Preheat the pot over medium-high heat. Add a little bit of canola oil.
Cut big, hard chunks of fat off beef, if any. Add beef and bones to the pot and seat for a couple of minutes.
Add water to the pot and bring it to simmer.
Add bay leaves, coriander, and whole peppercorns. Lower the heat to low.
Loosely cover with a lid (so that there is a good amount of room for steam to escape) and cook for 2-4 hours.
About half way through of cooking meat, add whole, unpeeled beets to the pot. Cook until done, take out and set aside.
Strain off the stock and discard bones, bay leaves, coriander, and peppercorns. Set meat and beef aside.
Borscht soup:
Prepare your veggies: slice onions, mushrooms, and cabbage thinly. Grate carrots on a large grater, and cube potatoes. Peel garlic and set aside. Set whole cooked beets aside to cool.
Using the same pot, set the heat to medium and add a couple of tablespoons of canola oil to the pot.
Add onions and carrots and saute until softened. Smash garlic, mince and add to the pot. Stir well.
Add potatoes and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cabbage, stir and cook until cabbage softens.
Add tomato paste, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Stir well until tomato paste is evenly mixed.
Break apart beef and add it to the pot. Stir and start adding stock. Add enough stock to completely cover the veggies. (You can add more if you want more broth.)
Cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper. Adjust to taste.
Stir in dill weed.
Peel beets and grate them into the soup on a large cheese grater. Stir and your soup is ready to eat!
Garnish with some sour cream and fresh dill weed.
Video
Notes
Tie Spices For Broth: If you don’t want to deal with straining and picking the whole spices out of the meat and stock later, you can always tie the spices in cheesecloth so you can easily discard it after.
Storing: You can easily store the soup in the same pot you used to make it as long as it has a fitted lid. Store leftover borscht in the refrigerator, covered airtight. Properly stored, it will last for up to 5 days. Remember to always use a clean ladle when taking out individual portions to reheat.
To reheat: you can easily reheat the whole pot or portions in a smaller pot on the stove-top over medium-low heat. Heat through just until reheated and stir often to distribute the heat. You can also use a microwave for faster reheating.
You can also freeze half or all of the soup for later. Make sure to cool the soup completely before freezing. Portion it into individual freezer friendly containers or zip-top bags, or store it all together in a large container. Let as much air out as you can, seal, label, and freeze for up to 2 months. Make sure to thaw borscht slowly in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.