanny dated two years apart and still don’t know which was correct. The propensity for conflating fact and fiction appears genetic. My mom, whose given name is Sharon but has been called Sauci all her life, famously tells multiple competing versions of how she got that nickname.\n\nPerhaps that’s all just license to invent my own origin story of Nanny’s borscht. Perhaps Jacob and Sophie Cierler, my great grandparents, made a pot of this borscht and took it on the boat from their *shtetl* in Ukraine\/Poland\/Russia to Ellis Island and it fortified them for the entire trip. True or not, it’s a damn good soup and something I make several times a season. At least in my family, it is the greatest recipe of all time.","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Description	Borscht is the greatest recipe of all time. Here's why.
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Boilerpipe Text	You know those recipes we hold near and dear to our hearts because they are really the greatest ever of all time? Well, we’re using this series as an opportunity to wax poetic about them. Associate food editor Claire Saffitz's grandmother's borscht, to be exact. They truly are the greatest recipe of all time . Here’s why. My maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn’t much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked). Although I never witnessed it, I hear she made mean blintzes and could keep two skillets going on the stove at a time. But that was about it. I have a childhood memory of spending the night at her apartment, just the two of us, and feeling excited that the advertisement of a sleepover at Nanny’s included ice cream in bed. In reality, I ate an ice cream sandwich over a bowl while sitting next to the bed. That was Nanny. The Bon Appétit daily newsletter Our very best recipes, editor-vetted cookware, and rigorous reporting, all in one place—in your inbox every day. But no one can dispute that she made a great borscht. Nanny’s was a thick, hearty, beef and cabbage borscht made with a handful of simple ingredients but to great effect. My mom has made a few amendments to the recipe over the years: Fresh roasted beets now replace the canned ones Nanny apparently used. Prepared sauerkraut takes the place of fresh cabbage and “ sour salt .” The recipe my mom handed down to my sisters and me calls for “soup meat,” which I translate as chuck or any cut that benefits from long cooking, although Nanny used flanken, a cut taken from the front of the short ribs. The method is simple: cut a pound or so of chuck into 1” pieces and simmer in a large pot of water with a bay leaf and a whole peeled onion . While the meat is cooking, roast three large beets , peel them, and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the meat is tender, pull out the onion, let cool, and thinly slice before returning to the pot. Add 2 cans sauerkraut plus juices to pot along with a can of tomato paste and beets. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is a bright red. Add a cup of brown sugar , stir to dissolve, season with salt and pepper , and simmer about 15 minutes longer. Yes, you read that correctly: 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s needed to balance the acid from the sauerkraut and gives the final dish that familiar sweet-and-sour flavor common in a lot of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, where my family originates. This recipe is one of the few connections I have not only to my Nanny, who passed away in 2009, but also to her family. I know very little about my great grandparents, who came through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century, settled in Baltimore, and spoke only Yiddish. We have my Nanny on a home video telling stories about her family, but a lot of that information seems apocryphal. She speaks the name of the town in present day Ukraine/Russia/Poland where my great grandparents were from, but we could never locate it—we continue to refer to it generically as “the Old Country,” wherever that may be. We once found two different birth certificates for Nanny dated two years apart and still don’t know which was correct. The propensity for conflating fact and fiction appears genetic. My mom, whose given name is Sharon but has been called Sauci all her life, famously tells multiple competing versions of how she got that nickname. Perhaps that’s all just license to invent my own origin story of Nanny’s borscht. Perhaps Jacob and Sophie Cierler, my great grandparents, made a pot of this borscht and took it on the boat from their shtetl in Ukraine/Poland/Russia to Ellis Island and it fortified them for the entire trip. True or not, it’s a damn good soup and something I make several times a season. At least in my family, it is the greatest recipe of all time.
Markdown	[Skip to main content](https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/article/borscht-greatest-recipe-all-time#main-content) [SUBSCRIBE](https://www.bonappetit.com/v2/offers/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA) [SUBSCRIBE](https://www.bonappetit.com/v2/offers/baa01039?source=Site_0_JNY_BNA_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_MARCH_2026_CTA_TEST_ZZ_PANELA) [Newsletter](https://www.bonappetit.com/newsletter?sourceCode=navbar) [Recipes](https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes) [Drinks](https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks) [Cooking](https://www.bonappetit.com/cooking) [Shopping](https://www.bonappetit.com/shopping) [Restaurants](https://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants) [Culture](https://www.bonappetit.com/culture) [Video](https://www.bonappetit.com/video) [Sign In](https://www.bonappetit.com/auth/initiate?redirectURL=%2Frecipes%2Farticle%2Fborscht-greatest-recipe-all-time&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION) [Recipes](https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes) [Drinks](https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks) [Cooking](https://www.bonappetit.com/cooking) [Shopping](https://www.bonappetit.com/shopping) [Restaurants](https://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants%20) [Culture](https://www.bonappetit.com/culture) [Video](https://www.bonappetit.com/video) [Podcast](https://www.bonappetit.com/podcast/dinner-sos) [Merch](https://shop.bonappetit.com/) [Culinary Getaways](https://www.bonappetit.com/story/culinary-getaways) [Bon Appétit Wine Shop](http://bonappetitwineshop.com/) [Search](https://www.bonappetit.com/search) [Sign In](https://www.bonappetit.com/auth/initiate?redirectURL=%2Frecipes%2Farticle%2Fborscht-greatest-recipe-all-time&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION) [Newsletter](https://www.bonappetit.com/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav) [![WHERE FOOD \<br\> MEETS CULTURE \<br\> Expand your horizons with global flavours and vibrant ideas. 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Here's why. ![](https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/693037fd60346653ec1d8fcc/1:1/w_90%2Cc_limit/claire-saffitz.jpg) By [Claire Saffitz](https://www.bonappetit.com/contributor/claire-saffitz) March 11, 2015 ![Image may contain Plant Food Jam and Fruit](https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/57d6d79cbd794aa913263a8c/16:9/w_2560%2Cc_limit/BORSCHT.jpg) Alex Lau All products featured on Bon Appétit are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. You know those recipes we hold near and dear to our hearts because they are really the greatest ever of all time? Well, we’re using this series as an opportunity to wax poetic about them. Associate food editor Claire Saffitz's grandmother's borscht, to be exact. They truly are the [greatest recipe of all time](https://www.bonappetit.com/tag/greatest-recipe-of-all-time). Here’s why. My maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn’t much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked). Although I never witnessed it, I hear she made mean blintzes and could keep two skillets going on the stove at a time. But that was about it. I have a childhood memory of spending the night at her apartment, just the two of us, and feeling excited that the advertisement of a sleepover at Nanny’s included ice cream in bed. In reality, I ate an ice cream sandwich over a bowl while sitting next to the bed. That was Nanny. ### The Bon Appétit daily newsletter Our very best recipes, editor-vetted cookware, and rigorous reporting, all in one place—in your inbox every day. But no one can dispute that she made a great borscht. Nanny’s was a thick, hearty, beef and cabbage borscht made with a handful of simple ingredients but to great effect. My mom has made a few amendments to the recipe over the years: Fresh roasted beets now replace the canned ones Nanny apparently used. Prepared sauerkraut takes the place of fresh cabbage and “[sour salt](http://www.amazon.com/Gefen-Sour-Salt-Prima-Spice/dp/B008BMHD54).” The recipe my mom handed down to my sisters and me calls for “soup meat,” which I translate as chuck or any cut that benefits from long cooking, although Nanny used flanken, a cut taken from the front of the short ribs. Watch [Only 16 People a Night Can Eat This 17-Course Omakase](https://www.bonappetit.com/video/watch/on-the-line-only-16-people-a-night-can-eat-this-17-course-omakase) The method is simple: cut a pound or so of chuck into 1” pieces and simmer in a large pot of water with a bay leaf and a whole peeled onion. While the meat is cooking, roast three large beets, peel them, and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the meat is tender, pull out the onion, let cool, and thinly slice before returning to the pot. Add 2 cans sauerkraut plus juices to pot along with a can of tomato paste and beets. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is a bright red. Add a cup of brown sugar, stir to dissolve, season with salt and pepper, and simmer about 15 minutes longer. Yes, you read that correctly: 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s needed to balance the acid from the sauerkraut and gives the final dish that familiar sweet-and-sour flavor common in a lot of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, where my family originates. This recipe is one of the few connections I have not only to my Nanny, who passed away in 2009, but also to her family. I know very little about my great grandparents, who came through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century, settled in Baltimore, and spoke only Yiddish. We have my Nanny on a home video telling stories about her family, but a lot of that information seems apocryphal. She speaks the name of the town in present day Ukraine/Russia/Poland where my great grandparents were from, but we could never locate it—we continue to refer to it generically as “the Old Country,” wherever that may be. We once found two different birth certificates for Nanny dated two years apart and still don’t know which was correct. The propensity for conflating fact and fiction appears genetic. My mom, whose given name is Sharon but has been called Sauci all her life, famously tells multiple competing versions of how she got that nickname. Perhaps that’s all just license to invent my own origin story of Nanny’s borscht. Perhaps Jacob and Sophie Cierler, my great grandparents, made a pot of this borscht and took it on the boat from their shtetl in Ukraine/Poland/Russia to Ellis Island and it fortified them for the entire trip. True or not, it’s a damn good soup and something I make several times a season. At least in my family, it is the greatest recipe of all time. [![](https://assets.bonappetit.com/photos/693037fd60346653ec1d8fcc/1:1/w_90%2Cc_limit/claire-saffitz.jpg)](https://www.bonappetit.com/contributor/claire-saffitz) A former senior food editor at Bon Appétit, Claire Saffitz was the host of the popular series Gourmet Makes before leaving the company in 2020. She is the bestselling author of [Dessert Person](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/2WCz5sTzof1nrbSERuvGySoiYsgwwRpgRBUQyijR1queC1YRtmMyyyMXxdD9LvjXT6eEcP7uTdcvrhFSXsjn5sursrqHwByGyyVo6VgGxzXdi8jq6g3tJog2gHXWFRoN2yutj16QdTopYenVpUsV?cid=57320d6524818ec8198dd26b) and [What's for Dessert](https://cna.st/affiliate-link/2QvS63bbj2Qv8G9WGUiLbW5FbJKFoqvPiFUWYre1poJYv9gquGb45W64AiwW3DgMmgkfT2pAT5yLmgaqhLGz2ARFsszFf6JdZwNeTbMGiL4QW2fbzkxhAy8aGgonAa5xgNFgz2xqJCEnPNjo1jvR) and currently hosts a companion series to her books on YouTube, also called ... [Read More](https://www.bonappetit.com/contributor/claire-saffitz) Contributing Editor Explore Bon Appétit[Greatest Recipe of All Time](https://www.bonappetit.com/misc/greatest-recipe-of-all-time) ### The best of BA in your inbox every day Recipes to cook, products to add to your kitchen, and stories to bookmark for your lunch break. 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Readable Markdown	You know those recipes we hold near and dear to our hearts because they are really the greatest ever of all time? Well, we’re using this series as an opportunity to wax poetic about them. Associate food editor Claire Saffitz's grandmother's borscht, to be exact. They truly are the [greatest recipe of all time](https://www.bonappetit.com/tag/greatest-recipe-of-all-time). Here’s why. My maternal grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, wasn’t much of a cook. As a kid I remember her making only a handful of things, mostly dishes with Ashkenazi Jewish origins like kasha and bowties (which, for the record, only my dad liked). Although I never witnessed it, I hear she made mean blintzes and could keep two skillets going on the stove at a time. But that was about it. I have a childhood memory of spending the night at her apartment, just the two of us, and feeling excited that the advertisement of a sleepover at Nanny’s included ice cream in bed. In reality, I ate an ice cream sandwich over a bowl while sitting next to the bed. That was Nanny. ### The Bon Appétit daily newsletter Our very best recipes, editor-vetted cookware, and rigorous reporting, all in one place—in your inbox every day. But no one can dispute that she made a great borscht. Nanny’s was a thick, hearty, beef and cabbage borscht made with a handful of simple ingredients but to great effect. My mom has made a few amendments to the recipe over the years: Fresh roasted beets now replace the canned ones Nanny apparently used. Prepared sauerkraut takes the place of fresh cabbage and “[sour salt](http://www.amazon.com/Gefen-Sour-Salt-Prima-Spice/dp/B008BMHD54).” The recipe my mom handed down to my sisters and me calls for “soup meat,” which I translate as chuck or any cut that benefits from long cooking, although Nanny used flanken, a cut taken from the front of the short ribs. The method is simple: cut a pound or so of chuck into 1” pieces and simmer in a large pot of water with a bay leaf and a whole peeled onion. While the meat is cooking, roast three large beets, peel them, and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the meat is tender, pull out the onion, let cool, and thinly slice before returning to the pot. Add 2 cans sauerkraut plus juices to pot along with a can of tomato paste and beets. Simmer for a few minutes until the mixture is a bright red. Add a cup of brown sugar, stir to dissolve, season with salt and pepper, and simmer about 15 minutes longer. Yes, you read that correctly: 1 cup of brown sugar. It’s needed to balance the acid from the sauerkraut and gives the final dish that familiar sweet-and-sour flavor common in a lot of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, where my family originates. This recipe is one of the few connections I have not only to my Nanny, who passed away in 2009, but also to her family. I know very little about my great grandparents, who came through Ellis Island in the early twentieth century, settled in Baltimore, and spoke only Yiddish. We have my Nanny on a home video telling stories about her family, but a lot of that information seems apocryphal. She speaks the name of the town in present day Ukraine/Russia/Poland where my great grandparents were from, but we could never locate it—we continue to refer to it generically as “the Old Country,” wherever that may be. We once found two different birth certificates for Nanny dated two years apart and still don’t know which was correct. The propensity for conflating fact and fiction appears genetic. My mom, whose given name is Sharon but has been called Sauci all her life, famously tells multiple competing versions of how she got that nickname. Perhaps that’s all just license to invent my own origin story of Nanny’s borscht. Perhaps Jacob and Sophie Cierler, my great grandparents, made a pot of this borscht and took it on the boat from their shtetl in Ukraine/Poland/Russia to Ellis Island and it fortified them for the entire trip. True or not, it’s a damn good soup and something I make several times a season. At least in my family, it is the greatest recipe of all time.
Shard	144 (laksa)
Root Hash	6389551939407734344
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