Chef Klaus
Berliner Kartoffelsalat
The capital's creamy potato salad, built on warm waxy potatoes that drink the dressing before mayonnaise binds the bowl, with pickle, onion, and egg doing the sharpening.
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Löffelerbsen
Created by
Berlin pea soup thick enough to hold the spoon upright, yellow peas cooked soft with smoked pork and Kasseler until the broth becomes the meal.
Soups & Stews
German
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 45 min cook•2 hr 5 min total
Yield6 servings
Löffelerbsen belong to Berlin and the old city lunch counter: cheap, filling, and built from yellow split peas, smoked pork, roots, and time. This is not a clear soup with a few peas floating in it. The spoon should stand because the peas have given themselves up into the broth.
Berlin and Brandenburg cook it thick and plain, with yellow peas and smoked meat doing the work. Further west you find more green pea soups, sometimes smoother, sometimes lighter; in the north the smoke can be stronger, and in the south the bowl starts to look like another dish entirely. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. German food doesn't need one national answer.
The technique is simple and strict: cook the peas gently until they collapse, then salt hard only after they soften. Salt too early and the skins stay stubborn while the inside turns pasty. Keep the smoked rind and bones in the pot because that's where the body is. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Don't thicken this with flour. Nicht aus dem Glas, not from the packet either. The peas thicken their own soup if you give them the time, and a floury potato helps the body without making it dull. Das braucht seine Zeit.
Löffelerbsen are tied strongly to Berlin's Aschinger restaurants, founded by August and Carl Aschinger in 1892, where workers could eat cheaply and quickly in a city that was growing by the week. Thick pea soup became one of the house signatures, filling enough to be a meal and inexpensive enough for clerks, laborers, and students. The dish also sits in the older Prussian larder, where dried peas, smoked pork, and stored roots carried kitchens through the cold months before fresh vegetables returned.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
yellow split peas
Quantity
500g
rinsed
cold water or unsalted pork stock
Quantity
1.5 litres
smoked pork belly or smoked pork ribs
Quantity
300g
with rind or bone if possible
Kasseler
Quantity
250g
diced
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely diced
carrots
Quantity
2
diced
leek
Quantity
1 small
cleaned and sliced
floury potatoes
Quantity
200g
peeled and diced
celeriac
Quantity
150g
diced
bay leaves
Quantity
2
dried marjoram
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lard or neutral oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
mild German mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
plus more to serve
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| yellow split peasrinsed | 500g |
| cold water or unsalted pork stock | 1.5 litres |
| smoked pork belly or smoked pork ribswith rind or bone if possible | 300g |
| Kasselerdiced | 250g |
| onionfinely diced | 1 large |
| carrotsdiced | 2 |
| leekcleaned and sliced | 1 small |
| floury potatoespeeled and diced | 200g |
| celeriacdiced | 150g |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| dried marjoram | 1 teaspoon |
| lard or neutral oil | 1 tablespoon |
| mild German mustardplus more to serve | 1 tablespoon |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4 to 5 litre soup pot
- •Wooden spoon
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the peas
Rinse the yellow split peas under cold water until the water runs mostly clear. This washes off loose starch and dust, so the soup thickens cleanly instead of foaming grey at the top.
- 2
Start the smoke
Put the smoked pork belly or ribs in a heavy pot with the cold water or unsalted stock, bay leaves, and peas. Start cold because the rind, bone, and smoke give up their flavour slowly as the water warms. Bring it just to a simmer and skim the foam; hard boiling makes the broth muddy.
Use unsalted stock if you use stock at all. Kasseler and smoked pork bring salt with them, and you need to control the final seasoning after the peas have softened. - 3
Sweat the roots
In a small pan, soften the onion, carrot, leek, and celeriac in the lard for 8 to 10 minutes, without browning them. Sweating the roots first pulls out their sweetness, and that sweetness balances the smoke without making the soup taste sharp.
- 4
Simmer until soft
Add the sweated vegetables, potatoes, and marjoram to the pea pot. Simmer gently for 60 to 75 minutes, stirring now and then so the peas don't catch on the bottom. Salt waits. Peas soften better before the salt tightens their skins, and this is the one step that decides whether the soup goes creamy or stays gritty.
- 5
Finish the meat
Lift out the smoked pork. Pull off the rind and bones, chop the good meat, and return it to the pot with the diced Kasseler. Simmer 15 minutes more, just long enough to warm the Kasseler through and let its smoke join the soup. Weggeworfen wird nichts, but the bone has done its work now.
- 6
Set the thickness
Stir hard with a wooden spoon, or mash a few ladles against the side of the pot, until the peas and potato give the soup a thick, spoon-standing body. Don't make it baby food. A few whole peas and bits of root belong there.
- 7
Season at the end
Stir in the mustard, then season with salt and black pepper only after the smoked meat has given up its salt. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. The soup should taste of peas first, smoke second, and salt last. Serve with chopped parsley if you want the green, and mustard on the table.
Chef Tips
- •Use yellow split peas, not whole green peas, for the Berlin style. Split peas cook down into the thick body the dish needs; whole peas stay separate unless you soak and cook them much longer.
- •Keep the pork rind or bone in the pot while it cooks. That is where the broth gets its body, and throwing it away before simmering is throwing away the best part.
- •This soup thickens as it stands. Reheat it with a splash of water or unsalted stock and stir from the bottom, because pea soup catches fast once it gets heavy.
- •Serve it with dark rye bread and a small dish of mustard. The rye gives sour chew, the mustard cuts the smoke, and the bowl doesn't need decoration.
Advance Preparation
- •Cook the soup a day ahead if you can. The smoke settles overnight, and the peas thicken into the proper spoon-standing body.
- •Store chilled for up to 3 days. Reheat gently with water or unsalted stock, stirring often from the bottom so the peas don't scorch.
- •Freeze without the parsley for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and loosen it in the pot as it warms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
700 calories
Total Fat
33 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
21 g
Cholesterol
65 mg
Sodium
1650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
66 g
Dietary Fiber
24 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
36 g
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