Smoked Pork Knuckle Noodle Soup
This Romanian smoked pork knuckle noodle soup is very nutritious and full of veggies. Making noodles at home is not a big deal and is something I love making.
It is a sour soup using borscht as souring agent. You can use lemon juice or vinegar at serving to make it sour if you cannot find borscht.
Soups are very nutritive, light and good for your body. I cannot stay more than a week without eating a soup. I grew up with them because Romanians consume them all year long, not just over cold seasons.
🥕 Ingredients For This Soup
Use good quality vegetables. If you cannot find smoked pork knuckle – you can substitute it by smoked ribs or even regular pork meat (ribs, belly, a piece of meat with some fat).
- A piece of smoked pork knuckle
- Onions, carrots
- Celery root, parsley root, parsnip
- Red pepper
- Borscht (or lemon juice)
- Eggs + flour for noodles
- Salt to taste
- Fresh parsley
🍲 How To Make Pork Knuckle Soup
1. Prep the meat and veggies
But first, make the dough for the noodles. Mix the eggs with flour and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Make a ball and let it rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Rinse the pork knuckle and cut it into cubes. Place the meat into a large enough pot with cold water and put it on medium-low flame. Once the foam starts forming, discard it a few times.
Wash and prep the veggies. Finely chop the onions and the pepper. Grate the root vegetables and save some chunks just for flavor, we will discard them later. Add them to the pot to cook for about 25-30 minutes.
2. Make noodles
Take the dough out from the fridge and roll it into a large thin layer, as thin as you can. Sprinkle flour on the work space and on the rolling pin every time you turn the dough.
Let it dry at least 25-30 minutes, while the soup is cooking. Then fold it and with a sharp knife cut the dough into fine noodles, as fine as you can.
Spread them out and let them dry another 5-10 minutes.
Note*: There will be plenty of noodles. I like lots of noodles in a soup, but they will absorb all the liquid in a few hours. So it is best to use just half of them now, and let the other half dry more overnight. Then, transfer them into a paper bag and keep them in a dry and cool place for further usage.
(It’s just not worth the mess and effort to make noddles just from 1 egg.)
3. Finish the soup
Add canned tomatoes to the soup and give it a stir. Discard the vegetable chunks.Taste for saltiness and check if the meat is done. My smoked pork was almost done after 35 minutes, just in time to prep the noodles and borscht.
*If you use pork belly or ribs it may require more cooking time. Adjust the following steps to the level of doneness of the meat. You may need to cook the meat for another 20 minutes (or more).
Next – If you have borscht, simmer it on low flame for 7-10 minutes in a separate saucepan.
Cook noodles – Place another pan with cold water and 1 tsp salt on high flame and bring it to boil. When it reaches the boiling point, add the noodles and cook them for about 2-3 minutes so they can leave the excess flour in that water.
Then transfer noodles the soup, without rinsing them with water.
Add the boiled borscht and give it another taste. If you don’t have borscht, add 4-5 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice. Let all cook together for another 5 minutes and if everything is done, turn off the flame and sprinkle with fresh parsley.
That’s it! The soup is ready to be served. There’s hardly other meal I enjoy more than a bowl of hot, freshly made soup. Yummy!!
🥄 Serving
Serve this smoked pork knuckle soup with crusty bread and more lemon juice/vinegar aside to taste. We also serve this with raw onions or chili peppers aside.
This sour soup it’s very tasty, hearty, comforting and good for your body.
Preserving
- Let the soup pot cool off and transfer in the refrigerator with a lid on it. The soup will maintain well in the fridge up to 4-5 days.
- You can also freeze some of it in plastic containers up to 2 months.
More soups you should make:
- Romanian Meatball Soup (food for soul)
- Romanian Radauteana Soup (garlic, sour cream chicken soup)
- Romanian Chicken Vegetable Soup (another flavorful delicacy)
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Smoked Pork Knuckle Noodle Soup
Ingredients
For noodles
- 2 eggs
- 1⅔ cup (200g) flour
For soup
- 2.2 lbs (1kg) smoked pork knuckle (or ribs, belly)
- 3 medium carrots
- 3 small onions
- 1 medium celery toot
- 1 parsley root
- 1 parsnip
- 1 red pepper
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups borscht (or 3-4 tbsp lemon juice, vinegar)
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
Instructions
- Make the noodle dough by incorporating flour into beaten eggs. Knead well for about 10 minutes. Let it rest in the fridge for 15 minutes. Cut the pork into cubes and place it into a large pot with cold water. Let it slowly simmer on medium-low heat and discard the foam. Prep the vegetable and chop or dice them keeping some bigger chunks that will be removed later from the pot. Let the pork knuckle cook with the veggies for about 20-25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the noodles. Roll out a very thing sheet from the refrigerated dough. Let the sheet dry out 30 minutes. Then fold it a few times and cut out noodles. Spread them over the working space and let them dry another few minutes. Put another pan (for noodles) with cold salted water on the stove and bring to the boil.
- Add canned tomatoes to the soup and give it a taste. Adjust saltiness if necessary and remove the vegetable chunks. If you have borscht - boil it separately for 5 minutes before adding it to the soup. When the water reaches the boiling point add noodles in and cook them for 2-3 minutes tops. I recommend using just half of the noodles, keep the other half for another soup, letting them dry out completely over night. Transfer noodles to the soup, add borscht or lemon juice and give it a final taste. If everything is OK, turn off the heat and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy!
