The key part of rassolnik is the rassol, a liquid based on the juice of pickled cucumbers with various other seasonings.

Aside from Kalya and Solyanka, both made with pickled cucumber brine, other spicy and sour soups were also created for use as hangover treatments during the Kievan Rus’ period.

Originally Rassolnik, based on the Vladimir Dal works, was described as a meat pie with a filling of pickled cucumber.

The inventor of this soup variation is Nikolai Alexandrovich Kurbatov, who invented multiple dishes during the Soviet period.

The Leningrad Rassolnik is cooked in chicken broth, with beef kidneys added, and the new additions to the recipe were potatoes and carrots, and pearl barley could now be replaced with rice.