Houbová Polévka

The story

In some Czech families, houbová polévka, a creamy soup of dried forest mushrooms, is served for Christmas Eve dinner, especially in those that follow the older, meatless traditions of the Christmas Eve menu from before carp became the dominant main course. The mushrooms are gathered and dried in the fall, then soaked in warm water before cooking, so that the soaking water becomes a rich stock for the soup even though the dish contains no meat at all. The soup is often thickened with a little flour browned in butter, or with sour cream stirred in just before serving, for a creamier, richer texture. The choice of mushrooms varies by region — porcini and chanterelles in areas closer to the mountains, more readily available dried button mushrooms elsewhere. For Czech families in the diaspora, where true forest mushrooms are harder to find, this soup often travels in the form of dried mushrooms sent by relatives in the Czech Republic, because the flavor of a wild mushroom is hard to replace with the cultivated kind from the local store.