🇩🇰 Denmark

HønsekødssuppeDanish chicken soup with dumplings

Name: Hønsekødssuppe (Danish chicken soup with dumplings)
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Denmark
Ingredients: 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) whole chicken or boiling hen; 3 litres (3 quarts) water; 1 bouquet garni, thyme, parsley stems, bay leaf; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 3 carrots, cut in small dice; 2 leeks, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced; 1 parsley root or parsnip, small dice; 2 celery stalks, or a quarter celeriac, diced; 250 g (9 oz) minced pork, for the kødboller; 1 tbsp plain flour, for the meatballs; 1 small onion, grated, for the meatballs; 1 egg, for the meatballs; 2 tbsp milk, added a spoon at a time; 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg, for the meatballs; 60 g (4 tbsp) butter, for the melboller; 180 g (1 1/3 cups) plain flour, for the melboller; 150 ml (2/3 cup) water, for the melboller; 2 eggs, for the melboller; salt and pepper, to taste; small bunch parsley, chopped

A Danish soup of clear chicken (hen) broth with diced soup vegetables, served with small pork meatballs (kødboller) and choux-style flour dumplings (melboller).

Origin and history

Hønsekødssuppe is a Danish festive and Sunday dish: a clear chicken soup served with meatballs and melboller. According to Den Store Danske, melboller come from the Danish rural household kitchen of the 1800s and appear in Frøken Jensen's cookbook; factory production began in Esbjerg in the 1960s, and most people now buy them frozen. One cooking site says the soup was once served only to the Danish nobility, but it cites no source.

Make it at home

Makes: 6 servings
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Hands-on: 50 min

Ingredients

Metric US

1.5 kg3.3 lb whole chicken or boiling hen
3 litres3 quarts water
1 bouquet garni, thyme, parsley stems, bay leaf
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 carrots, cut in small dice
2 leeks, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 parsley root or parsnip, small dice
2 celery stalks, or a quarter celeriac, diced
250 g9 oz minced pork, for the kødboller
1 tbsp plain flour, for the meatballs
1 small onion, grated, for the meatballs
1 egg, for the meatballs
2 tbsp milk, added a spoon at a time
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg, for the meatballs
60 g4 tbsp butter, for the melboller
180 g1 1/3 cups plain flour, for the melboller
150 ml2/3 cup water, for the melboller
2 eggs, for the melboller
salt and pepper, to taste
small bunch parsley, chopped

Method

1. Cover the chicken with water in a large pot, bring to the boil, then drain and rinse the bird to get a clear stock.
2. Return it to the clean pot with 3 litres of fresh water, bring to a gentle simmer and add the bouquet garni and peppercorns.
3. Simmer very gently for about 1 hour 15 minutes, skimming, until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Lift out the chicken, discard the bouquet garni and, when cool enough to handle, pick the meat off the bones; keep it for the soup or another dish.
5. For the melboller, bring the 150 ml of water and the butter to the boil in a small pan, then take it off the heat.
6. Stir in the flour and a pinch of salt until smooth, cool the dough for about 10 minutes, then beat in the eggs one at a time and leave to rest 20 minutes.
7. Mix the pork, flour, grated onion, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper, adding the milk gradually; fry a small test piece to check the seasoning.
8. Shape the pork mixture into balls about 2.5 cm / 1 in wide and the dumpling dough into similar-sized balls with wet spoons.
9. Poach the meatballs and dumplings separately in lightly salted barely simmering water until they float and are cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes; lift out with a slotted spoon.
10. Add the carrots, leeks, parsley root and celery to the strained stock and simmer until soft, about 15 minutes; season.
11. Divide the meatballs, dumplings and some of the chicken among bowls, ladle the hot soup over and sprinkle with parsley.

Notes

The name literally means hen-meat soup. Traditionally the clear broth of a boiled hen is served with two garnishes: kødboller (pork meatballs) and melboller (flour dumplings), which Den Store Danske says are made of wheat flour, butter, water and egg and poached in lightly salted water.
The melbolle dough here is about 60 percent of the SBS Food quantities (butter, flour, water and eggs); the Foodfanatic recipe uses a lighter dough (100 g flour to 60 g butter, 200 ml water and 2 eggs), so use less flour if you like softer dumplings. SBS binds its meatballs with soaked bread, Foodfanatic and Chef's Pencil with a little flour, onion and egg.
Most Danes today buy melboller frozen. Some cooks add the cooked chicken meat to the soup, others use it in another dish, as Adam Liaw describes; Madensverden cuts the soup vegetables small and adds the meat back.
Fresh bread is a common accompaniment (Madensverden suggests buttermilk bread). Nutmeg in the meatballs is optional.
Make-ahead: the stock and the poached garnishes keep a day or two; warm the garnishes in the soup without letting it boil.

Adapted from Adam Liaw, Destination Flavour Scandinavia: Hen's soup with double dumplings (SBS Food), Chef's Pencil, Hønsekødssupper med kød og melboller, lex.dk (Den Store Danske), melbolle, Foodfanatic.dk, Kød- og melboller, and Madensverden.dk, Kyllingesuppe på en hel kylling.