Wine soup / Istrian supica

Hello Steemians!

Have you ever heard of wine soup?

Neither have I. At least not until recently. On that weekend we escaped from the city hustle and bustle and went to the stunning Istria. We decided to spend the night in Hum. This town, with merely 30 inhabitants, is referred to as the smallest town in the world. Located in central Istria, it is surrounded by magical, pristine nature. The town walls encircle just two small streets, which we strolled through in mere 5 minutes, a church and a souvenir shop. It seems to me that even before we set foot into the tavern which served us wine soup, we were already a bit drunk – from the surreal landscape and the rich history oozing from every stone.

Wine soup? What is it, we asked the waitress, taken aback by the fact that wine and soup ended up in the same sentence.

“Toasted bread, a little sugar, olive oil and mulled wine!”, she explained patiently: “Istrian soup is not soup after all – it is actually wine consumed by dipping bread into it!”, she said, smiling, leaving us utterly confused.

A simple translation of “supa” to English or other languages is difficult, but in Croatian it can mean several things – a soup, a slice of bread, while the corresponding verb “supati” means “to dip”. This means that the speciality is not really a wine soup, but rather bread dipped in wine! Now it’s getting more appetizing!

We were served the Istrian soup in the earthen jug, called the bukalet, with two spoons and we first carefully tasted it. At first, it tasted like mulled wine – sweet and smooth with a distinct taste of cloves and cinnamon, but after the third or fourth spoon, the taste became unlike any other taste I’ve ever tasted. It was simply magical and intoxicating.

Be it the good company, the open fireplace with crackling fire or the plate of local truffles cheese served to us after the soup, but we could not stop laughing , amazed by the magical ingredients in the Istrian soup.

So stop by Hum – and make sure you try the Istrian soup. You can also try to make it at home. It is bound to chase the dark January clouds away!

Ingredients:
1 L Teran wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
pepper
slice of homemade bread

Grill or toast a 1cm thick slice of bread. Put sugar and pepper into the earthen jug and cover with the oil. Pour in the heated wine and stir. Dip the toasted bread halfway into the wine and serve.