Kjötsúpa (Traditional Icelandic Lamb Soup)
Icelandic lamb soup is simple fare: bone-in lamb and winter root vegetables simmered into their own broth, and the perfect comfort food for a cold night.
Servings: 6 Servings
Equipment
- Heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, 6 quart or larger
- slotted spoon
- Ladle
Ingredients
- 2 to 2 1/2 lbs bone-in lamb or mutton shoulder or neck, cut into rough pieces
- 2 quarts water or enough to cover the meat by 1 inch
- 1 large rutabaga swede, peeled and chopped into rough chunks
- 4 large carrots chopped into thick chunks
- 6 medium waxy potatoes chopped into rough chunks
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 Tbsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Place the lamb in a large soup pot, such as a 6-quart Dutch oven, and add enough cool water to cover the meat by about 1 inch.
- Bring slowly up to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat until the surface is barely moving.
- Skim the grey foam off the surface with a spoon as it rises during the first 10 minutes, and discard it.
- Cover and simmer for about 1 hour, until the meat is very tender and beginning to fall from the bones. Mutton and larger pieces may take up to 1 1/2 hours.
- Add the rutabaga, carrots, potatoes, and onion. Stir in the salt and pepper.
- Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Test the rutabaga rather than the potato, since it is the slowest to cook.
- Taste and adjust the salt. Serve hot, either with the bones in the bowl or with the bones lifted out first.
Notes
Choosing the cut: You need a slow braising cut with the bone still in it, from the front quarter of the animal. Lamb neck is the classic choice and usually the cheapest thing at the butcher counter. Shoulder chops are the same muscle sliced into slabs and work identically. Skip leg, which is too lean to give up any body over an hour of simmering.
Rutabaga timing: Rutabaga is the slowest vegetable in the pot and it is the usual reason a batch comes out with hard chunks in it. Cut it no larger than the potatoes, or give it a 5 minute head start. If your pieces are big, the vegetable stage can run to 30 minutes instead of 20, and nothing is harmed by the extra time.
Do not brown the meat: The lamb goes into cold water raw. Searing first builds roasted flavors and clouds the broth, which moves the dish away from the clear, faintly sweet soup it is meant to be.
Thickening it into a stew: Use about 1/4 cup of grain. Rolled oats and rice both go in with the vegetables for the final 20 minutes. Pearl barley needs about 40 minutes, so add it 20 minutes into the lamb simmer so it gets 20 minutes with the meat and 20 more with the vegetables.
Substitutions: Parsnip is the usual stand-in for rutabaga. It is sweeter and cooks faster, so cut it larger and add it with the potatoes rather than ahead of them. Turnip works but is sharper. Cabbage, leek, and celeriac all belong; add cabbage only in the last 10 minutes.
Storage: Cool within 2 hours and refrigerate. Keeps 4 days and is better on day two, partly because the fat sets into a cap you can lift off in one piece. Freezes 3 months, though potatoes go grainy after freezing, so hold them back and add them fresh on reheating if you know a batch is headed for the freezer. Reheat gently; a hard boil shreds the meat.
Yield: This makes a full 6-quart pot. If you are feeding four, expect leftovers.
Nutrition
Calories: 763kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 596mg | Potassium: 2090mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 8038IU | Vitamin C: 55mg | Calcium: 129mg | Iron: 5mg