Swiss Barley Soup (Bündner Gerstensuppe)
The Swiss Barley Soup (Bündner Gerstensuppe) is the most famous soup of Graubünden, the eastern most canton of Switzerland. Not only is it famous in Graubünden but also well known far beyond Switzerland. There are dozens of variants and this is the recipe my mom taught me.
I have very fond memories of eating this soup during my childhood. After a day playing out in the snow and coming home shivering and drenched (yes the clothes weren’t as waterproof as nowadays) this soup was always the right medicine to warm up the heart and the body.
This soup is especially popular as a lunch option while skiing or hiking in the Alps. It is very nourishing and has a very unique flavour which I associate with winter, snow, skiing and happiness. Whatever association the Swiss Barley Soup will awake in you I am certain that you will enjoy the amazing flavour of this soup.
When I first got to know my wife Alexandra this was one of the dishes I wanted to share with her. So on one of my first trips to Mexico I made this soup for her and her family. However, before I could start preparing the soup we walked into a slight problem. We could not find any leek in the local food markets or stores. So I had to improvise and change the ingredients to what was available to me in Mexico. I replaced the leek with 3 to 4 onions and cut the onions up into small pieces. The final soup was amazing and it quickly became one of the favourite soups of Alexandra and the boys. As they had a hard time saying “Bündner Gerstensuppe” we from that day forward are calling it “Sopa Suiza”.
For a step by step video of how to make this soup, watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Zp1zKcYDc
Swiss Barley Soup (Bündner Gerstensuppe)
Ingredients
- 4 carrots
- 3 onions
- 3 leek
- 400 g cured smoked pork chop
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 cloves
- 200 g barley
- salt
- pepper
- 4 l water
Instructions
- Peel the carrots and cut them up in small cubes
- Finely chop up 2 of the onions
- Cut the leek into thin circles
- Cut up the pork chop into bite size pieces
- Add the olive oil to a deep pot and heat it up. Add the chopped up onions, carrots and leek to steam and sauté them for about 5min. Stir occasionally.
- Add the water, the barley, the bay leaves, the meat, the onion with the cloves stuck into it and some salt and pepper.
- Cook the soup at low to medium heat for 2 hours. Then add more salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
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