Dutch · soup

Erwtensoep (Snert)

Name: Erwtensoep (Snert)
Prep time: 2 h 49 min
Total time: 14 h 49 min
Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients: green split peas — 500 g; cold water — 3000 g; smoked pork hock — 700 g; salted pork ribs — 300 g; smoke sausage — 250 g; celeriac — 250 g; leeks — 300 g; carrots — 300 g; potatoes — 300 g; celery — 40 g; salt — 10 g; black pepper — 3 g; dark rye bread — 224 g; katenspek — 150 g

Erwtensoep (Snert) reads umami 6.2, richness 6.0 and salinity 5.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Dutch soup, about 14 hr 49 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.9 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.7 / 10
Sour & Bright — 1.2 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 5.9 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.2 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 2.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.2 · Richness 6.0 · Salinity 5.5 · Smoke 5.5 · Sweetness 3.4 · Earthy 2.1 · Allium 2.1 · Herbaceous 1.9 · Heat 1.4 · Warm Spice 1.3 · Funk & Ferment 1.3 · Bitterness 1.1 · Sourness 1.0 · Fruity 1.0

What's in it (14)

green split peas — 500 g
cold water — 3000 g
smoked pork hock — 700 g
salted pork ribs — 300 g
smoke sausage — 250 g
celeriac — 250 g
leeks — 300 g
carrots — 300 g
potatoes — 300 g
celery — 40 g
salt — 10 g
black pepper — 3 g
dark rye bread — 224 g
katenspek — 150 g

Time & effort: about 14 hr 49 min (2 hr 49 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 19.8 kcal, 0.7 g protein, 1.2 g fat, 1.7 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

Put the split peas, water, pork hock and salted ribs in a large pot, bring slowly to a boil and skim the grey foam off the surface for the first few minutes.
Lower to a bare simmer and cook, partly covered, for 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring the bottom every so often so the peas do not catch and scorch. They should have collapsed entirely; whole peas floating in broth means it is not finished.
Add the celeriac, leek, carrot and potato and simmer a further 30 minutes, until everything is soft and the soup has thickened to a heavy purée.
Lift out the hock and ribs, strip all the meat from the bones, chop it and return it to the pot. Discard the bones and skin.
Lay the rookworst on top of the soup, cover, and poach it 15 minutes over low heat. Do not boil it: the casing splits and the fat that should be inside the sausage ends up as a slick on the soup. Lift it out and slice it into coins.
Stir in the celery leaf, salt and pepper.
Now stop, cool the soup and refrigerate it overnight. Snert is by tradition eaten the day after it is cooked, and the reason is mechanical as well as sentimental — overnight the starch from the peas and potatoes sets and the soup goes from thick to genuinely stiff.
Reheat gently the next day, thinning with a little water only if it is beyond stirring, and return the sausage coins. The traditional test is that a spoon stood upright in the middle of the pot should stay standing; it is a real test and a well-made snert passes it.
Serve in deep bowls with rye bread spread with katenspek, the Dutch cold smoked bacon, on the side.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Ham and Bean Soup — American
Tex-Mex Migas — Tex-Mex
Traditional Hopping John — Southern
Locro — Argentine
Char-Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin — American

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.