Recipe: Authentic Pepper Pot Soup

Authentic Pepper Pot Soup Submitted by: Holly
The authentic version uses tripe. I have never cared for tripe, myself, and I have always substituted chicken, beef, turkey, sausage or even ham instead.

Ingredients:
1 pound honeycomb tripe
5 slices bacon, diced
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 quarts beef stock
1 teaspoon whole thyme leaves, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, optional
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large potato, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour



Directions:
1 Place the tripe or other meat that you have selected to use in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and turn off the heat. Allow the meat to cool a bit in the water, and then drain and rinse. Cut into 1/4 inch pieces.

2 In a large heavy kettle, saute the bacon until clear. Add the onion, celery, leeks, parsley, and green peppers; saute until tender.

3 Stir in beef stock, thyme, marjoram, cloves, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and black pepper. Bring the kettle to a boil, and turn down to a simmer. Cook, covered, until meat is very tender, about 2 hours.

4 Add the diced potato and carrots, and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

5 Prepare the roux by stirring the flour into the melted butter or margarine, and cooking for a moment on the stove. When the soup is done to your liking, stir in the roux. Simmer, stirring all the while, until the soup thickens a bit. Correct the seasonings.
Makes 8 - 12 servings