Portable Soup or Pocket Soup
Count Rumford *(Benjamin Thompson, 1753-1814), an American-born physicist and inventor, is credited with inventing "portable soup" or "pocket soup", made of a solidified stock of veal, meat trimmings, pork off cuts, and other ingredients. In fact, portable soup has been around much longer as a mainstay of nomadic cultures, including medieval Magyar warriors. An 18th century English "housewife" version appears below.
* Count Rumford was an active inventor, developing improvements for chimneys and fireplaces and inventing the double boiler, a kitchen range, and a drip coffeepot.
Portable Soup," from The Lady's Companion (1753)
To make a Veal Glue, or Cake Soup to be carried in the Pocket Take a Leg of Veal, strip it of the Skin and the Fat, then take all the muscular or fleshy Parts from the Bones; boil this Flesh gently in such a Quantity of Water, and so long a Time, till the Liquor will make a strong Jelly when it is cold: This you may try by taking out a small Spoonful now and then, and letting it cool. Here it is to be supposed, that though it will jelly presently in small Quantities, yet all the Juice of the Meat may not be extracted; however, when you find it very strong, strain the Liquor through a Sieve, and let it settle; then provide a large Stew-pan, with Water, and some China Cups, or glazed Earthenware; fill these Cups with Jelly taken clear from the Settling, and set them in a Stew-pan of Water, and let the Water boil gently till the Jelly becomes as thick as Glue; after which, let them stand to cool, and then turn out the Glue upon a piece of new Flannel, which will draw out the Moisture; turn them once in six or eight Hours, and put them upon a fresh Flannel, and so continue to do till they are quite dry, and keep it in a dry warm Place: This will harden so much, that it will be stiff and hard as Glue in a little Time, and may be carried in the Pocket without Inconvenience.
You are to use this by boiling about a Pint of Water, and pouring it upon a Piece of the Glue or Cake, about the Bigness of a small walnut, and stirring it with a Spoon till the cake dissolves, which will make a very strong good Broth. As for the seasoning part, every one may add Pepper and Salt as they like it, for there must be nothing of that Kind put among the Veal when you make the Glue, for any Thing of that sort would make it moldy. As we observed above, that there is nothing of Seasoning in this Soup, so there may be always added what you desire, either of Spices or Herbs, to make it savoury to the Palate; but it must be noted, that all the Herbs that are used on this Occasion, must be boiled tender in plain Water, and that Water must be used to pour upon the Cake Gravy instead of Simple Water: So may a Dish of good Soup be made without Trouble, only allowing the Proportion of Cake Gravy answering to the above laid Direction: Or if Gravy be wanted for Sauce, double the Quantity may be used that is prescribed for Broth or Soup.
This month we have two receipts and some Easter tradition.
Polish Easter Soup is a tradition in my mother's family, and has been handed down through the generations. On Holy Saturday (the day before Easter) we assemble our basket of food to be blessed at church in the afternoon. Polish tradition holds that Lent finishes at Noon on Holy Saturday, so baskets are blessed in the afternoon. In the basket are samples of ham, sausage, Easter eggs, a lamb made out of butter, vinegar (symbolic of the hyssop given Christ to drink while He was on the Cross), horseradish (a bitter herb, symbolic of the Passover), rye bread, candy, placek (coffee cake). Some put wine, salt, and water in as well. Some pack their whole feast in and basket; others (like us) pack only a sample. The basket is then covered with a linen cloth, symbolic of Christ's burial shroud, the basket is decorated with ribbons and flowers, and it is off to church for the blessing. Gone is the somberness of Lent; the beautiful Easter lilies fill the air with their heady fragrance. There is the happy sound of people, speaking both Polish and English. The priest enters and blesses each type of food in turn, and then makes his way down the aisle, sprinkling everyone's baskets with Holy Water. This blessing is one of the happiest moments of the year for me; there is such a mingling of past and present, and the feeling of a tradition being continued. Wesolego Alleluia! (Happy Easter!)
In case you want to attend the blessing of baskets, go to a Polish community. My mother's family is from
Niagara Falls, NY, and we get our baskets blessed at Holy Trinity RC Church on East Falls St. Blessings are usually at 2 and 3 PM.
So what to do with all those Easter foods? Turn them into a glorious white Borscht/barscz, which we call Easter Soup. We only make it once a year; it has enough cholesterol to last you the whole year. That is for sure. You can make it at other times of the year, but it never seems to taste as good as it does at Easter.
Polish Easter Soup
Take some nice Polish kielbasa (sausage), a pound or two. Boil sausage in water until it is well done. Save the water. Remove the sausage. Cut sausage into chunks. Skim some of the fat off the broth. Add to the broth 2 T vinegar and 3 t. horseradish and pepper to taste (no salt: the broth is salty enough). Add cut-up sausage, sliced hard-boiled Easter eggs (more cholesterol), 1/2 pt. of heavy cream, and some milk if you feel it is necessary. Heat until warmed through.
Enjoy! This sounds like a very bizarre combination of foods, but, boy, is it good!
(Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook: Culinary Arts Press, Reading, PA, 1960).
The recipe states "This is an old Berks County favorite brought from the Quaker City many years ago."
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2 lb. honeycomb tripe oz. Beef suet, finely chopped
2 lb. plain tripe 2 cups flour
1 veal knuckle, cracked 1 teaspoon salt
3 quarts cold water Water (about � cup)
1 bunch pot herbs Chopped parsley
4 medium-size potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, sliced
1 bay leaf
Salt
Cook the tripe the day before using. Wash thoroughly; place in kettle and cover with water. Cook 8 hours.
Remove the tripe. When cooled, cut into 1/2" . pieces. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Wash the veal knuckles, cover with the cold water and simmer about 3 hrs; skim off foam as necessary.
Remove meat from bone and cut into small pieces. Strain the broth and return to kettle. Add the bay
leaf and onion; simmer about 1 hr. Add the potatoes and the pot herbs. Add the meat and tripe and season
with salt and cayenne pepper (if desired). Make dumplings by combining the suet, flour, salt, and
enough water to permit rolling the dough into dumplings, about the size of marbles. Flour well to
prevent sticking and drop into the hot soup. Cook about 10 minutes; add parsley and serve at once.
No-Knead Bread
(Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery, and New York Times)
Makes one 1 � pound loaf
3 cup all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for work surface
� teaspoon instant yeast (see note)
1 � teaspoon salt
Olive oil, as needed
Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed (optional)
1. In a large blow, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1 � cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Coat a second large bowl with olive oil. Transfer dough to oiled bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, but preferably 18, in a room about 70* in temperature (see note). When surface is dotted with bubbles, dough is ready.
2. Lightly flour work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over itself once of twice. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Sprinkle just enough flour over work surface and your fingers to keep dough from sticking; quickly and gently shape dough into a ball. Generously coat cotton, non-terry cloth towel with flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran; place dough seam side down on towel and dust more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Cover with a second cotton, non-terry cloth towel and let rise until it has more doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
4. After about 1� hours, preheat oven to 500*. Place a 6 to 8-quart heavy covered pot, such as cast iron or Pyrex, in oven as it heats. When dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten as it bakes. Cover, and bake 30 minutes. Uncover, and continue baking until browned, 15 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Note: Some of us have made this bread. We used regular dry yeast and our rooms are much cooler then 70 degrees. The dough raised very well and the bread was great.
To Make Mushroom Catchup
Pick and clean the mushrooms well, but do not wash them; put them in an earthen pipkin; throw a little salt over them, and cover the pot close with coarse paste: they must be in the oven six or seven hours; then press them a little, and pour off the liquor, which must be put over fresh mushrooms, and bak'd as long as the first; afterwards, pour off that liquor without pressing them, and boil it very well with salt sufficient for keeping: it must be boil'd above half away, and till it feels clammy when you put your fingers to it: When 'tis cold, bottle it up, and keep it in a moderate place as to cold or heat: thus it will continue good for years.
Source: Arabella Atkyns, pseud., The Family Magazine (London, 1741), 114.
Fluffy Mustard Sauce
(America�s Cook Book by The Home Institute of the New York Herald Tribune, 1938)
� cup firmly packed brown � cup vinegar
2 tablespoons dry mustard � cup consomm�
3 eggs, separated � teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
Mix sugar, mustard and beaten egg yolks in top of small double boiler; add vinegar and consomm�, and heat thoroughly; add seasonings. Fold into stiffly beaten egg whites and continue cooking about 5 minutes. Serve with ham, beef or fish. Approximate yield: 6 portions.
