Yushka

Yushka is an ancient Ukrainian word for a liquid dish, a rich broth or soup. In the broad sense yushka meant any soup or liquid in which something was cooked, but most often and most famously the word refers to fish yushka — a clear, fragrant broth of fresh fish.

The classic fish yushka is made simply, so as not to drown the natural flavour of the fish: into the water fish is put (often of several kinds for a richer flavour), along with potato, onion, carrot, bay leaf, and pepper, and at the end fresh herbs are generously added. True Cossack yushka, cooked over a campfire right on the riverbank from freshly caught fish, is wreathed in romance and considered one of the tastiest. Unlike thick soups, yushka is traditionally thinner and clearer, with an emphasis on the pure flavour of the broth. Besides the fish one, there are other yushky — mushroom, meat, bean. The word has also survived in a figurative sense. Yushka is the embodiment of the simplicity and naturalness of Ukrainian cuisine, a dish inseparably linked with tradition, nature, and Cossack culture. It warms, nourishes, and unites people at a common table or campfire.