This recipe was a good starting point, but I had to make several major adjustments to achieve something that was suitably "borscht-like" for my tastes. I used two beets rather than one (and next time, I'd use three) and I did not discard them after boiling. I chopped one beet into small dice and pureed the other. I added both right before service. Without the addition of the puree, the soup would have been bright orange rather than the deep ruby color I expect from borscht.
Other changes I made: Added a tablespoon of dried dill toward the end of cooking, omitted about half of the butter and all of the celery (is "half a stalk" reallly going to add any flavor or texture?), didn't reserve the 1/2 c of tomato sauce (this step seemed unnecessary since everything gets mixed together anyway), and I used only about half of the cabbage called for and still found it to be a very cabbage-y soup (3 cups would have been serious overkill). Be sure to taste the soup before serving. I found that it needed quite a bit more salt and pepper than called for.
Garnished with sour cream, of course.
I will make borscht again, but not according to this recipe.
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