Hessian Soup

Ingredients

• 1 ox's head
• 600 ml split peas
• 3 carrots
• 6 turnips
• 6 potatoes
• 6 onions
• 1 celery head
• 1 bunch savoury herbs
• to taste pepper
• to taste salt
• 2 mace blades
• a little allspice
• 4 cloves
• 1 crumb of French roll
• 2.8 l water

Method

Start with the ox's head. Scrub it under cold water to remove surface debris, then soak it in salted water for at least 4 hours — the salt draws out blood and impurities that would otherwise cloud your stock. This isn't aesthetics alone; the cleaner the initial liquid, the cleaner the final soup.

Place the head in 2.8 litres of cold water and bring slowly to the simmer. You'll see grey scum break the surface in the first 10 minutes — skim this off aggressively. Once the surface clears and the liquid turns translucent, lower the heat to a bare simmer. The ox's head needs 2.5 to 3 hours until the meat pulls easily from the bone. The connective tissue should feel tender between your fingers, not grainy. Lift the head out and set it aside to cool; this prevents you tearing the meat.

Strain the cooking liquid through muslin into a clean pan. The fat will have emulsified into the broth during the long simmering; skim what you can from the surface while it's still warm, but accept that some will remain — this carries flavour and gives the soup its characteristic richness. Dice the carrots, turnips, potatoes, and onions into 1 cm pieces. Roughly chop the celery. Soak the split peas separately for 2 hours beforehand — this shortens cooking time and prevents a blown, mealy texture.

Return the broth to the heat. Add the split peas, then the root vegetables. Add the celery and a bundle of savoury herbs (thyme and parsley work here). Simmer for 40 minutes until the peas collapse into the liquid and the vegetables are entirely soft. The soup should look thick and stodgy, almost paste-like. This is when you pass roughly 60 per cent of the soup through a sieve — you want a thick, creamy base while keeping some distinct vegetable pieces for texture. The peas break down into a gentle thickener rather than a starch slurry.

Cut the finest meat from the ox's head — cheeks and tongue are best — into small pieces and stir through. Add the mace blades, allspice, and cloves now; grind the cloves slightly to release their oils. Add a 15 g crumb of French bread or other white bread, which absorbs liquid and adds body. Season sharply with salt and pepper. Bring once more to the boil, then serve into deep bowls.