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Wedding soup

3/11/2022

21 Comments

 
Many of you have followed my blog for years. It feels like a community to me, even though I don’t know each of you personally. There were times when your comments gave me great comfort, especially when I lost my mom and my girlfriend. Your sincere comments and condolence wishes meant a lot to me. Unfortunately, the comments are archived because of my new blog design. I am so sad about that. Maybe some day, I will find someone who can put them back where they belong. When I wrote the blogpost about my mom’s passing, I promised you the recipe for the wedding soup that I make. Well, here it is six years later, and I am finally getting around to doing it. In these times of war and loss we need comfort food.
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
There are many versions of wedding soups. Even in Germany, they vary in the different regions. What I am sharing with you is a recipe from Lower Saxony where I am from. I liked this soup ever since I was a child. Whenever I visit Germany I will look for restaurants that serve wedding soup.
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
Wedding soup served in a German restaurant.
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
Wedding soup from another restaurant in Germany
My favorite in the soup is the egg custard cubes or Eierstich as we call them in Germany. The broth should be almost clear with a few vegetable pieces and egg custard. In my childhood, it was often the first course at a wedding or other celebration. Sometimes meatballs or bone narrow dumplings are added. The wedding soup was supposed to give the just-married couple strength for the upcoming wedding night!
The main ingredients in the soup is the broth. It takes some time and effort to make. I freeze half of the broth.
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
The greens for the broth
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
The meat and bones
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
Blackening the onions
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
The finished broth
Print the recipe


​The Recipe For german Wedding Soup

This soup will make about 6 servings depending on the size of the soup bowl. It's a filling soup and it makes a great first course or main meal. 
The egg custard recipe makes more than you need, but I like it as a snack. Sometimes, I like to add tiny meatballs. And sometimes I add pieces of meat to the soup. I got beef bones from the butcher, some of them had bone narrow in them which adds  a strong flavor. I have had wedding soups where the bone narrow was made into dumplings. 
For the broth, use the outer dark green leaves of the leek, because that’s where all the flavor is. Use the peel of the celeriac root and if possible, get a celeriac root with some leaves. That will add a lot of flavor to the broth.

The Broth:
½ to 1 lb. chuck roast
3 lb. center cut beef bones
1 fat  carrot
1 white onion with peel
1 small leek thoroughly cleaned
a few sprigs of parsley
the peel of a celeriac root
3 bay leaves
3 cloves 
1 tsp. whole allspice kernels 
2 tsp. peppercorns
4 tsp. salt

Directions:
Wash and clean all the vegetables thoroughly. Peel the celeriac root and use the peel for the broth and the rest of the root for the soup. Add lemon juice to the pieces of the celeriac root to prevent it from discoloring. Cut the unpeeled onion in half and roast the cut side down in a frying pan until turns black. Use all of the leek, including the green leaves. If you want, you can use some of the white part of the leek in the finished soup. 
Heat 12 cups of water in a large pot and just before the water boils, add the meat, spices, and the vegetables. I have never done it this way, but it seems to work. When the broth comes to a boil, skim the foam off. Reduce the heat and simmer the broth covered for at least four hours. Let the broth cool a little bit and remove all the large vegetable pieces and meat. Discard the vegetables and bones. Cut the meat into small pieces and save. Ladle the broth through a sieve covered with a piece of gauze or thin towel. This way, you get rid of all the spices and protein pieces from the meat. I put my broth in the fridge and remove the hardened fat the following day. 

Things that go into the soup:

The Vegetables:
1 fat peeled carrot cut into small cubes
About 2 cups peeled celeriac root  cut into small cubes

Meatballs :
You can double this recipe and freeze half of the meatballs when you make the soup again with the leftover frozen broth.

Ingredients:
¼ lb. ground beef
1 2-inch piece of baguette 
salt
pepper
a pinch of nutmeg

Directions:
Soak the piece of baguette in milk until soft. Squeeze out all the liquid and mix with the meat, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Roll into little balls and boil in salted water for about five minutes. Drain and put them aside for the soup. 

Egg Custard:

Ingredients :
3 eggs 
whole milk (equal to the volume of the eggs)
salt
pepper
a pinch of nutmeg

Directions:
Measure the volume of the eggs and then add the same amount of whole milk. Puree the milk, eggs, salt pepper and nutmeg in a blender (or use an inversion blender). Line a container with a fitting lid with plastic wrap. (I used a plastic container.) Pour the egg mixture into the lined container, put the lid on and emerge the container into a pot with simmering water. Cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes or until the custard has set. Once the custard is done, flip the container over a plate, remove the plastic and cool the custard. Cut into small cubes.

The Soup:
Reheat the broth, add the cooked meatballs, the meat, the vegetables and simmer for about  8-10 minutes. Ladle the soup into a bowl, add some egg custard and sprinkle with some chopped parsley.

Guten Appetit!
Recipe from Callekocht Hochzeitssuppe ( YouTube)
Translated and adapted by Sunnycovechef.com
German Wedding soup from Lower Saxony
21 Comments
John / Kitchen Riffs link
3/12/2022 07:21:49 pm

What a splendid looking soup! I think most people like meatballs, and they're always fun to find in your soup bowl. This looks great -- thanks.

Reply
Gerlinde
3/12/2022 07:43:03 pm

My favorite in this soup is the egg custard. Thanks for the comment John.

Reply
sherry link
3/14/2022 01:24:17 am

what an interesting soup. custard cubes? my goodness. and meatballs are always a winner!

Reply
Gerlinde
3/15/2022 12:01:37 am

The egg custard was always my favorite part of the soup.

Reply
Liz link
3/14/2022 07:52:41 am

Wow, what a marvelous, hearty soup. Adding egg custard is new to me, but it sounds like a terrific addition. I'm sure we'll still have some cold days ahead where soup will hit the spot.

Reply
Gerlinde
3/15/2022 12:03:15 am

The egg custard is a German thing , I have never seen it anywhere else,

Reply
Jeff the Chef link
3/19/2022 05:24:02 am

Custard cubes! What an interesting idea! I've never though too highly of wedding soup, but this one is a clear exception!

Reply
Gerlinde
4/3/2022 03:48:06 pm

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the comment.

Reply
Karen (Back Road Journal) link
3/19/2022 01:25:17 pm

Your wedding soup is very different with the added egg custard cubes. It sounds like a labor of love and very special.

Reply
Gerlinde
4/3/2022 03:49:31 pm

Making the broth is a labor of love, the rest is pretty easy.

Reply
sippitysup link
3/22/2022 08:36:02 am

It's the egg custard cubes that make this soup fascinating to me. It would be an entirely new taste for me. GREG

Reply
Gerlinde
3/31/2022 08:44:31 am

I love the egg custard in a tasty broth. It’s a treat .

Reply
Pamela link
3/24/2022 07:28:06 am

Your blog looks wonderful! Photos so clear and enticing. Yum to German Wedding Soup. And three cheers to the blogging friendship community we have created where we support and care for each other. Hugs to you, Pam

Reply
Gerlinde
3/31/2022 08:45:46 am

I remember your touching comment when my mom passed. Hugs to you !

Reply
Frank | Memorie di Angelina link
3/27/2022 12:49:52 pm

I had no idea that Germans also made Wedding Soup. This version sounds and looks delicious. I especially like the egg custard cubes, which remind me of another Italian soup called zuppa imperiale. Interesting how culinary traditions intersect...

Reply
Gerlinde
3/31/2022 08:48:06 am

We are more alike than we are different, especially when it comes to food.

Reply
David Scott Allen link
4/8/2022 07:38:38 am

Gerlinde — I have missed getting your posts and, for the longest time, thought you were taking a vacation! Then I mentioned it to you and have finally resubscribed — I hope it worked! I promise to spend a lot of time his weekend catching up on all your posts!

This wedding soup looks fabulous! I have never heard of soup with cooked custard! Must try it!

Reply
Gerlinde
4/8/2022 04:58:31 pm

Thanks David, I love to cook and I enjoy all my blogging buddies posts and I have learned a lot but I will always struggle with the website. Thanks for your encouragement.

Reply
David Scott Allen link
4/10/2022 07:03:12 am

Same here! And I hope my resubscribing works! Have a lovely Sunday!

Renate
1/7/2024 08:39:11 am

Yesterday, my father (94 yrs old) was ill and asked for 'egg drop soup', so I made the Chinese recipe for that soup. He was a bit disappointed, and said it should have cubes of egg in it like his mother used to make. My soup was good, but the egg part wasn't what he really wanted. So I asked my aunt, and she told me about Eierstichsuppe. No one had Grandma's recipe though. Upon googling it, I found yours, and I look forward to trying this today, and surprising my father. It's mainly the custard part I am going for. Now that I see the pictures, I do remember Grandma's soup, and I'm so excited to make something similar. Thanks for the recipe!

Reply
Gerlinde
1/7/2024 10:58:02 pm

You are so welcome. You are taking good care of your dad. Let me know how it turned out.

Reply



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    WELCOME TO SUNNY COVE CHEF

    Thank you for visiting my blog.  My two passions are cooking and traveling. Traveling exposes me to a wide variety of food and experiences. I walk around cities looking for markets, restaurants, bakeries, shops, you name it, and if it is related to food you will find me there, tasting, smelling, talking to vendors, and having a great time.

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