Pea soup recipe: A nostalgic, hearty winter delight

Pea soup's worth cooking on chilly days because it fills and warms you perfectly. My grandmother had a great trick for thickening pea soup, which I've slightly modernised and still use today.

Pea soup is one of the most characteristic soups. Its rich flavour and heartiness make it perfect for autumn and winter. We have a reliable recipe and a good way to thicken it. Preparing this soup is not difficult at all.

The most important ingredient in this soup is peas, which can be used hulled or unhulled. You will also need potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and bacon. Smoked meat—it can be smoked sausage or ribs—is also an important element, giving the soup its characteristic flavour.

Besides these basic ingredients, it’s worth adding spices such as bay leaves, allspice, pepper, and salt to the pea soup. Optionally, you can enrich the soup with marjoram or thyme, which complement the peas and smoked meat perfectly.

Before you start preparing the soup, you need to soak the peas, preferably for several hours. This will make them easier to cook. In the meantime, take care of the vegetables: peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes, grate or slice the carrots thinly, and finely chop the onion and garlic. Also, cut the smoked ribs or sausage into smaller pieces to add aroma and flavour to the soup.

When the pea soup is almost ready, you need to ensure it’s thickened properly. The most popular way is using a roux. Simply melt butter, add flour, and mix. Finally, add a few tablespoons of hot soup, and when the mixture is smooth, pour it into the pot. That's a known method. However, my grandmother had a different way of thickening the soup that didn’t require flour. Towards the end of cooking, she would set aside some of the peas and thoroughly mash them with a fork. I’ve "modernised" her method a bit. I use a blender and also add a few more cloves of garlic. This makes the soup thick, creamy, and wonderfully aromatic. Before serving, I season it with salt, pepper, and marjoram. This pea soup tastes best with fresh bread.

Ingredients:

• 450 g pork neck,
• 200 g smoked bacon,
• 200 g regular sausage,
• 300 g hulled peas, previously soaked and rinsed,
• 4 potatoes,
• 2 carrots,
• 1 parsley root,
• 1/2 celery root,
• 1 leek,
• 1 onion,
• 2 tablespoons lard,
• 4 cloves garlic,
• salt, pepper, bay leaves, allspice,
• marjoram.

Instructions:

1. Preparing the meat: Thoroughly wash the pork neck, cut it into smaller pieces, and sauté in heated lard. Then, cover the meat with water, add peas along with bay leaves and allspice. Cook everything on low heat until the peas start to become tender. Then set aside some of the soft peas.
2. Vegetables: Peel potatoes, carrots, parsley root, celery root, and leek. Cut all vegetables into cubes and add them to the soup. Remember to add the harder vegetables first and the potatoes towards the end of cooking.
3. Sausage and bacon: Cut the sausage and bacon into small cubes and sauté in a pan. Add half to the soup and the other half towards the end of cooking to keep their distinct flavour.
4. Seasoning and thickening: Finely chop the onion, sauté in lard, and add to the soup towards the end of cooking. Then add the reserved peas blended with garlic. Season the pea soup with salt, pepper, and marjoram.