Hearty pea soup: The perfect comfort for cold days

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

Pea soup is one of the most characteristic soups. Its rich flavor 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 important, giving the soup its characteristic flavor.

In addition to 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 perfectly complement the peas and smoked meat.

Before preparing the soup, soak the peas, preferably for several hours. This will make them easier to cook. Meanwhile, prepare 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 flavor to the soup.

When the pea soup is almost ready, you must ensure it’s appropriately thickened. 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 "modernized" 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:

                          
• 1 lb pork neck
• 7 oz smoked bacon
• 7 oz regular sausage
• 10 oz 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:

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.