Thuringian-style lentil soup

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g Lentils, brown or a can without meat, with carrots
• 2 liters of water
• 500 g pork, fatty belly meat or smoked ribs
• 3 m.-sized potatoes
• 250 g sausage, meat sausage or blood sausage
• 4 pieces of Bockwurst
• Vegetable broth, instant
• Vinegar, who wants
• marjoram
• Salt
• Sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Soak the lentils in water overnight and drain the water. Place the pork belly or smoked pork in water with marjoram and vegetable stock and cook until tender in a separate pot. Add salt if necessary. Peel and chop the potatoes, then add them along with the soaked lentils and cook until tender. Cook a small carrot with the pork belly and lightly mash the potatoes. Once everything is cooked, add the red sausage or blood sausage and bring back to a boil so the red sausage dissolves. If you like, you can add four more frankfurters, but do not boil them any further. Place vinegar and sugar on the table for seasoning, as not everyone likes vinegar. Serve with brown bread and Erfurt mustard. Or: If you have a can of lentils, with carrots and without meat, cook the pork belly as described above and season it with marjoram, salt, and vegetable stock as described above. Let the meat simmer until tender and the broth almost boils down. Then add the potatoes, cook until tender, and mash them. Then add the canned lentils and the broth, and cook the black pudding with it. You can add the frankfurters in the same way as described above and continue cooking as described above. You can also add the vinegar at the same time, along with a pinch of sugar. The vinegar should only be added to the soup once the lentils and all other ingredients are tender. If the lentils are still hard, they won’t soften again if you add the vinegar to the soup!