Berliner Kartoffelsuppe

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5L soup pot or Dutch oven
• •Potato masher
• •Sharp knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Render the bacon

   Put the bacon in a heavy pot over medium-low heat and let it give up its fat slowly, 8 to 10 minutes. Slow heat melts the fat before the meat hardens, so the vegetables cook in smoke and pork instead of dry heat. If the bacon is lean, add the oil or lard. Drop in the rind too if you have it; it will season the broth and come out later.

2. 2

   Sweat the roots

   Add the onions, carrots, celeriac, parsley root, and leek with a pinch of salt and cook until the onion is glassy and the leek has softened, about 8 minutes. Keep the heat moderate. Browned roots belong in other pots; here they should sweeten the broth without making it taste scorched.

3. 3

   Simmer the potatoes

   Add the potatoes, stock, bay leaves, marjoram, and pepper. Bring it just to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes break at the edges when pressed against the pot. A hard boil knocks the vegetables ragged before the potato starch has thickened the broth properly. Runter mit der Temperatur.

4. 4

   Mash for body

   Remove the bacon rind and bay leaves. Use a potato masher to crush about a third to half of the potatoes right in the pot, leaving plenty of cubes whole. The crushed potatoes release starch and thicken the soup; the whole pieces keep it from turning into glue. Nicht aus dem Glas, and not from a packet either.

5. 5

   Warm the sausage

   Add the Bockwurst or Wiener and warm them gently for 5 minutes without boiling. Sausage already cooked once only needs heat; boiling tightens the casing and pushes out the fat, and then you've made rubber in a good soup.

6. 6

   Finish and rest

   Taste only now, then add salt if the bacon and sausage have not done enough. Rub a pinch more marjoram between your fingers over the pot and stir in the parsley. Let the soup stand 10 minutes before serving, because potato starch thickens as it settles and the smoke, roots, and herb come together.

Chef Tips

• •Use floury potatoes, the kind that fall apart when boiled. Waxy potatoes stay neat and stubborn, and neat is not what thickens this soup.
• •Save the bacon rind. Simmered in the pot, it gives smoke and gelatine, then comes out before serving. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
• •Marjoram is the herb here, not a handful of everything green in the drawer. Add most of it during simmering for depth, then a pinch at the end so it still smells alive.
• •The soup is better the next day. Potato starch settles, the smoked bacon moves through the broth, and the whole pot tastes less like separate ingredients.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the soup one day ahead, cool it quickly, and refrigerate it covered. Reheat it gently and loosen with a splash of stock or water because potato soup thickens overnight.
• •Chop the Suppengrün, the soup vegetables, up to a day ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator. Do not cut the potatoes early unless you hold them in cold water, or they brown and lose surface starch.
• •Leftovers keep 3 days refrigerated. Warm them slowly and stir often, because thick potato soup catches on the bottom before it looks hot on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 610g)