German Pease Pudding: Erbspüree

"Erbspüree," also called "Erbsenpüree," is a dish known for its place in the cuisine of Berlin, although it is not unknown in other German areas. It is used as a side dish (German: "Beilage"). While similar dishes might be known in some limited parts of the United States, I must admit I'm not aware of it being a widespread dish among Americans. It is well known in northeastern England where it is often called "pease porridge," as in "pease porridge in a pot, nine days old" (pew!), but the term "pease pudding" is also used and the English version is slightly different from the German, and I intend to be covering it in the near future. You can use yellow or green split peas and both are used in Berlin. I used green split peas when I made this for this article and picture, because that's what I had in the pantry, but in the past I've used yellow split peas at times. There are variations in the exact recipes for Erbspüree. In Berlin Erbspüree is a common side dish for "Eisbein;" that is, cured ham hock, also called pig's knuckle by some.    

Ingredients: 

 

2 cups dried split peas (yellow or green), soaked for a few hours or overnight

1 1/2 cups chopped onion (fairly small chop)

2 tablespoons butter

6 slices bacon, chopped

2 teaspoons dried marjoram (you can substitute oregano)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

 

Soak the split peas overnight or for a few hours, then drain and rinse them. Simmer the split peas in fresh water until tender, "generally" about 45 minutes to an hour. Add the bacon and the onion to a pan over medium heat, saute until the onion softens, but don't let the bacon get crispy. Drain the cooked peas well, add the butter and use a stickblender, also known as an immersion blender (or you can use a mixer) and blend the peas into a consistency you prefer. I prefer to make about half of the peas very smooth, and to blend the other half, but to keep them a little chunky before mixing the two together and stirring in the onion/bacon mixture, marjoram and black pepper.      

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Dunk-This word is related to "tincture" and to "tinge," words borrowed by English from Latin, and to "taint," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French. It goes back to Indo European "teng," which had the notion "to moisten, to soak, to make wet." Its history in the Germanic languages is sketchy, at best, especially regarding a form in Old Germanic. It is not a common word in the Germanic languages and there are not many forms identified in the ancient Germanic dialects. It's certainly possible that there were forms, but that they did not survive, except, obviously, in a couple of the West Germanic dialects. Old High German, the direct ancestor of modern German, had "thunkon," which meant "to dip (into liquid)," with the further meaning, "to plunge something into liquid to color it," or, "to moisten something with a coloring agent." This then became "dunkon," then "dunken," meaning, "to dip, to submerge (something)." In some High German dialects it then became "tunken," which then prevailed into the modern era as being the standard form. The spelling with "d" persisted in some dialects, including those in the Palatinate region, where a number of people emigrated to Colonial America, especially to Pennsylvania, where the German dialect continued as "Pennsylvania German," incorrectly also known as "Pennsylvania Dutch" from the misunderstanding of English speakers of the various terms centered around "Deutsch" and "Dutch."^ The Pennsylania German word was "dunke" and this was borrowed by English in the early part of the 20th Century. In the 1930s the meaning, "to stuff a basketball through the hoop/net," developed. The noun form simply developed from the verb. The religious sect, the "Dunkers," came about in the mid 1700s from German settlers in Colonial Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania German term "Tunker/Dunker" for those who were "dunked" into water for baptism. 

 

^ For more about these forms, here is the link to an article I did from several years ago:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-do-we-call-them-these-names.html