Polish Cream of Mushroom Soup: Zupę Grzybową

This recipe adds non-traditional elements in a few ways…

– Using beef stock: Sorry friends, but there’s a little backstory here. The Polish are very heavily Catholic. In fact, in 2022, over 90% of the Polish population identified as Catholic and over 98% of its babies were baptized in the Catholic faith. Why is that important? Catholics abstain from eating land animals (fish is apparently a different category of meat) on Holy Days and Fridays during the Lenten (Easter) season. So, on Christmas Eve (a holy day) many Polish families (like mine) eat pierogi and either mushroom soup or borscht. It’s our version of the Italian-American (also Catholic) Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Anyway, most Polish mushroom soups are vegetarian, so mine wouldn’t be considered traditional. My family has always used beef stock. Mostly, I expect, because my dad worked in restaurants almost his whole life. He knew beef stock would make a more flavorful and savory soup. I happen to agree with him and pretty much make this recipe exclusively with beef stock, even on Christmas Eve. If you want to go the traditional Polish route, follow the vegetarian FAQ information.

– Thickening with a roux: I have NEVER seen this soup made with a roux. My dad used the flour and stock mixture method found later down the FAQs, so I’m used to our soup being super creamy. I liked the idea of have an additional layer of beef flavor and some nuttiness from the toasted flour, so I started using a roux. A lot of traditional recipes don’t use any thickeners. They only use sour cream, for creaminess and tang. Still delicious but it just doesn’t give me the comforting nostalgia I want.

– Using a variety of mushrooms: Most traditional Polish mushroom soups use only dried Polish Wood Mushrooms for the stock and fresh button mushrooms for the soup. My family has always added the porta- and baby-bellas and even one year the dried creminis. I took it further by keeping the cremini and adding shiitake mushrooms. I wanted to add more depth to the mushroom stock and the soup. So instead of a one-note mushroom flavor there’s a rich blend.

– Incorporating Extra Umami elements: This is me fully going off book from my family’s recipe and traditional recipes. In this recipe I use roasted garlic, miso paste, marmite, and soy sauce. Other than the garlic, none of these are traditional Polish ingredients, but boy do they make my soup taste yummy!

As long as you keep the dried mushrooms to around 70-100g by weight you can use all types of dried mushrooms.

We stan the Polish Wood Mushrooms in my house because they are just LOADED with flavor and tend to be denser than Italian Porcinis. However, both of these are bolete mushrooms, and have very similar flavors. If you don’t want to order or look for the Polish mushrooms, most grocery stores carry dried porcini mushrooms. Just substitute porcinis for the Polish Wood Mushrooms.
Additionally, you can 100% make things easier on yourself and make the stock with ONLY dried porcini mushrooms. They are earthy and “meaty” and make a great mushroom stock. I used 3 different mushrooms in my recipe for more depth of flavor, but it’s not necessary for a delicious soup.

I know some stores (including Costco) sell The Wild Mushroom Co.’s Dried Gourmet Mix of European Mushrooms. The blend includes Oyster, Black Trumpet, Portobello, and Porcini mushrooms. You can definitely use this blend if you don’t want to find individual types of dried mushrooms, but you’ll have less control over the stock flavor.

WARNING: DO NOT USE DRIED MORELS… or other very earthy mushrooms. They taste like dirt and spoil the whole stock.

I was steering my soup in a woodsy, “meaty” (and cheaper) direction, but there are plenty of other mushrooms that would be sooo good in this soup.

– Chanterelles: Chanterelle mushrooms will add a buttery and nutty flavor to the soup. And their vibrant color would add a nice visual pop. After all, we do eat with our eyes first, right?!

– Enoki: Enoki mushrooms won’t change the flavor too much, but they are super-fun mushrooms and can go into the soup whole. Really, they add another textural and visual component to the soup.

– Cremini: I use dried cremini in the stock, so why not fresh as well! I honestly would, if I had better access to them in my grocery stores. Creminis can be just as bold as porcini, but they are less “meaty” and nuttier in flavor. They would be a great addition to this soup.

– Shiitake: Again, shiitakes are in the mushroom stock, why not the final soup; especially with the other Asian/umami elements I have added for flavor. Shiitake mushrooms will increase the earthiness of the soup. So, I would only caution you not to add too many.

– Chicken of the Woods: Chicken of the woods mushrooms are often described as having a mild chicken-like flavor. This could be a great addition for the vegetarian and vegan versions of this recipe. Their rich orange or yellow color would also be a beautiful visual addition.

– King Oyster: King oyster mushrooms are kind of in between a button mushroom and cremini mushroom. And, you don’t have to de-stem them, so the prep work is lessened if you use them! WIN!

I do have 2 notes for adding in other or more mushrooms:

1. Keep in mind how each mushroom’s flavor will blend into the soup or blend with each other. E.G. Using only mild flavored mushrooms will produce a delicately flavored soup and really earthy mushrooms may completely cover other mushrooms’ flavors.

2. Try to stick to the same ratio of mushrooms to stock. Too many mushrooms will mess with the balance of other flavors and can make a spoonful of soup unpleasant. Even for those of us who LOVE mushrooms, there is a tipping point for soup to mushroom ratio in a bite.

Of course! I recommend you stick to lower sodium beef stocks with the highest protein ratio. The higher the protein, the higher the chance it’s comparable in flavor to homemade beef stock. Also, store bought stocks tend to be inundated with salt and take away your ability to “salt to taste”. Don’t let one ingredient ruin all your work.

There are a few ingredients to take out or substitute in order to make this mushroom soup vegetarian.

– The first and most obvious part is, use vegetable stock instead of beef stock.

– The beef fat roux also needs to go. I recommend using ghee for flavor, but a high heat oil in place of the beef fat will also work.

– The (optional) Better Than Bouillon Beef Base has to be substituted. For this ingredient use either the brand’s vegetable stock base or their garlic base. If your 6 cups (1.4L) of vegetable stock are not strong enough, the bases could overwhelm the soup a bit. Don’t use the same 1tbsp (18g) amount as listed. Instead, add the paste (after you’ve deglazed the roux) 1tsp (6g) at a time. Make sure you taste the soup after you’ve mixed in each amount, until you are happy with the flavor.

– While sour cream can still be used, I do recommend starting with a 1/4c (60ml) and working up to a higher amount. Beef stock is a very strong flavor and dampens the tang of sour cream much more than vegetable stock.

Don’t forget to taste at every stage and have fun!

Want to go all the way vegan? No problem.

– Again, the first and most obvious part is to use vegetable stock instead of beef stock.

– Next, use a high heat oil to make the blonde roux instead of beef fat or ghee. Same instructions and measurements.

– As with the vegetarian version, substitute the Better Than Bouillon Beef Base with the brand’s vegetable stock base or their garlic stock base. Add the base after you’ve deglazed your roux and add it 1tsp (6g) at a time. Make sure you taste the soup after you’ve mixed in each amount, until you are happy with the flavor.

– Orzo is typically vegan but check the packaging just to be sure no eggs are in there.

– And, lastly, use Kite Hill yogurt in place of sour cream (or another nut-based yogurt unless you’re feeling like a little coconut milk-based yogurt is where you want to take the flavor). I recommend starting with a 1/4c (60ml) of yogurt and working up to a higher amount. Beef stock is a very strong flavor and dampens the tang of sour cream much more than vegetable stock.

Don’t forget to taste at every stage and have fun!

So, you want to skip making a roux? I totally understand. Rouxes are always made out to be scary and temperamental. Though, I believe in you, if you want to skip it a few times and get a hang of the recipe first, here are some other options:

– Flour and stock: Before you start, separate out about 4-8oz (120-240ml) of stock. Then, after you’ve sautéed the vegetables and umami paste and deglazed the pot turn off the burner. Whisk or blend together the lukewarm stock and flour in a cup. Once you have a uniform flour mixture and your soup is no longer boiling (212°F or 100°C if you want to check with a thermometer) slowly whisk the mixture into the soup until it’s fully incorporated. Then turn the burner back on until the soup boils. It will begin to thicken and cook off the flour flavor in about 30 minutes. Add the mushrooms and finish the soup as written.

Of Note: If you add the flour mixture to the soup when it’s boiling, it will cook before it can break down, basically forming gummy, spätzle-like dough balls in your soup. Not good soup.

– Cornstarch: This is a really easy (and vegan) addition to thicken soups and stews. Before adding cornstarch, make a slurry (just like with the flour at a 1:1 ratio) and whisk it in until fully combined. I’d start with 1/4c (32g) and work up from there.

– Pasta: So, you know how I said not to cook the pasta in the soup? It was for two reasons, and one of them is that the starches in the pasta will further thicken the soup. So, go ahead and add the pasta into the soup to cook it. (See the FAQ about the orzo for the second reason. Oh No! I “look out for part 2’d” you.)

– Nothing: Texture is a component of flavor, but none of these actually change the taste of your soup. Aside, from the fact that you no longer have the additional beef fat from the roux, all the thickeners are doing is prolonging your tastebuds’ ability to taste your food. (Read more about The Four Elements of Flavor)

The best solution I’ve come up with is running whatever container you froze the soup in under the faucet until the soup puck comes free of the container. Then, put the frozen soup into a pot on your stove top and let it gently reheat on low, with a lid on the pot. Because of the sour cream, this soup needs to be slowly brought back to temperature without boiling.

If this seems annoying to you then try this. Follow the instructions until you get to tempering in the sour cream. Spoon the soup into leftover containers and freeze before the sour cream is added. Now you can defrost the soup with as much heat as you want. Mix in sour cream just before enjoying a bowl of soup. If you can eat the soup without burning your tongue, you can mix the sour cream right in without it curdling.

This question has two simple answers:

1. The starches in the pasta will further thicken the soup. If you are using the roux, as written, and put pasta into the soup expect your soup to have a thick gravy consistency.

2. Your leftovers will turn into a mushroom pasta salad. lol. You heard me! We did this once and learned the hard way. The pasta sat in thesoup overnight and soaked up all of the liquid. Don’t get me wrong, it was still delicious, but it wasn’t soup anymore. in my opinion, it’s much easier to just make pasta on the side and add as much or little as you’d like.