Learn to Make Borscht with Neko Case and Get a Taste of Her New Album

What’s the dif­fer­ence between borscht and alt-coun­try music?

Uh, pret­ty much every­thing, except for singer-song­writer, Neko Case, the most recent in a long list of celebri­ties to share Ukrain­ian beet soup recipes with an ador­ing pub­lic.

Filmed at the behest of Rook­ie, an online mag­a­zine by and for teenage girls, Neko’s video­taped les­son is both basic and refresh­ing­ly unex­act­ing. Her sta­tus as the child of Ukrain­ian immi­grants affords her the street cred to tell view­ers they should take it as a sign they’re on the right track should some­one of east­ern Euro­pean extrac­tion insist they’re doing it wrong. (Her on-cam­era ver­sion is gluten-free, and—prior to the addi­tion of sour cream and chick­en stock—lactose-free and veg­an, as well.)

Inter­est­ed in sam­pling her ver­sion? Put the lap­top on the counter. You won’t miss any­thing if you com­mence chop­ping right away. The demo is as casu­al as her lack of styling, clock­ing in at near­ly twen­ty min­utes, includ­ing tips for tear-free onion cut­ting, cel­ery leaf usage, and the mak­ing of mire­poix.

You’ll also get a tiny taste of “Man,” the first sin­gle from her soon-to-drop new album,The Worse Things Get, The Hard­er I Fight, The Hard­er I Fight, The More I Love You, though keep your ears peeled for the song that plays as the cred­its roll. In an age defined by such pres­sure cook­er shows as Top Chef, Hel­l’s Kitchen, and Chopped, the phrase “If I puked up some son­nets, would you call me a mir­a­cle” is odd­ly alt-appe­tiz­ing.

Neko Case’s new album is still stream­ing for free at NPR’s First Lis­ten site.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Allen Ginsberg’s Per­son­al Recipe for Cold Sum­mer Borscht

Cook­pad, the Largest Recipe Site in Japan, Launch­es New Site in Eng­lish

Archive of Hand­writ­ten Recipes (1600 – 1960) Will Teach You How to Stew a Calf’s Head and More

Ayun Hal­l­i­day just dis­cov­ered kvass. Fol­low her @AyunHalliday