Rustic Soup of the Dead Recipe – Traditional Italian Dish

Modern Milan, political capital of Lombardy and financial capital of Italy, conjures up images of sharply dressed business people, trendy fashion shows and elegant shops. Lombardy is one of the rich areas of Italy and, indeed, the world. So it may come as a surprise that the region’s traditional cuisine is actually fairly rustic, with many humble poor cuisine dishes dating back to its less prosperous past. Many dishes revolve around staples like rice and polenta. Another case in point: mwindow of the deador Soup of the Dead, a hearty, simple soup made with pork and chickpeas, traditionally prepared for November 2, the Day of the Dead or All Souls Day.

The recipe for soup of the dead originally called for pig’s head or, more specifically the temple, or the sides of the head between the eyes and ears. All Souls Day coincided with the annual pig slaughtering season, and back in the days before refrigeration it was important to quickly use up those perishable parts of the animal. The pig’s head went into a pot to simmer with aromatics until tender; chickpeas were simmered separately until tender and then added to the pot for the last half hour or so.

These days, pig’s head has given way to ribs, or pork shoulder and a few bones, but the recipe retains its essential rustic character. Soup of the dead has all the qualities you would want from a poor cuisine dish: inexpensive ingredients, simple method and great flavor, especially from the rich pork broth it produces. (For some reason, pork broth is a rarity in Italian and other Western cooking. Once you taste this soup, you’ll wonder why.)

A bit like “The Genoese” from Naples, the recipe for Soup of the dead gives you two courses in a traditional Italian meal. You eat the chickpeas and aromatics in the pork broth as a first courseor first course, then the boiled pork as a second courseor second course, typically accompanied by pickled vegetables. Or you can break up the meat into pieces and serve everything together as a single dish or one-course meal. Either way, I think you’ll really enjoy this rustic soup—and maybe feel inspired to explore more of this regional cooking that deserves to be better known.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 250-300g (1/2-3/4 lb) of dried chickpeas

• 500-750g (1-1-1/2 lbs) of pork shoulder, plus a few bones if you have them, or an equivalent amount of pork ribs
• 6-10 pearl onions, trimmed and peeled
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into dice
• 2 celery stalks, peeled and cut into dice
• A sprig of rosemary
• A spring of wisdom
• Salt
• A few peppercorns

You need it:

• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Minced parsley, for color (optional)

Accompany with:

• Pickled onions, peppers, gherkins and other vegetables as you like

Directions

Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. Rinse out and place in a large (preferably terracotta) pot with asalted water to cover generously and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the top. Immediately lower the heat and let simmer gently until the chickpeas are tender, an hour or even two (or more) depending on the chickpeas (see Notes for details.)

Meanwhile, place the pork shoulder and bones in a large soup pot and enough water to cover. Add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer for a good hour, scrupulously skimming off any scum that rises to the top. Then add the vegetables, herbs and peppercorns and let simmer another hour or more, until the pork is tender and the broth has developed a rich flavor.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chickpeas to the soup pot with the pork and vegetables. Let everything simmer together for a good 30 minutes to let the flavors meld. If you want to add some color, stir in some minced parsley just before serving.

Serve the chickpeas with the broth as a first course or first course, with freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the side for those who want it. Serve the pork as a second course or second course, accompanied by the pickled vegetables.

Notes on Soup of the Dead

While this is a pretty time-consuming dish, it’s a bit less so than back in the day. Older recipes call for soaking the chickpeas for 48 hours, followed by 2 to 4 hours of simmering. The chickpeas I used needed only an overnight soak and were tender after simmering 1-1/2 hours. I’ve seen some updated recipes that suggest using canned chickpeas, and I’m sure that would “work” but since the pork needs long simmering anyway, I’m not sure if you would save yourself any significant time or effort.

Variations

The recipe for soup of the dead in this post is based on the one proposed by the Italian Academy of Cuisine. In some recipes you cook chickpeas and pork together in the same pot. For example, Allan Bay’s version, which he descriptively if rather mundanely calls chickpea soup and ribs (Chickpeas and Pork Rib Soup), calls for simmering soaked chickpeas and pork ribs together with a classic Italian sofritosome tomato paste and (unique to Bay) a splash of white wine for three hours. Personally, I prefer cooking the pork and chickenpeas separately. It produces a clearer broth and so a prettier soup, and you have no problems with either the chickpeas and pork cooking at different rates, as can readily happen since chickpeas are so unpredictable.

In some recipes for soup of the deadthe pork and aromatics are browned first in olive oil for extra depth of flavor, although I found this entirely boiled version, which I would assume is the original one, perfectly satisfying.

I served with green sauce along with the pickled vegetables to accompany the second course boiled pork shoulder. Pork is a very savory meat, and doesn’t need a spritely seasoning as much as other boiled meats, but it was still very nice. As a sidewe had sautéed spinach, which went perfectly.

Other Soups of the Dead…

Alessandro Molinari Pradelli, in his Lombard cuisinepart of the Newton & Compton series of regional Italian cookbooks, calls this recipe chickpeas and pork temple. He has similar but distinct recipe for soup of the deadwhich he says is a specialty of Lodi. Borlotti beans are simmered for three hours with the usual aromatic vegetables, pork rind (rind) and pork ribs cut into small pieces. This stew is served piping hot over slices of bread and topped with Parmesan cheese, as much as you like. It does sound good. No doubt another dish to use up those less desirable pig parts, this time the rind rather than the head.

The neighboring region of Piedmont has a very similar pork and chickpea soup called cisrà. It uses pork ribs, and besides chickpeas and the usual aromatics, leeks, pumpkincabbage and potatoes. Piedmont also has its own, very different soup of the deadmade with braised Savoy cabbage layered over bread, with broth poured over all, topped with cheese and baked in the oven. Sounds yummy, and we’ll feature it in a future post…

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