The Soup of the Dead or ssupa dei morti is a traditional dish from Lodi prepared during the period of the commemoration of the deceased. A simple dish made with few ingredients, consisting of a vegetable sauté such as carrots, celery, and onion, to which black-eyed peas, ribs, and pork rinds are added, although I chose to omit the latter for taste reasons. The dish can finally be enriched with a sprinkle of Grana Padano, and I also recommend some homemade croutons.
This recipe is taken from the book “The Cuisine of Lodi – Traditional Recipes” compiled by APT del Lodigiano.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: Local
- Seasonality: Fall, Winter
Ingredients
- 6 cups water (approximately)
- 14 oz pork ribs
- 3.5 oz dried black-eyed peas
- 5 carrots
- 3.5 oz large yellow onion
- 2.1 oz celery
- 1 leaf bay
- to taste Grana Padano DOP
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste fine salt
- to taste black pepper
Tools
- Kitchen Scale
- Pot
- Knife
- Basin
- Cutting Board
- Colander
- Lid
- Ladle
- Fork
- Grater
Steps
To prepare the Soup of the Dead…
First, soak the dried black-eyed peas in a basin for 12 hours. After the soaking time has passed, you can begin preparing the recipe.
Take the celery, discard the leaves, remove the end of the stalk, wash it, and cut it into pieces, then peel and cut the carrots and onion into pieces as well.
In a pan or pot, brown the ribs on all sides for 5-10 minutes, depending on their size, then remove them from the pot, leaving them aside for a moment, and add the previously cut vegetables.
Sauté them over medium heat in the fat released by the ribs (if necessary, you can also add extra virgin olive oil), then when the vegetables are slightly golden and wilted, add the soaked black-eyed peas and a bay leaf.
Pour the water into the pot with the peas and cook them for about 1 hour over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
About half an hour before the end of the cooking time for the peas, add the browned ribs back to the pot; this way they will finish cooking and become more tender.
After about 1 hour, check the cooking of the peas and ribs; if they are cooked, add salt and pepper.
Serve the soup hot with a sprinkle of grated Grana Padano and croutons to taste.
Storage
It can be stored for 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Notes
If you want to speed up the recipe, you can use canned black-eyed peas.
Variations
Compared to the original recipe, I did not add butter and omitted the pork rinds.
