Erbsensuppe — German Split-Pea Soup

Name: Erbsensuppe — German Split-Pea Soup
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: 500 g Dried split yellow peas; 200 g Smoked streaky bacon or Speck, diced; 1 large Onion, finely chopped; 2 Carrots, diced; 150 g Celeriac or celery, diced; 1 Leek, sliced; 2 medium Waxy potatoes, diced; 2 Bay leaves; 1 tsp Dried marjoram; 2 L Vegetable or ham stock; 4 Wiener or Bockwurst sausages, to serve; Salt and black pepper

A thick, smoky winter soup of dried yellow peas cooked down with bacon, root vegetables and marjoram until half of them collapse into the broth. Prussian army food that became everybody's food.

Quelle

Rezept von German home kitchens · 🏺 Traditionell · Everyday German household cooking — the pan-German home table shared across the regions

German home-style · traditional soup — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. The dedicated 'Kartoffelsuppe' article redirects to a list, so the soup slot uses Erbsensuppe instead, cited to the general 'Pea soup' article. That article confirms the German version built on dried peas with bacon, sausage or Kassler and dark bread, and records the Erbswurst history — Johann Heinrich Grüneberg's 1867 invention, its mass production for the Prussian army in the Franco-Prussian War, and Knorr's licence in 1889. Quantities, vegetables and method here are this book's own.

Hintergrund auf Wikipedia ↗

Zubereitung im Video · 3 Videos

Einfach Kochen CALLEkocht - Omas Rezepte einfachgeschmack

⏱ 105 Min.🍽 6 Portionen🔥 320 kcal🇩🇪 Deutschland

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Zubereitung

In a large pot over medium heat, fry the diced bacon in its own fat until the edges brown and the bottom of the pot is glazed, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, carrot, celeriac and leek and soften them for 5 minutes more.
💡 Do not drain the bacon fat. It carries the smoke into every vegetable and is the backbone of the flavour.
Add the split peas, potatoes, bay leaves, half the marjoram and all the stock. Bring to a boil, then drop to a low simmer with the lid ajar.
Simmer for 75–90 minutes, stirring every so often, until the peas have mostly dissolved and the soup is thick enough to coat a spoon. Scrape the bottom now and then so nothing catches.
💡 For a smoother soup, mash a ladleful against the side of the pot or give it a couple of pulses with a stick blender — but leave most of it whole so it still has body.
Stir in the rest of the marjoram, taste, and only now add salt and pepper. Slide in the sliced sausages and warm them through for 5 minutes without boiling hard.
Rest the pot off the heat for 10 minutes — the soup thickens further as it cools — then ladle into deep bowls. It is even better reheated the next day.

💡 Tipps

German pea soup is meant to be spoon-standingly thick, not brothy. If it thins out on reheating, simmer it uncovered for a few minutes; if it sets solid in the fridge, loosen with a splash of stock.
For a vegetarian pot, drop the bacon and sausage, use vegetable stock, and add a teaspoon of smoked paprika for the missing smoke — but then do not call it the traditional dish, which is built on pork.
Erbswurst — a compressed pea-and-fat 'sausage' you dissolved in hot water — was invented for the Prussian army in 1867 and made in the thousands of tons during the Franco-Prussian War. This bowl is its slow, honest ancestor.