Potato and Dumpling Soup

For the broth: The day before cooking, dice soup vegetables. Halve onion and cook, cut side down, in a stockpot. Add approximately 3 liters (approximately 12 1/2 cups) of cold water. Add shanks, vegetables and spices. Boil, skim off foam and simmer for 1 hour. Remove shanks, remove meat from bones, put bones back into soup and set meat aside. Simmer broth for another 2 hours, strain through a sieve and discard solids. Add meat and let cool, then skim off the fat.

For the dumplings: Combine all dumpling ingredients, form dumplings and let dough rest for 30 minutes. Boil 3 liters (approximately 12 1/5 cups) of salted water. Add dumplings to boiling water, remove and shock in cold water, drain and set aside. 

For the soup: Peel and slice potatoes. Boil in salted water until al dente. Cut chestnuts across, roast in a hot oven until the burst, then peel away remaining skin and shell. The chestnuts crosswise carve, let burst on a baking tray in the oven and peel. Rinse and peel carrots and celery, cut into fine strips. Do the same with the leeks. Remove meat from broth and cut into cubes. Reheat broth. Slice onions and chives. 

Heat 1/3 of the butter in a pan and fry the potatoes. Remove potatoes and fry chestnuts. Add another 1/3 of the butter and fry the dumplings. Add remaining butter to pan and cook onions and sugar. Put the vegetables into the broth and cook. Add potatoes, chestnuts and dumplings to broth. Add cooked onion and cut meat to broth. Season with salt and pepper.