Split Pea Soup with Spareribs
Submitted by HeatherRae
Old-fashioned split pea soup simmered for hours with 3 pounds of pork spareribs, leeks, carrots, and a bouquet garni. The kind of thick, rib-sticking soup your grandmother’s kitchen smelled like all winter long.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
3 hrsREADY
3 hrsThree pounds of spareribs and a long, lazy simmer is the old-world way to make split pea soup. No shortcuts, no fancy techniques. Just bones, peas, and time doing what they do best.
Leeks replace the usual onions here, bringing a sweeter, more delicate allium flavor that blends into the background. A cheesecloth bundle of bay leaves, parsley, and whole peppercorns infuses the broth with herbal warmth that you pull out at the end. Clean flavors, no fishing for bay leaves in your bowl.
After 3 to 4 hours of gentle simmering, the peas dissolve into a thick porridge and the spareribs practically fall off the bone. Strip the meat, stir it back in, and ladle this into deep bowls on the coldest night of the year.
Kitchen Tips
- Hickory smoke salt is the secret ingredient. It mimics the flavor of a smoked ham hock without needing one. Find it in the spice aisle or online.
- Add hot water periodically as the soup simmers. The peas absorb a lot of liquid and the soup will get too thick if you don’t.
- Make the cheesecloth bundle tight so nothing escapes into the soup. Biting into a whole peppercorn is nobody’s idea of fun.
- This soup freezes exceptionally well. Portion it into containers and you’ve got weeks of ready-made winter lunches.
Ingredients
Directions
Combine spareribs and water in large kettle.
Bring to boil.
Rinse and drain peas and add to ribs along with celery, carrots, leeks, smoked salt, salt and thyme.
Tie bay leaves, parsley and peppercorns in small square of cheesecloth and drop into soup.
Cover, reduce heat and simmer 3 to 4 hours or until soup is consistency of thin porridge.
Add hot water from time to time if needed.
Remove ribs from soup, strip meat off bones and return meat to soup.
Adjust seasonings, if needed.
Reheat if needed, remove bundle of herbs and ladle soup into hot bowls.
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