Pork Rib Soup
Pork, Potatoes, Soups, Vegetables

Pork Rib Soup (‘Rippcheneintopf’)

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Last Updated on 3 years by Tim

I love hearty soups that contain all the elements of a wholesome meal. Just as for example the Swabian beef soup (‘Gaisburger Marsch’), this pork rib soup has it all: Potatoes, vegetables, and meat. All cooked to perfection in a savory broth.

Spare ribs used to be a very cheap cut of meat in Germany. They were not used as barbecue meat in traditional cuisine. It was typical soup meat that was boiled in water until tender. However, with the growing popularity of American-style barbecue ribs, it’s now one of the higher-priced cuts of pork.

Ingredients for pork rib soup

Spare ribs are nevertheless delicious and I still think they are the perfect soup meat. They contain large amounts of fat and gelatin that help to keep them moist and tender. Beef often dries out a little when cooked for soup and doesn’t have the great taste of pork meat.

You decide which vegetables go into your pork rib soup

You can alter the veggies in this soup depending on your taste and the season. I like potatoes, green beans, and carrots. They should always be added to the soup just shortly before serving so that they are cooked through but not mushy. There’s nothing worse than tasteless carrot mush.

Blanched carrots, beans, and potatoes

You don’t need to have any premade broth on hand to whip up this soup. Cooking the pork ribs in water will yield a light and savory pork broth. It’s best to use a pressure cooker for this dish to cut down on the cooking time. With a pressure cooker, the ribs are tender in just 15 minutes.

If you can’t get your hand on fresh savory for the broth, you can substitute it with dried savory or fresh thyme sprigs. It’s a very fragrant herb that is severely underused in Western cuisine. It improves the digestibility of the meal, especially of the green beans. Savory is used by a lot of German grandmas but has lost a lot of its popularity in recent years because it tastes slightly bitter. Other dishes that I use savory for are arctic char with horseradish sauce and braised green beans.

2 Comments

  1. Lea Barrett

    Nice soup…but man, it uses up a lot of pans and bowls! Next time, I’d just cook my ribs, strain the broth, take the meat off the bones, then cook my veggies in the broth and add the meat back in. Less time and less washing up with the same result. 🙂

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