Chef Klaus
Dampfnudeln mit Grumbeersupp
The Pfalz puts the Dampfnudel on potato soup, not only under vanilla sauce: yeast dough, a tight lid, and the salty crust that tells you the pan was left alone.
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Bibbelsches Bohnesupp
Created by
The Saarland bean soup that waits until the beans are tender before the vinegar goes in, with bacon fat and potato doing the work properly.
Side Dishes
German
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
One Pot
20 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 main servings or 6 side servings
Bibbelsches Bohnesupp belongs to Saarland, late summer into autumn, when the small green beans come in and a pot of potatoes and bacon can feed the table without ceremony. Bibbelsche are the little beans, cut short, not a grand ingredient. Good. The dish knows what it is.
The regions split quickly on green beans. In the north you find Birnen, Bohnen und Speck, beans with pears and bacon. In Saarland and the Palatinate, the pot goes more sour, with potato for body, smoked bacon for the larder, and vinegar at the end. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
The one rule is this: the vinegar waits until the beans are tender. Put acid in early and the bean skins tighten, the potatoes stay stubborn, and you stand there wondering why supper is late. Cook the beans soft first with Bohnenkraut, summer savory, because it belongs with beans and keeps the pot from tasting flat. Then sharpen it.
I thicken the soup by crushing a few floury potatoes against the side of the pot, not with a packet and not with a jar. Nicht aus dem Glas. The bacon rind goes in if you have it, because it gives more than it looks like. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Bibbelsches Bohnesupp is a Saarland dialect dish: Bibbelscher are the small green beans, cut into short pieces for soup, and the pot belongs to the Saar-Palatinate border kitchen. The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, reached Europe from the Americas in the 16th century; the potato became a German staple much later, pushed in Prussia by Frederick II's potato orders, including the 1756 Kartoffelbefehl. In Saarland, that late pair of imports settled into smallholder and mining-house cooking, stretched with smoked pork and sharpened with vinegar from the preservation larder.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
green beans
Quantity
750g
topped, tailed, and cut into 2cm pieces
floury potatoes
Quantity
500g
peeled and cut into 1.5cm dice
smoked streaky bacon or Speck
Quantity
150g
diced, rind kept if present
lard or neutral oil (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely diced
carrot
Quantity
1
finely diced
light pork stock, chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water
Quantity
1.2 litres
fresh Bohnenkraut (summer savory)
Quantity
2 sprigs
or 1 teaspoon dried
bay leaf
Quantity
1
salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
Quantity
1 to 2 tablespoons
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| green beanstopped, tailed, and cut into 2cm pieces | 750g |
| floury potatoespeeled and cut into 1.5cm dice | 500g |
| smoked streaky bacon or Speckdiced, rind kept if present | 150g |
| lard or neutral oil (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| onionfinely diced | 1 large |
| carrotfinely diced | 1 |
| light pork stock, chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water | 1.2 litres |
| fresh Bohnenkraut (summer savory)or 1 teaspoon dried | 2 sprigs |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| white wine vinegar or cider vinegar | 1 to 2 tablespoons |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4 litre soup pot or Dutch oven
- •Sharp knife
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Cut the beans
Trim the beans and cut them into short pieces, about 2cm. Small pieces are not decoration here; they cook evenly with the diced potato and make the soup eat from a spoon instead of turning into a tangle.
- 2
Render the bacon
Put the bacon in a heavy pot over medium-low heat and let the fat come out slowly, adding the lard only if the bacon is lean. Slow rendering gives you bacon fat for the onions and keeps the meat from turning hard before the soup has even started. If there is a rind, put it in the pot too. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Do not burn the bacon dark. You want smoky fat and browned edges, not bitterness that will sit in every spoonful. - 3
Sweat the vegetables
Add the onion and carrot and cook them in the bacon fat until the onion turns glassy and the carrot brightens, about 5 minutes. This is the sweetness under the vinegar later, and if you rush it the soup tastes thin and sharp instead of balanced.
- 4
Simmer the pot
Add the potatoes, beans, stock or water, Bohnenkraut, bay leaf, salt, and several grinds of pepper. Bring it just to a boil, then runter mit der Temperatur, down with the temperature, and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes. The beans must be properly cooked and tender, and the potatoes should give when pressed with a spoon.
- 5
Thicken with potato
Fish out the bacon rind, bay leaf, and savory stems. Crush a ladleful of potatoes against the side of the pot and stir them back through the soup. Floury potato thickens cleanly because its starch is already in the pot; a flour paste would make it dull and heavy.
- 6
Sharpen at the end
Stir in 1 tablespoon vinegar, taste, then add the second spoon only if the pot needs it. The vinegar goes in now, after the beans are tender, because acid tightens bean skins and can keep the potatoes from softening. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss: taste for salt and pepper after the vinegar, not before.
- 7
Finish and serve
Stir in the parsley and let the soup stand 5 minutes off the heat so the potato body settles and the bacon fat rounds the vinegar. Serve in deep bowls with rye bread or a plain slice of farmhouse loaf. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Use floury potatoes, the kind that fall apart at the edges when boiled. Waxy potatoes stay neat, which is useful for salad and useless when the soup needs body.
- •Bohnenkraut, summer savory, matters. It is the bean herb for a reason: peppery, a little resinous, and strong enough to stand beside smoked bacon without turning the pot muddy.
- •Add vinegar only at the end. Early acid is how you get beans that squeak between your teeth after half an hour of cooking. Das braucht seine Zeit, but it also needs the right order.
- •Water works if the bacon has a rind and enough smoke. Stock is good, but a cube doing the work of pork and vegetables is a poor trade.
Advance Preparation
- •The beans and potatoes can be cut up to 6 hours ahead; keep the potatoes covered in cold water so they do not brown, then drain before cooking.
- •The soup reheats well the next day over low heat. Add a splash of water if the potato has thickened it too much, and refresh it with a few drops of vinegar after warming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 620g)
Calories
370 calories
Total Fat
18 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
1500 mg
Total Carbohydrates
42 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
13 g
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