🇸🇮 Slovenia
RičetSlovenian barley and bean soup
A thick Slovenian soup of pearl barley (ješprenj) simmered with beans, root vegetables and smoked pork, thick enough to be a one-pot meal and eaten from a bowl with a spoon.
Origin and history
Ričet is a Slovenian barley-and-bean soup whose name probably comes from the Styrian German ritschet or ritschert. Slovenian Kitchen says written references to the dish go back at least to the 16th century, that the polymath Janez Vajkard Valvasor used the word ričet in the 17th century, and that a manuscript of about 1500 from the Tegernsee monastery describes a related dish, Rutschhart, a spiced barley and pea broth.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 to 6 servings
- Total time
- 2 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 140 g3/4 cup dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight, drained
- 200 g1 cup pearl or pot barley (ješprenj), soaked at least 3 hours, with its soaking water
- 350 g12 oz smoked pork, ribs, neck or hock, in one piece
- 1 tbsp lard, optional, for softening the onion
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 carrots, small dice
- 1 parsley root or parsnip, small dice (Slovenian Kitchen lists about 2/3 of one)
- 100 g3.5 oz kohlrabi, peeled, small dice
- 100 g3.5 oz celeriac, peeled, small dice
- 275 g10 oz potatoes, peeled, cubed
- 1 bay leaf
- a few sprigs parsley, chopped
- salt and black pepper, to taste, added late as the pork is salty
Method
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1. Cover the soaked beans with fresh cold water, add the bay leaf and simmer for 1 hour, until tender. Drain, keeping the cooking liquid.
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2. If using lard, melt it in a large pot and soften the onion for 5 minutes. Add the barley with its soaking water and the smoked pork.
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3. Pour in cold water to cover the barley by about 7 cm (3 in), bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 1 hour, adding some bean liquid if it gets thick.
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4. Add the onion and garlic if not already in, then the parsley root, kohlrabi, celeriac and carrots. Simmer for 20 minutes.
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5. Add the potatoes and cook 20 minutes more, until they are soft and the barley is plump and creamy.
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6. Lift out the pork, slice or cube the meat, discarding the bones, and return it to the pot with the drained beans and parsley.
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7. Heat through for 5 minutes, adjust the thickness with hot water or bean liquid, season with salt and pepper and serve hot with bread.
Notes
- Ričet should be thick enough to be a meal, but the barley keeps absorbing liquid, so add hot water when reheating. Svet24's version is looser: it cooks the beans in beef broth and uses that broth for the pot.
- Salt only at the end: smoked pork releases a lot of salt as it cooks.
- Recipes differ by cook. Slovenian Kitchen uses smoked ribs, Svet24 smoked shoulder; Svet24 has 250 g of beans and 220 g of ješprenj (which it translates as pearled spelt), Slovenian Kitchen 140 g of borlotti and 200 g of barley. This page follows Slovenian Kitchen's quantities, which come with timings, and the method both agree on.
- Ješprenj is hulled, polished barley in Slovenia; pearl barley is the usual store-bought stand-in and cooks a little faster than pot barley, which needs the soaking.
- The same dish is known across Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Bavaria under similar names (ritschert in German).
Adapted from Svet24: Ričet (recipe) and Slovenian Kitchen: Ričet (Slovenian barley stew).
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.