Kulajda (Bohemian Mushroom Soup)

About This Recipe

Kulajda is one of the most distinctive Czech soups: creamy and slightly sour, made with potatoes, wild mushrooms, dill and a splash of vinegar, served topped with a poached egg whose yolk runs into the broth to enrich each spoonful. It comes from the farmhouse kitchens of southern Bohemia, where the combination of foraged mushrooms, dairy and vinegar gave it long shelf life and complex flavour at a time of year — mushroom season — when fresh produce was otherwise scarce. The balance between the sour and the creamy elements is what defines a good kulajda: the vinegar is added at the end, off the heat, so its sharpness stays bright rather than cooking off, cutting through the richness of the cream and egg yolk rather than being masked by it. Dill is not a garnish here but a structural flavour, stirred through the broth itself so its aroma carries through every bite rather than sitting on top. Poaching the egg directly in the hot soup, rather than separately, is the traditional method — the yolk stays soft enough to break and mingle into the broth the moment it's spooned, turning each bowl into something closer to a sauce-thickened stew than a thin soup.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 300 gmixed mushrooms(porcini, oyster, button — sliced)
• 400 gpotatoes(peeled, cubed small)
• 1 mediumonion(finely chopped)
• 30 gbutter
• 1.2 Lvegetable stock(or chicken stock)
• 200 mldouble cream
• 100 mlmilk
• 30 gplain flour
• 1 tbspwhite wine vinegar(or to taste)
• 1 tbspfresh dill(chopped, plus extra)
• 1 tspcaraway seeds
• 1 tspsugar
• 1 tspsalt
• 1/2 tspfreshly ground black pepper
• 1bay leaf
• 4eggs(for poaching)
• White vinegar, for poaching

Instructions

1. 1

   Sauté onion and mushrooms

   Melt butter in a heavy pot. Cook onion 6 min until soft. Add mushrooms and cook 8 min until they release water and brown.

2. 2

   Add aromatics

   Add caraway, bay leaf and sugar. Stir 1 min.

3. 3

   Boil base

   Add stock and potatoes. Salt. Simmer 18 min until potatoes are tender.

4. 4

   Make slurry

   Whisk flour into cold milk. Pour into pot, whisking. Simmer 5 minutes — soup thickens.

5. 5

   Cream and finish

   Stir in cream. Add vinegar (start with 1/2 tbsp, add more to taste — should be subtly tangy). Stir in dill and pepper. Adjust salt.

6. 6

   Poach eggs

   Bring a pot of water to a bare simmer. Add a splash of vinegar. Crack eggs into the swirling water one at a time. Poach 3 min for runny yolks.

7. 7

   Serve

   Ladle soup into bowls. Place a poached egg on top of each. Sprinkle dill. Eat with bread.

Variations

• •

  Add 80g pickled cucumbers diced for extra tang

• •

  Use sour cream instead of double cream for sharper flavour

• •

  Add 200g cooked, chopped wild mushrooms (chanterelles, morels) for luxe version

Storage

Soup refrigerates 4 days. Always poach eggs fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions