Linsensuppe is a German word meaning lentil soup, though some of the best recipes are French, from Alsace. Like many such recipes, there's a lot of variation. This recipe is based on one that I made in July 2007, using ingredients that are relatively easy to get in Ballarat. One of the notable points about this particular version is that it doesn't have potatoes, which are very common in the recipes.

Ingredients

quantity		ingredient	Step
1 kg		brown lentils	1
4 litres		meat stock or water	2
400 g		leek	2
500 g		celery	2
300 g		carrots	2
900 g		bacon hock (smoked pork hock)	3
450 g		smoked hard sausage	4
		salt	5

The choice of sausage is important. My experience and taste says that they should be as heavily smoked as possible.

Procedure

Depending on the lentils, they may need soaking. Brown lentils don't.

1. Bring the lentils to boil in the stock.
2. While this is happening, coarsely chop the leek, celery and carrots, and add to the pot.
3. When the pot is boiling, add the bacon hock, bring back to the boil and simmer. Don't add salt yet.
4. After 40 minutes, add the smoked sausage, bring back to the boil and simmer for another 20 minutes.
5. Remove the sausage and cut into about 6 mm thick slices. Add salt to taste, replace sausages, and serve. The reason for not adding salt earlier is that some salt will come out of the bacon hock and sausages, but also that salt tends to make the lentils tough.

Discussion

This dish lends itself to freezing. How big should the portions be? On 26 June 2024 I established that 700 g is too little for the two of us. Currently we're aiming for 800 g.