Mecklenburg pear soup with dumplings

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 egg(s)
• 100 ml milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar, preferably homemade
• 1 pinch of salt
• some flour
• 1 ½ liters of water
• 1 lemon(s), juice
• 50 g sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 5 m.-sized pear(s)

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour

Prepare the dumplings. To do this, mix or beat the egg with the milk, vanilla sugar, and a pinch of salt. Then gradually add enough flour to form a thick dough. It should roll off the spoon easily, similar to spaetzle. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. Make the soup. To do this, put the water, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon in a saucepan and place on the stove. Adjust the amount of sugar according to taste and the sweetness of the pears. Peel and core the pears, and add them to the soup in pieces or strips. Bring the soup to a boil. Skim off any foam that initially forms. Boil briefly but vigorously, then reduce the heat to low. Add the dumplings. To do this, use a teaspoon to pinch small pieces out of the dough and drop them into the soup. If the spoon is dipped in hot water beforehand, the dumplings will roll into the water on their own. They won’t be smooth dumplings, but they will be perfect, uneven dumplings. Then turn off the heat and let the dumplings simmer for 10-15 minutes using the residual heat. I like the soup best cold.