Often served as the glorious starter of Sunday family meals, these slow cooked aromatic broths are much valued for their taste and nutritional value. This version is made with the meaty upper rib part of the pork loin called baby back ribs. Cooked until the meat falls off the bone along with a few vegetables and small pasta shapes.

Ingredients – 6 portions

• 750 gram (1.6 pound)  pork baby back ribs
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 medium parsley root
• 1 small kohlrabi
• 0,5 celeriac root
• few springs of parsley, can be tied together as they will be removed at the end
• a few fine celery stalks with leaves
• 1 small yellow onion, will be used as a whole, outer skin on
• 2 cloves of garlic, left in whole un-peeled
• 10 black pepper corn – left in whole
• salt – about 3 teaspoons or to taste
• 150 gram (0.33 lb) pasta shapes for soup
• 3 litre (12.6 cups) of water

Method

1. Clean and cut the vegetables to more or less even sized chunks. Rinse the ribs, chop into manageable pieces that will fit in your pan.
2. Place the meaty bones into the pan and add enough cold water until just covered. Start cooking with a little salt and bring to boil.
3. Once boiling, take off the heat, pour off and discard this somewhat murky frothy first water. If needed take the bones out, rinse the pan and place the bones back.
4. Add the 3 litres of cold water and salt, slowly bring to the boil again, this time using a large metal spoon remove any scum that will likely form
5. Plop in the whole onion, garlic cloves and peppercorns
6. Cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour at simmering point, you should get steady small bubbles forming but no vigorous churning.
7. The chopped vegetables, parsley and celery stalks go in the pan next, cook with the bones slowly for a further 1 hour (2 hours all together or as needed for the meat become very soft and easily falling off the bones)
8. Separately cook some pasta shapes for soup according to package instructions and drain. I used the Hungarian “csiga teszta” here (snail pasta)
9. Time to say good-bye to the cooked whole onion, garlic cloves, peppercorns, parsley and celery stalks, remove these and discard
10. Take the meat and bones out onto a separate plate
11. Strain the broth through a sieve, heat back if needed
12. Serve hot ladled into each plate over a couple of spoonful of pasta, a few vegetables and meat pieces.