Vegetables were kept to a minimum when preparing ukha, and in fact, in classic Belarusian cuisine, ukha was simply a rich fish broth that accompanied fish pies (rasstegai, kuliebiaka, and other pirogi or pirozhki). These days it is more often a fish soup, cooked with potatoes and other vegetables. A wide variety of freshwater fish can be used, and some aficionados opine that one cannot make a good ukha from saltwater fish species.