Type | Soup |
---|---|
Course | Any, sometimes appetizer |
Place of origin | Unknown, possibly Central Europe; ancient/universal |
Serving temperature | Hot |
Main ingredients | Stale bread, broth, marjoram & other herbs, onions, spices, sometimes cream |
Variations | Millefanti |
Bread soup is a simple soup that mainly consists of bread, usually stale bread. Variations exist in many countries, and it is often eaten during Lent. Both brown and white bread may be used.[1][2][3][4]
The basis for bread soup is traditionally either meat soup or vegetable broth.[5][6][7] Less often it is made with fish broth.[8] To prepare the dish, the bread is either cut into pieces and put directly into the broth, or it is cooked with onions and spices in a broth and then pureed.
Some versions add bacon, egg and cream, others liver sausage or blood sausage. A common version of the dish[where?] is prepared from the broth remaining from the steeping of sausage during home butchering of pigs. The soup is then traditionally seasoned with marjoram. An Italian variation, millefanti, also uses egg and Parmesan cheese. Some fine variations contain wine.[9] Other more rustic versions contain malt or beer.[10][11]