When it’s cold in the Netherlands (and it’s cold a LOT), there is one dish that every Dutch person loves to make: snert. It’s a hearty pea soup with lots of meats. I remember when my dad would make this dish, I would eat three bowls at once as a 10-year old. That’s not an exaggeration. I just could not get enough of this soup.

The only problem: It tastes even better when you let it sit overnight. So my dad learned quickly to make a huge amount at once. We had a special pot, the biggest pot I have ever seen, that would only be used to make snert. When I cook this dish now, I still do it per my dad’s recipe. A few things here and there have changed, since not everything can be found in US supermarkets, but the flavor is still as great as I always remembered. Snert is made with split peas, smoked sausage, and, depending on your specific recipe, pork belly, pork chops and/or pork sausage. It’s a hearty dish, meant to keep you warm on cold days.

If you look up ice skating in the Netherlands, you will probably see pictures of this soup as well. They go hand in hand. But I could eat this soup any time of the year. It’s that good. By the way: only call this snert when it’s been sitting for a day! Otherwise it’s simply known as erwtensoep (pea soup).

Preparation:

30 minutes

Cook Time:

2 hours

Servings:

6

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 potato (Russett works great), peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 leek, halved, rinsed, and sliced into half-moons
• 4 oz. pork belly, cut in 1 inch pieces (optional)
• 2 tbsp. butter (if using pork belly)
• 2 bratwursts / pork sausages
• 3 cups beef broth
• 6 cups water
• 1 lb. dried split peas, rinsed
• 3 bay leaves
• Pepper, to taste
• Maggi seasoning (if you can find it; otherwise, substitute with salt)
• 1 smoked sausage, sliced

Everything here can be found at a regular American grocery store, which is one of the reasons I love making this soup here. The only ingredient that just can’t be found here is Dutch smoked sausage (rookworst). I usually just get kielbasa, which works fine. This is a lot of soup, so make sure your pan is big enough!

Preparation

1. Peel and dice the carrots and potatoes into half-inch cubes. Chop the onion. Halve the leek lengthwise, rinse it well (leeks hide a lot of dirt between the layers), and slice into half-moons.
2. If using pork belly, add the butter to a pot or Dutch oven. Then sear pork belly on all sides until browned.
3. Add the broth and water and bring to a boil.
4. Add the vegetables, split peas, bratwursts, bay leaves, and pepper. Turn the heat down low, so the soup simmers.
5. After about 15 minutes, take out the bratwursts and cut them in slices.
6. Let it simmer gently for about another 2 hours, stirring every so often so nothing sticks to the bottom.
7. Add the sliced bratwurst and sliced smoked sausage. Bring the soup back to a boil, then let it simmer another 5 minutes.
8. You know it’s ready when your wooden spoon can stand upright in the middle of the pan.
9. Add some Maggi seasoning to taste. Substitute with salt if you don’t have this.

Tips

• Don't rush the simmer. The split peas need the full 90 minutes to break down and thicken the soup, if you pull it early you'll end up with something closer to a brothy vegetable soup than real snert.
• Make it a day ahead if you can. Snert always tastes better the next day, once it's had time to sit and thicken in the fridge.