Danish Yellow Split Pea Soup
A thick winter soup of yellow split peas simmered with lightly salted pork belly and medisterpølse, served with rugbrød and mustard on the side.
The peas build their flavor around the lightly salted pork belly first, before the root vegetables are added to simmer along and make the soup thick and filling. The medisterpølse steeps in the finished soup at the end, while the meat is sliced and the accompaniments are set out. The slow breakdown of the peas as they cook is what gives the soup its proper, thick consistency.
Ingredients
The Soup
- 500 g yellow split peas, soaked overnight
- 2 l water, for soaking and cooking
- 3 pcs carrots
- 2 pcs parsley roots
- 200 g celeriac
- 1 pcs leek
- 1 pcs onion
- 4 sprig thyme, fresh
- salt, to taste
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
The Meat
- 800 g lightly salted pork belly, in one piece, boneless
- 400 g medisterpølse, in one long piece
To Serve
- 8 slice rugbrød
- 4 tbsp mustard, hot
- 1 jar pickled beets
How to make it
- Pour the soaked peas into a large pot along with their soaking water, and top up with cold water so it stands 2 cm above the peas. Bring it slowly to a boil over medium heat. Skim off the gray foam with a slotted spoon as you go, until the surface runs clear — otherwise the soup will turn cloudy and slightly bitter. ⏱ 15 minChef's tip Bring it up slowly and keep it at a lazy simmer. A rolling boil drives the foam and broken pea starch back into the liquid instead of letting it gather on top where you can lift it off.
- Add the lightly salted pork belly to the peas in one piece, and set the lid on ajar. Let it simmer over low heat for 1 hour, until the meat is so tender that a fork slides in easily. Stir the bottom once along the way, so the peas don't stick. ⏱ 1 h · passiveChef's tip The peas settle and scorch on the bottom long before you smell it. Drag the spoon flat across the base, not just through the middle — a brown film there gives the whole pot a burnt edge you can't season away.
- Peel the carrots, parsley roots, and celeriac, and cut them into cubes of about 1 cm. Slice the leek into thin rings, and rinse the rings thoroughly in cold water so the dirt between the layers washes away. Chop the onion coarsely. ⏱ 10 minChef's tip The 1 cm cubes need to hold up through the last 30 minutes in the pot without falling apart. Cut them smaller and they cook away into the soup; much larger, and the celeriac and parsley root will still be firm at the table.
- Add the root vegetables, leek, onion, and thyme sprigs to the pot with the pork belly. Let the soup continue simmering with the lid ajar for 30 minutes, until the peas have cooked down completely and the soup runs thick and slow off the spoon. ⏱ 30 min · passiveChef's tip Split peas have no skin to hold them, so they collapse into the liquid rather than staying whole — that's the thickening. Judge it on the spoon: it should coat the back and fall in slow sheets, not run off.
- Add the medisterpølse whole and unpricked to the thick soup. Let it steep for 20 minutes over heat so low that the soup barely bubbles, until the sausage is heated through and firm to the touch. If the soup boils hard, the sausage's skin will burst and the filling will spill out into the peas. ⏱ 20 min · passiveChef's tip Keep the surface barely trembling, around 80 °C, with only the odd bubble breaking. Pricking the skin is the other common mistake — it lets fat and juices run straight into the peas and leaves the sausage dry.
- Lift the pork belly and medisterpølse out with a slotted spoon and place them on a cutting board. Cut the pork belly into thick slices and the sausage into diagonal pieces, and arrange it all on a warm platter. Cover the platter with foil so the meat stays warm for the table.
- Fish the thyme sprigs out of the soup, and season it to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. The lightly salted pork has been salting the soup as it cooks, so taste after each addition. The peas should taste round and full-bodied, not sharp with salt.
- Ladle the thick yellow peas into deep bowls. Set the rugbrød on the table along with the meat platter, the mustard, and the pickled beets. Then everyone helps themselves to pork belly and medisterpølse — either into the peas or onto a piece of rugbrød with a dollop of mustard.
