Krupnik Barley Soup

Name: Krupnik Barley Soup
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Polish
Ingredients: Chicken breast; Chicken frame or bones; One small smoked pork bone; Pearl barley; Carrot; Celery; Potato; Dried porcini or chestnut mushrooms; Onion; Flat-leaf parsley; Fresh dill; Black pepper; Salt; Water

Krupnik Barley Soup, plated as one serving.

256 kcal a serving, against 512 for the traditional version. That is 256 kcal off, or 50%, with 20g of protein. Serves 4. 2 hours.

What the traditional version is

Pork ribs boiled with barley, diced carrot, celery, potato and a handful of dried mushrooms, finished with dill and black pepper. The result is a thick, comforting soup with a rich, savoury stock and a little shredded pork in every bowl.

What changed, and what each change costs

Pork ribs swapped for a raw chicken frame plus a single smoked pork bone

The pork ribs give you a sticky, fatty soup but the calories are nearly all in that fat. I use a chicken carcass for lean stock, and add a single 50g smoked pork bone - that's just for flavour.

What it costs you. There's no point pretending the chicken frame gives the same jelly-like broth. The soup's thinner, and you lose those sticky bits clinging to the barley. The aroma from that one smoked bone does help, but it isn't pork ribs, it's smoky chicken soup with barley.

Dropped the potato by half

With less fat in the broth, the soup doesn't need as much starch to give it body. Cutting the potato frees up space for more veg or a bigger portion.

What it costs you. The soup is a touch less creamy and filling. If you need that texture, just put the potato back and accept you'll lose some of the calorie saving.

Barley up from 100g to 130g

A leaner stock can't hide behind fat, so a bit more barley makes the whole thing heartier and sneaks in more fibre and a little extra protein.

What it costs you. Marginal change to flavour; you'll need an extra five minutes cooking time to get it soft.

Chopped chicken breast in at the end

Pork off the bone adds protein and a bit of chew. In the leaner version I use 120g chicken breast, diced small and poached right at the finish, so the soup still fills you up.

What it costs you. No contest: the pork's more flavourful. No one comes to krupnik for the chicken, but you'll appreciate not being hungry again by 3pm.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Chicken breast
Chicken frame or bones
One small smoked pork bone
Pearl barley
Carrot
Celery
Potato
Dried porcini or chestnut mushrooms
Onion
Flat-leaf parsley
Fresh dill
Black pepper
Salt
Water

How it starts

Rinse the barley under cold water in a sieve.
Put the chicken frame, smoked bone, mushrooms and water into a large pot.
Lift out the bones and chicken bits - you only want the stock.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Polish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	512	256
Protein	30.4g	20g
Fat	27.5g	3.5g
Saturated fat	9.5g	0.9g
Carbohydrate	35.2g	36.7g
Protein per 100 kcal	5.9g	7.8g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Polish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. celery, gluten.

The method is in the book

I'm not going to lie - the pork version's richer, and the broth sticks to your lips in a way chicken stock just can't. But you do get a bowl that's lighter on the stomach, still comforting, and you can actually go back to work when you're done. The smoked bone brings back some of the missing depth, and upping the barley means you don't miss out on substance. Worth making if you want the taste of home without the nap-inducing aftermath.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Polish, along with 53 more. Buy the paperback