🇨🇭 Switzerland · Graubünden (Grisons)
Bündner GerstensuppeSwiss barley soup
A thick barley soup from Graubünden with root vegetables and cabbage, dried beef (Bündnerfleisch) or smoked pork, finished with cream.
Origin and history
Bündner Gerstensuppe is the best-known soup of the canton of Graubünden, and each valley cooks it slightly differently. It was a practical dish of what the household had: barley, potatoes and the meat dried or smoked at the early-winter slaughter. It was often put on early on Sundays to cook while the family was at church. Winter tourism later carried it into hotels and restaurants well beyond the valleys.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 2 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 120 g2/3 cup pearl barley (Rollgerste), rinsed and soaked overnight in cold water
- 20 g1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 100 g3.5 oz smoked bacon (Speck), in small dice
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 150 g5 oz carrots (Rüebli), peeled, in small dice
- 150 g5 oz celeriac, peeled, in small dice
- 1/2 leek, halved lengthwise, washed, finely sliced
- 150 g5 oz savoy cabbage, finely shredded
- 300 g10 oz smoked pork (Rippli, smoked pork shoulder or a piece of smoked ham hock), in one piece
- 1.8 L7 1/2 cups beef or meat broth (Fleischbouillon)
- 1 onion studded with 2 bay leaves and 2 cloves
- 1 floury potato, peeled, in small dice
- 60 g2 oz Bündnerfleisch (air-dried Graubünden beef), in small dice or thin strips
- 100 mlscant 1/2 cup cream (Vollrahm)
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 small bunch chives, finely snipped
Method
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1. The evening before, put the barley to soak in plenty of cold water.
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2. Melt the butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat and let the bacon dice render for 3–4 minutes.
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3. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celeriac and leek and sweat them for about 5 minutes, stirring, without letting them brown.
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4. Drain the barley, add it to the pot and stir for 2 minutes so it is coated in fat.
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5. Pour in the broth, add the piece of smoked pork and the studded onion, and bring to the boil.
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6. Skim, cover, lower the heat and simmer very gently for 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring now and then so the barley does not stick.
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7. Add the cabbage, the potato and the Bündnerfleisch and simmer for 25–30 minutes more, until the barley is soft and the soup has turned thick and creamy.
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8. Take out the studded onion and the smoked pork; cut the meat off the bone into small pieces and return it to the pot.
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9. Stir in the cream and let the soup just heat through without boiling again.
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10. Season with pepper, then salt only if needed (the smoked meats are salty), and serve in deep bowls scattered with chives.
Notes
- Total time: 2 h 30 min, plus overnight soaking.
- Every valley of Graubünden has its own version: with or without vegetables, with different smoked or dried meats (Salsiz sausage, Speck, Bündnerfleisch, smoked pork rib), with red or white beans, with milk instead of cream, or even with chestnuts. What they share is barley cooked slowly with smoked or dried meat until thick.
- Some cooks simmer a calf's foot or a piece of boiling beef in the soup for extra body and lift it out before serving.
- The cream is optional in many households; without it the soup is lighter and the barley alone thickens it.
- Outside Switzerland, Bündnerfleisch can be replaced with bresaola (the closest equivalent) and the smoked pork with any smoked ham hock or smoked pork belly.
- It is a meal in a bowl, served with rye bread. It thickens as it stands; loosen it with a little broth when reheating. It keeps 3 days in the refrigerator and is often better the next day.
Adapted from SRF bi de Lüt – Landfrauenküche: Bündner Gerstensuppe, swissinfo.ch: Bündner Gerstensuppe (Adventskalender, Kanton Graubünden), and Gault&Millau Schweiz: Bündner Gerstensuppe (Andreas Caminada).
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Germany.
Earlier editions
- September 12, 2026