German Vegetable Soup

This German vegetable soup is Pennsylvania Dutch cooking in a pot: a soup bone simmered for hours to make a rich broth, loaded with cabbage, turnip, lima beans, corn, carrots, and tomatoes, then thickened at the end with a simple flour-and-milk slurry.

The long simmer on the soup bone is where all the flavor comes from. You can’t shortcut this with store-bought broth and get the same result. Those hours of boiling pull gelatin and marrow flavor from the bone, creating a broth with real body that coats the back of a spoon.

Skimming the fat after the bone has simmered is important. German vegetable soup should taste clean and hearty, not greasy. Let the broth cool slightly and the fat will rise to the top where you can skim it off easily.

Kitchen Tips

• Start the bone in cold water, not hot. Cold water draws out more flavor and produces a clearer broth.
• Add the vegetables after skimming the fat. They need about an hour of cooking to become tender, and adding them too early turns them to mush.
• Mix the flour into the milk before adding to the soup. Dumping flour directly into hot liquid creates lumps that won’t dissolve.
• This soup gets better overnight as the flavors meld. Make a big batch.

Variations

• Beef chunks: Add cubed stew meat along with the soup bone for a heartier, meatier version.
• Potato addition: Stir in diced potatoes with the other vegetables for more substance.